This is from a YouTube entitled, “U.S. Jesuit History – Tom Friess.” It’s amazing and shocking history but largely unknown because it’s not taught in academia. Please either read it or listen to the audio with an open mind. John Daniel’s explanation is very reasonable in my opinion.

Hardly anybody today is pointing the finger at the Jesuits for anything that goes wrong in the world. Most Christians today have no idea that the public is being socially engineered by the Jesuits to bring the world under under the rule of the popes of Rome.

John Daniel is the author of The Grand Design Exposed.

Tom Friess is the webmaster of Inquisition Update.

Transcription of approximately 45 minutes of the audio.

Good morning. Welcome to Inquisition Update. My name’s Tom Friess and I’ll be your host for the next hour.

Today, this morning on the program, my guest is returning guest John Daniel, author of the book The Grand Design Exposed.

Brother John Daniel, a good brother in the Lord, a friend of mine, he also recommended this book that we’ve been studying on Inquisition Update entitled The Ark and the Dove by J. Moss Ives. And as you’ll recall, we’ve been talking about this commission that was comprised of Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, Charles Carroll II, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Jesuit trained, an influential first citizen of Maryland, and a relative, a Jesuit priest, an actual Jesuit priest by the name of Charles Carroll, was selected by the Continental Congress to make a pilgrimage to Canada to secure Canada’s support for the Revolutionary War upcoming. And the Jesuit priest, John Carroll, in the book, as recorded in The Ark and the Dove, said that he would go, but the best that they could expect for an outcome was to secure neutrality from Canada, French Catholic Canada, and that Canada would not side with the British in the Revolutionary War.

And I’ve said to my listeners, there’s much, much more here than meets the eye, much, much more to be known about this commission and what actually took place than this author, J. Moss Ives, in this book is letting us know. And I’ve invited John Daniel to come and help fill in some of the gaps to help make more sense out of what happened during this period of time. My guest this morning, John Daniel.

Good morning, John.

John Daniel: Good morning, Tom. And again, as always, I thank you so very much for allowing me on your show. And it’s always a privilege and an honor to share these thoughts of what really took place in the founding of our United States of American government. And this history has been buried, has been covered over. And so when we tried to revive it, to dig it up and to share with folks, they absolutely don’t even know what we’re talking about.

But that was the purpose to read this history from a Roman Catholic standpoint so that you’re getting this information from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. And I don’t care if you’re reading different authors of this same particular history, you will get the same history. It might take a little variety as far as how it’s being presented, but I’ll assure you, it is telling you the exact same story that the Roman Catholic Church, the Jesuits, were fully involved in orchestrating the events that were taking place during that time in order to separate the colonies, the Protestant colonies from this mother country that was such an incredible tyrant, according to the official history, that they had to separate and declare a new nation.

And what you were taught from a baby up, what I was taught from a baby up, is quite contrary to what the historical facts actually tell you. And when you read it from the Roman Catholic standpoint, then you are absolutely getting the truth of what really took place. And at the time when all of this was going on, it was one of the most incredible, tight secrets of all ages, so that nobody really knew what was going on except the very ones that were at the top, that were involved in it.

And this is what makes this history so mysterious, I guess. And some of the things that we read, unless you have the full background of what really what their ultimate goal was, it gets a person to start scratching their head. What is really going on here? And that’s, well, I have many books, as I have stated before, in my library when I was putting my own book together, Tom, and I used to live in secondhand bookstores and sometimes I didn’t even know really, before I got the full picture, I didn’t even know what I was looking for, other than I was just looking for the truth to find out exactly what was going on during those years.

And so, the Ark and the Dove is just one of these sources that are out there. And the Jesuits themselves wrote their history. And that’s something that the Jesuit has always done. They have, no matter where they go in this world on their mission, they always report to their superiors, the superiors report to their superiors. And then it all goes to the superior general of the Jesuits. And it’s all compiled. And that’s how he controls and plans his next strategy to fulfill their ultimate goal. And their ultimate goal is only one purpose, and that is to rule the whole world. And we have seen this literally taken shape right before our eyes today.

And given that when this thing is, when this bombshell explodes upon us, the whole world is going to just, well, they’re going to be overwhelmed. That’s the best way I can put it. They’re going to be overwhelmed because nobody, nobody seems to understand what really is going on today.

And just because there are not persecuting people today doesn’t mean that that’s not what Rome is going to not be doing in the near future. And so it might be under the name of the New World Order or however you want to term it, but these are all fronts that the Jesuits and the Roman Catholic Church works behind so that they’re not in the limelight until they are prepared to be in the limelight. And one of these days they will be in the limelight.

And this is what is known in Roman Catholic literature itself. One day the Virgin Mary will triumph. Make no bones about it. That’s what they teach. And doubt it not, it will take place. And so this is what we’re trying to unravel here in this commission that was sent up to Canada as they were in the process of starting the Revolutionary War to separate the colonies from the mother country, England, which was and had declared itself to be a Protestant nation.

And the whole struggle was to get England back into the fold of Rome. And that’s the picture, the struggle, the incredible struggle that has been totally buried and covered up today. But Rome knows that once she conquers the English speaking people as a Protestant people, that Protestantism completely is dead. And they know that and that’s their ultimate goal.

So anyhow, this was the first stages of it in this so-called great work. And to represent that great work is what you see on the back of your one dollar bill. And we’ve we’ve talked about this before, Tom, you know, but this is the American Great Seal that you see there on the back of the one dollar bill. It was put there not on the dollar bill, but it became what you see there on a dollar bill.It was the American Great Seal. And what you see there is actually what it was as stamped on official documents that goes out of Washington, D.C. from the very day that this nation became a nation, because every nation must have a seal to do business with other nations of the world.

And so this Great Seal is a little bit different from any other seal in the world, because what you see there is that it’s telling you that there is a great work. And it’s not completed. And that’s what the pyramid represents, this great work, great work of who? Well, we’re learning that it’s the great work of the Jesuits. Manly P. Hall says that the American Great Seal is the signature of the Jesuits. Comprehend that a little bit.

And so we know what the Jesuits have in mind and we know what the Roman Catholic Church has always had in mind, because they teach to the whole world that they are the only true church whereby which mankind must be saved. And so they want to convert the whole world to that truth that they maintain is the truth. And I won’t get into what that truth is and what they really represent this morning, but that’s their whole goal, that their ultimate goal is to rule and control every human being on this planet. And they have set up the machinery, they have set the stage and their curtain is about to rise for the last show here on planet Earth, let’s put it that way. So that’s the story that we’re looking straight in the face of.

And, of course, what we’re talking about here as far as this commission that went to to Canada was a commission that was to go up there and sue the French Roman Catholic Canadians that now was no longer French, but it had been captured by England. And so the American colonists want to go up and try to convince these French Roman Catholics to take sides and fight alongside of them. And so that’s why the commission was sent up there to accomplish that.

And because the Canadians, they were French Roman Catholics, that’s why it was chosen, or at least it was made to appear to choose, well, men who were Roman Catholic. And that’s why Charles Carroll was elected to go and his cousin, John Carroll, who was actually a Jesuit.

Of course, as you know, in 1773, the Jesuits were officially dissolved as an order of priests. And all of this was done, whether anybody wants to accept this historical fact or not, but all of this was done was to make it to appear that the Jesuits had nothing to do with what was going on because they were no longer an order of priests anymore. They were dissolved. They were dissolved by the Pope himself. And so this is the history that surrounds this whole mysterious time period that we’re looking into, again, that has been buried and has been covered up.

So when they got to Canada, there was some, what the Roman Catholic author here is saying, there were some very major blunders that had taken place by the Continental Congress. There were some very strong Protestants here still in the colonies. But these Protestants didn’t really know exactly what was going on. Only those at the top, the Jesuits and those high ranking Freemasons really understood what was going on. And so the Protestants were basically in the dark and they were convinced they, you know, we got to separate, we got to separate the colonies from England because of this incredible taxation that England is doing to us.

But what they couldn’t figure out was that Parliament was being orchestrated also over there in England. And so England passes a law that the French Canadians will not be molested. They will be allowed to have their civil and religious liberties to continue on just as they were when they were under French rule. And some of these fellows here in the colonies, in the Continental Congress that were Protestant, they wrote to England and they were quite in a rage about it. They could not understand how Parliament could pass such a law.

And I’m going to read again from the Ark and the Dove what was brought to the Parliament’s attention. And it says, “Nor can we suppress,” and I’m quoting here now from the book Ark and the Dove,

So there were those who fully understood that there was something going on here that they couldn’t quite understand. And so they raised their voice about it.

And those who knew what was going on, they had to change this whole thing around. And they knew when they went up to Canada that they had a job on their hands because all they were hearing from the colonists was anti-Roman Catholicism. And now the Continental Congress is now sending their group up to soothe their fears as far as anti-Catholicism is concerned. And they are telling the French Canadians that we want to offer freedom of religion and civil liberties to everyone. And they, the French Canadians, well, they became very suspicious. They were very cautious. They didn’t believe what they were hearing. And that’s why they elected Charles Carroll to go, because he’s Roman Catholic. He studied under the Jesuits. That’s why they elected John Carroll to go, because he was a Jesuit. And when they got to Canada, you realize in the book, The Ark and the Dove, that the Jesuit that was in Canada received John Carroll very warmly because he knew what was going on.

The Canadian Bishop, even though he was Roman Catholic, he didn’t trust the commissioners that were sent up by the Continental Congress. And he would have nothing to do with them. But the whole thing, basically, even though they never won the French Canadians to their side, to join them against what they called the common enemy of England, at least they gained what was called a neutrality where they would not participate. And so they figured, hey, that was good enough. That was good enough.

And so that’s the way that they came away from that situation. And one of the things that’s most interesting is that the army that was up there, the American army that was up there in French Canada, England sent a ship with a thousand troops on it. And the American army that was so straggly, hardly had food or decent conditions even to live up there, they went into a panic and they went into a rout. And what I’m trying to stress here is to show just how feeble the American Continental Army really was, no matter where. And yet they won this battle of the revolution against England when just a few years before that, England won the battle of the French and Indian War and took all of Canada away from France.

And this is the irony of this whole thing. And you begin to become very suspicious of what was really going on there because it’s like two boxers in a ring. And his manager tells him, hey, you got to throw this fight here tonight because I got a large bet on the side that you are going to lose. In other words, the bet was on the other side. And so this is exactly what went on during the American Revolutionary War, when you fully understand it, they threw the war. In other words, they made it to appear that the colonists were superior in the field than the incredible military of the nation of England.

And so anyhow, they came away with a neutrality and Benjamin Franklin was in very poor health. He already made it back to the colonies. But John Carroll accompanied him and sort of looked over him and took care of him. And they were all they were all very good friends.

Tom Friess: I can’t help but tell you that I’m a bit confused. If the Jesuits wanted to foment a revolution of the colonies from Protestant Great Britain so that Catholicism could practice in the colonies without the restrictions placed upon it in Protestant Great Britain for all the attempts that the papacy made to overthrow the Crown and control the Parliament and to return the papacy to ultimate supremacy in Britain and bring Protestant Great Britain back into the fold of Rome and to destroy Protestantism in Great Britain and thereby destroy Protestantism all over the globe. I mean, that was their intent. If they could destroy Protestantism in England, then Protestantism would have been defeated. That was the attitude of Rome. That’s why they worked so diligently to take back over England. That’s why they launched the Spanish Inquisition. That’s why they sent the Jesuits on a mission to England. That’s why they conducted the gunpowder plot and assassination attempts against the kings and queens of England. A constant battle to regain control of Britain.

If they could separate the colonies from Great Britain, then Catholicism could practice without the anti-Catholic laws that were so common in Britain, of necessity. And it seems to me, it just seems to me, that if, common sense would tell me, that if the Jesuits were holding to that mission, that the best thing for them to do would be to allow this commission to recruit the assistance of French Catholic Canada to join on the side of the patriots in the colonies to rout the British Navy and to engage in a full-blown war against Protestant Great Britain. Not only to damage Protestant Great Britain, but to solidify the Catholic population of the colonies. But instead, this commission failed and merely managed to secure from French Catholic Canada neutrality in the upcoming revolution.

But you’re telling me that England literally threw the war? They just laid down, they didn’t fight with full vigor. That the British part of the Revolutionary War was just a pretense for appearances, for outward appearances. And that there was a power controlling Britain at the time that wanted to ensure that the colonies were independent. Is that what you’re saying?

John Daniel: That’s exactly what I’m saying. And when I say England threw the war, it was through their generals that the war was thrown. Because they were high-ranking Freemasons and they were commissioned by those of Freemasonry through the Jesuits which controlled Freemasonry to throw the war, to throw these battles when you fully understand it. And I could never talk on this show long enough to convince a person who is an American patriot that has been taught from a baby up, to believe otherwise than what they have been taught from a baby up, that the great American Revolution, the heroes of George Washington and the Founding Fathers were so incredibly awesome to stand against this incredible military might of England and win this war.

But you see they also had some help. And that was from the French, the colonists now who were originally British trained military soldiers. Now that just a few years before had fought the French to win French Canadians over to be under the rule of England. Now these same colonists are fighting England and its military and have appealed to France to help them to fight England in their noble cause against this incredible tyrant.

And you know, when you read The Ark and the Dove, it makes very plain that there is only one thing that is responsible, or basically two, but one man in particular that was responsible for bringing France into the war of the American Revolution. And that was Charles Carroll. They wanted to nominate him. The Continental Congress wanted to nominate him and send him over to France. And he says, no, no, no. I am the one person that must never be in the forefront. He worked behind the scenes. He didn’t want to be publicly known what was going on.

Tom Friess: He was a pretty public person! I mean, he was first citizen of Baltimore. He was commissioned by the Continental Congress to head up this commission to go to France. I mean he is a very public figure in the colonies, not just in Maryland, but all over the place.

John Daniel: I have to agree with that. He was. But how much of this is known? How much of this is known as taught to anyone? The Carroll family is a completely unknown figure of the American Revolution.

Tom Friess: Yeah, there is nothing ever taught in the history of the American Revolution.

John Daniel: There is nothing historically ever taught about him. Only in Roman Catholic literature itself do you realize that this man and his cousin John Carroll, Charles Carroll was the wealthiest person in the colonies. He had that wealth. He had his incredible plantations of manor. He had over 300 slaves. And so he had his power. He had the wealth. He had the influence. Charles Carroll spent 17 years being educated by the Jesuits in France, also in England.

And he had many, many connections. And so he sent his emissaries over to France to do the work that they wanted to send him to do. And who were these emissaries? Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson. And they worked hand in glove with the Jesuits and the Pope. And these are our heroes of the founding fathers. They knew what they were doing. They knew exactly what they were doing. And when you read it from a Catholic standpoint, you know they knew what they were doing.

But nobody wants to admit that today. Because these heroes have been indelibly etched into our minds that they were the greatest of the great of the American system. It’s the most beautiful picture that you ever wanted to see, but it’s also the greatest and most beautiful deception that you’ll ever want to see, too, when you understand it fully. And that’s why nobody wants to accept this. And that’s why we’re talking about it right now. Because nobody wants to accept it. Any more than anybody wants to accept it right now. You tell me anybody out there on the street or anybody that’s listening to right now will believe that the Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuits are fully behind what they call the New World Order.

Tom Friess: Yeah, it’s a tough sell. Barely anybody in this country other than Roman Catholics know anything about the Jesuit Order. And they certainly know nothing about the Jesuits’ role in fomenting the revolution against Britain and what role Catholicism has played in the American government since our very founding. I mean, this book, you’re beginning to paint a picture in my mind that the United States, you together with F. Tupper Saussy in his book Rulers of Evil, are beginning to paint a picture in my mind that the United States has been a Jesuit enclave from the very beginning.

John Daniel: When they say that the United States of America has been infiltrated, that’s a big joke. It has never been infiltrated. This country, Manly P. Hall says, from its very inception. Now, Manly P. Hall, you can shrug your shoulders, but that man knew what he’s talking about. He knows what he’s writing about. From its very inception, this country was founded for a peculiar and particular purpose. Well, what was that peculiar and particular purpose that he’s talking about? He’s talking about the American Great Seal.

Tom Friess: Annuit sepsis novus ordo seclorum. We have conceived a new world order, or the birth of the new world order. That’s what it means, right?

John Daniel: That’s exactly right. And he goes a little bit further. He says that the American Great Seal is the signature of this exalted body. What exalted body? The Jesuits.

Now, swallow that, and you might have a hard time getting it down, but I’ll tell you what, that’s what he’s saying. The American Great Seal is the signature of the Jesuits for the purpose and reason it was founded, and for the purpose, that is, the role that is to play in the future.

Tom Friess: So they gave us a democratic (really a republican) government, a government that honored Protestant tenets, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, government of, by, and for the people, not a top-down hierarchical structure, so that there would be religious tolerance between Protestants and Roman Catholics. That the Roman Catholics in this country would live under a Protestant form of government, and gain strength, and use the country in the meantime to fight Roman Catholic papal proxy wars all over the world, and that when the time came that even this democratic form of government would be overthrown, and then Rome would come out of the closet, and then impose its normal form of government, which is a papal dictatorship. They’ve just been, they’ve just, they’ve fooled us ever since the founding of this country.

Protestants went to sleep. There was no fighting. There was religious liberty. No suspicion anymore in this country of the Catholics. No suspicion of the Pope. No realization that the Pope is the biblical Antichrist. (Note: There was up to the end of the 19th century.) No realization that the Catholics control Congress, and the Supreme Court, and the military, and banking, and business, and education, and the ecumenical movement to corrupt the churches. No suspicion whatsoever that the Jesuits are behind perverting our Bibles. No suspicion of anything.

Religious peace and liberty between Roman Catholics and Protestants, while the Roman Catholic, the Vatican has used this country, and used the blood of Protestants to fight papal proxy wars all over the world. That’s what’s happened, isn’t it, John?

John Daniel: The oath of the Jesuits can be found in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. And it states, the oath that a Jesuit takes, states, for them to accomplish their goal, if they’re working among the Calvinists, to become a Calvinist. If they’re working among some of the Adventists, to become a Seventh Day Adventist. To become a Protestant, to work among the Protestants, to become a Protestant.

Tom Friess: And working among the Jews, even to become a Jew.

John Daniel: That’s right. It doesn’t make no difference, you see. That’s what they call expedient. It’s a means to accomplish an end. It’s the same as the end justifies the means. That’s the motto of the Jesuits. Everybody knows that.

But they overlook it when they want to, when it’s tried to be applied in the reality of what really is going on in the founding of our own country, and what they’re getting ready to do in the future, the role that this country is going to play. And I’m afraid that this whole world is about to be overwhelmed of the situation that they’re going to bring upon this world, as a grand finale, to bring this whole world under the rulership of the Pope.

There is debate among some Christians about whether we should celebrate Christmas or not. I think we can if we scrape the lies off the Truth and celebrate it as it should be celebrated, as the birth of the Saviour, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, on earth. We can praise and thank the Father for sending His Son to earth to save us from our sins!

Angels of God notified shepherds of the birth of Christ and celebrated the fact.

Luke 2:11-14  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

My wife and I are against the trappings of this world related to the Christmas season. We will never put up a tree or use any other symbols we consider to be Roman paganism. We don’t even like to say, “Merry Christmas” because it refers to Roman Catholic Mass. We prefer the Spanish greeting, “Feliz Navidad” which means “Happy Nativity” – the birth of Christ. Everyone should know those Spanish words because of the popular song by the same name.

When I lived in Japan, I took advantage of Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter (I’d rather call it Resurrection Sunday), to tell the Japanese about Jesus. It’s a great time to share the Gospel in non-Christian nations. Many Japanese have never heard the Gospel even once. One Japanese lady used to think Jesus was born in America!

Some things many people may not know:

1. December 25th is supposed to be a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. But the date chosen was in fact based on pagan tradition, a Roman custom called “Sol Invictus” meaning, rebirth of the sun! In other words, the December 25th holiday is really based on sun worship. Just think about it: Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, occurs either on December 21st or 22nd depending on the shift of the calendar. The day starts to get longer finally from the 25th, hence, the “rebirth of the sun.” The Bible does not specify the date that Jesus was born. He probably was not born in the winter because Luke chapter 2 says that at the time of His birth were, “shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night”. Shepherds usually don’t graze their flocks in winter.
2. People who call themselves Christians do not all celebrate December 25th as the birthday of Christ. The Orthodox Church celebrates it on January 7th.
3. Some dedicated and sincere Christians refuse to celebrate Christmas at all because of the materialism the worldly merchants promote at this time.
4. December 25th is the 359th day of the year. The first time the word Satan appears in the King James version of the Bible is in 1 Chronicles chapter 21 – the 359th chapter! I have researcher, Al Neal to thank for this fact. But I also confirmed this for myself by adding up the chapters using OpenOffice Calc (the same as Excel). According to Al Neal, the numerical value of the Hebrew word for Satan is also 359! See http://www.jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm that Hebrew letters can be converted to numbers.
5. Santa is Satan when you move the third letter N to the end of the name.
6. Christmas trees, mistletoe, jingle bells, etc. are related to paganism. The trees especially are related to pagan Druidism. The evergreen tree is based on sun worship. The sun’s energy turns plants green. Druids therefore worshiped the sun through the evergreen tree.
7. Many Japanese do not know that Christmas is supposed to be the celebration of the birth of the Son of God to earth. They celebrate Christmas by eating some cake with tea on the evening of December 25th. The only reason they acknowledge Christmas at all is because of Western, and especially American influence.

Introduction to this section:

The “Flaminian Gate” is apparently a metaphor for Rome.

Cardinal Wiseman in the article is Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (3 August 1802 – 15 February 1865), an English Catholic prelate who served as the first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850. He was made a cardinal in 1850. (From Wikipedia)

Please understand that the author, J.A. Wylie uses sarcasm from time to time. If you don’t see the sarcasm, you may not understand what he’s saying.

IN 1850, Cardinal Wiseman, arriving from Rome, published in England an “Edict from the Flaminian Gate.” The form of the deed was imperial, and its import was not less imperial than its form. By the same formality did old Rome signify to the countries which her legions had overrun, that they had passed under her yoke, and were become part of her empire. Adopting the style of the haughty mistress of the Old World, the yet haughtier mistress of the New told England that she had been taken back into the empire of Catholicism, and was henceforward to hold herself the subject of the pontifical see. The “Edict” joined Great Britain to the Seven Hills (Rome). Such was held to be its legal import. All law, authority, and rule in the country opposed to that of Rome, or not holding of it, was virtually abrogated, although meanwhile suffered to exist. The only valid authority in Great Britain in the eyes of Romanists henceforward was the Vatican.

The first intimation (declaration) given to the nation of the new Roman policy was in the Tablet of October 5th, and was to the following effect: — “It appears now next to decided, that Cardinal Wiseman will return to England for a short time, and will hold a Synod, and establish the hierarchy.” This, of course, meant that the mask or guise which the Popish bishops in Britain had long worn as merely ”missionary bishops” of “Melipotamus,” “Trachonitis,” “Liunyra,” and so forth, would be thrown off, and Romish territorial sees established in the country.

We next learnt from the Gazetta di Roma, that on the 30th of September a consistory was held in the Vatican, that a Cardinal’s hat was bestowed on Dr Wiseman, that the city of Westminster was erected into an archbishopric, and placed under the new Cardinal, who was appointed to govern the kingdom with the aid of twelve suffragan bishops, among whom England was distributed into territorial dioceses! An entire change had been decreed upon the Popish Church in Great Britain.

The selection of Westminster as the seat of the government of the new Cardinal had an arrogant and offensive look. Westminster is the spot of all others most associated with the glories of our past history. Within its time-honored precincts are the tombs of our kings, the monuments of our statesmen, the trophies of our warriors. There our Parliament sits, and our courts administer justice. It had never been a bishopric in Papal times, but simply a monastery. But the offense lay not in that this act disturbed the cherished associations of the nation, but in that it encroached upon the country’s independence. It bore the character, not of an ecclesiastical arrangement, but of a temporal usurpation.

Semi-regal fêtes (festivals) celebrated the event at Rome. The new owner of the purple held a levee in the Quirinal (the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state), the Princess Doria doing the honors. Princes, ambassadors, and consuls crowded the anti-chamber of the Cardinal. After this, departing from Rome, not now as when a simple student, but full of honors, and charged with a great mission, he traveled by easy stages to England; and, resting on his way at the despotic courts of Tuscany and Vienna, he slowly approached our shores.

In the end of October the Cardinal and the “bull” appeared in England together. The document was immediately published. The essential truculence (ferociousness) of the “bull” was masked by an affluence of high-flown professions of tender solicitude for “the flock of the Lord in England.” Under the guise of deepest spiritual humility, it aimed only at earthly power. In it the Pontiff informed us that, having “besought the assistance of the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and of the saints whose virtues have made England illustrious,” to be enabled to help us, he now, in virtue of that “plenitude of apostolic power” entrusted to him “by our Lord Jesus Christ, through the person of St Peter, Prince of the Apostles,” “decreed the re-establishment in the kingdom of England, and according to the common laws of the Church, of a hierarchy of bishops deriving their titles from their own sees.” The bull went on to partition England into territorial dioceses, and to appoint bishops in each, with jurisdiction, — the full and complete jurisdiction of the Roman Church, — the same which she exercises in the most Catholic countries.

“In the sacred government of the clergy and people,” said the bull, “and in all that which concerns the pastoral office, the archbishops and bishops of England will enjoy all the rights and faculties which bishops and archbishops can use, according to the disposition of the sacred canons and the apostolic constitutions.” The government now set up was declared to be “such as it exists, freely exists, in other nations.” And, added the Pope in conclusion, “we likewise decree that all which may be done to the contrary by any one, whoever he may be, knowing or ignorant, in the name of any authority whatever, shall be without force.” So far the edict from the Flaminian Gate.

We do not possess the gift of infallible interpretation. It is equally undeniable that Cardinal Wiseman does. Therefore, instead of offering any opinion of our own, let us hear the Cardinal on this great edict of annexation. Here, at least, he cannot err. He was present when Infallibility took counsel in this matter; he knows its secret purposes, which are hidden from ordinary mortals; and he is entitled to all credit when he interprets the mind of the Pontiff, as embodied in his bull. A “Pastoral Letter” from “Nicholas (Cardinal Wiseman), by the Divine mercy, of the Holy Roman Church Cardinal Priest, Archbishop of Westminster, and Administrator Apostolic of the Diocese of Southwark,” instantly followed the promulgation of the pontifical bull. “We govern,” quoth Nicholas of the Holy Roman Church, “and shall continue to govern, the counties of Middlesex, Hertford, and Essex, as ordinary thereof, and those of Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Berkshire, and Hampshire, with the islands annexed, as administrator with ordinary jurisdiction.”

Let us mark the words of “Nicholas,” not spoken at random, but spoken in the full foresight that they would be carefully weighed and narrowly criticized; and therefore, we may be sure, selected because they were the terms of all others best fitted to announce the fact of his assumed jurisdiction, without appearing unnecessarily to insult our independence or ignore our rights. But, cautious as the terms are, the fact stands out in unmistakable prominence.

“We govern,” said the Cardinal, not the members of the Roman Church in the counties of Middlesex, etc., but the counties themselves. “We govern, and shall continue to govern, the counties of Middlesex, Hertford,” etc. The Cardinal knows nothing of any other authority, from that of the Queen down to her humblest functionary. All comment of ours is superfluous. “Peter” hath spoken, and “Nicholas” hath interpreted. The Cardinal and his suffragans govern, not English Papists, but England.

To show that he regarded his acquisition as neither visionary nor ephemeral (a brief time), but, on the contrary, solid and durable, this man in purple lifts up a paean of triumph so loud, that the whole realm rings again. We seem to hear the shout of some old warrior, as, dragging his captives after him, he slowly climbs the Capitol. So sits Cardinal Wiseman in his triumphal car, as he proudly climbs the “Capitol” from which he was to sway the scepter of government. He drags behind him an illustrious captive, — England; and he sees the celestial hierarchy bending from their seats to gaze on the grand spectacle which made this a day of glory to his Church. “Truly,” he continues in his Pastoral, “this day is to us a day of joy and exultation of spirit, the crowning day of long hopes, and the opening day of bright prospects. How must the saints of our country, whether Roman or British, Saxon, or Norman, look down from their seats of bliss with beaming glance upon this new evidence of the faith and Church which led them to glory! and all those blessed martyrs of those latter ages which have fought the battles of the faith, how must they bless God, as they see the lamp of the temple again enkindled and re-brightening, — as they behold the silver links of that chain which has connected their country with the see of Peter in its vicarial government, changed into burnished gold!” Let it be marked that it is the country which is bound to the see of Peter, although, adds the Cardinal considerately, not with a chain of steel, but of “burnished gold.” Ah! fetters! But then they are of “gold.” It were unreasonable, surely, to complain of such fetters.

Equally jubilant were the notes pealed forth in the Romish cathedral at Birmingham on occasion of the enthronization of one of the “twelve” (the same number as of old, seeing it is a second planting of Christianity), Dr Ullathorne, now styling himself “Lord Bishop of Birmingham.” The preacher was the English pervert, Dr Newman. “The mystery of God’s providence,” he exclaimed, “is now fulfilled. I do not recollect of any people on earth but those of Great Britain who, having once rejected the religion of God, were again restored to the bosom of the Church. But what has God done for them? It is wonderful in our eyes. The holy hierarchy has been restored. The grave is opening, and Christ is coming out.”

We give but one specimen more of those vauntings, regarded as hallucinations at the time, the fumes of Roman pride, the maunderings (driveling speech) of Papal dotage (deterioration of mental faculties associated with aging.). Alas! it has since been found that the maundering was on the side, not of Rome, but of some of our own statesmen and ecclesiastical dignitaries, who then spoke and wrote some very valorous things, but afterwards could find nothing to back up their big words except little deeds, or no deeds at all. “The Pope,” said the Tablet of that day, “has made Westminster an archiepiscopal see; and he has given to Dr Wiseman, now a cardinal, jurisdiction over the souls of all men living within the limits of his see, excepting Jews, Quakers, and unbaptized Protestants.”

Thus did the Romanists, holding that a work of this sort so well begun was as good as finished, deem that the schism of three centuries was now healed, — that the hydra of British heresy was crushed, — that the first sovereign on earth was virtually converted into a subject of the pontifical throne, and the mightiest of existing empires legally annexed to the empire of Rome.

Fifteen years have since passed away. Do these vauntings now appear groundless? Have these hopes been shown to be illusions? Has Rome slackened in the work; and, having begun, does she despair of making an end? Have the foundations of the new Papal temple in Britain, laid in 1850, been razed by the authority of British law and the strength of British Protestantism? Are they rotting in the ground amid the faint hearts and feeble hands of the Romish builders? Far from it. Whoever has retreated, these men have not Their hopes are as high and their boastings are as bold at this day as they were then. And with reason too; for the building then begun has neither been stopped nor gone back, but is advancing to its completion from one day to another.

(To be continued.)

All sections of Rome and Civil Liberty – by James Aitkin Wylie

Continued from The Fundamental Principle Of The Reformation, And What It Gave Us

The Reconnoitre, Or First Steps.

THE SHOCK of the French Revolution convinced the Church of Rome, that in the slumber in which she had passed the eighteenth century, she had rested her mitered head upon hidden fires, and that she must rouse herself, and strike for her old dominion, or be swept out of existence. Accordingly, so soon as peace had returned to Europe, the Jesuits came forth from their hiding-places, and concocted that plan for reducing Britain under the yoke of Rome which they have ever since been pursuing with great astuteness and most astonishing success.

That plan may be gathered from various hints dropped by Dr Wiseman, in his book on the “Four Last Popes,” and, in particular, from his conversations, there recorded, with Gregory XVI. and the Abbe Lemennais. A great work was to be done; and the first step was to prepare the proper instruments for the doing of it. With this view the English College at Rome was restored. This was the deed of Pius VII. and his well-known Minister, Cardinal Consalvi. This college had been closed for the period of a generation. On the 18th of December 1818, a small band of youths entered that college, and took possession of its long-deserted corridors and chambers. Who were these youths, and from what country had they come? They had come from Great Britain. They had been selected with great care, and sent to Rome to be educated under the keen eye and the skilful hand of the Jesuits, that, when their education was finished, they might come back to England, and begin their work of reconquering Britain to the Roman faith. Of this number was the future Cardinal (Wiseman). One can scarce refrain a smile when he contrasts this little army of six with the greatness of their allotted task. But Rome can foresee great results from apparently insignificant causes.

From Rome the scene now shifts to Britain. These youths were in due time educated, and sent back to England. The implements fashioned abroad were now employed in fashioning other implements at home. The first object was to reduce the Catholic laity and priesthood of Ireland thoroughly under Jesuit control. With this view the College of Clongows was erected, filled with Jesuit professors, and opened for the youth of the middle and upper classes of Ireland. The next step was to reduce the priests of Ireland under Jesuit influence. Dr Kenry was sent from Rome, and appointed Principal of Maynooth. Its chairs were filled with Jesuits from the College of Clongows; and thus was the priesthood of Ireland brought completely under Jesuit control The priests were under Dr Kenry, the head of British Jesuitism; and Dr Kenry was under General Roothan, the head of the Jesuitism of the world. And now, headed by a man of no principle but a good deal of rough eloquence (Mr O’Connell), that political agitation was commenced which resulted in the great Romanist victory of 1829. By the Act of 1829 the doors of the British Legislature were opened to the subjects of another potentate (the Pope), and a right was conceded to the members of a foreign community to legislate for a State whose law is not their law, and whose sovereign is not their sovereign.

This done, the next step was to bring the lay adherents of their Church in England under Jesuit control. The College of Stoneyhurst was erected, and filled with Jesuit professors; and into that college was gathered the youth of the old Catholic families in England, to receive an education and polish fitting them to take their place with effect in English society. Thus was the whole Catholic body, lay and cleric, in Great Britain and Ireland, subjugated and made ready to be wielded by Jesuitism.

Having taken proper measures with her own members in Great Britain, Rome next turned her attention to the Protestants. Her first measure was to seize upon the universities. On the idea that a plan had been formed for perverting Britain, where should we expect that plan first to discover itself? Why! where but at Oxford and Cambridge? These are the twin fountains of influence in England. From thence do the pulpit and the bar of England draw their supplies. There it is that our future legislators, Cabinet Ministers, and Privy Councilors, are educated. Romanizing teachers were placed in certain of the chairs of these seats of learning; and thus were the seeds of Popery deposited in many a young and unsuspecting mind.

About the year 1833 the next step was taken: the “Tracts for the Times” began to be issued. In this, Rome showed that great practical sagacity (farsightedness) and quick discernment in which she so much excels. She did not sit down and write a ponderous volume: she knew that few would buy, and still fewer would read, such an exposition. Oxford produced, by the thousand, four paged tracts, and into each tract she put the substance of a volume; and Rome turned them to good account. Some philosophers have held that matter is so compressible that the whole universe might be put into a nutshell. However this may be, the whole Papal system was so compressed as to be put into these nutshells, — these little tracts, which were showered like snow-flakes over the country. They were, to borrow a figure from the military art, the gunboats of the Papal invasion. While the volume was lying unbought on the bookseller’s shelf, or unopened on the drawing-room table, these tracts, written with great apparent unction and much logical acumen, were passing rapidly from hand to hand. They could be thrown into a railway carriage, circulated in the baron’s hall; in short, they penetrated society, where large volumes could not enter; and deposited seed destined to bear an early and plenteous harvest.

A short period indeed divided that seed-time from its harvest; and accordingly, the next stage of this development was the appearance of Puseyism (the back to the Church of Roman movement) in the Church of England. Several busy years had been passed in sowing Roman seed. Within the Universities it had been largely scattered; outside the Universities it had been scattered still more largely; and now the fields began to be white unto harvest The pulpit was now heard to speak with a Roman voice; and by and by, ministers of the Church of England began to go over, very scantily at first, to the Church of Rome. The process by which their perversion was accomplished was a skillful and subtle one. They were made to feel as if, in becoming first Tractarian (one of the writers of the Oxford tracts, called “Tracts for the Times,” issued during the period 1833-1841, in which series of papers the sacramental system and authority of the Church of Rome, and the value of tradition, were brought into prominence), and next Romanist, they had adopted no new creed, but had only followed boldly and logically to its natural issues a creed they had always held. And now the number of successions to Rome among the clergy amounts to more than two hundred, and to a number still larger among the nobility, gentry, and middle classes.

The next step in advance was the abolition of the statute forbidding the introduction into the country of bulls and rescripts (public documents) from the Pope. The penal statutes against Popery were abolished in 1778. They were framed by our fathers, not to oppress Papists, but to protect their own liberties against Popish machinations. They were extremely mild, when we consider that, when they were framed, the gibbets on which the Protestants had been hanged were but newly taken down, and the ashes of the fires in which they had been burned were yet scarce cold; — mild, especially, when we compare them with the statute “De Comburendo Heretico,” (the Suppression of Heresy Act, a law passed by the the English Parliament in 1401 that punished seditious heretics with burning at the stake) framed in the time of Henry IV., and always acted upon so long as the government was in the hands of Papists. Whatever may be thought of these statutes, the opposition to their abolition was rested on the ground that the Church of Rome was not so much a religious society as a political confederation hostile to the liberties of this country.

After the abolition of these laws, there remained the inhibition against bringing bulls from Rome. We are prepared to defend such inhibition, as in harmony with the great principle which is every man’s birthright, which we claim for ourselves, and are prepared to give to every human being, — freedom of conscience, to wit. A Papal bull is no matter of religious profession, — it is a matter of civil obedience. The question it raises is, not whether a Church shall have the right of communicating with its members on matters of doctrine, but whether a foreign prince shall be at liberty to send his edicts into our country, enjoining upon the consciences of his adherents, under the highest penalties, matters both temporal and spiritual.

France concedes no such power to the Pope. No rescript from Rome can be published in that country without permission of the Government. It is the same in Spain and Austria; indeed, in every country of Continental Europe, Protestant and Popish. But in Great Britain this statute was repealed in 1846, so far as regards the penalties attached to the 13th of Elizabeth, prohibiting the introduction of letters apostolic from Rome. As regards the older statutes, in especial that of Richard II., Government has declared that it will not now prosecute upon them; so that the abolition of these prohibitory enactments is virtually total.

The Papists said, “Why do you keep these enactments on your statute-book? They are a relic of the times of bigotry: they are a disgrace to you, and an insult to us. We have no intention of doing what these statutes forbid. For your own credit, if not for our sake, repeal them.” This reasoning prevailed. The gates of the country were opened to import and to publish all and every edict from Rome Thus another great point was gained, — a point indispensable for what was to come after.

That an eye in the Vatican was all the while watching this movement, is evident from a conversation of Wiseman with Gregory XVI., recorded in his “Four Last Popes,” in which the Pontiff refers to a certain obstacle in Great Britain which must be removed before an organized aggression could take place in that country.

That obstacle was now out of the way; and speedily came the denouement (final outcome), — the Papal Aggression of 1850. That Aggression was the fair and full launching of the whole schema. It exhibited the complete machinery of Rome set up in our country, openly and avowedly, from the red cardinal to the barefooted monk. By these wary and well-weighed steps did the Church of Rome steadily advance to her crowning measure.

Continued in The Edict From The Flaminian Gate

All sections of Rome and Civil Liberty – by James Aitkin Wylie

“The Papacy Is The Antichrist” is a classic work By Rev. J. A. WYLIE, LL.D. James Aitken Wylie (1808-1890) was a Scottish historian of religion and Presbyterian minister. He was a prolific writer and is most famous for writing The History of Protestantism.

PREFACE.

The following demonstration is rested on no narrow basis. Its two postulates, like two posterns, admit us into the edifice, but they are not its foundations. The whole economy of Redemption, and the whole course of History are the broad substructions on which the argument is based and built up; and the author humbly submits that it cannot be overturned, or the conclusion arrived at set aside, without dislocating and shaking the structure of both Revelation and providence. The same line of proof which establishes that Christ is the promised Messiah, conversely applied, establishes that the Roman system is the predicted Apostacy. In the life of Christ we behold the converse of what the Antichrist must be; and in the prophecy of the Antichrist we are shown the converse of what Christ must be, and was. And when we place the Papacy between the two, and compare it with each, we find, on the one hand, that it is the perfect converse of Christ as seen in His life; and, on the other, that it is the perfect image of the Antichrist, as shown in the prophecy of him. We conclude, therefore, that if Jesus of Nazareth be the Christ, the Roman Papacy is the Antichrist.

CHAPTER I. The Term ‘Antichrist.’

We shall not go far afield in this discussion: nor is it in the least necessary to do so. The materials for a right decision on the question before us lie close at hand. The Apostle John, speaking of the great apostacy to arise in Christendom, calls it the “Antichrist.” And the Pope has taken to himself, as the name that best describes his office, the title “Vicar of Christ.” All we shall ask as the basis of our argument are these two accepted facts, namely, that John styles the “apostacy,” “the Antichrist,” and that the head of the Roman system styles himself “Christ’s Vicar.”

The Papacy holds in its name the key of its meaning. We shall make use of that key in unlocking its mystery and true character. The Papacy cannot complain though we adopt this line of interpretation. We do nothing more than use the key it has put into our hands.

The Apostle John, we have said, speaking of the apostacy, the coming of which he predicts, styles it the “Antichrist.” And we have also said that the Papacy, speaking through its representative and head, calls itself the “Vicar of Christ.” The first, “Antichrist,” is a Greek word, the second, “Vicar,” is an English word; but the two are in reality one, for both words have the same meaning. Antichrist translated into English is Vice-Christ, or Vicar of Christ; and Vicar of Christ, rendered into Greek is Antichrist – Antichristos. If we can establish this –and the ordinary use of the word by those to whom the Greek was a vernacular, is decisive on the point –we shall have no difficulty in showing that this is the meaning of the word “Antichrist,” –even a Vice-Christ. And if so, then every time the Pope claims to be the Vicar of Christ, he pleads at the bar of the world that he is the “Antichrist.”

Moreover, this will clear our way and simplify our discussion. For, let it be noted, if Antichrist signifies a Vice-Christ –that is, one who comes in the room of Christ –deception, dissimulation, counterfeit, must be an essential element in his character. In whatever persons or systems that fundamental characteristic is lacking, we fail to find the “Antichrist,” whatever may be their general opposition to Christ and to Christianity, or whatever other features of the Antichrist they may bear. They may have every other characteristic by which prophecy had described this noted adversary of Christ and his gospel, yet, lacking this fundamental one, their claim to this pre-eminently evil distinction cannot be admitted. This enables us to dismiss summarily and at once a host of Antichrists which have been conjured up by persons who have drawn upon their imagination, rather than followed any sound principle of prophetic interpretation. The cause of the papacy is served by the false glosses and mistaken interpretations of Scripture which interpose a pseudo-antichrist betwixt it and Prophecy, which unfolds against it so black a record, and suspends above it so terrible a doom.

We shall suppose that an atheist or an infidel has been put to the bar to answer to a charge of being the Antichrist. He has manifested a Satanic malignity against the Gospel, and has laboured to the utmost of his power to destroy it. He has blasphemed God, execrated Christ, and derided, vilified, and persecuted all who profess His name, and on these grounds he has been assumed to be the Antichrist. The case is no imaginary one. Atheists and scoffers in former ages, Voltaire and Paine in later times, Communists and Pantheists in our own day, have all been arraigned as the Antichrist.

Well, let us suppose that one or other of these notoriously wicked personages or systems has been put to the bar, on the charge of being the “adversary” predicted by John. “Who are you?” says the judge. “Are you a Vice-Christ? So you make a profession of Christianity, and under that pretext seek to undermine and destroy it? “No,” replies the accused. “I am no counterfeit. Christ and His Gospel I hate; but I am an open enemy, I fight under no mask.” Turning to the likeness drawn by Paul and John of Christ’s great rival and opponent, and finding the outstanding and essential feature in the portrait absent in the accused, the judge would be constrained to say, “I do not find the charge proven. Go your way; you are not the Antichrist.”

Mohammedanism comes nearer than any other of the opposing systems to the Antichrist of the Bible; yet it falls a long way short of it. Mohamet did not disavow the mission of Jesus; on the contrary, he professed to hold Him in honour as a prophet. And in much the same way do His followers still feel towards Christ. But Islam does not profess to be an imitation of Christianity. Any counterfeit that can be discovered in Mohammedanism is partial and shadowy when placed alongside the bold, sharp-cut counterfeit of Romanism. It requires a violent stretch of imagination to accept Mohammedanism, or, indeed, any other known ism, as a Vice-Christ. Of all systems that ever were on the earth, or are now upon it, Romanism alone meets all the requirements of prophecy, and exhibits all the features of the Vice-Christ; and it does so with a completeness and a truthfulness which enable the man who permits himself to be guided by the statements of the Word of God on the one hand, and the facts of history on the other, to say at once, “This is the Antichrist.”

What we have said is meant to indicate the lines on which our demonstration will proceed. We must trace the parallelism betwixt their respective chiefs, Christ and the Pope, along the entire line of their career. In this parallelism lies the essence of Anti-christianism, and of course the strength of our argument. It is this counterfeit, so exact and complete, which has misled the world into the belief that this is Christianity, to the waste of ages not a few, the unsettling and overthrow of kingdoms, the stunting of the human understanding, and the loss of millions of immortal souls.

CHAPTER II. Antichrist portrayed before his Birth.”

It is somewhat remarkable that the clearest, fullest, and most life-like description of Antichrist we possess is that which was given of him before he arose. The Papacy –if we may be allowed to anticipate what it will be the object of the following pages to demonstrate –the Papacy has been twelve hundred years in existence, and during all these centuries, it has been one of the main actors in the world: neither time nor opportunity has been lacking to it for the display of its spirit and aims. The record of its deeds lies open to the world, and he that runs may read it; and after so long, and, we may add, so dismal an acquaintance with it, it might be supposed that we should now be able to give a fuller and truer description of it than any that could possibly be given before it had come into existence. Yet no. Incomparably the most life-like portrait of the Papacy that exists, is that which was given by Paul in the first century, when writing to the Thessalonian Christians, and which we give below.

Paul’s is not the only painting of Popery on the page of the Bible. Daniel, centuries before, had foreshadowed the rise of this system in imagery of graphic vividness and dramatic grandeur. A little while after Paul, John, in symbols equally majestic and awful, foretold the advent of the same power. The vision was doubled, because the thing was sure. Paul comes in between these two prophecies –two, yet one – as their inspired interpreter. He employs neither figure nor symbol, but in words, plain yet solemn, he lifts the veil and lays bare the infernal origin and Satanic character of that power, which, when he wrote, was so near, that the Christians to whom he addressed his epistle might almost hear the sound of its approaching footsteps, and see the shadow which it had already begun to project upon the Church and the world. We quote the passage, 2 Thess. 2:1-11.

CHAPTER III. Antichrist an enemy under a mask.”

In order to introduce ourselves to our subject, we have taken it for granted that the system described by Paul in the passage we have just quoted is the papacy. This is the thing to be established. We now proceed to prove this, and provided we shall show on good and conclusive grounds that the system depicted by Paul is the Roman apostacy, and that this is the same system which Daniel and John have portrayed under symbolic imagery, it will follow that one who admits the Bible to be the Word of God, and that Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, must believe that the Papacy –that is, the Roman apostacy –is the Antichrist of Scripture.

This is not point of mere speculation. It is a question that has attendant upon it great practical issues. This inquiry has for its object the ascertainment of the true meaning of an important part of the Word of God, even the better half of its prophecies. Moreover, on this question must rest the verdict we are to pronounce on that society which calls itself “the church,” as also the revelations in which we are to stand to it. And on it, too, must depend whether we shall abandon or whether we shall continue to occupy the ground which we have been accustomed to regard as our divine central position in our war with Popery; or, rather, whether we ought not to end this war, and confess that we have been fighting all along under a mistake.

Who is Antichrist? It will help us to the right answer to this question if we shall first determine, What is Antichrist?

Antichrist is an enemy who makes war with the Son of God. Of that there is no doubt. But what is the form of this war, and under what character does Antichrist carry it on? Does he wage it openly, or does he fight it under a mask? Does he take the field as an open rebel and a declared foe, or does he come as a friendly adherent who professes to bring support and help to the cause which, in reality, he seeks to undermine and destroy? To determine this point, let us look at the meaning of the word Antichrist as employed in Scripture.

The reader sees that the term is a composite one, being made up of two words anti and Christ. The name is one of new formation; being compounded, it would seem, for this very enemy, and by its etymology expressing more exactly and perfectly his character than any older word could. The precise question now before us is this –What is the precise sense of anti in this connection? Does it designate an enemy who says openly and truly, “I am against Christ.” Or does it designate one who says plausibly, yet falsely, “I am for Christ.” Which?

To determine this, let us look at the force given to this prefix by writers in both classic literature and Holy Scripture. First, the old classic writers. By these the preposition anti is often employed to designate a substitute. This is, in fact, a very common use of it in the classic writers. For instance, anti-basileus, he who is the locum tenens of a king, or as we now should say viceroy: anti having in this case the force of the English term vice. He who filled the place of consul was antihupatos, pro-counsul. He who took the place of an absent guest at a feast was styled antideipnos. The preposition is used in this sense of the great Substitute Himself. Christ is said to have given Himself as an antilutron, a ransom in the stead of all. Classic usage does not require us to give only one sense to this word, and restrict it to one who seeks openly, and by force, to seat himself in the place of another, and by violent usurpation bring that other’s authority to an end. We are at liberty to apply it to one who steals into the office of another under the mask of friendship; and while professing to uphold his interest, labours to destroy them. This leaves us free to turn to the use of the word in Scripture.

The Antichrist comes first into view in our Lord’s discourse recorded in Matt.xxiv. 24, and Mark xiii. 22. “For false Christs (pseudoxristos) and false prophets shall arise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.’ Our Lord does not, indeed, use the word Antichrist, but what is almost its synonym pseudo-Christ. Nevertheless, the persons whose coming He foretells are in the line of Antichrist; they belong to the same family, and their grand characteristic is deception. Manifestly, they are not open enemies, but pretended friends; they are “false Christs and false prophets,” and as such are forerunners of that great Antichrist who is to succeed them, and in whom they are to find their fuller development and final consummation. They shall seek by “signs and wonders,” false, of course, to obscure the glory of Christ’s true miracles, to weaken the evidence of His Messiahship arising therefrom, and to draw men away from Him, and after themselves.

The other place in the New Testament in which reference is made to Antichrist is the 1st and 2nd Epistles of John. The idea which John presents of the Antichrist is quite in harmony with that of our Lord. John looks for him in the guise of a Deceiver. “Little children,” says John (1st Epistle ii. 18), “it is the last time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists.” After this announcement of a special and great Antichrist, to follow in the wake of those minor Antichrists that were already arrived, and were urging their claims on the attention of the world, he comes to look more closely at the giant who was to stand up after these dwarfs had passed away. He notes prominently one characteristic of him, and it is his falsehood. Antichrist, says John, is to be a liar (verse 22). “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.”

“St John’s words,” says Archbishop Trench, “seem to me decisive on the matter, that resistance to, and defiance of, Christ, not the false assumption if his character and offices, is the essential mark of Antichrist.” (Synonyms of the New Testament, by R.C. Trench, B.D., p.120 Cambridge and London, 1854) Such is Dr Trench’s opinion; but he gives no grounds for it, and we are unable to imagine any. We draw the exactly opposite conclusion from the apostle’s words, even that the “false assumption of His character and offices” is an essential mark of Antichrist. “He is a liar,” says John. But if he comes boldly and truthfully avowing himself the enemy of Christ, how is he a liar? If he avows, without concealment, his impious design of overthrowing Christ, with what truth can he be spoken of as a deceiver? But such is the character plainly ascribed to him by John (2nd epistle, verse 7): -“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an Antichrist.” Plainly the exegesis, or rather supposition, of Dr Trench is inadmissible.

Dr Chalmers had no difficulty in seeing the Roman system in the “apostacy” predicted by Paul. We find him saying in his Scripture Readings: -“Save us, O Lord, from falling away, lest we share in the perdition that waiteth on the great apostacy. We hold the usurpation of Rome to be evidently pointed at, and therefore let us maintain our distance, and keep up our resolute protest against its great abominations.” (Dr Chalmers’ Sabbath Scripture Readings, vol. I., p.310. Edinburgh, 1848.)

Archbishop Trench was misled, it may be, by the strength of the term deny. “He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.” But he who does not confess when he is called to do so, denies. Such is the use of the word in these applications all through the New Testament. Such is the use John makes of it in this very passage: -“for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.” It is clear that Antichrist, as depicted by our Lord and by His Apostle John, is to wear a mask, and to profess one thing and act another. He is to enter the church as Judas entered the garden –professedly to kiss his Master, but in reality to betray Him. He is to come with words of peace in his mouth but war in his heart. He is to be a counterfeit Christ –Christ’s likeness stamped on base metal. He is to be an imitation of Christ, -a close, clever, and astute imitation, which will deceive the world for ages, those only excepted who, taught by the Holy Spirit, shall be able to see through the disguise and detect the enemy under the mask of the friend.

CHAPTER IV. Antichrist no Atheist or Communist.”

Antichrist, then, is a counterfeit. But this one mark is not alone sufficient to identify the person on whom it is found as the great apostate. All deceit in religion is anti-Christian; the other marks must come along with this one to warrant us to say that we have found that pre-eminently wicked one, and that portentous combination of all evil that is to form the Antichrist. Yet this one mark enables us to test certain theories which have been advanced on this subject. If Antichrist must necessarily be a deceiver –a false Christ – then no Atheist or body of Atheists can be Antichrist. No Pantheist of body of Pantheists can be Antichrist. They are not deceivers; they are open enemies. They make war in defiance of God and Christ, and under the protestation that there is no such person as the Bible affirms filling the office of the world’s Mediator and Saviour. They hold the whole affair to be an invention of priests. Antichrist dare make no such avowal. It would be fatal to him. Were he to affirm that Christianity is a fable, and out and out imposture, he would cut away the ground from under his own feet. He would deny the very first postulate in his system; for there must first be a Christ before there can be an Antichrist.

And not less does this mark shut us up to the rejection of the theory which has been advanced with much earnestness and some plausibility, that Antichrist is a political character, or potentate, some frightfully tyrannical and portentously wicked King, who is to arise, and for a short space devastate the world by arms. This is an altogether different Antichrist from that Antichrist which prophecy foreshadows. He may resemble, nay, surpass him, in open violence, but he lacks the profound dissimulation under which Antichrist is to commit his atrocities. The rage of the mere tyrant is indiscriminately vented upon the world at large; Antichrist’s rage is concentrated on one particular object and cause; nor with any propriety can such a one be said to sit in the “temple of God,” the seat on which the mock-Christ specially delights to show himself. Prophecy absolutely refuses to see in either of these theories the altogether unique and over-topping system of hypocrisy, blasphemy, and tyranny which it has foretold. So far we are helped in our search. When we are able to put aside some of the false Antichrists, we come more within sight of the true one. We turn now to the prophecy of Paul, and we shall be blind indeed, if, after the study of it, we shall be in any doubt as to whose likeness it is that looks forth upon us from this remarkable prediction.

CHAPTER V. The Two Mysteries of the Bible.”

The name Antichrist, it is true, does not occur in this prophecy. It is not needed. John had given the name. Paul presents us with his portrait. He limns the Antichrist with a power, a truth, an accuracy and a fulness which have left nothing for the eighteen centuries which have since rolled past to supplement, much less to correct or amend. The strokes with which this portrait is drawn are few, but each is a lightning-flash, and every member and feature of the terrible Colossus stands revealed. Paul did not paint this portrait and leave it as a riddle to perplex and baffle future ages. With history in our hands, there is no room for a moment’s doubt about it.

Since Paul wrote, there has been only one system to which this portrait can apply. It applies to it in every particular, as the photograph agrees in every lineament with the living face from which it was taken; but it will agree with no other system that now is or ever was on the earth, even as the photograph will not agree with any countenance but that which stamped itself upon the plate of the artist. So clearly did the spirit of prophecy foresee the coming of Antichrist, and so truthfully did he enable Paul to depict him.

The key of this prophecy is in the seventh verse, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work!” “The mystery of iniquity!” The phrase is a striking one. It is not simply iniquity, it is the “mystery of iniquity.” Since the time when the first transgression in Eden opened the door for the its entrance, iniquity had never been absent from the earth. History is little else than a sorrowful recital of iniquities. But now a new epoch was to be opened in the career of evil. A hitherto unexampled and unthought-of organization of iniquity was about to appear. The phrase “mystery of iniquity” suggests a secret and terrible conspiracy to sin, amongst beings of various ranks and faculties, and perhaps also of various natures. Not a mere series of isolated acts, but a skillfully-constructed system, the several parts nicely adjusted to one another, and their joint working educing a product of tremendous evil character, surpassing what any former age had witnessed. That “mystery” was as yet undivulged, but it was even now, when Paul wrote, travelling towards the light, and would be revealed in due time.

“The Mystery of Iniquity.”

This is our true standpoint, whence we may look around over the whole passage. When surveyed from this position, Paul’s prophecy will be seen to have an amplitude of meaning and a depth of import as profound as its range is vast. We venture to think that the height and depth of this prophecy have not yet been very accurately measured, or its meaning fully fathomed.

What is the “mystery of iniquity?” The phrase suggests another –the “mystery of godliness.” Paul writing to Timothy says (1 Epistle, chap. ii. 16): -“Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness.” These two phrases stand alone in the Bible. We read but once of the “mystery of godliness,” and but once of the “mystery of iniquity.” They are the two pre-eminently grand mysteries of Revelation. They stand over against each other: the “mystery of iniquity,” fashioning its outward character and semblance upon the “mystery of godliness,” making it its pattern, till at last the “mystery of iniquity” presents itself to the world a perfect imitation and counterfeit of the “mystery of godliness.”

Seeing the two mysteries stand so related to each other, the one mystery interprets the other. We must give the same height and depth, the same length and breadth, to the one as to the other, so far as the diverse origin and character of the two will permit.

We ask, then, what is the precise idea of the Holy Spirit in the phrase the “mystery of godliness?” Does the phrase denote simply that system of spiritual truth which God has been developing during the successive ages of the world, which now at last stands fully manifested in the Gospel? No doubt this is part of the “mystery of godliness,” but it is not the whole, nor indeed is it the principle part of it. The “mystery of godliness” is not the development of a system only, it is the development of a person. So does the apostle define it. “Without controversy,” says he, “great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” It was the gradual development of certain great and supernatural principles and truths through symbols, prophecies and typical persons, till at last they attained their completed development and full manifestation in the person of the Son of God.

The “mystery of iniquity,” which stands over against the “mystery of godliness” as its parallel and counterfeit, must be like it –like it in having its source outside the world, like it in its slow and gradual development, and like it in its final culmination. Of it, too, we must say it is not the development of a system only, it is the development of a person. It is the gathering together of all the principles of evil, and the marshalling of them into one organization or host, and their embodiment at last in a representative person or head –Antichrist. He was to be the grand outcome of the apostacy; not its mere ornamental head, but its executive. He was to guide its counsels, inspire its policy, execute its decrees; in short, he was to be the organ through which it terrible powers were to be put forth.

This we take to be the ruling idea in the passage. Just as the “mystery of godliness” is not merely the manifestation of the system of godliness, but the manifestation of God Himself, so the “mystery of iniquity” is not merely the manifestation of the system of iniquity, but the manifestation of the person or author of iniquity. The prophecy brings before us two mysteries, the one the counterfeit in all points of the other. We have an invisible agent, even God, beneath the one; we have an invisible agent, even Satan, beneath the other. We have the one mystery culminating at last in an incarnation, “God manifest in the flesh.” We see the other in like manner culminating in an incarnation, in a loose sense; for all its principles concentrate themselves in and show themselves to the world through its living head on earth, Antichrist. We may go even farther and say that there is as real an incarnation of the spirit and mind of Satan in the “mystery of iniquity,” as there is of the spirit and mind of God in the “mystery of godliness.” And as in Christ God and man meet; so in Antichrist, his counterfeit and rival, the human and the superhuman meet and act together –earth-born man and arch-angel fallen.

CHAPTER VI. Unfolding of the Two Mysteries.”

The apostle having brought these two mysteries upon the stage, and shown them to us standing face to face, goes on to trace the parallel between the two. This parallel is distinctly discernible in every stage of their career. The apostle traces it first in their rise; second, in their coming; and third, in their full and completed development. Let us follow the parallelism, step by step and stage by stage.

In their rise. “for the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” It was already in existence, its energies were all astir, but it worked in secret, and was inaudible to the world. It worked as leaven doth in the meal, which keeps silently fermenting in the mass till the whole has been leavened. It worked as the seed does in the soil, which, germinating in the darkness, pierces the clod, bursts into the light, and receiving an accession of strength from the sun and air, shoots up in the stem and at last culminates in flower and fruit.

The mystery of iniquity worked as treason works. The conspirators meet in secret conclave, they concert their plans unknown to the world, they speak in whispers, but their schemes at length ripen, and now they come abroad into the light of day, and proclaim in the house-tops what they had hatched in darkness. So did the “mystery of iniquity” work.

So, too, did the “mystery of godliness” work. Even at this initial stage of the two mysteries we trace a resemblance between them. Let us think how long the Gospel worked before it issued in the incarnation of the Son of God. For ages and for generations Christianity was a hidden mystery. The redemption of men by means of the incarnation of the Son of God was a secret profoundly hidden in the councils of God in eternity, and even after time had begun its course it long remained a secret unknown to the world. Bit by bit this mystery revealed itself. First, the idea of incarnation was dimly made known. In the first promise, mention was made of the “seed of the woman,” and on this obscure intimation was built the hope of a Deliverer, and that hope descended the ages with the race. The idea of expiation was next revealed in the appointment of sacrifice, which also, with the hope which is expressed and sustained, came down the stream of time. Next a complete system of ceremonial worship was instituted, to reveal the coming redemption in the amplitude of its blessings. Still the veil was upon it. It stood before the world in type. There arose an illustrious series of august personages, who were forerunners or types of Christ. They exhibited to the church the offices which her incarnate Saviour was to fill, and the work He was to execute. There stood up an order of prophetical men who prefigured Him as the Great Teacher; there stood up an order of sacrificial men who prefigured Him as the One Priest. There stood up an order of kingly men who prefigured Him as a Monarch, and a Monarch who was to be higher and mightier than any of the monarchs of earth. The Kings of the House of Judah foreshadowed Him as sprung of a royal stock, and the heir of a throne which all nations should serve, and before which all kings should bow.

Thus did the “mystery of godliness” work, unfolding and still unfolding itself as the ages passed on –the type growing ever the clearer, and the prophecy ever the fuller – till at last the “mystery” stepped out from behind the veil, and stood before the world, perfected, finished, and fully revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ – “God manifest in the flesh;” and centering in His person, and flowing out from it, through His life and ministry and death, as rays from the sun, were all the glorious doctrines of the Gospel.

In like manner the “mystery of iniquity” kept travelling, by the same stages, towards the day of its final revelation. It was not the production of one but many ages. The fashion of the world changed: great empires which had filled the earth with their glory and burdened it with their oppression, went down into the grave. Worships arose with their powerful hierarchies and grand ceremonials, and when their day was over passed away, leaving only ruined fanes and deserted altars to tell that they had ever been. But the “mystery of iniquity” as if deathless, like the Being which inspired it, refused to succumb to these shocks. It kept on its course, over broken thrones and desecrated altars, ever reaching forth to that high goal where it should show itself to the nations and be the wonder of all that dwell upon the earth.

Silently and stealthily this “mystery” pursued its course. For ages and for generations it too was a hidden mystery. Paul tells us that it was working in his day. This warrants us to say that Antichrist was then born, and was making trial of his infantile powers. The world did not hear his working, but Paul, by the spirit of prophecy did so, and sounded an alarm to the church. The Gnostics and other teachers of error that had gone forth into the world so early as Paul’s day, were Antichrists, and those in especial who propagated the delusion that it was a phantom which the Jews seized, and crucified on Calvary. They seemed to admit the mission of Christ, yet they subverted the great end of His coming by denying His incarnation, and, by consequence, the whole work of redemption. But, though these teachers were anti-Christian, they were not the Antichrist. After them, Paul gave warning there should come one far mightier than they, “the latchet of whose shoes they were not worthy to loose.” They were misgrown and misshapen Antichrists; their system of error was immature, and their power of attack contemptible, compared with that full-grown anti-Christianism which would stand up on after days, and say to the world, “I am Christ,” and under that colour make war upon the true Christ.

Nay, even before the apostle’s day the “mystery of iniquity” has begun to work. From the beginning Satan had made the line of error to run parallel with the line of truth. He had been a close observer of God’s plan from the first, and he made it the model on which to form his own. Never was the Divine plan advanced a stage without Satan making a corresponding advance in his plan, as like to the other as it was possible to make it, in all outward respects, but essentially antagonistic to it in principle and spirit. Satan has been a counterfeit from the beginning. Even in the times of Paganism he never showed himself as an avowed adversary, or waged open war. He nowhere established a system of Atheism. He permitted the great idea of a God to be received in the Pagan world; but he took care to intercept the influence of that great truth in the heart and life by seducing men to the worship of “gods many,” and these gods in man’s own likeness. He set up altar against altar, priesthood against priesthood, and sacrifice against sacrifice; and he enlarged and beautified his ritual in the heathen world till it seemed no unworthy rival of the divinely instituted ceremonial on Mount Moriah.

Moreover, he sent forth pioneers to keep alive expectation in the pagan world of some Great One yet to come. He showed to the world a colossal picture of the Antichrist while yet he was at a distance. For what were the Caesars, king and priest of the Roman world, but types of that more terrible power, temporal and spiritual, that was to centre in the chair of the Popes? That colossal image he kept full in the world’s view, till the “fulness of the time” for Antichrist’s appearance had arrived, and then he withdrew the image, and brought forward the great reality, the “Man of Sin” now come to his full birth, though not as yet to his full stature, and he found for him a seat and throne on the Seven Hills.

CHAPTER VII. The pastor becomes a Monarch –Ten Centuries of climbing.”

Beginning his career in the days of Paul, it was not till the thirteenth century that the “Man of Sin” reached his maturity, and stood before the world full grown. During all these ages, he kept stretching himself higher and higher, piling assumption upon assumption, and prerogative upon prerogative, till at last, he raised himself to a height from which he looked down not only upon all churches, but upon all kings and kingdoms. He claimed to be the world’s one bishop and world’s one monarch. In the first century he is seen as the humble pastor, whose only care is to feed his flock, and who looks for no crown save that which the chief shepherd may be pleased to give him at his appearing. In the thirteenth he is beheld as a mighty potentate, who stands with his foot planted on every throne and realm of Christendom. He writes himself a “King of Kings,” and he claims by divine right to administer all the affairs of earth. If we except Christianity, there is no similar example in history of what was at first so small, becoming in the end so great. Three hundred Popes and more are seen, one after the other, steadily prosecuting this idea, without once relaxing in their efforts or turning aside from the pursuit. Each in succession takes up the plan at the point where his predecessor had left it, and carries it a stage nearer its consummation. For thirteen hundred years on end, we see the enterprise pushed forward with an undeviating constancy, and an unflinching courage, with a perseverance and a subtilty, -in short, a combination of powers never before seen working together for the realization of any other project. There is more than man here. The spirit who conceived this plan, who inspired the actors and kept them working century after century, on the same lines, till at last the goal was reached, was more than human. Paul tells us that its author was Satan.

A great apostacy was to precede the rise of the Antichrist. In truth, the “Man of Sin” was to grow out of that apostacy. Be not “troubled” or alarmed says the apostle writing to the Thessalonians, as if time were to be wound up, and Christ were to return (Thess. 2:2,3): -“That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed.” Not a falling away, but, the falling away, as it is in the original Greek -some great and notable apostacy: the Church must pass through a dark and terrible shadow before Christ shall return. The prophets had spoken not obscurely of that evil time. It was the burden of Daniel’s prophecy; it was repeated in the symbolic picturings of John. Paul in his other writings had referred to it, portraying with brief but vivid touches the essential characteristics of the power which at that era was to cast his dark shadow on the world.

Hardly had the early persecutions ceased till that falling away set in. Jerome lifts the veil in the fourth century, and disclosed a truly melancholy picture. In vain we look for the humility, the simplicity, and the purity of the early Church. The gold refined in the furnace of ten persecutions is waxing dim. The vine which Paul planted at Rome is being transformed into the vine of Sodom. The pastors of the church are becoming inflamed with the love of riches, and are striving with one another for pre-eminence. Rome daily sees her bishop ride forth in a gilded chariot, drawn by prancing steeds. Her clergy show themselves attired in robes of silk. The members of their flock crowd alternately the church and the theatre, and rush with indecent haste from superstitious rites performed at the tombs of the martyrs to the games and sports of the circus. The “apostacy” has fairly set in. The corruption grows with the current of the centuries. It shapes itself into system, it builds error upon error, and buttresses itself all round with assumptions and falsehoods. The organization in which it enshrines itself necessarily and naturally finds for itself a chief or head. Now comes the Pope and his hierarchy. The “Man of Sin” has appeared.

He is seen to rise out of the earth of a paganised Christianity. Like the soil from which he is sprung, he is pagan in essence though Christian in appearance. Several notable events helped him to attain his full stature. We must indicate, a few -not all-of these, for it is impossible to write the history of thirteen centuries in one short chapter. The first event which contributed, and contributed essentially to the development of the Papacy was the removal of the Emperor from Rome. Had Caesar continued to reside in his old capital, he would, as the phrase is, have “sat” upon the Pope, and this aspiring ecclesiastic could not have shot up into the powerful potentate which prophecy had foretold. But Constantine (A.D. 334) removed to the new Rome on the Bosphorus, leaving the old capital of the world to the Bishop of Rome, who was henceforth the first and most influential personage in that city. It was then, probably, that the idea of founding an ecclesiastical monarchy suggested itself to him. He had fallen heir, by what must have seemed a lucky accident, to the old capital of the world; he was, moreover, possessor of the chair of Peter, or believed himself to be so, and out of these two -the old town of the Caesars and the old chair of the apostle, it might even be possible -so, doubtless, he reasoned, to fabricate an empire that would one day rival and even overtop that of the emperors. These, it might have been thought beforehand, were but slender materials to bear the weight of so great an enterprise; yet with their help, and aided, doubtless, by deeper that mere human counsel, he projected a sovereignty which has not had its like on earth, which survived the fall of the Roman Empire, which lived through all the convulsions and overturnings of the Middle Ages, and which has come down to our day, and has the art, when men believe it to be about to expire, of rallying its powers, and coming back upon the world.

About this time, moreover, the equality which had reigned among the pastors of the church in the primitive age was broken. The bishops claimed superiority above the presbyters. Nor was there equality even among the bishops themselves. They took precedence, not according to their learning, or their talents, or their piety, but according to the rank of the city in which their see was placed. Finally, a new and loftier order arose overtopping the episcopate. Christendom was partitioned into five great patriarchates -Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. These were the five great cities of the empire, and their bishops were constituted the five great princes of the church.

Now came the momentous question, for a while so keenly agitated, Which of the five shall be the first? Constantinople claimed this honour for her patriarch, on the ground that it was the residence of the Emperor. Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem each put in its claim, but to no effect. Constantinople found, however, a powerful rival in the old city on the banks of the Tiber. Rome had been the head of the world, the throne of the Caesars; around it was still the halo of a thousand victories, and that gave it a mysterious influence over the imaginations of men, who began to see in its bishop the first ecclesiastic of the Christian world. The popular suffrage had pronounced in favour of the Roman bishop before his rank had received imperial ratification. He was installed as the first of the five patriarchs in A.D. 606. The Emperor Phocas, displeased with the bishop of Constantinople, who had condemned the murder of Maurice, by which Phocas opened his way to the imperial dignity, made Boniface III. universal bishop. The imperial edict, however, gave to the Roman bishop only the precedence among the five patriarchs; it gave him no power or jurisdiction over them.

Mere rank the bishops of Rome held to be but an empty honour. What they coveted was substantial power. Their policy was now shaped with the view of reducing the whole clergy of the church into obedience to the Roman chair, and exalting the popes to supreme and absolute sovereignity. Centuries passed away, in the course of which, by the help of many an artifice, and under cover of many a pretext, the Roman bishops slowly extended their power over the West. The darkness which accompanied the descent of the Gothic nations favoured their project in a high degree. “Bad wares,’ says Puffendorf, in his Introduction to the History of Europe, “are best vended in the dark, or at least in a dim light.”

Some of the “wares” vended in these “dark” times were sufficiently remarkable. Out of many we give but two examples. The Emperor Constantine, by his last will and testament, was made to bequeath to Silvester, Bishop of Rome, the whole Western Empire, including palace, regalia, and all the belongings of the master of the world. A goodly dowry, verily, for the poor fisherman. Then came another “windfall” to the papacy, in the shape of the decretals of Isidore. This last showed the church, to her equal surprise and delight, that her Popes from Peter downwards had held the same state, lived in the same magnificence, and promulgated their pontifical will in briefs, edicts, and bulls in the same authoritative and lordly style, as the grand Popes of the Middle Ages. Both documents, it is unnecessary to say, were sheer forgeries. They are acknowledged by Romanists to be so. They could not have stood a moment’s scrutiny in an enlightened age. But they were accepted as genuine in the darkness of the times that gave them birth, and vast conclusions were founded upon them. The fabrications of Isidore were made the substructions of canon law, and that stupendous fabric of legislation is still maintained to be of divine authority, despite that it is now acknowledged to be founded on a forgery.

The northern nations arrived in southern Europe in the fifth and succeeding centuries ignorant of Christianity. This was another cause that favored the advancement of the “Man of Sin.” These nations, on their arrival in Italy, beheld a great spiritual potentate seated in the chair of Caesar. He told them that he was the successor of Peter the Apostle, whom Christ had constituted his Vicar on earth, with power to transmit all his prerogatives, spiritual and temporal, to his successors in his office. This was the only Gospel the Pope ever preached to the barbarian tribes. They had no means of testing the legitimacy of these mighty claims. In the Pope himself they recognised no very distant resemblance to their own arch-druid; the rites of the Roman temples were not unlike the worship they had practiced in their pagan homes; they had easy access to the baptismal fount, their pagan beliefs and manners forming no impediment; nation after nation entered the Roman pale, the Franks leading the way, and earning for themselves the title of the “eldest son of the Church.” The Gothic nations had found in the Pope, before whose chair they now bowed down, a common spiritual Father. Thus was accomplished another notable stage in the development of the Papacy.

His dignity enhanced by this vast accession of new subjects, the Pope set himself to strengthen his power within the Church by completing the subjection and vassalage of the clergy. He let slip no opportunity that offered to compass this end. Since the fifth century the bishops who lived on this side the Alps used to go to Rome to visit the sepulchres of the Apostles Peter and Paul. This journey was a voluntary one, being undertaken to gratify the devout or superstitious feelings of the pious excursionist. In no long time it was made obligatory, and those who failed to present themselves at the apostolic threshold were subjected to rebuke, as lukewarm in their devotion to the Holy Chair. It was next interpreted in the sense that the itinerant bishops had sought confirmation at Rome, and that all bishops ought to go thither for that end. Thus there came another accession of prerogative and dignity to the papal chair.

Further, it was a usual practice of churches and bishops to ask the advice of the Roman Church in matters of consequence and difficulty, or crave the right interpretation of particular cannons. When they at Rome perceived that their advice was taken as a decision, they began to send their decrees before they were demanded, on pretence that Rome being the first See of the Christian world, her bishop ought to take care that the canons and ecclesiastical laws were duly kept. Hence another encroachment upon the liberties of churches and pastors, and another accession to papal dignity and jurisdiction. And further, when differences or quarrels arose betwixt bishop and bishop, or betwixt church and church, nothing was more natural that for the parties at variance to solicit the mediation of the Bishop of Rome. The Pope willingly undertook the task of composing their contentions, but the price he exacted was a still further surrender of the liberties of the Church. He thence took occasion to assume the office of a judge, and to represent his chair as a tribunal to which he had a right to summon parties. At times he came in betwixt the Metropolitan and his diocesan, and on one pretext or other, deposed the latter, to the wakening of the jurisdiction of the former, Moreover, it sometimes happened that parties who had been condemned before provincial tribunals were encouraged to appeal to Rome, where the cause was reheard and the provincial sentence, it might be, revoked. By these stealthy and persistent steps, the Pope contrived to keep on the ascending grade.

There followed other most ingenious devices, all for the same end. Among these was the pall of consecration. The pall was sent to all bishops from the Pope, at first as a gift. It was next represented as indispensable, and that without it no bishops could discharge the functions of his office. Thus a new hold was obtained over the clergy, and a new method invented of replenishing the papal coffers; for a high price was put on this mystic article of dress, which was woven of the wool of the lambs of St Agnes.

To the same end were annats imposed. This was the sum paid by bishops when they changed from one see to another, a practice allowed by the Pope for the gain it brought him. The multiplication of monks and friars tended to the same end. The Pope summoned into existence the corps of the regular clergy to play them off against the army of the seculars. He acted on the maxim, “divide, and conquer.” The monks were a check upon the bishops; they watched their proceedings and carried their report to Rome. They had acquired a vast reputation for holiness, and the direction of consciences through the confessional was mainly in their hands. They had discovered the secret of amassing riches by the arts of mendicancy. They swarmed over Europe, and were thoroughly devoted to the interests of the papal see; and if any bishop set himself in opposition to the Pope, they raised such a clamour against him as speedily convinced him that the had no alternative but submission.

Especially did the English monk Winfrid, who changed his name to Boniface, enlarge the papal dominion. This man is commonly but erroneously credited with the first Christianization of Germany. Invested with the authority of the pope’s legate, he traversed the countries on the east of the Rhine, rooting out the schools and churches of the Evangelical faith which had been numerously planted in that region of Europe by the Culdee missionaries of the Irish and Scottish nations, substituting in their room Roman monasteries and cathedrals. This was the work of Boniface; a work well pleasing to Rome, inasmuch as it greatly widened the bounds of the pontificial sway.

Among the events of these disastrous ages, contributing to the growth of the papal power, not the least influential were the Crusades. They evoked a mighty outburst of enthusiasm around the papal chair. They place powerful kings, vast treasures, and countless soldiers at the service of the pope. He took into his own management the estates of those who went to fight for the recovery of the Holy Land; exempting their owners from the jurisdiction of the civil power in both civil and criminal causes. When the fury of the Crusades had spent itself, it was found that the spirit of princes was broken, their resources dried up, their realms impoverished by the loss of their subjects, and the only institution that had profited by the frenzy was the Papacy, which now, every other interest abased, rose aloft in greater grandeur than ever. Nor was this the end of the matter. The fanatical fury which had found its first fearful discharge on the plains of Syria, was diverted back to the land whence it had come, and there it vented without exhausting itself in those bloody persecutions and wars against heretics, which rage for centuries in Christendom.

CHAPTER VIII. The King with the Three Crowns -The Vicar.”

The Crusades have carried us into the thirteenth century. We must turn back to the eighth and ninth centuries, and note certain political changes that occurred in those ages, which contributed material aid to the Papacy in fulfilling its destiny.

It was the deep aim of the Pope to plant his seat in a place where he should owe no subjection to any civil power. He desired to have a country of his own, such as might be sufficient to maintain his grandeur, and whence he should reign as a temporal king as well as a spiritual sovereign. For a business like this, much time and labour were needed. The project was manifestly unattainable so long as an emperor reigned in the West, or the Gothic monarchy subsisted in Italy. But strange to say, events conspired to make empty and void a place where the Pope might set up his combined spiritual and temporal sovereignty, so long his cherished but unavowed aim. The first step was the overthrow of the Gothic power in Italy by Justinian. Italy and Rome now became a province of the Eastern Empire. The jurisdiction of the absent emperor was henceforward shadowy and weak; but even that slight restraint was impatiently borne, and Pope Gregory II. began to plot how to be rid of it altogether. The conflict betwixt the Eastern and Western Churches on the subject of image-worship was then raging. The Romans zealously maintained the cause of images. The emperor, with the Eastern Church, were ranged in opposition. Pope Gregory instigated the Romans to refuse the tribute to the emperor. The revolt was successful; the imperial representative at Ravenna was slain, and the last vestiges of the emperor’s jurisdiction over Rome and Italy were annihilated. (It is worthy of note, by the way, that the Romans by their revolt against their lawful emperor put their necks under a yoke that continued to gall them for twelve centuries. They did not succeed in breaking it till 1870.)

The Pope was now in sight of independent temporal sovereignty, but he had not yet fully achieved it. Tidings out of the north troubled him. The Longobards had crossed the Alps, and were already at Ravenna. There was no power in the spiritual artillery to arrest the victorious advance of these hardy warriors. In his extremity, Pope Zachary turned his eyes to Pepin, who, from Grand Marshal had become King of France. The Pope did not supplicate in vain. Pepin first, and his son Charlemagne next (774). Conquered the Longobards, and endowed the papal chair with all the cities and lands in Italy which had been subject to the jurisdiction of the Greek rulers. The Pope was now a crowned monarch.

This was the third intervention by arms in the Pope’s behalf, and the third Gothic power which had fallen before him. First, the Vandals established themselves in the diocese proper of the Pope, occupying his pre-destined domain, and hindering his predestined development. The arms of Justinian under his general Belisarius, swept them off. Second, the Ostrogoths planted themselves in Italy, and their near neighborhood overawed the Pope, and prevented his expansion. They, too, were rooted out by the arms of Justinian. Last came, as we have said, the Longobards, pressing onwards to the gates of Rome. The sword of France drove them back. Thus, a field was kept clear on which the Pope might develop both his spiritual and temporal sovereignty; and thus was fulfilled what Daniel (Daniel vii. 8) had foretold, that of the ten horns, or dynasties of the modern Europe, three should be “plucked up” before the little horn, or papacy. Their kingdoms and crowns were given to the Pope, and it is probable that it was in memory of these events that it became customary for the Pope, in the following centuries, to array himself in a tiara. The pastor of the Tiber had become a monarch with a triple crown.

Was the Pope now content? He sat amid the princes and kings of earth as their equal. But to be simply their equal he held to be an affront to his superhuman office as God’s vicegerent. He aspired to plant his throne among the stars, and thence look down upon all the dignities and princedoms of earth. And to this dazzling height he at last climbed up.

There arose in the eleventh century a Pope of vast capacity, of inflexible resolution, and towering pride, Gregory VII. -Hildebrand. He put before the world, with a precision, a boldness, and an argumentative force, never till then brought to its support, the claim to be the Vicar of Christ. This was the foundation-stone on which he rested his scheme of pontificial jurisdiction and grandeur. As Christ’s Vicar, he claimed to surpass all earthly monarchs in glory and power, as far as the sun surpasses the moon in brightness. He claimed, in short, to be God upon the earth. There followed a series of popes who struggled through two dreadful centuries of war and bloodshed to convert Gregory’s theory into fact. The struggle was successful in the end: the mitre triumphed over the empire. The scheme of Gregory VII. In all its amplitude of jurisdiction and magnificence -and, we may add, in all its amplitude of despotism and blasphemy -was exhibited to the world in the person and reign of Innocent III. , in the thirteenth century. The history of the world does not show another achievement of equal magnitude. The glory of the Pharaohs; the state and power of the Kings of Babylon; the victories and magnificence of the Caesars, all pale before this great conquest of the Popes. Now had come the noon of the Papacy; but, as we have remarked elsewhere, the noon of the Popedom was the midnight of the world.

The career both of Christ and of Antichrist was to end on a throne; though each was to reach his destined elevation by a very different road. Not till we find them on their respective thrones shall we see the parallelism perfected and completed. This we must reserve for a subsequent chapter. Meanwhile we pursue the parallelism through its successive preparatory stages, till it reaches this great climax.

CHAPTER IX. The ‘All-Power’ of Christ and of Antichrist.”

We advance to another point in the parallelism betwixt Christ and Antichrist. We find it in the pretended miracles by which the Papacy has sought to persuade the world that it was not the adversary but the friend of Christ. This pretence of miracles was to form a far too prominent feature in the coming Antichrist to be left out in Paul’s great portraiture of him. “Whose coming is after the manner of Satan,” says the apostle, speaking by the Spirit (2 Thess. 2: 9), “with all power and signs and lying wonders.” The essential characteristic of Antichristianism, we have said, is its assumption of a character the very opposite of its true character. It was to be a secret undermining of Christianity under the show of being itself Christianity; a deadly war waged against Christ, under the bold assertion that itself is Christ. This necessitated, on the part of the Papacy, a profound study of the mission and character and life of Christ, in order to make its imitation as close and perfect as possible, and so draw the world away from him, and after itself. It must not be a vague and shadowy resemblance, traceable in only a few points. If the world is to be deceived, the counterfeit must be skillfully executed -the work of a great master -and it must be consistently sustained throughout. Ancient paganism was no lame or despicable counterfeit of the divinely-appointed worship at Jerusalem. Ancient paganism, however, was but a first attempt; and it was far from having exhausted the ingenuity and resource of its author. His subtilty and craft were to be set a-working a second time, and the result was to be a perfect and finished counterfeit -a masterpiece.

“Whose coming is after the working of Satan.” The two comings here contrasted -we say contrasted, for the parallelism is only on the surface, beneath, all is contrast, and contrariety -are the coming of God in the mission of His Son, and the coming of Satan in the mission of Antichrist. God is the author of truth, and the manner of His coming is by the propagation of great truths which dispel the darkness around the soul of man, and chase the night of error from the world. Satan is the author of falsehood; he has been a deceiver from the beginning, and he comes in the propagation of deceits, chicaneries, lies, errors and delusion, which, blinding the mind, only prepare men for being plunged into still greater errors and delusions.

“With all power.” Let us mark how like Antichrist was to be to Christ in the particular just noted “all power.” Antichrist was to come with an assumption of power, an air of majesty, as if to say, “I am the Son of the Highest.” His look how lofty! His words how stout! So had Daniel, in the night visions, beheld him. “He waxed exceeding great,” says Daniel, “toward the south and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.” He stood before the prophet, his feet planted on the earth, his head among the stars, claiming lordship over both worlds. “He waxed great even to the host of heaven; and he cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.” (Daniel viii.10.)

“All power,” said Christ to His disciples, “is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” This power was the eternal gift of the Father to the Son as Mediator. This power he wielded from the first moment of His entering on His work of mediation. Though veiling it during the days of His humiliation on earth, this power was in Him, and showed itself at times in some stupendous act. The elements of nature were obedient to Him, so, too, were the spirits of darkness, and not less the angels of heaven. If need were, He had only to pray to His Father, and the celestial squadrons would have hastened to His aid. Satan could gather enough from ancient prophecy and song to show him that such power was to be the attribute of the Messiah. “I will make Him, my first-born, higher that the kings of the earth.” So sang David. “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents; the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve Him.” Such was the glory which the coming Messiah cast before Him in prophecy, ages before He came. Satan must needs send forth his counterfeit Messiah with the mock symbols and attributes of a like power.

Antichrist, too, cast his shadow before him in prophecy before his actual coming as the triple-crowned chief of the Papacy. Daniel had seen his day afar off. How he contemplated and spoke of him we have already seen. With a few graphic strokes he paints the whole history of the Papacy. He traces it from its insignificant beginnings till it reaches its amazing and portentous height. We see the first sprouting of the “little horn.” We see Caesar vacate his seat; we see the “Vandal,” the “Ostrogoth,” and the “Longobard” plucked up before it. We see it rising by “leaps and bounds,” and now its head is among the stars. We see its “stout looks,” we hear its “great words,” and we witness with an awe bordering on terror its truculent deeds. He tramples on thrones; he roots up nations, he plucks the stars from their orbits; in fine, he dies all his pleasure, and there is none who can withstand his power, or say to him, “What doest thou?” John had a nearer view of the Antichrist in the visions of Patmos. He, too, like Daniel, is struck with his mighty and apparently irresistible power, and he makes this attribute prominent in his portraiture of him. John had known the vast prerogative of the Roman emperors; but here was a measure of power which surpassed that of the old “masters of the world,” and which appeared to the apostle more that human. In fact he expressly calls it the “gift” of the “dragon.” “The dragon gave him his power.” What the dragon gave to the Antichrist was not the power of the old Roman empire, but his own – that is, the dragon’s power. “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power to the beast” -that is, the temporal and spiritual monarchy which forms the Papacy. “And they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? “And power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” (Rev.xiii. 2,4,7.)

In His intercessory prayer we find Christ saying, -“Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.” The power here said to be given the Son over all flesh was not His power as God. That could not be given Him, for He possessed it inherently. It was His power as Mediator, and the end for which it was given is specially noted, “that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.” (John xvii. 1,2.)

In like manner the power “over all kindreds and tongues and nations” which the dragon gave to the deputy whom he sent into the world, was a gift; and it was given for a draconic end. And, accordingly, no sooner is this power conferred, that we hear a chorus of worship ascending to the dragon from all them that dwell upon the earth, “whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,”( Rev. xiii. 8.)an obvious contrast to the company referred to in our Lord’s intercessory prayer, “them whom thou hast given Me.” And, next, in meet accompaniment of the worship offered by those who had made the dragon their god is the roar of blasphemy which is heard rising and swelling to heaven. There is given to Antichrist a mouth, and the opening of his mouth is as the opening of the doors of the pit; there issue out of it “great things and blasphemies.” “He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” And the scene finds fitting outcome in the proclamation of “war” against the saints, which continues to be carried on all through his predicted term of power.

Yes, verily, prophecy makes no mistakes. And history makes none in interpreting it. He who “hath understanding” may read off the visions which were seen on the banks of “the river of Ulai” and in the “Isle of Patmos,” in the events which have since passed over Europe. Let us open the roll of Christendom. Let us survey its ages from the fifth to the fifteenth century. We are conscious at first of gazing only at chaos. The crowd of actors and the conflict of events but distract and perplex the mind. Europe is a tumbling sea in which the old nations are being engulphed, and new and barbarian races are arriving to take their place. We can discover neither unity nor progress in the drama; all is tumult and darkness. Let us shut up the roll. But stay; before putting it away, let us search it again, and, it may be, we shall find footsteps in these great waters. The cloud begins to lift, and order to appear. The ferment in the minds of men gives birth to a great system, as yet without form or name. The materials of which this system, not yet constituted, is composed, are drawn from a great variety of sources. Ancient Paganism, Druidic and Scandinavian superstition, Jewish Rabbinism, and Oriental philosophy, all contribute their share to it. A corrupt “Church” arranges, combines and concatenates these heterogeneous elements, and stamping them with its own impress, presents it to the world as Christianity.

The new worship must have celebrants. A human agency gathers round it, and that agency comes gradually to be summed up and embodied in one great personality. Let us mark this Colossus. His visage grows as the centuries revolve, and comes at last to look forth upon us, distinct and stout and terrible; but it is not new. We have seen it before. It is the same that looked forth upon us from the prophecies of Daniel and John. It is the same that shows itself incarnated in the Popes of the Middle Ages. Let us mark how complete and perfect an incarnation we have of it in Innocent III., in whom the popedom came to its full growth, and showed itself to the world in all it superhuman magnificence and grandeur. During the terrible pontificate of this man all that prophecy had spoken of the Antichrist was verified in fullest measure. Its predicted height of arrogance, of blasphemy and of domination was reached, While this mighty Pope stood over it, Christendom was still with fear. The stricken kings and nations cowered beneath him. He was God’s vicegerent, and claimed to be obeyed with the instant and profound submission which is due to the Eternal King. He promulgated the dogma of transubstantiation; he initiated the ‘holy” office of the inquisition; he launched the crusades against heresy and heretics, and dealt his thunder bolts of interdict and excommunication all round Christendom, and beyond it, crushing everyone and everything that dared to lift up the heel against his pontifical will. If this is not the Antichrist, then Antichrist we never can see; for what more can we have of any prophecy than a complete and perfect fulfilment? And this is a complete and perfect fulfilment of the prophecy of the power and pride of Antichrist.

The “power” of the “Man of Sin” will come again before us farther on; meanwhile we pass to another point in the parallelism.

CHAPTER X. ‘Signs and wonders’ of Christ and of Antichrist.”

This was to be a notable characteristic of the Antichrist, “whose coming,” says the apostle (2 Thess. ii. 9). “is with signs and lying wonders.” These words were fitted to turn the eyes of the early Christians back upon the prophecy of Daniel, in which it had been foretold of the Antichrist that he should “practise and prosper.”(* Dan. 8:12.) The phrase is suggestive of imposing by delusive arts upon the senses and understandings of men, and so gaining an ascendency over them. Of a like meaning is the phrase which occurs farther on (v. 25) in the same chapter, “he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand.” Still clearer on this point are the prophecies of John, not yet given, it is true, but which were to close the volume of inspiration, and be the guide of Christians in the next age, in their outlook for the Antichrist. The claim to work miracles is here set down as one of his notable marks.

“And he doeth great wonders,” says John, speaking of the second beast or ecclesiastical organisation of the Antichrist, “so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell in the earth, by the means of those miracles which he hath power to do.”( Rev. xiii. 18, 14.) This is in full agreement with Paul, who had already warned the primitive church that Antichrist would make his appearance as a miracle-worker.

Let us reflect how imperative it was on the Antichrist that he should claim the power of working miracles. Had he come as an open enemy, he would have had no need to pretend to such power; but, coming as the substitute and vicar of Christ, he must necessarily in this as in other points, imitate him whose substitute and vicar he professed to be.

The coming of Christ was signalised by mighty signs and wonders. The glory of miracle illustrated every step of His progress through the towns and villages of Galilee and Judea. The ancient prophets had performed miracles, but in none of them was seen the same affluence of miraculous power as in Christ. As light is in the stars, so was power in the prophets, but as light is in the sun, so was power in Christ. As He passed through the crowds of stricken men virtue flowed out of Him, and to “touch the hem of His garment, ” or hear the accents of His voice, was to be healed. Sight was given to the blind, hearing to the deaf, strength was infused into the withered limb, reason resumed its office in the brain of the maniac, and the pulse in which fever throbbed and burned became calm and cool at His word or at His touch. Even the grave owned His power, and opened its doors in obedience to His summons. And gave back its tenant to the world of the living. Such were the “signs and wonders” that heralded the advent and attested the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth.

The Papacy, as the Vice-Christ, has, in like manner, sought to announce its advent, and certify its mission by the performance of “signs and wonders.” Scarce is there a miracle recorded of the Son of God which the Church of Rome does not profess to have wrought. She pretends to have opened blind eyes, to have unstopped deaf ears, to have cured fevers, agues, palsies, madness, to have cast out devils, to have driven away pestilence, stayed the ravages of blight, and done things which it were too tedious to mention. Extending still farther the sphere of her miraculous operation, she has entered the realms of the grave and shown that there too she wields power by pretending to give life to the dead. Certain of her “saints” have possessed the “gift of miracles” in an eminent degree, and their “lives” are one long record of prodigy and wonder. They have dried up rivers, walked upon the waves of the sea, and stilled tempests. Angels have descended to minister to them, and preternatural stars have shone out to lead them in the dark. In short, the Church of Rome claims to have wielded the same unbounded power over both the visible and the invisible world which Christ did, and to have imitated Him in all things, save the meekness of His spirit, the purity of His doctrine, and the holiness of His life.

Popery professes, too, to work spiritual wonders -those divine and saving changes on the heart and soul of man which Christianity accomplishes, and which it is the prerogative of Christianity alone to accomplish. The Church of Rome professes in baptism to regenerate the soul, and change the eternal destinies of the baptised. By anointing with oil, she fills men with the Holy Ghost; by her sacraments she replenishes them with grace; by ordination she bridges over eighteen centuries and joins the priest to Peter. Five words spoken at the altar change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Two words uttered in the confessional effect the pardon of the “penitent,” and the viaticum gives assurance to the man, setting out on his last journey, that he shall find the gates of Paradise open to give him entrance among the blessed. These are mighty wonders. It is thus that the false Christ has carried on the war against the true Christ.

But a single term is thrown in which effectually breaks the spell, and dissolves the power of these wonders over all who are not willfully subject to their illusion. The “mystery of iniquity” was to come with “lying wonders;” a most essential difference, which it becomes all to note who have a mind not to be deceived to their eternal loss.

The miracles of Christ were done in the light of day, in the presence of thousands who could sift them and subject them to infallible tests, and, who, having done so were forced to the conclusion that either the miracle was true, or their senses were false. Of those who saw them done not a few were the bitter enemies of the person who wrought them, and would have been glad to find that they were cheats, and not slow to have proclaimed the imposture to the world; and yet these miracles remained uncontradicted. No one in all the nation of the Jews ventured to deny the truth of any one miracle of Jesus. The farthest that malevolence and slander deemed it prudent to go was to insinuate that the miracle had been wrought by Satanic power. The reply to the accusation given on the spot, and at the time, was as conclusive as it was dignified, and it has lost none of its force even yet: “Can Satan cast out Satan?”

But let us mark how different it is with the other class of miracles, and how lacking they are in that indubitable evidence that attested the mission of the Son of God. There is not one of them that could maintain its claim as a veritable fact before a tribunal of unbiased and enlightened judges. Some of these miracles were evidently cheats on those in whose presence they were wrought. Of late many startling discoveries have been made of the machinery by which these “miracles” were done. Many of these wonders were not published to the world till some hundreds of years after they were said to have been wrought. Their workers would seem to have been unambitious of living fame, seeing they hid their light under a bushel. And some of these miracles are so childish that it is an insult to our understandings to ask us to believe that God ever interposed His power to work such deeds. Prophecy gave them the right name before they were done. They are lying wonders.

The Spiritual performances of the Church of Rome are emphatically “lying wonders.” Baptismal regeneration is a lying wonder, sacramental grace is a lying wonder, priestly power is a lying wonder, the absolution of the Confessional is a lying wonder, transubstantiation is the biggest wonder and the greatest lie of all, and extreme unction is a last and fatal lie. There is no reality behind any of these things, and they are the more to be deplored that they have immediate reference to the eternal world, and that millions take their departure to the world fully confiding in these lies for salvation.

Let us mark the parallelism. It is at once a parallel and a contrast. The Gospel came amid the effulgence of real miracles which were wrought by God, and were a Divine attestation to the Messiahship of His Son. Popery came amid the murky and delusive glare of false miracles, which were wrought by Satan, and which were his sign manual, bearing witness to all that the system in behalf of which they were done was the “Mystery of Iniquity.”

CHAPTER XI. Antichrist’s ‘signs and wonders’ of Terror.”

There is another class of wonders that the Papacy professes to do, and which are of a nature not quite so innocent and harmless as those enumerated above. Though equally false, they owe the terror they inspired and the suffering they inflicted to the belief that they were true and real. Speaking of the two-horned lamb like beast of the earth, John says, “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men.”( Apoc. xiii. 13.

The prophecy found a striking fulfilment in the papal interdicts and excommunications so frequent in the Middle Ages, and not unknown in even our own day. These ebullitions of pontifical vengeance, it was pretended, were fire out of heaven: the fire of the wrath of God which the Pope had power to evoke, therewith to burn up his enemies. The blinded nations believed that in the voice of the Pope they heard the voice of God, and that the fulminations of the Vatican were the thunderings and lightnings of Divine wrath. A papal excommunication was more dreadful than the invasion of thousands of armed men. When launched against a kingdom what dismay, misery, and wailing overspread it. The whole course of life was instantly stopped. The lights were extinguished at the altar; the church doors were closed; the bells would not be tolled; marriages were celebrated in the graveyard; and the dead were buried in ditches. Men dared not make merry, for a sense of doom weighed upon their spirits. These terrible edicts pursued men into the other world, and souls arriving from the unhappy realm overhung by the papal curse found the gates of paradise shut, and had to wander forlorn till it should please the divinity of the Seven hills to lift off his sentence. Thus did the Papacy cause “fire” to come down from God out of heaven, and men, believing it to be real fire, were scorched by it. In the days of King John England lay under interdict for more than six years.

To the mightiest sovereign even the papal excommunication was a dreadful affair. He shook and trembled on his throne for his army could give him no protection; it was well, indeed, if both soldiers and subjects did not unite in carrying out the papal behest by driving him from his kingdom, if some fanatic monk, by the more quick despatch of the dagger, did not save them the trouble. European history furnishes a list of more than sixty-four emperors and kings deposed by the Popes. In the number is Henry II. of England, deposed by Alexander III.; King John, by Innocent III.; Richard and Edward, by Boniface IX., Henry VIII., by Clement VII., and again by Paul III.; Elizabeth, by Pius V. Even King Robert the Bruce had this terrible curse launched against him, but thanks to the Culdee element still strong in Scotland, King Robert and his subjects held the Pope’s fulmination but a brutum fulmen, and so it did not harm them. Almost all the bulls against crowned heads have contained clauses stripping them of their territories, and empowering their neighbour kings to invade and seize them; and influenced partly by a desire to serve the Pope, and partly by the greed of what was not their own, they have not been slow to act on the papal permission.

As a specimen of the lofty style of these fulminations -the mouth speaking great things -we give the Bull of Excommunication issued by Sixtus V. (1585) against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde, whom he calls the “two sons of wrath.” It runs thus: -“The authority given to St. Peter and his successors by the immense power of the eternal King excels all the power of earthly princes: it passes uncontrolled sentence upon them all, and if it find any of them resisting the ordinance of God, it takes a more severe vengeance upon them, casting them down from their throne, however powerful they may be, and tumbling them to the lowest parts of the earth, as the ministers of aspiring Lucifer. We deprive them and their posterity of their dominions for ever. By the authority of these presents we absolve and free all persons from their oath of allegiance, and from all duty whatever, relating to dominion, fealty, and obedience, and we charge and forbid them all from presuming to obey them, or any of their admonitions, laws, or commands.”

The Romanists themselves have chosen the very figure of the Apocalypse, “fire from heaven,” to designate the Papal excommunications and anathemas. Thus Gregory VII. spoke of the Emperor Henry IV. when excommunicated as “struck with thunder.” (Afflatum fulmino -Danburg, 587. ) To the same effect is the account of the excommunication of the Emperor Frederick by Pope Innocent at the first Council of Lyons. “These words of excommunication, uttered in the midst of the Council, struck the hearers with terror as might the flashing thunderbolts. When with candles lighted and flung down, the Lord Pope and his assistant prelates flashed their lightning-fire terribly against the Emperor Frederick, now no longer to be called emperor, his procurators and friends burst into a bitter wailing and struck the thigh or breast on that day of wrath, of calamity, and of woe!( & Harduin, vii. 401.)

It was in the days of Gregory VII. that the papal heavens began thus to thunder and lighten. The first burst of the tempest continued for nearly two hundred years, its fury falling mainly on rebellious kings. When the kings were subdued the storm was next directed against heresy and heretics. Since the days of Innocent III. till our own revolution of 1688, there were only brief periods of silence in the pontifical firmament. For five centuries these thunders rolled almost without intermission or pause. Peal followed peal in rapid succession. The crusades of the Albigenses and Waldenses; the Hussite campaigns in Bohemia; the wars of Charles V. in Germany; the wars of the League in France; the butcheries of Alva in the Low Countries; the thirty years’ war in the German Fatherland; the St Bartholomew in France, and the equally bloody massacre of Irish Protestants in 1641; -these are only a few of the more notable thunder-bursts which have marked the course of that long tempest of pontifical wrath which began in the days of Hildebrand in the eleventh century, and continued its terrible reverberations till 1688.

In Rome’s Great Book of Curses one of the most notable is the “Bullum Coenae Domini.” It is truly an utterance from the “mouth speaking great things.” Framed since the Reformation, it curses all the various sections of the protestant Church, giving special prominence to Calvinists and Zuinglians. Its scope is wide indeed. The world and its inhabitants, so far as they were known to the framers of this bull, are compendiously cursed in it. Its thunders are heard re-echoing far beyond the limits if Christendom, and its lightnings are seen to strike the pirates of barbarous seas, as well as the Calvinists of Great Britain.

This bull was wont to be promulgated annually by the Pope in person, attended by a magnificent array of cardinals and priests. The ceremony took place in Maunday Thursday, -the Thursday before Easter, and was accompanied by numerous solemnities, fitted to strike the spectators with awe. It was read from the lofty vestibule of the Church of the Lateran, amid the firing of cannon, the ringing of bells, the blaring of trumpets, and the blazing of torches. When the curses of the bull had been thundered forth, the torches were extinguished and flung into the great piazza beneath, to signify the outer darkness into which all heretics shall finally be hurled. Pope Ganganelli in 1770 forbade the public reading of the bull Coenae Domini, but the practice was soon revived, and is still continued at Rome, though not in the same public fashion. But the discontinuance of its open promulgation matters nothing; it is unrepealed; all heretics are, ipso facto, under its ban, and the establishment of the papal Hierarchy gives it to all Romanists the force of law in the united Kingdom.

The papal wrath can at pleasure extend or contract is sphere. Nothing is so lofty as to be beyond its reach, and nothing is so minute as to be beneath it. It can vent itself in a tempest that covers a whole kingdom, and it can concentrate itself on a single individual.

If it shall be said that the “mouth” that spoke these “great things” in the past would not give utterance to them now, nor will ever utter such things in time to come; in other words, that the Roman Church and her Popes have renounced all these lofty claims, and no longer challenge supremacy over kings and princes, we have to remind those who make this affirmation that the late Pope, Pius IX., in a great state document, to which the seal of infallibility has since been twice appended, gives this assertion the most distinct and explicit contradiction. In the twenty-third Article of the Syllabus, Pius IX. condemns the proposition that the Roman Pontiffs and oecumenical councils have at any time “exceeded the limits of their power , or usurped the rights of princes.” This is a justification ex cathedra of the loftiest claims that ever emanated from the Papal Chair, and the most tyrannical usurpations ever made by Popes on the prerogatives of princes and the liberties of nations. With the history of the Popes before him, he solemnly declares that no one of them ever exceeded the bounds of his power: or as Dr G. F. von Schulte, Professor of Canon Law at Prague, summing up the teaching of Canon Law on this point, puts it, “The limits if the papal Almightiness on earth consist solely in their own will.” We may say with Shakespeare –

“Here’s a large mouth indeed That spits forth death and mountains, rocks and seas.”

These characteristics belong to the whole series of symbolic representations of the apostate power in Scripture, and thus they establish a perfect identity betwixt the “little horn” of Daniel, the “two-horned, lamb-like beast” of the Apocalypse, the “Man of Sin” of Paul, and the Antichrist of John.

CHAPTER XII. The All-deceivableness of Unrighteousness.”

The coming of the “Man of Sin” was to be with the “all-deceivableness of unrighteousness” -with finished, perfected, and, till the “man of sin” appeared, unparalleled craft.

Let us mark the phrase. It is a very remarkable one. It is used in no other place; it is employed to describe no other system; it describes the great apostacy, and it alone. It is not simply “deceivableness,” nor is it simply “unrighteousness” -it is the “deceivableness of unrighteousness;” nay, it is the “all-deceivableness of unrighteousness.”

Craft and deceivableness were no unknown things before the Papacy entered the world. Priests and statesmen have, in every age, dealt largely in deceivableness. But the deceivableness peculiar to herself -it is the deceivableness of unrighteousness. Not only is it a craft more subtle and more defined than any with which man operated in former ages: it is a craft of a new order. It is a system of unrighteousness so set forth as to seem that system of righteousness which god has revealed for the salvation of the world, and by consequence accepted as such by all who, not taught of the Holy Ghost, are deceived and destroyed by it.

Paganism was a system of deceivableness. It was the worship of a false god, under the pretence of being the worship of the true God. But popery is a deceivableness on a scale far beyond that of paganism. The one was a counterfeit of the religion of the Gospel. Popery has a god of its own -him, even, whom the canon law calls the “Lord our God.” * It has a saviour of its own -the Church, to wit. It has a sacrifice of it own -the Mass. It has a mediator of its own -the Priesthood. It has a sanctifier of its own -the Sacrament. It has a justification of its own -that even of infused righteousness. It has a pardon of its own -the pardon of the Confessional; and it has in the heavens an infallible, all-prevailing advocate unknown to the Gospel -the “Mother of God.” It thus presents to the world a spiritual and saving apparatus for the salvation of men, and yet it neither sanctifies nor saves anyone. It looks like a church; it professes to have all that a church ought to have; and yet, it is not a church. It is a grand deception -“the all-deceivableness of unrighteousness.”

There is another point here that merits out attention. It relates to the architecture or order of the spiritual house, the Church. Popery from its foundation to its top-stone has imitated that order. That “Christ is the Son of God,” is the corner-stone of the Gospel church. Out of that root the whole Gospel springs. It is the “rock” on which Christ, addressing Peter, said that He would build His Church.

That the “Pope is the Vicar of Christ” is the corner-stone of the papal Church. Out of that root does the whole of popery spring. On that “rock” said Boniface III. in the seventh century, and Gregory VII., with yet greater emphasis in the eleventh, will I build my church.

And let us further mark that both churches rest not on a doctrine, but on a person. The Church of God rests on a Person, even Christ. No one is saved by simply believing a system of truth. The truth is the light that shows the sinner his way to the Saviour. He is united to Christ by his faith which takes hold of the Saviour, and by the Spirit who comes to dwell in his heart. Thus is he a member of the Spiritual Body. The Bible, ministers, and ordinances are the channels through which the life of the Head flows into the members of the body. Thus are they built up a spiritual house, a holy temple -“built on the foundation of prophets, and apostles, Jesus Christ Himself the chief corner-stone.” All this is most adroitly counterfeited in the Pope’s Church. It is only in the way of the members of that church resting on Peter, or what is the same thing, on the Pope, that they can be saved. Romanists tell us that it is essential to the salvation of every human being that he be subject to the authority of the Pope. Peter -that is, the Pope -is the one reservoir of grace; from him it flows down through the grand conduit of apostolical succession to all the members of the “Church,” and thus are they built up a spiritual house -built upon the foundation of traditions, sacraments, priests, bishops, cardinals, the Pope himself being the chief corner-stone.

Moreover, the whole policy and actings of the Roman Church have been marked by a deceivableness unequalled by any other society or confederacy known to history. Her Popes have been the most astute race of rulers the world ever saw. What a depth of cunning and craft in the Roman Curia! Where is the cabinet or monarch that can cope with it? Her more than human insight Rome conceals under the guise of artlessness and simplicity. She looks so guileless and so “lamb-like,” that statesman say we shall have no difficulty in holding our own against diplomatists like these. It is only when they are outwitted and be fooled by them that they open their eyes and begin to wonder where the strength lies that has baffled them. Rome buys and sells statesmen in her market; she uses them as the muleteer his beasts of burden; and when they are old and broken down, and can no longer do her turns, she hurls them from the high places to which she had exalted them, and leaves their mangled reputations, like unsavory carcasses, on the highway of history, that posterity may see how Rome rewards those who serve her. It was written of her of old time, “She hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her.”

This vast deceivableness is one of the main sources of the strength of the so-called Church of Rome. She has the art of enlisting all the claims of virtue, and all the sanctions of law, on the side of that by which virtue is outraged and law violated. Where her purpose is the most cruel, her speech is ever the most bland. Where her motive is the most villainous, her profession is ever the most plausible. She always gives the holiest name to the most unholy deed. When she burns a heretic she calls it an auto-da-fe -an act of faith. When she ravages a province with fire and sword, she styles it a crusade -that is, an evangelistic expedition. Her torture chamber is styled the “Holy Office.” And when she deposes monarchs, stripping them of crown and kingdom, and compelling them, as she did Henry IV. of Germany, to stand with naked feet at her gates amid the drifts of winter, it is with the make-believe of a kind father administering salutary chastisement to an erring son. In short, she not only transforms herself into an angel of light, but vice itself she transforms into virtue, decking blackest crime in the white robe of innocence, and arraying foulest iniquity with the resplendent airs of holiness.

What are the sacraments by which she professes to replenish men with grace? What are the masses by which she professes to impart Christ and his salvation to them? What the crucifixes, rosaries, and amulets, by which she fortifies men against the assaults of Satan and evil spirits? What the indulgences by which she shortens the sufferings of souls in purgatory? What the pardons with which she sends men away into the other world? What the vows of poverty under which she cherishes a pride the most arrogant, and an avariciousness the most insatiable? What are the vows of celibacy under which she veils an unbridled lewdness? What are the dispensations by she releases men from the obligations of the moral law, and professes to annul oaths, promises, and covenants? Above all, what are her logic and system of ethics by which, as in the hands of Ligouri, she makes vice and virtue falsehood and truth change sides, and shows how one, if he but direct aright his intention, can commit the most monstrous crime and yet contract not a particle of guilt? What are these things, we ask, save the “deceivableness of unrighteousness?” for surely the utmost limits of deception have here been reached, and the Deceiver himself can go no farther. He has produced his masterpiece.

CHAPTER XIII. The Culmination of the Parallelism- An Enthronization.”

We now approach the point where the parallelism culminates. Clear and distinct, like an Alpine peak, rises the CLIMAX in each case! The one stands clothed in the pure spiritual glory of heaven, the other arrays itself in the false splendours of earth. How close, apparently, are these two culminations, and yet how immeasurable the distance betwixt them!

Not all at once do we ascend these lofty summits. We must permit the apostle to lead us up by the several successive stages which conduct to them; in this way only can we obtain a full view of the parallelism. And be in a condition to see how real and grand it is.

The apostle begins at the lowest stage of the vast ascent. “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way; and them shall that wicked be revealed.”( * 2 Thess. ii. 6,7,8.) The time for the revelation or apocalypse of Antichrist -for Antichrist was to have his apocalypse even as Christ had His -was not yet come. The “mystery of iniquity” was already working -working in the region of principles and influences, and working in the region of seducing spirits; but meanwhile, there existed a great “let,” or obstruction to his open revelation. Paul hints very plainly that the Thessalonian Christians knew what that obstruction was, and therefore he did not name it. He had visited them sometime before, and talked freely with them about the coming apostacy, and had mentioned the “let” which must first be removed before the apostacy could be free to develop itself. That obstruction was the Roman empire. When present, talking freely with them on the subject, Paul could say so in express terms; but it might be dangerous to name the Roman empire in an epistle to be read openly, and go the round of the churches. That might draw down on the Christians the displeasure of the Roman authorities. The apostle knew the hindrance in Antichrist’s path, having learned it, doubtless, by the study of Daniel, and the revelation of the spirit. It was known, moreover, to the early fathers, who all turned their eyes to Rome as the fated spot where the “lawless one” was first to show himself; but they spoke of him with bated breath, and in circumlocutionary phrase.

While the Roman Empire stood it was impossible that Antichrist should appear. Caesar was Pontifex Maximus; and while he held possession, there could not be two High Priests occupying the same capital, sharing the same throne, and sacrificing at the same altars. The first and lesser Pontifex Maximus must be removed before the second and greater could stand up. This was to happen in no long time. God would remove the “let,” by bringing the Gothic nations into Italy, overturning the empire, and making vacant the throne of Caesar. Then Antichrist would climb up to the empty seat. “God chased the Caesars from Rome,” says De Maistre, “that he might give it to the Popes.”

Let us mark next that it had been decreed of both Christ and Antichrist, that they should occupy thrones -no meaner seat than a royal one must either of them have. Christ was to sit on the throne of David, and Antichrist was to sit on the throne of Caesar. In pursuance thereof a train of providences preceded the advent of each, the final end of which was to make vacant the throne they were respectively to occupy. Three revolutions in the royal line of Judah were to make way for Christ, and four consecutive revolutions in the line of the world-power were to open the way for the coming of Antichrist. Jacob, on his deathbed, had given his posterity a sign of the instant appearance of the Messiah. That sign was a final break-down in the royal line: -“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.” (Gen. xlix.10.)When the time drew nigh Ezekiel sounded the alarm more definitively; giving warning that the throne of Judah should fall once, and a second and a third time, and then there would stand up a King whose “dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.” Thus saith the Lord God, “Remove the diadem and take off the crown: I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, till He come whose right it is, and I will give it unto Him.”( & Ezekiel xxi. 26, 27.) The throne of Judah was overturned a first time by the separation of the Ten Tribes from the house of David. It was overturned a second time by the deportation of the nation to Babylon. It was overturned a third and last time in the subjugation of Judea by the Romans, who stript the descendants of David of the shadowy dominion they had wielded down to this time. Then Christ came, of whom the angel who announced His birth spoke thus: -“The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.”( Luke i. 32,33.)

In Antichrist’s counterfeit church and kingdom the parallelism on this point is striking indeed. The “man of sin” was, when fully developed, to occupy the throne of this world. This magnificent post had been offered by the Tempter to the true Christ: “All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them will I give thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” The offer was promptly declined. The Tempter next turned him to the false Christ, “I will convert thy chair into a throne,” said he, to the bishop of Rome, “and thy pastoral staff into a royal sceptre, if thou wilt be my vassal.” The offer met no second refusal. The bargain was struck, and faithfully fulfilled on both sides. The stipulated worship was rendered, and the wages were fully paid. In witness we cite Innocent III. in the thirteenth century. Do we not hear him boasting that he had been set over the kingdoms to build and to pluck up at his pleasure? And how often do we find the same mighty claim in the mouth of his successors in the following centuries? Nay, even in our own day the echoes of the same proud boast are heard from the papal chair.

It took a thousand years to prepare the way of both, and seat each in his respective throne. The throne of David was emptied again and again, that it might be filled by the King of the eternal empire. The throne of the world-power was in like manner emptied again and again, that it might be filled by the king of whom it had been written, “he goeth into perdition.” The throne of the world-power was overturned a first time in the fall of Babylon; it was overturned a second time in the overthrow of the Medo-Persion Power. It was overturned a third time in the extinction of the Greek kingdom; and it was overturned a fourth and last time, when the Roman Empire fell before the Goths. There was no longer a Caesar at Rome. “He that letteth will let,” the apostle had said, “until he be taken out of the way.” He had now been taken out of the way, and the hour was come for “that Wicked” to be revealed.

Let us here mark, that both mysteries have the same culmination -an enthronization even. The “mystery of godliness,” beginning in the cradle, ends on the throne -the throne of heaven. The “mystery of iniquity,” beginning in the silent and hidden workings of early times, ends on the throne -the throne of earth.

It appears plain to us, though expositors have passed it over, that the two passages (1 Tim. 11. 16 and 2 Thess. ii. 3-12) -the one descriptive of the “mystery of godliness,” and the other descriptive of the “mystery of iniquity” -were intended by the apostle, to be, and are parallels clause by clause. Each clause in the one throws its light upon the corresponding clause in the other, and thus the depth and height of each mystery are evolved. A single glance at these two passages will suffice to show that it is by the same ascending gradations that we mount up to the climax of both mysteries. Let us look at each.

“And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (1 Tim. iii. 16. ) It is thus the apostle, in a single verse, with masterly comprehensiveness, states the successive steps -the whole of that magnificent graduation, by which the mystery of godliness reached its mighty climax. “God was manifest in the flesh.” “Mary brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapt Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger.” There was the beginning of the mystery. This is the first step in the mighty ascent.

“Justified in the spirit.’ As when the Spirit descended upon Him in a visible form at His baptism; and again when He began His public ministry, with all its attendant miracles and wonders, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,” were the words with which, in the synagogue of Nazareth, He opened his first sermon, “for He hath anointed Me to preach good tidings to the meek.”

“Seen of angels.” As when they sang His natal hymn at Bethlehem, and when they ministered to Him in the wilderness, after His temptation, and again in His agony in the garden, when “there appeared an angel from heaven strengthening Him,” and on the morning of His resurrection, when two of them waited in His sepulchre to tell the women that He was risen.

“Preached unto the Gentiles.” “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” was His last charge to His apostles when about to ascend from the Mount of Olives. No sooner was the spirit given at Pentecost than his apostles and evangelists traveled all through the land of Israel, and passing beyond the bounds of Jewry, they preached the Gospel in the cities of Greece and Rome, and going on still farther toward the west, carried the tidings of the cross to the shores of Britain.

“Believed on in the world.” So rises the gradation, and so does the mystery of godliness advance to its culmination. The gods of paganism fall before the preaching of the “Crucified.” Mighty nations, both east and west, became obedient to the faith; the gospel made good its claim to be of heaven by the blessed fruits it everywhere brought forth; and Jesus was believed on as the true messiah and Saviour of the world.

“Received up into glory.” This is the final step; here the mystery culminates. We can now look along the entire line of its development, from the cradle in the stable to the eternal gates which are seen to lift themselves up that the King of Glory may enter, and sit down on the throne of universal and everlasting dominion, while seraph and seraphim and “every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,” are heard saying, “Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.”( Apoc. V, 13.)

The “mystery of iniquity” passed through a precisely similar gradation, to issue in a climax which is an obvious and striking counterpart of that which we have just described. “The mystery of iniquity doth already work.” We here see it in its cradle. It was “justified” of Satan by the lying signs and wonders which he enabled its propagators to work. It was published unto the Gentiles by preaching friars and itinerant monks, who sought in all the deceivableness of unrighteousness to persuade men that the Pope was God’s vicar, and that the traditions of his Church were the true Gospel. It was believed on in the world by those whose names are not written in the Book of Life. And finally, it was received up into the heavens of ecclesiastical dominion and imperial glory. Its chief was now seen sitting in the temple of God; showing himself that he is God, while the kings and nations of the earth are beheld bowing before him, and ascribing to him dominion and power and glory. They worshipped the beast saying, “Who is like unto the beast?” “Power was given unto him over all kindreds and tongues and nations; and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”( Revel. xiii. 4-8.)

The Pope on the throne of thrones on earth is the counterfeit of Christ on the throne of thrones in heaven.

CHAPTER XIV. Antichrist’s usurpation over Kings and Nations.”

Mounted on the world’s highest seat, how was the Antichrist to demean himself? – With an arrogance never witnessed before. As regards kings, he was to hold himself their master, and as regards God, he was to deem himself His equal. “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”( * 2 Thess. ii. 4. )

These words would appear to foreshadow a double usurpation on the part of Antichrist, the first, over all earthly rulers, and the second, over the great Ruler of heaven. The testimony of history is clear on both points. It shows that the ambition of the Pope has been twofold. He has vaulted over the throne of kings into the seat of God.

Who are they who are “called God,” whom Antichrist was to oppose, and over whom he was to exalt himself? We strongly incline to think that it is magistrates and kings who are meant. Righteous law is the expression of God’s will. Those who administer it are His deputies. On earth they fill the office, and bear the image of the Supreme Magistrate. Thus, in scripture, magistrates are called “gods.” “I have said ye are gods.” “God sitteth in the assembly of the mighty, He judgeth among the gods” (Ps. lxxxii. 1). “There be,” says the apostle (1 Cor. Viii. 5), “that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth.” And we are commanded to be subject to kings and all in authority, for conscience’ sake. In this light the clause foretells that Antichrist would usurp supremacy over all civil authority, and rule on earth; (This is the true exegesis of the passage. In the Greek it is, “all called theos, or that is sebasma,” which we may render thus, “all that is called divine, or that is venerable.) and truly the Papacy has fulfilled the prophecy to the letter. As a pretended divine and infallible Vice-gerency, it claims to hold, in its hands, the administration of all human affairs, temporal and spiritual, and to make all nations, magistrates, and kings accountable at its bar.

Let us here again mark the parallelism. This assumed Vice-gerency over all human affairs is another part of the false Christ’s imitation of the true Christ. Christ possesses this power in reality, therefore Antichrist must needs possess it in appearance. God the Father is the immediate Governor of the universe, but He carries on His government through God the Son. This power He has delegated to Christ as Head of the Church, and as a reward of His sufferings. “He raised Him from the dead,” says the apostle, “and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places; far above all principality and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is his body.”( # Eph. i. 20-23)

These words expressly teach that the Father made Christ head of the Church, and so gave Him all spiritual power, and head of the world to the Church, and so subordinated to Him all temporal power. The passage, in fact, presents Him as seated on the throne of the universe, on His head the diadem of unlimited and everlasting dominion, in his hand the sceptre of a boundless empire; and at His bidding all the princedoms and powers of heaven, all the thrones, armies, and potentates of earth, in order to the effectual carrying out of the great ends of His mediatorial sovereignty.

The Popes were true to their assumed character as Vice-Christs in this point also. They claimed to be the world’s supreme magistrates. Cardinal Bellarmine affirms that every title which is in Scripture given to Christ appertains also to the Pope. Binding up in one colossal jurisdiction things temporal and spiritual, the Pope stretched his sceptre over all the seats of human judicature, and sat with his feet on the necks of kings, as well as of priests. He claimed it as his prerogative to judge all, but to be judged by none; to make laws, but to be subject to no law; thereby unconsciously vindicating his prophetic appellative”the lawless one.” He has had himself depicted holding in one hand the “keys” of spiritual authority, and in the other the sword of temporal power. He has taught that it was fit that all princes should kiss his feet, and has extorted from not a few this act of obedience. He has inculcated on monarchs that sound orthodoxy requires them to hold their kingdoms as fiefs of the papal chair; and to keep alive in them this pious frame of mind, he has imposed on them and on their subjects the tax of Peter’s Pence. If still he discerned in them the risings of pride, this meek vicar of Christ has plucked the sceptre from their hand, kicked their crown with his pontifical foot, and transferred their dominion to some more devout and jumble-minded neighbour. All this he has done “as set of God over the kingdoms and nations to plant and to pluck up-to build and to pull down -to make and to unmake kings.” “Is not the king of England my bondslave? (Pope Boniface VIII., to Philip, King of France) were words from the “great mouth.”

And the Popes have shown themselves on occasion as mighty in deeds as in words. Gregory VII. dethroned Henry IV. of Germany. Innocent III. Otho, and our King John. Paul III., Henry VIII. And Pius V. and Gregory XIII., passed sentence of deposition on Queen Elizabeth. Pius V., as “he alone who had been constituted prince over all nations and all kingdoms, to pull down, destroy, dissipate, disperse, plant, and build …pronounced the said Elizabeth, a heretic… and deprived her of the pretended right to the kingdom, as well as of every dominion, dignity and privilege what soever,” pronouncing the same anathema on all who dare obey her. If the annals of the Papacy at this hour are not illustrated by these solemn acts of pontifical justice, it is because the power, and not the right is lacking. The Roman Church has made it the solemn duty of all her members to destroy all Protestants when they are able to do so without danger to themselves. Bannes, a Dominican, determines “that Catholics in England and Saxony are excused from rising up against their Protestant princes with their subjects, because they commonly are not powerful enough, and the attempt in such circumstances would expose them to great danger.” (In. ii. 2; Thom. 9-12, art. ii.) Belarmine, one of their greatest authorities, is equally frank and explicit. He says, “If it were possible to root out the heretics, without doubt, they are to be destroyed root and branch; but if it cannot be done, because they are stronger that we, and there be danger that if they should oppose us that we should be worsted, then we are to be quiet.”( De Laicis, lib.iii. cap. 22.) The two latest Popes, Pius IX. and Leo. XIII. in their public manifestos, claim the same formidable power; but they prudently postpone the exercise of it till the arrival of a happier day to the Papacy.

CHAPTER XV. Antichrist exalts himself above God.”

To make earthly kings his vassals, and earthly thrones his footstool, came far short of the measure of the papal ambition. The Popes have planted their foot upon the throne of God Himself. That the majesty of Rome should give place to the Vice-Christ was but a small matter; the Majesty of heaven must descend from His seat that the Pope may mount into it. “He, as God,” says the apostle, “sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.”

The Pope has claimed to be God first in words, second in acts.

Let us listen to the words the “great mouth” has spoken; and also to some which his friends have spoken for him.

Let us mark first where Antichrist is said to sit. ” He sitteth in the temple of god.” This temple cannot be that of the Jews on Mount Moriah, for the apostle is speaking of an act which was to be done by One who was not to appear till after the fall of the Roman Empire; but long before the empire fell the temple of the Jews was laid in ashes. (In the “Acts” the Jewish temple is spoken of twenty five times. In all these passages the word used is ieron (hieron), never vaos (naos). The term here used by the apostle is vaos. Christian Church,” as also Chrysostem, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas. ) The name temple is carried over to the Christian Church, and in places innumerable in the New Testament, it is used to denote, sometimes an individual believer, and sometimes the whole body of professing Christians. Writing to the Corinthian Christians Paul says, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God.”( 1 Cor. iii. 16) And again collectively, “Jesus Christ the chief corner stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” (Eph. ii. 20.) We conclude that the temple in which Antichrist is here seen to sit is the Christian Church. This interpretation preserves the unity of Paul’s Prophecy. Antichrist or “man of sin” was to be the outcome and head of the apostacy; but the apostacy was to spring up in the Christian Church, for “the falling away” was to be, and only could be, a falling away from the Christian faith. Antichrist therefore could “sit,” that is, establish himself and exercise jurisdiction, nowhere but in the professedly Christian Church. As a Vice-Christ it behoved all his visible characteristics and all his environments to be professedly Christian and ecclesiastical.

This effectually disposes of all those theories of Antichrist which would find him in some powerful atheistic confederacy, or in some masterful, political chief, or other embodiment of monstrous iniquity and tyranny yet to arise, and which, during a brief but terrible career, should desolate the world. Such a power could in no sense be said to sit in the temple of God. It would be a power outside the temple; and so far from aspiring to office and dignity in the “temple” -that is, in the church -such a power must needs, from its instincts and character, make war on the church, under the banner of open hostility, and with the cry of: Raze it, raze it.”

Moreover, no one-man Antichrist, or Antichrist whose reign is to last for only three years and a -half, can fulfil the conditions of Paul’s prophecy.

How could he spring into being, climb to a height which mortal had never reached before, exhibit his lying wonders, and deceive the whole world, compel all its nations and kings to serve him, make war with the saints and overcome them, and all in the brief period of three and a half years? Though the Antichristian host had issued from the pit, fully armed and mustered for battle, and had spread themselves on dragon wing to the four corners of the earth, they could hardly have accomplished such a feat. The awful visitation would have been overpast before men had will known that it had befallen; and where would have been the need for “the faith and patience of the saints,” or for the cry “how long?” Antichrist could not make his first appearance full grown. This would have been fatal to his pretensions as Vice-Christ. The fist appearance of the true Christ was as an infant in the manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Not unsimilar must be the beginnings of Antichrist.

He was “working” in Paul’s day; he grew up and developed stage by stage, and in process of time reached his full stature, and he was not to be destroyed till the far-future epoch of the glorious coming of Christ. The years of his life were to be counted in centuries; they were far to exceed the days of the life of man; they were to fill the period betwixt the time when Paul wrote, and the appearance of Christ at the Millenium. The system was to be presided over, and necessarily so, by a race of rulers, who were to take their place in succession at its head; but inasmuch as there was to be identity in the system from first to last, and it was to grow as man grows, by regulated stages, and inasmuch as its chiefs were to be linked together by oneness of spirit and aim, Antichrist is spoken of as a corporate individuality. The conditions of the prophecy, we repeat, could be fulfilled by no one man, however superhuman his power, or however stupendous his wickedness, whose rise, reign, and ruin were to be acted and over in the short space of three years and a half.

We return to the majestic counterfeit, so loftily enthroned, whom the blinded nations mistake for God, and are seen bowing in worship before it. “He as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

The Pope has claimed to be God, first, in words; second, in acts. Let us listen to some of the words which have come from the “great mouth” itself; and next to some utterances to the same effect which have fallen from some of Antichrist’s friends. Sitting in the Temple of God, that is, speaking ex cathedra as Vice-Christ, the Pope has, in the most unequivocal manner, claimed to be god. To this daring pitch of ambition and blasphemy has he carried the parallelism or imitation. The true Christ is god, therefore the Vice-Christ must claim to be God also. In the canon law the pope is called God.( Decretum Gregorii XIII. Destinc 96, Can 7.) Again he is called “Lord and God” (Decretales Gregorii IX., Tit. 7.) And again Innocent says in the decretals, speaking of the Pope, :God because he is God’s vicar.” The cannon law and the decretals are called by Romanist writers the pope’s oracle, they are a true expression of the pontifical mind. To the same effect the papal casuists say, “As Christ was God, he too was to be looked on as God.” The Sacrum Ceremoniale has the phrase, “The apostolic Chair is the seat of God.” “The Roman Pontiff” says the Decretum of Gregory, “not as mere man, but as true God, reigns in the earth.” (Daubuz, 581.) Not to multiply instances in which the Pope calls himself God, or accepts the title from others, we close by referring to a recent illustration. Sir Culling E. Smith, in a tour in Italy, found a book published 1794, with the title: -“History of the Ancient Republic of Amalfi, dedicated to the Vice-god Benedict XIII. With permission of superiors.”( Decret. Greg. I. 7, 3.) So does the Pope bear testimony to himself. A greater than he said, “If I bear witness of Myself My witness is not true.”

He has sought to support his claim to this great title by great deeds. Whatever God does the Pope professes to do also. Does God require that to him every knee shall bow? So, too, the Pope; he requires to be worshipped with prostration and kissing. Does god reveal Himself as the only holy?” So, too, the Pope. He claims to be styled “his holiness.” Is God the “only wise?” So, too, is the Pope: he claims to be “inerrable.” Did God plant His throne on the summit of Sinai, and thence promulgate those ten commandments which are the world’s law? So, too, the Pope: he has planted seat on the seven hills in the character of the world’s supreme lawgiver and judge, and he claims an equal authority an infallibility for all that he is please to promulgate ex cathedra as Jehovah claims for the precepts of the decalogue. Is it God’s prerogative to pardon sin? The Pope assumes the same great prerogative. He pardons the sins of the living and the dead. Is it god’s prerogative to assign to men their eternal destiny? This, too, does the Pope. He pretends to hold the keys that open and shut purgatory, and while he reserves to his followers a sure passport to the realms of paradise, he consigns all outside his church to eternal woe. In fine, does God sit between the Cherubim and receive the homage of His people in His sanctuary? The Pope, seated on the high altar of St Peter’s while incense is burned before him, and the knee is bent to him, is invoked as the Lord our God. Romanists are accustomed to call the altar the throne of God, inasmuch as thereon they place the host. The use the Pope finds for it on these occasions, is the not very dignified one of a footstool. “He as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.”

CHAPTER XVI. Man of Sin and Son of Perdition.”

We have traced the parallel to its grand culmination, and shown how close is the imitation in every stage of its course. The apostle adds a few touches to complete the portrait of the Antichrist, and in closing bestows a glance at the awful termination of his career. Let us rapidly survey what remains.

The apostle styles him as the “man if sin” and “son of perdition.” Christ is the man of holiness; the only holy man the world ever saw. “That holy thing,” said the angel when he announced His birth. “Thy holy Child Jesus,” said an apostle of Him, while another wrote of Him, “Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” He was typified in the Lamb of the Passover as “without blemish.”

The Pope or Vice-Christ is the man of sin. He has invented sin, he has taught sin, he has enacted sin,” established iniquity by a law,” he has traded in sin, he sells indulgences and pardons; he has grown rich through the sins of Christendom. Sin is his being, and sin is his work. Popery is as purely an incarnation of sin as the Gospel is of holiness.

Everything that Popery touches it converts into sin. It possesses an accursed alchemy by which it transmutes what is good into evil. It has taken all the commandments of the decalogue and converted them into sin. It has taken all the doctrines of the Gospel and converted them into sin; it had taken all the sacraments of the Church and converted them into instruments of sin; it has taken all the offices and officers of the church and made them agents of sin; it has taken all that is subtle in intellect, all that is brilliant in genius, and all that is noble in eloquence, and used them in the service of sin. The policy of Popery is not to deny truth; it ever acts as a Vice-Christ, as a pretended friend; its policy is to pervert truth, to metamorphose it, and make it fight against itself. There is not a doctrine in the Bible which Popery does not in appearance admit; there is not a doctrine in the Bible which Popery does not in reality deny, and the saving effects of which it does not make void. It takes what is wholesome, and by its infernal skill changes it into what is poisonous. The spiritual apparatus which God has set up for His own glory and man’s salvation, Popery has laid hold of and works for just the opposite ends even -God’s dishonour and man’s ruin. It is a second and greater Jeroboam who has made Israel to sin. Verily, it is the “man of sin.”

Paul further styles him “the son of perdition,” a phrase of terrible significance. It is used in Scripture only once before, and in a connection that imparts to the phrase an awfully tragic meaning. It is applied to Judas after the devil had entered into him, and so worked upon him, that he rested not till he betrayed his Master. This first “son of perdition” went forth from the bosom of the infant church, where he had just partaken of the passover cup: he rose up from the very presence of the God-man, to enact his awful apostacy.

The second and greater “son of perdition,” in like manner, arose in the bosom of the primitive church. Satan having entered into him, his ambition began to burn, and he went forth to the princes of the world, and said unto them, “What will ye give me, and I will betray Christianity unto you?” Manifestly ye are not able to overthrow it. It has taken root and is filling the earth, despite your armies and your edicts. The fires of ten persecutions have blazed around it; but all in vain. The bush has burned, yet it is not consumed. You are labouring at a work beyond your power. If Christianity shall ever know extinction, its overthrow must come from within: it must come from myself and no other. Give me my hire; give me the seat of Caesar; give me the “kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,” and I will go forth and show myself to man as the Vice-Christ, and the world will believe on me, and follow me. Where your force has failed, my craft will triumph. The policy was astute as deep: need we say who was its prompter?

The apostle makes this point clear. The coming of the “man if sin,” he had said, was to be after “the working of Satan.” The head of the apostacy was to be energised, prompted, sustained, and led on by Satan, “the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil.” Popery is the son of perdition: the spawn, the offspring of Apollyon the destroyer, and it must needs do its father’s work. As it is God’s work to create, so it is Satan’s work to destroy. The fair fabric of nature he would if he could destroy; the moral constitution of society he has so far destroyed. His name is Apollyon the destroyer, and the work of Popery is the same. The principles of morality and evangelical virtue in man it destroys; the principles of renewing power in the Gospel it perverts and destroys. Wherever it has found a seat in Europe there is the blackness of perdition -ignorant men, mouldering cities, and enslaved and demoralised nations. “Apollyon the destroyer has passed this way,” we exclaim, “here are his footprints; all along his track is the blackness of physical, moral, and spiritual death. We think of the pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed him.”

CHAPTER XVII. Antichrist -his Doom.”

If a son, then an heir. And what is the inheritance of which he is the heir? It is “perdition.” The kingdoms of the world and the glory of them first, perdition in the end. It was written of him before he arose “He goeth into perdition.” Better to have had the bitter first and the sweet after; but no; the day of his glory over and past, there comes the voice, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime had thy good things and Lazarus” (the church) “his evil things; now thou are tormented.” This inheritance is conveyed to the papacy in the same charter and made sure to it under the same seal as the “glory” that goes before it. The King of Heaven has made this decree and sealed it with His own signet, and the decree may no man change. As sure as the Papacy has had its glory so surely shall its doom come. Paul, before closing his prophecy, pauses, and in solemn and awful words foretells the night of horrors in which its career is to end. “That wicked – whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.” (2 Thess. ii. 8.)

There is here a dual destruction suspended above Antichrist -a slow wasting first, for, it may be, centuries, and a sudden and utter extinction in the end. This duality in the doom of Antichrist has been noted in prophecy ever since its beginning. It is emphasised by Daniel. Speaking of the ‘little horn” which had a mouth speaking great things, eyes like the eyes of a man, a look more stout than his fellows, and which made war with the saints, and was to have dominion over them, “until a time, times, and the dividing of time,” that is 1260 years, the prophet says. “The judgement shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end” (Daniel vii. 26. ) another proof, by the way, of identity betwixt the “little horn” of Daniel, and the Antichrist of John.

In the predicted doom of the Papacy there are thus two well-marked stages. There is, first, a gradual consumption; and there is, second, a sudden and terrible destruction.

The “consumption,” a slow and gradual process, is to be effected by the “spirit of His mouth,’ by which we understand the preaching of the Gospel. This consumption has been going on ever since the Bible was translated, and the Gospel began to be preached at the Reformation. Men have begun to see the errors of popery; its political props have been weakened, and in some instances struck from under it, and its hold generally on the nations of Christendom has been loosened; and thus the way has been prepared for the final stroke that will consummate its ruin. Great systems like the papacy, with their roots far down and spread wide around, cannot be plucked up while in their vigor without dislocating human society. They must be left to grow ripe and become rotten, and then the final stroke may be dealt them with safety to the church and the world.

When that hour shall have come then will the second part of the doom of the Papacy overtake it. The Lord shall “destroy” it “with the brightness of His coning.” The form of the judgment is left vague, but enough is said to warrant us to conclude that it will be swift and final -it will come with lightning flash, and its holy vengeance will be so manifest that, to use the figure in the prophecy, it will irradiate both heaven and earth with a moral splendour. Whether Christ shall then come as He came at the period of the flood, and as He came at the burning of Sodom, and again at the destruction of Jerusalem, when, Himself remaining on the throne of heaven, He girded the ministers of His wrath, and sent them down to earth to execute his vengeance on the ungodly; or whether, leaving His seat in glory He shall in very person descend and confront his Vicar, whether He shall return to close the Apocalypse in the divine magnificence in which He appeared to John in Patmos, when He came to open it, it is not necessary that we should here decide. Enough, that this “day of wrath” will be unspeakably great, and will rank as one of the greatest days of vengeance that have been on the earth since the foundation of the world. Paul despatches it in a single sentence; John expands it into a whole chapter. And in what other chapter of the bible or of human history is there such another spectacle of judgment -such another picture of blended horrors, of awestruck consternation, of loud and bitter wailings, and cries of woe as in the eighteenth chapter of the Apocalypse? “The kings of the earth shall bewail her and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning; standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, alas! Alas! That great city, for in one hour is she made desolate.” But this dark scene has one relieving feature. It is a scene that will not need to be repeated, for it will close earth’s evil days, and begin the hallelujahs of the nations. “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” (Rev. xviii. 9-19, 21.)

CHAPTER XVIII. Does not the likeness fit?”

Let the reader remember that the portraiture he has been studying is not ours, but Paul’s. And, when he lifts his eyes from the picture, let him cast them around and try if he can discover the original of this likeness. The features are so vividly depicted, so sharply cut, that surely there can be no difficulty in detecting him, whose image they present. Paul did not paint at random. His is no vague sketch which may fit loosely any or most of the systems of error which have arisen in the course of the ages. When we read his prophecy, we have the overwhelming impression that Paul has in his eye some one grand, sharply-featured, long-lived, daringly wicked, and fearfully blasphemous confederacy, which, under the mask of friendliness, was to wage undying war against the Gospel. We are blind, indeed, if we cannot find the original of Paul’s portraiture. Here is one who has erected his throne in the Christian temple; who has usurped all the titles and functions of Christ; who has professed to mediate between God and man; to hold the keys of heaven and hell; to do great wonders, and make fire come down from heaven; who has changed laws, spoken “great words, ‘ forbidden to marry, commanded to abstain from meats, has clothed his priests in purple and scarlet and fine linen, decked with gold and precious stones; one who has made war with the saints, and been drunk with the blood of martyrs; who has put his foot on the neck of kings; nay, has clothed himself with the robe of the Eternal King; infallibility even; in fine, one who has said: I am Vice-Christ; I am vice- God. We go up to this man, and we say to him, “Thou art the Antichrist.” Let who will cringe and bow before thee; let who will patch anew thy vizor which begins to wax thread-bare and to permit the horrid features that lurk beneath it to shine through; let who will palliate thy crimes, and deny that ever thou didst persecute, and though simulating the meekness and innocence of the lamb, art a ravening wolf. Let who will befriend thee in the arrogant and blasphemous claims thou art still putting forth, we say of thee, “Thou art he of whom Paul in old time, writing by the Holy Ghost, spoke. Hear what he called thee! He named thee, ‘The Man of Sin,’ and ‘Son of Perdition.'”

Ah! You re-adjust your mask; and double the folds of your mantle; and looking down on the kings of earth once more at your feet, you say, “Am not I God?” We know thee who thou art. Thou art the fallen apostle! The minister of Lucifer! Thou camest from the abyss, and to the abyss shalt thou return!

We do not hesitate to say, that we have nearly as full and convincing evidence that the Roman Papacy is the Antichrist, as we have that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. In conclusion, let us note that Christianity stands alone, in having its Antichrist or counterfeit. Mohammedanism has no such counterfeit. Buddhism has no such counterfeit. There is not power or truth enough in these systems to call into existence a great opposing counterfeit system. Without the sun, there can be no shadows. The sun of Christianity has been accompanied all down the ages by this shadow. So far Antichrist does homage to the divinity of the Gospel. Unless Christ had gone before, Antichrist could not have come after.

And let the reader seriously ponder that this is the divine testimony regarding popery. As portrayed by a divinely-guided hand whose are its lineaments -its spirit and principles? They are those of Satan, the arch-enemy of God and His Church. This monstrous shape is the “wicked one.” Let us think what a formidable antagonist we have in this system. We wrestle not against flesh and blood -against the power and cunning of man; we have to encounter the power of hell -the cunning of the devil. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.” (Eph. vi. 12-17.)

Continued from Rome and Civil Liberty – by James Aitkin Wylie

ALL GREAT MOVEMENTS are commonly traceable to one great principle. It is preeminently so as regards the Reformation. Its manifold developments, political, scientific, and literary, as well as theological, can all be traced up to one primordial principle. What is that principle? It is the substitution of a divine for a human authority. This is the primordial truth of the Reformation.

There is a jus divinum (divine law or right) at the foundation of everything that is true and good. There is a jus divinum at the foundation of science; for all true science is just an induction of the laws and facts of nature, which are the ordination of God. There is a jus divinum at the foundation of all good government; for what is government, but an induction or codification of the laws and facts of society, which, too, are the ordination of God? And there is a jus divinum in all true theology; for what is theology, but just an induction of the laws and facts of the Bible, which are the revelation of God? The Reformation was a return to the jus divinum of God, in opposition to the jus divinum of man, which, in fact, was nothing else than a jus humanum (human right).

We are accustomed to say that the doctrine of justification through faith alone is the fundamental principle of the Reformation. This is true if by the Reformation we simply mean a system of theology standing in contradistinction (distinction by means of contrast) and opposition to the theology of the Roman Church. But if by the Reformation we mean a great movement, extending over the entire area of human life and action, beginning, no doubt, in the religious sphere, but developing itself immediately thereafter in the political and social, — a movement enlarging and elevating all the rights and relations of man, and communicating new powers and privileges to human society, — a movement, in short, which gave us a new State as well as a new Church, — then, we say, the fundamental principle of the Reformation was the substitution of a divine for a human authority. This principle is first in order: it is a deeper principle than the other, and of greater breadth of application. Luther must have seized upon it, consciously or unconsciously, before he dared to open the Bible, and interpret for himself the Word of God, and accept the divine righteousness of the Bible, instead of the human righteousness of Rome, as the ground of the sinner’s justification. This principle is applicable to every department of human thought and action: it is as applicable, in its own way, to the business of politics and of science, as of religion.

The first discoverers, we maintain, of this great principle in modern times were the Reformers of the sixteenth century; and they, too, were the first who had courage to act upon it. From them the statesmen and philosophers who came after received it; and, working with it, each in his own department, they have come, in the course of three centuries, to educe that marvelous and unrivaled combination of political power, social order, scientific and mechanical skill, and commercial prosperity, which at this day is seen embodied in the empire of Great Britain.

The Fundamental Principle of the Reformation gave us a Scriptural Church. The Church of Rome put herself in the room of God. She said to man,

I am the one infallible authority upon earth. With the Bible you have nothing to do: with God you have nothing to do. It is with me, and me alone, that you have to do. Whatever I teach, that you are to believe: whatever I enjoin, that you are to do.

And to that claim the conscience of man yielded for ages. This was mere human authority; but upon that authority was founded the mighty Babel of monstrous dogmas and burdensome ceremonies under which the world groaned. The Reformation shook that Babel to the ground, by undermining the authority on which it rested, and substituting a divine authority, — the Bible, to wit. It said to man, this is a perfect and sufficient revelation of the will of God: this is a complete and authoritative directory of all you are to believe, and of all you are to do, in the matter of religion: this is God speaking to you. And when man came back to God as his one Teacher, and to the Bible as his one storehouse of divine truth, mere human authority fell, and the monstrous superstructure of error of which it had served as the foundation fell with it.

“God alone,” said the Reformers, “is Lord of the conscience.” That was the truth that made Europe free. At the hearing of these words, a world of slaves shook off their fetters, — a world of dead men arose, and stood upon their feet. Thus did the Reformation substitute the authority of God for the authority of man. Loosed from their shackles, men now betook them to the Word of God. They searched its pages with earnestness, with prayer, with dependence upon the Holy Spirit. They no longer inquired, What does this doctor teach? What does that Council decree? What has this Pope decided? Their one question now was, What saith the Bible? This was the unrolling of a black fog from the face of heaven; and men saw with astonished and ravished eyes those eternal lights which God had placed there, but which tradition had so long obscured.

Now arose a holy temple, whose foundations were the twelve apostles of the Lamb, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. The pattern exhibited in the Mount, of the New Testament, which had so long disappeared from the earth, and which some of the better spirits of former ages had sighed over as lost for ever, was again beheld. The Church had become a brotherhood, whose various members were knit together by the same spirit, in the profession of one faith and the enjoyment of one baptism. Salvation was again the free gift of God. And the Church, without the intervention of any intercessor save the One Mediator, had free access to the throne of God and of the Lamb.

The Fundamental Principle of the Reformation gave us a Free State. The right constitution of the Church was immediately followed by the right constitution of the State. Both grew out of the same principle, — the substitution of divine for human authority. All true government, — the government of the State as well as of the Church, — is founded on a jus divinum. But that jus divinum, or right divine, is not the right of one man to govern the rest. This last was the great political axiom universally received before the Reformation. It passed as a truth indisputable and unquestionable; yet was it at bottom nothing better than government by mere human right; for it manifestly resolved itself, as a basis of power, into the capricious, arbitrary, and irresponsible will of one man.

The Reformation came, preaching the true jus divinum, when it taught the right of society to govern itself according to those eternal principles of justice, equity, and order which God has graven on the natural conscience. Just as the Reformation exploded the right divine of the priest to teach and rule in the Church by his own infallible and irresponsible authority, so it exploded the right divine of kings to legislate and govern in the State by their tyrannical and irresponsible will. It taught that all power is by delegation from God, — that there ought to be no government but by law, — that law ought to be the expression of the popular will, — and that this will ought to be enlightened and controlled by right reason, and by the principles of Revelation. Thus did the Reformation substitute a really divine basis of government in room of the mere human basis, which had served but as a pedestal to tyranny. Thus were Liberty’s everlasting doors open to the nations.

In the sixteenth century, the Reformation and Liberty made the circuit of the European nations hand in hand, and knocked at the gates of the several countries. Those nations that were so happy as to admit the one, admitted at the same time the other: those that closed their gates upon the Reformation, by the same act shut out Liberty. This was not so apparent at the time; but three centuries have sufficed to make it palpable to the whole world. Every year that has since elapsed has but widened the immense distance betwixt the Reformed and the Unreformed nations of Europe. The one have steadily pursued a career of ever-expanding greatness; the other have as steadily kept the downward path of decadence, and at every turn have sunk deeper and deeper into slavery and barbarism. And now, look at the contrast!

BRITAIN, at home the abode of order and peace; abroad covering the world with her laws, her arts, and her literature: ITALY, the birthplace of revolutions. Since the fatal day on which the Papal nations rejected liberty, how often have they agonized to attain it! They have sought to woo it with tears; they have sought to buy it with blood. But all in vain. Tears and blood have been rejected as its price. No! Revolution cannot make liberty take root: the sword cannot make it grow. Liberty comes only in the wake of the Bible.

The Fundamental Principle of the Reformation gave us our Inductive Philosophy. All true philosophy is divine. God is its author, inasmuch as he ordained the laws of matter, and endowed every body with its special properties and powers. All true science is just the knowledge of those divinely ordained laws and properties. Before the Reformation there was a human philosophy, just as before the Reformation there was a human religion. Instead of consulting nature, men sat down in their closets, and by the working of their own fancy constructed a system of natural truth, which had no relation whatever to the existing laws and properties of bodies, and which, of course, could form a basis for no useful art. It was the very error repeated over again in the department of science which had been committed in the department of religion.

Instead of consulting the Bible, men endeavored, out of their own vain heart, to invent a system of religion which was as useless for spiritual and eternal ends as the anti-Reformation philosophy was for temporal and earthly ones. Bacon seized upon the grand principle of the Reformers; and in his hands that principle wrought the same revolution in science it had already wrought in theology. The Reformers said, if you wish to know the will of God, you must go to the Bible. So Bacon said, if you would have a really true and useful science, you must go to nature, — you must study her laws, — you must observe her workings, — you must put her to the question, — you must sit down at her feet, and become her disciple, and listen reverentially to her voice. Thus did Bacon substitute a really divine authority in science for the mere human authority of the middle ages, which had yielded only guesses and illusions, instead of scientific truth. But mark! the principle of the Reformers was the key by which Bacon opened the path to true science.

It was now that the philosophy of the middle ages vanished as vanish the mists at sunrise; and what a glorious world unfolded itself to the eye of man! The heavens stood unveiled; every star unfolded the law by which it is hung in the vault above; every flower, and crystal, and piece of matter, animate and inanimate, organic and inorganic, disclosed its secret properties, affinities, and uses. Then arose the sciences of astronomy, of chemistry, and others, which are the foundation of our arts, our mechanics, our navigation, our manufactures, our agriculture. Man found himself suddenly re-invested with that dominion over nature which was his birthright, but of which his fall had robbed him, or rather put in abeyance. As sinful, man, instead of being the lord of the elements, had fallen under their dominion: when he rebelled against God, they rebelled against him. But in returning to God, he found he had at the same time returned to his primeval sovereignty over nature: he was crowned a second time. Here were a hundred servants, aforetime all in mutiny and insubordination, now waiting to do his bidding; — the stars to guide his barque over the trackless ocean, — steam to bear his burdens, — the lightning to run on his errands, — the hidden mine to furnish materials for the arts, — and the resources of chemistry to enable him to change the desert into a garden, and replace the brown moorland with the golden grain. In short, out of that principle first proclaimed by the Reformers has come the whole colossal fabric of our industrial skill, mechanical power, agricultural riches, and commercial wealth.

But not only do our men of science and industry owe to the Reformers their master-principle: they are indebted to them farther for the power to use it. Rome had planted her anathema at the gate of science, just as she had planted it at the portal of religion. Each new discovery she denounced as a heresy, and rewarded with a stake; and had not the Reformers previously struck the bolt from her uplifted hand, she would have crushed science at its birth; a dungeon had been the fate of Bacon and of Newton, as it was the fate of Galileo; and the scientific and mechanical power of Britain had never been.

It was the Fundamental Principle of the Reformation that gave us our Literature. Before the Reformation, mind had slept for five long centuries. It would never more have awaked, had it not been touched by the spear of Ithuriel (the angel mentioned in John Milton’s 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost) in the hands of the Reformers. Thought was compelled to move in the rut of ages; and many centuries had passed without so much as one noble work, or, we might say, one really new or useful idea, having been given to the world. The human soul had drunk the opiate of superstition, and lay benumbed and stupefied; or, if it waked at times, it was only to rave deliriously, as one who had quaffed an intoxicating cup. But the calm daybreak of the Reformation, the holy light welling once more from its Divine fountain, healed man’s sorely wounded spirit, and soothed his troubled mind, so long distracted and maddened by frightful night-visions.

Not only did the Reformation rend the shackles from the human soul; — it opened new fields in which it might expatiate. The imprisoned eagle, escaping from the murky cell of the monk, into the open vault, its rightful inheritance, soared upwards on joyous wing, and basked in the glorious sunlight.

It is true, that a feeble dawn preceded the Reformation, occasioned mainly by the fall of Constantinople, which compelled a few learned men to seek asylum in the West, bringing with them the treasures of Greek lore; but that dawn Rome would have speedily extinguished, had not the Reformation come in time to save it. But, grateful as was this revival of letters, it was as nothing compared with the intellectual outburst that followed the Reformation. In all the Reformed countries mind opened out into an amplitude of faculty, and exhibited itself in a comprehension of judgment, a subtlety and force of reason, a richness, boldness, and brilliancy of imagination, of which the world till then had seen no example. The brightest era of classic times pales before it. The human mind had a second youth. All the leading Reformers as far outstripped their contemporaries in their literary accomplishments as they excelled them in their theological attainments.

One of the most elegant Latin writers since the days of Cicero was our own Buchanan. Knox excelled all the writers of his country in graphic vigor and idiomatic purity. In the hands of Luther the German language attained at once to classic terseness and rhythm. Need I mention the galaxy of great thinkers and writers which illuminated the horizon of England in the days of Elizabeth? By one quality were all of them marked in common, — great creative power and mental boldness; but that boldness and power they owed to the Reformation. But for the Reformation, not one of these deathless names should we ever have heard of, and not one of their immortal works should we ever have possessed. Bacon had never opened the path to true science; Newton had never discovered the law of gravitation; Shakespeare’s mighty voice had been dumb for ever; Milton had never sung; Taylor and Barrow had never discoursed; or Watt invented the steam-engine.

But, after all, these great names and immortal works are the least part of the service which the Reformation rendered to knowledge. Not only did the Reformation give us learned men; — it gave us institutions of learning. It gave us arrangements by which the lamp of learning, like the lamp in the temple of old, might never go out. The Reformation gave us an educated nation, or would have done so had it not been hindered. The idea of educating the masses, — of putting a whole people to school, — had no more dawned upon the middle ages than had Newton’s discovery of gravitation. Even in Papal countries to this day the masses are scarce more educated than are the brutes; and yet Knox three hundred years ago produced a scheme of education which not only would have suited the Scotland of his own day, but would suit the Scotland of the present hour, — would, in feet, be a mighty boon to it. All the great educationists of our times are but following in Knox’s steps, whose nobly comprehensive plan they have never exceeded in theory, as, unhappily, they have never reached it in practice.

These are a few of the benefits, and but a few, — for time would fail to tell all, — which the Reformation has conferred upon us. Besides our holy faith, with its Sabbaths, its sanctuaries, peace in our land, virtue and love at our hearths, hope at our death-beds, and the blessed words of inspiration dispelling the gloom above our graves; — besides all this, — and how much all this is worth, eternity only can tell, — we owe to the Reformation every generous art which distinguishes our nation.

If law now reigns where violence formerly prevailed, — if the lamp of learning now burns where darkness formerly brooded, — if noble cities now rise where hovels aforetime stood, — if the ocean is whitened with our ships, and the land is covered with our factories and our workshops, — if our flag floats on almost every promontory of the earth and every island of the sea, — and if our population is flowing outwards in mighty waves, and peopling the ample regions of Canada and Australia, — these are but the developments of the Reformation, — the workings of that mighty and still unspent impulse communicated to our nation three centuries ago.

But the Reformation is not completed: its work as yet is but half-accomplished. The pause that has occurred has made some misdoubt the power of its great principles, and their adaptability to modern times, and to talk of seeking somewhere for some new and mightier moral forces. Instead of being led away by this hallucination, which tends only to retrogression, let us arise, and, assured that the Reformation is but another name for Christianity, — Christianity come out of its sepulcher of a thousand years, — and believing that its principles are for the whole world, let us strive to send its regenerating and healing influence downwards among the masses of our own country, and outwards to the very extremities of the earth.

Completed the Reformation never will be till it has made every country under heaven what Britain now is, and more than Britain now is. Completed it never will be till it has laid prostrate every tyrannical throne, rooted out every idolatrous Church, razed every dungeon, broken every fetter, emancipated every nation and tribe that dwell beneath heaven’s cope, and assembled them all in one ransomed and glorious throng before the throne of the Lamb, to join their voices in the song, never again to cease upon the earth, as it never will cease in heaven, —

Part II. The Papal Aggression

All sections of Rome and Civil Liberty – by James Aitkin Wylie

This is from a PDF file on Lutheran Library. I’m posting it in web format to make it easy to read from a phone and in order to listen to it from my text to voice app.

Rome and Civil Liberty

The Papal Aggression in its Relation to The Sovereignty of the Queen and the Independence of the Nation

By James Aitkin Wylie, LL.D.

Preface.

IT IS A COMMON ERROR to suppose, because Rome is unchangeable in her dogmas, that she is unchangeable also in the forms of her logic. Society is continually advancing to a higher stage; truth is perpetually receiving clearer manifestations; and this imposes upon that Church which seeks to stereotype the one and to extinguish the other, the necessity of continually devising new modes of assault. The creed of the Church of Rome is immutable: her logic is in perpetual flux: her policy is ever old as regards its ends; it is ever new as regards its phases. In substance, that Church abides unalterably the same throughout the ages; and yet every century sees, as it were, a new Church.

This makes it necessary that every century or so we should readjust the argument against Rome. The immortal works of Barrow, Chillingworth, and Stillingfleet, are an exhaustive refutation of the Church which changes not, but they are not an exhaustive refutation of the Church which does change. They do not, and could not; meet the Papal aggression, — the special phase assumed by the Church of Rome in our century. The following pages are an attempt at a readjustment of the argument, so far as that aggression is concerned.

The Papal aggression is here viewed as a whole, from its rise to what may be regarded as well-nigh its completion. The author has been solicitous to extricate the fundamental principle of that aggression, and clearly to explain its implied logic. He has shown the successive stages by which it has been advanced, and the goal to which it inevitably tends. He has, moreover, supported and illustrated his argument by the great facts which form the past dozen years’ history of Europe.

The author does not conceal his opinion that the civil liberty of the country is at this hour in very great peril, — in more immediate peril, perhaps, than its religious liberty; for it is the policy of Rome to strike at the latter through the sides of the former. The Papal aggression, in the author’s judgment, was a violation of the Constitution of the kingdom as settled at the Revolution; and to the extent to which that aggression has been carried, to the same extent has the throne been betrayed, and the rights of the subject invaded. His charge is not that our statesmen have tolerated the religion of the Pope, but that they have sanctioned the authority of the Pope: not that they have permitted the spread of another faith, but that they have permitted the erection of another Government.

Of all earthly possessions, liberty is the most precious: it is bought at a greater price, and preserved with greater watchfulness, than any other. Tyranny comes with muffled foot: it steals upon us like the night: it deposits, while a nation sleeps, the seeds of arbitrary rule; and, under pretense of redressing wrong or of advancing liberty, it strikes a fatal blow at justice and freedom. A somewhat jealous mood is at all times one of the best bulwarks of a nation’s liberties; but at the present hour, when the causes of alarm are so imminent, we can scarce be too watchful against apathy in regard to the public interests, or too alert to repel the inroads of a tyranny of all others the stealthiest and the basest. The Protestantism of Britain, we are told, is sound, and will bestir itself when the crisis comes. The crisis is now: what will come is the catastrophe.

The author earnestly solicits from every lover of liberty, and especially from every lover of the gospel, a careful consideration of the facts and reasonings presented in the present volume. The cause is preeminently the cause of our country at this hour; and, if the cause of Great Britain, the cause of the world. Edinburgh, 1st July 1865.

Part I. The Reformation.

THE ACCOMPLISHMENT of the Reformation in Britain occupied the better part of two centuries. The first dawning of the light was in 1380. In that year Wycliffe published his translation of the Bible; and England entered, the first of the nations in modern times, upon the glorious path of circulating the Scriptures throughout her realm. Confessors were never wanting to the Gospel from that day in Britain. But the era proper of the Reformation extends from 1516, when Erasmus published his New Testament in England, to 1688, when the ecclesiastical and political constitution of our country was settled on a Protestant basis under William of Orange.

The period embraced by these two dates is the most glorious in our annals. It was fruitful throughout in men of great character, and in events of world-wide influence. More especially was it adorned towards the middle by a constellation of elegant scholars and accomplished theologians, of great statesmen and holy martyrs, who have never perhaps been surpassed in any age, whether of our own or of any other nation. Nor did the Reformation develop itself as a purely spiritual existence. It made society the companion of its progress and the partner of its triumphs. The divine principle at its center sent the pulses of a new life through the body corporate, and thus it gave us a new State as well as a new Church. Fostering every liberal study, and encouraging every generous art, it built up around itself a bulwark of social enlightenment and political freedom. A work like this was dearly purchased: it cost the toil and the blood of two centuries.

Let us run our eye along, and briefly survey the struggles and the lessons of this most eventful period of our history. In the retrospect of the past there are two reigns that stand out with extraordinary prominence. Let us fix our eye mainly on these. If we can profit by the experience of our fathers, we may be saved the peril of making the experiment over again in our own times. MARY and ELIZABETH are the types of the two principles of Popery and Protestantism, as embodied in the government of our country. These two reigns are, in fact, the EBAL (curses) and GERIZIM (blessings) or our history.

In them Life and Death, the Blessing and the Curse, have been set as palpably before the people of Great Britain as they were set before the Jews of old. Read in the light of these reigns, the ascendancy of the one principle means the promotion of all that ennobles and strengthens a country; the ascendancy of the other means, necessarily and inevitably, the extinction of private virtue and the overthrow of public liberty.

Some there are among us who seem to think there can be no great difference betwixt a Popish and a Protestant rule; or, at least, that no harm can come of putting the matter once more to the test, and making a second trial of a yoke which our fathers were not able to bear. Well, let us compare Popery and Protestantism, as exhibited in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth, and see whether the experiment was not fairly made, and whether the result was in the least doubtful. This may minister guidance in our present circumstances. We have again, as a nation, come to a crisis, and must once more make a choice.

When the eighth Henry went to his grave, the Reformation had advanced but a little way. The supremacy of the Pope had been cast off; the monastic establishments had been abolished; and a limited permission given to the people to read the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue. These, however, were important points; and the fabric of Rome, wanting these props, yielded the easier to the more systematic and persevering efforts of the Reformers in the next reign. Under Edward VI. the Reformation ceased to be a work of policy, and became a work of principle; and by the end of that short reign all its main objects had been attained. The churches had been cleansed from images; transubstantiation was repudiated, the sacrifice of the mass forbidden; and the Scriptures were freely allowed to the laity of every rank and degree. Tradition ceased to be put in the place of the Bible, and the saints and the Virgin no longer usurped the honor that is due to God. Men no longer prayed in an unknown tongue. The clergy were allowed to marry. Purgatory, indulgences, and all the gainful traffic of Rome, were no longer encouraged. Her wares became unsaleable. But the great point, and that which comprehended all the rest, was, that the doctrine of salvation by grace, in opposition to salvation by works, was now preached to the people.

Not that the work was finished. The great body of the people in the rural parts remained grossly ignorant; and a full half of the clergy, though conforming outwardly, remained Papists at heart. They had been monks and friars; and, to save a small annual charge to the new possessors of the abbey lands, they were preferred to livings in the Reformed Church. Accustomed to nothing but singing the litany and saying mass, they were wretched instructors of the people; and the atrocities to which they afterwards lent themselves fearfully avenged the avariciousness which had preferred them to livings. So stood matters when the young Edward, — a prince of rare virtue, and beloved by the whole nation, — “in the prime and blooming of his age,” went to his grave.

Mary opened her way to the throne by a promise which she violated the moment she was seated upon it. She gave a solemn pledge to her Protestant subjects that religion should remain as in the days of Edward VI.; but, alas! her first act after her accession significantly told that she meant to undo all that had been done during the reign of her predecessor, and to restore the Church to the state in which it had existed prior to the days of Henry VIII.

Let Protestants learn from this what the oath of a Popish sovereign is worth, and after what fashion promises made before their accession to power are likely to be kept after it. The great men of the former reign, who had guided the destinies of the Reformation, and who were illustrious for their learning and their virtues, for their probity (uprightness) and their wisdom, were hurried off to prison. A Gardiner, a Bonner, and a Tonstal now filled the sees, and wore the dignities, which a Cranmer, a Ridley, and a Latimer had held. All the preachers throughout the kingdom were silenced. Of the sixteen thousand ministers in England, twelve thousand were ejected from their livings, and thrown penniless upon the world. A crowd of needy creatures, whose humble accomplishments extended only to the power “of making holy water, and repeating a lady psalter,” rushed in to seize the vacant places. The whole laws respecting religion enacted under Edward VI. were swept away at a single sitting; and this disastrous course was fittingly concluded by the formal submission of the Court and Parliament to the Pope, one member of the House only having courage to oppose this step. The rest crowned their infamy by solemnly giving God thanks that they had been enabled so far to complete the work of their country’s ruin and their own disgrace. This was not the end, it was but the beginning, of sorrows, — of dire sorrows to England.

Mary knew that she must go deeper: she knew that she must root out the seeds of religion and liberty which had been sown in England during the days of her predecessors; and her true instincts as a Papist guided her to the only weapon that could effect their extirpation. Argument would never root them out. They must be burned out; and Mary resolved not to spare the fire. She planted a stake in almost every county and county town of England; and she propounded to every professor of the reformed faith, high and low, — to every one, in short, who would not swallow, at her bidding, the doctrine of transubstantiation, — the terrible alternative which came to be expressed in the compendious formula of “turn or burn.” She married Philip of Spain; and surely well mated was the “bloody Mary” with the yet bloodier Philip. Sending the sagacious Cranmer and the venerable Latimer to the dungeon, she took into her councils Gardiner and Bonner. With these worthy assistants, the “blessed daughter,” as [Pope] Paul IV. called her, set to work to purge her kingdom of such heresy as Christ and his apostles had preached, and to plant once more the “holy Roman Catholic religion,” as a Hildebrand had taught it and a Borgia had exemplified it. The work went on prosperously. The vast zeal of Gardiner and Bonner lagged behind the yet vaster desires of the Queen. She seemed to have a presentiment that her days would be few, and dreaded lest death should overtake her before her work was finished.

England became a wide Smithfield. There was no room in the prisons for felons: these were turned loose, to make room for the God-fearing citizens. The “coal-cellar” of “bloody Bonner” has passed into a proverb. If one wished to hear good, he went, not to the church, where nothing was to be seen but contemptible mummeries (pretentious ceremonies): he crept stealthily to the grated window of the martyr’s dungeon, and listened to his prayers and praises. The Council met oft. The very unvaryingness of their decisions is terrible: burn — burn — burn. Not a week passed during the last four years of Mary’s reign in which some one was not burned, more commonly two or three; and latterly they were brought to the stake in four, six, aye, a dozen, at a time. Over all England blazed these baleful fires, the persecutor, judging of others by herself, hoping to strike terror into the nation. Every rank, from the primate of all England downwards; every age, from the old man of ninety who had to be carried to the fire, to the youth of eighteen, and even the newborn babe; both sexes; all conditions, — the halt, the blind, — all were dragged to the stake, and passed through the fire.

Their enemies, in their haste and zeal, did not think it necessary to veil the causes of their death under any disguise. They condemned them avowedly because they could not believe the doctrine of “the real presence.” They were simply asked by the Bishop, before whose tribunal they were brought, “Do you acknowledge that the very flesh, and blood, and bones of Christ, as born of the Virgin, are present in the Sacrament?” and when the martyr answered “No,” sentence of condemnation was immediately passed, and he was carried out next morning to some square, or common, or wayside, and burned. The roll is a long one, from Rogers, Vicar of St Sepulchre’s, who assisted in the early edition of the English Bible, and who was burned in Smithfield on the 4th of February 1555, to the five persons who were burned together at Canterbury on the 15th of November 1558, just two days before the death of Mary. The number of persons burned alive during these four dismal years, as stated by Lord Burleigh, the Prime Minister of Queen Elizabeth, was Two Hundred and Eighty-eight. Besides these, large numbers perished by imprisonment, torture, or famine.

Let us weigh the names, as well as count them. They are the brightest of the period. It was the rank, the learning, the virtue, the worth of her kingdom that Mary and her minions dragged to the stake. Nor did she burn them only: she horribly tortured them at the stake. We beg to give a specimen. It is Bishop Hooper that now stands at the stake; and that stake is planted at the end of his own cathedral in Gloucester. What the reader, mayhap (perhaps), has not nerve to peruse, the martyr had courage to endure: —

“The hoop prepared for his middle was then put round him with some difficulty, for it was too small. The fire was kindled; and ‘in every corner there was nothing to be seen but weeping and sorrowful people.’ His sufferings were very severe. Two horse-loads of green faggots had been piled round the stake: these would not burn freely; and the morning being lowering, with a high wind, the flame of the reeds was blown from him. A few dry faggots were then brought; but the quantity being small, and the wind boisterous, the fire only reached his legs and the lower part of his body. During this time Hooper stood praying, ‘O Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me, and receive my soul!’ When this fire was spent, he wiped his eyes with his hands, and mildly but earnestly entreated that more fire might be brought. At length a third and fiercer fire was kindled; some gunpowder which had been fastened to him exploded, though with little effect; but after some time the flame gained strength. He continued praying, ‘Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me! Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’ till, as a bystander relates with painful minuteness, ‘he was black in the mouth, and his tongue was swoln, so that he could not speak; yet his lips moved till they shrunk from the gums; and he smote his breast with his hands till one of his arms fell off; he continued knocking still with the other, while the fat, water, and blood dropped out at his fingers’ ends, until, by renewing of the fire, his strength was gone, and his hand did cleave fast to the iron upon his breast. Then, bowing forwards, he yielded up the spirit,’ after suffering inexpressible torments for nearly three quarters of an hour, yet ‘dying as quietly as a child in his bed.’”

Mary did all this with the full sanction and approval of her conscience. Not a doubt had she that, in burning her Protestant subjects, she was doing God an acceptable service. Her conscience did reproach her before her death, but for what? For the blood she had shed? No: it reproached her for not having done her work more thoroughly, and, in particular, for not having made full restitution of the abbey lands and other property of the Church in possession of the Crown. The nearer she drew to her end she but hasted the more to multiply victims; and her last days were cheered by watching the lurid glare of the fires of martyrdom which blazed all over her realm. Is there no lesson here? Does it not teach us that a warped conscience is a much more dangerous thing than any want of conscience whatever?

Mary died in the morning of the 17th November 1558; and by afternoon of the same day all the bells of London were set a-ringing. At night bonfires were lighted, tables were set in the streets, and “the people did eat, and drink, and make merry,” illustrating the saying of the old king, — “when it goeth well with the righteous the city rejoiceth, but when the wicked perish there is shouting.” The accession of Elizabeth was one of the grand crises of the world. The principle with which she was identified, — Protestantism, to wit, — rose with her, and ascended into the region of influence and government. Instantly the eclipse passed from the realm of Britain; and England was started on a career of commercial prosperity and political freedom in which, with a few exceptional periods, there has been no pause from that day to this. The innumerable social blessings flowing from the Reformation, which now began to be shed upon our isle, we shall more particularly illustrate in the following chapter. Meanwhile it becomes us to acknowledge, with devout and fervent gratitude, the finger of God in an event which called our country from the dust, broke the yoke of tyrants and bigots from off our neck, rekindled the lamp of truth in our land, raised us from bondmen of the priests of Rome to the dignity of freemen, and enriched our country with the lesser but still mighty blessings of justice, of science, of commerce, of renown.

Wherever we turn our eyes in Europe, witnesses rise up to confirm and illustrate our observations. We select two, — Italy and Scotland.

Of all the countries of Europe, Scotland is the country which owes most to the Reformation, seeing it has received most from it. The Reformation found Scotland a country of inhospitable bogs and moors, and it has made it a country of gardens and richly cultivated fields. The Reformation found Scotland a country of wretched hovels and paltry towns, and it has made it a country of noble cities, which rival in architectural magnificence and beauty the finest creations of Italy, — not the poor Italy of the present day, but the proud Italy of three centuries ago. The Reformation found Scotland a land without letters, and it “gave it a literature destined to endure while the language lasts, rivaling in terseness and elegance of diction the purest models of the Augustan era, and far excelling them in dignity of matter and grandeur of sentiment. The Reformation found Scotland a land without arts, and it made it the inventress of the steam-engine, which has revolutionized the labor of the world, and is destined, after covering its own soil with the marvels of industry and of trade, to extend the blessings of commerce to the remotest shores and the rudest tribes. In a word, the Reformation found Scotland the least of the European nations, with scarce a name among civilized countries, and it has placed it, in conjunction with its sister of England, at the head of the nations of the earth. It was the birthday of the laud: on that day a free State was born into the world; and if there was wailing among the powers and principalities of darkness, the”morning stars” of liberty sang together, and all the “sons” of freedom shouted for joy.

The relation of Italy and Scotland throughout, ever since the Reformation, has been one of marked contrast. As the night of barbarism and ignorance began to break up in the one country, the day of civilization and knowledge began to wane in the other. As the liberties of the one began to be enlarged, despotism tightened her chains round the other. As the one reverted into a country of morasses and inhospitable deserts, the other put on the cultivation and luxuriance of a garden. The palaces and monuments of the one moldered into dust; the hovels of the other grew into noble and wealthy cities. Commerce, forsaking the shore she had been wont to frequent, discharged her rich argosies on a foreign, and till then unvisited, strand. Learning quenched her lamp in the halls where it had burned from immemorial time; and art, forsaking the sunny clime where she had loved to dwell, traversed the Alps, crossed the sea, and sought out new abodes in a clime less hospitable, and amid tribes less civilized. Thus have the two countries gone on for three hundred years, pursuing a course the reverse in all respects, the one of the other. The path of Italy has been downwards, ever downwards, maugre the rich gifts with which nature has endowed it, and the prestige with which power has encompassed it. That of Scotland has been ever upwards, though she has had to fight her way against a hundred foes. The one has been steadily sinking into poverty, social disorganization, foreign dependence, and domestic slavery: the other has been steadily rising in wealth, civilization, liberty, and political influence.

Does any man doubt that the principle which pulled down the one country was Popery, and that the principle which elevated the other was Protestantism? Since the Reformation, have not these two principles been the only ones really operative in the political and religious world of Europe? They have been its two poles; and around one or other have all its governments and nations ranged themselves. These two principles have parted Europe into two worlds: and how dissimilar! Upon the one the sun of liberty has shone, and all that is noble and true has sprung up and flourished in its rays. Upon the other despotism has cast its shadow, as if to wrap up in darkness the melancholy wrecks with which it had filled it, — the ghastly corpses of nations once great, and of men once free.

These mementoes and monitors, so tragic, and yet so instructive, meet us at every step. One other contrast let us cite, — Spain and Britain. Spain, — fallen from the height of power, her noble sierras converted into deserts, her once opulent towns covered with the mold of decay, and her once polished and lettered population debased by ignorance, and delighting only in barbarous and savage sports, — proclaims, far more emphatically than words could proclaim it, the supreme folly of which she was guilty when she chose to rest her greatness and prosperity upon a conscience governed by the Inquisition.

To make the lesson the more manifest and striking, here is Great Britain running precisely the opposite course, — attracting commerce to her shores, constructing magnificent cities, and filling them with the wealth and the treasures of all the regions of the earth; spreading over her land, among the millions of her people, a purer science and a higher knowledge than Spain ever knew in the days of her glory; and by this career proclaiming, as emphatically as words could proclaim it, the wisdom of her choice when she determined to make freedom of conscience her cornerstone.

Thus does Providence send its instructors into the world to teach by contrasts. Spain and Britain differ, in that each is representative of a different principle. Nevertheless, they agree in teaching — the one negatively, the other positively — the self-same lesson to mankind. They are a “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” to the nations, as really as was the tree in the midst of the garden of old. On the one there has descended a secret dew; on the other there lies a silent malediction. EBAL, with the curse upon its top, stands over against GERIZIM, with the blessing, like a star, beaming forth from its summit.

We hold, then, that the point at issue betwixt Protestantism and Popery is conclusively decided. The Bible has decided it on the one hand, and the condition of Europe has decided it on the other. The testimony of these two is one, — even that Protestantism is true, and that Popery is false; that the former is the benefactor of nations, and that the latter is their worst foe. Why, then, are we longer in doubt? Why does our Government halt betwixt the two systems? For what do we wait? For a clearer Bible? or for facts that shall more awfully confirm it? If we hear not these witnesses, neither will we be persuaded though others rose from the dead.

Continued in The Fundamental Principle Of The Reformation, And What It Gave Us

All sections of Rome and Civil Liberty – by James Aitkin Wylie

Milton William “Bill” Cooper (May 6, 1943 – November 5, 2001) was an American conspiracy researcher, radio broadcaster, and author known for his 1991 book Behold a Pale Horse, in which he warned of multiple global conspiracies. He served in two branches of the the U.S. military, the Air Force and the Navy.

This is an account of Bill Cooper’s experience in the Navy seeing what he called a flying saucer while on the USS Tiru, a Balao-class submarine. The interesting part of Cooper’s testimony is not especially what he and two others saw, but the Navy’s negative reaction to it! It’s from the foreword of the book, Behold a Pale Horse. Cooper is with his friends and fellow sailors, Lincoln and Geronimo. The submarine is sailing on the surface of the ocean. I can’t find the date of when this happened but it was definitely during the time of the Vietnam war. Based on the fact Cooper was born in 1943 and had already served 4 years in the Air Force, I estimate he was about 24 or 25 years old at the time which would be between 1967-1968. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong.

He give the name of his submarine. I found it on Wikipedia with its photo.

USS Tiru

William Cooper is one of my heroes. I believe he was murdered to quench his testimony.

Lincoln went below. Geronimo and I began the unending task of sweeping the horizon from bow to stern, then the sky from horizon to zenith, and then back to the horizon from bow to stern. Again and again, and then a pause to rest our eyes and chat for a few minutes. I asked Ensign Ball to call for some hot coffee. As he bent over the 1MC (1 Main Circuit , the term for the shipboard public address circuits on United States Navy and United States Coast Guard vessels), I turned, raising my binoculars to my eyes just in time to see a huge disk rise from beneath the ocean, water streaming from the air around it, tumble lazily on its axis, and disappear into the clouds. My heart beat wildly. I tried to talk but couldn’t; then I changed my mind and decided I didn’t want to say that, anyway. I had seen a flying saucer the size of an aircraft carrier come right out of the ocean and fly into the clouds. I looked around quickly to see if anyone else had seen it. Ensign Ball was still bending over the 1MC. He was ordering coffee. Geronimo was looking down the starboard side aft.

I was torn between my duty to report what I had seen and the knowledge that if I did no one would believe me. As I looked out over the ocean I saw only sky, clouds, and water.

It was as if nothing had happened. I almost thought I had dreamed it. Ensign Ball straightened, turned toward Geronimo and said the coffee was on the way up.

I looked back toward the spot, about 15 degrees relative off the port bow, and about 2-1/2 nautical miles distant. Nothing, not even a hint of what had happened. “Ensign Ball,” I said, “I thought I saw something about 15 degrees relative off the bow, but I lost it. Can you help me look over that area?” Ensign Ball turned, raising his glasses to eye level. I didn’t know it at the time, but Geronimo had heard me and turned to look. He was happy that something had broken the monotony.

I was just lifting the binoculars off my chest when I saw it. The giant saucer shape plunged out of the clouds, tumbled, and, pushing the water before it, opened up a hole in the ocean and disappeared from view. It was incredible. This time I had seen it with my naked eyes, and its size in comparison with the total view was nothing short of astounding. Ensign Hall stood in shock, his binoculars in his hands, his mouth open. Geronimo yelled, “Holy shit! What the — hey! did you guys see that?” Ensign Ball turned, and looking right at me with the most incredulous look on his face, said in a low voice, “This had to happen on my watch!” He turned, quickly pressing the override on the 1MC and yelled, “Captain to the bridge, Captain to the bridge.” As an afterthought he pressed the switch again and yelled, “Somebody get a camera up here.”

The Captain surged up the ladder with the quartermaster on his heels. Chief Quartermaster Quintero had the ship’s 35-mm camera slung around his neck. The Captain stood patiently while Ensign Ball tried to describe what he had seen. He glanced at us and we both nodded in affirmation. That was enough for the Captain. He called sonar, who during the excite- ment had reported contact underwater at the same bearing. The Captain announced into the 1MC, “This is the Captain. I have the conn.” The reply came back instantly from the helm, “Aye, Aye sir.” I knew that the helms- man was passing the word in the control room that the Captain had personally taken control of the boat. I also knew that rumors were probab- ly flying through the vessel.

The Captain called down and ordered someone to closely monitor the radar. His command was instantly acknowledged. As the five of us stood gazing out over the sea the same ship or one exactly like it rose slowly, turned in the air, tilted at an angle and then vanished. I saw the Chief snapping pictures out of the corner of my eye.

This time I had three images from which to draw conclusions. It was a metal machine, of that there was no doubt whatsoever. It was intelligent- ly controlled, of that I was equally sure. It was a dull color, kind of like pewter. There were no lights. There was no glow. I thought I had seen a row of what looked like portholes, but could not be certain. Radar reported contact at the same bearing and gave us a range of 3 nautical miles. The range was right on, as the craft had moved toward the general direction that we were headed. We watched repeatedly as the strange craft reentered the water and then subsequently rose into the clouds over and over again until finally we knew that it was gone for good. The episode lasted about 10 minutes.

Before leaving the bridge the Captain took the camera from the Chief and instructed each of us not to talk to anyone about what we had seen. He told us the incident was classified and we were not to discuss it, not even amongst ourselves. We acknowledged his order. The Captain and the Chief left the bridge. Ensign Ball stepped to the 1MC and, pressing the override switch, announced, “This is Ensign Ball. The Captain has left the bridge. I have the conn.” The reply, “Aye aye sir,” quickly followed.

Those of us who had witnessed the UFO were not allowed to go ashore after we had berthed in Pearl. Even those of us who didn’t have the duty were told we had to stay aboard. After about two hours a commander from the Office of Naval Intelligence boarded. He went directly to the Captain’s stateroom. It wasn’t long before we were called to wait in the passageway outside the Captain’s door. Ensign Ball was called first. After about 10 minutes he came out and went into the wardroom. He looked shaken. I was next.

When I entered the stateroom, the Commander was holding my service record in his hands. He wanted to know why I had gone from the Air Force into the Navy. I told him the whole story and he laughed when I said that after putting off the Navy for fear of chronic seasickness, I hadn’t been seasick yet. Suddenly a mask dropped over his face, and looking me directly in the eyes he asked, “What did you see out there?

“I believe it was a flying saucer, sir,” I answered.

The man began to visibly shake and he screamed obscenities at me. He threatened to put me in the brig for the rest of my life. I thought he wasn’t going to stop yelling, but as suddenly as he began, he stopped.

I was confused. I had answered his question truthfully; yet I was threatened with prison. I was not afraid, but I was not very confident, either. I figured I had better take another tack. Eighteen years with my father and four years in the Air Force had taught me something. Number one was that officers just do not lose control like that, ever. Number two was that if my answer had elicited that explosion, then the next thing out of my mouth had better be something entirely different. Number three was, that his response had been an act of kindness to get me to arrive at exactly that conclusion.

“Let’s start all over again,” he said. “What did you see out there?”

“Nothing, sir,” I answered. “I didn’t see a damn thing, and I’d like to get out of here just as soon as possible.”

A smile spread over his face and the Captain looked relieved. “Are you sure, Cooper?” he asked.

“Yes sir,” I replied, “I’m sure.”

“You’re a good sailor, Cooper,” he said. “The Navy needs men like you. You’ll go far with the Navy.” He then asked me to read several pieces of paper that all said the same thing only with different words. I read that if I ever talked about what it was that I didn’t see, I could be fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned for up to 10 years or both. In addition I could lose all pay and allowances due or ever to become due. He asked me to sign a piece of paper stating that I understood the laws and regulations that I had just read governing the safeguard of classified information relating to the national security. By signing, I agreed never to communicate in any manner any information regarding the incident with anyone. I was dismissed, and boy, was I glad to get out of there.

In the light of the recent drone (read UAP) sightings over New Jersey, I thought to bring this article posted in June 2023 back on top.

Serge Monast (1945 – December 5, 1996) was a Canadian investigative journalist, poet, essayist and conspiracy theorist. He is known to English-speaking readers mainly for the originating the conspiracy theory Project Blue Beam, which concerns an alleged plot to facilitate a totalitarian world government by destroying traditional religions and replacing them with a new-age belief system using NASA technology. (Source: Left leaning Wikipedia)

Those of you who are regular visitors of this website know I don’t like to share anybody’s theories or speculations. I want to deal with facts. Of course how we interpret a fact is dependent on who we are and what our worldview is.

Recently, I’ve been hearing more and more about the so called “Project Blue Beam” on social media. Canadian investigative journalist Serge Monast first wrote about it in 1994. He claims it will be a fake rapture and fake alien invasion which will lead to a new world order based on a one world new age religion. This rings true to me because I believe the doctrine of a rapture of the Church just before the rise of the Antichrist to save us from great tribulation to be false doctrine. I believe the Scriptures teach I Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 16, 17 and chapter 5 verses 1-3 to happen all on the same day! It’s called the day of the Lord.

If I thought Monast’s account is a mere “theory” I wouldn’t share it. Could he have dreamed it up in his own mind? Either the information Monast is sharing are facts from his investigative journalism, or they’re all a fabrication. I’m sharing exactly what he had to say. Let the reader come to his or her own decision on whether it’s true or not. But I do know one thing for certain: The technology to make flying objects appear in the sky through holograms has been around a long time. If the world can be deceived to come to a halt through the Covid-19 paranoia, the world could certainly be deceived by a fake alien invasion.

Just look at this!

The following is from a PDF file I found. It’s much easier to read this article on your phone or PC than reading it from a PDF file, unless you actually make a hard copy of the file with your printer.

Project Blue Beam

By Serge Monast (1945-1996)

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1994.

The infamous NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Blue Beam Project has four different steps in order to implement the New Age religion with the Antichrist at its head. We must remember that the New Age religion is the very foundation for the new world government,without which religion the dictatorship of the New World Order is completely impossible. I’ll repeat that: Without a universal belief in the new age religion, the success of the New World Order will be impossible! That is why the Blue Beam Project is so important to them, but has been so well hidden until now.

ENGINEERED EARTHQUAKES AND HOAXED “DISCOVERIES”

The first step in the NASA Blue Beam Project concerns the breakdown (re-evaluation) of all archaeological knowledge. It deals with the set-up, with artificially created earthquakes at certain precise locations on the planet, of supposedly new discoveries which will finally explain to all people the “error” of all fundamental religious doctrines. The falsification of this information will be used to make all nations believe that their religious doctrines have been misunderstood for centuries and misinterpreted. Psychological preparations for that first step have already been implemented with the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the StarTrek series, and Independence Day,all of which deal with invasions from space and the coming together of all nations to repel the invaders. The later films, such as Jurrassic Park,deal with the theories of evolution and claim God’s words are lies ¹.

What is important to understand in the first step is that those earthquakes will hit at different parts of the world where scientific and archaeological teachings have indicated that arcane mysteries have been buried. By those types of earthquakes, it will be possible for scientists to rediscover those arcane mysteries which will be used to discredit all fundamental religious doctrines. This is the first preparation for the plan for humanity because what they want to do is destroy the beliefs of all Christians and Muslims on the planet.To do that, they need some false “proof ” from the far past that will prove to all nations that their religions have all been misinterpreted and misunderstood.

THE BIG SPACE SHOW IN THE SKY

The second step in the NASA Blue Beam Project involves a gigantic ‘space show’ with three- dimensional optical holograms and sounds, laser projection of multiple holographic images to different parts of the world, each receiving a different image according to predominating regional national religious faith. This new “god’s” voice will be speaking in all languages.

In order to understand that, we must study various secret services’ research done in the last 25 years.

The Soviets have perfected the advanced computer systems, even exported them, and fed them with the minute physio-psychological particulars based on their studies of the anatomy and electromechanical composition of the human body, and the studies of the electrical, chemical and biological properties of the human brain. These computers were fed, as well, with the languages of all human cultures and their meanings. The dialects of all cultures have been fed into the computers from satellite transmissions.

The Soviets began to feed the computers with objective programs like the ones of the new messiah. It also seems that the Soviets – the New World Order people – have resorted to suicidal methods with the human society by allocating electronic wavelengths for every person and every society and culture to induce suicidal thoughts if the person doesn’t comply with the dictates of the New World Order.

There are two different aspects of step two.

The first is the “space show.” Where does the space show come from? The space show, the holographic images will be used in a simulation of the ending during which all nations will be shown scenes that will be the fulfillment of that which they desire to verify the prophecies and adversary events.

These will be projected from satellites onto the sodium layer about 60 miles above the earth. We see tests every once in a while, but they are called “UFOs” and “flying saucers” sightings.

The result of these deliberately staged events will be to show the world the new “Christ,” the new messiah, Matraia (Maitreya), for the immediate implementation of the new world religion. Enough truth will be foisted upon an unsuspecting world to hook them into the lie.“Even the most learned will be deceived.”

The project has perfected the ability for some device to lift up an enormous number of people, as in a rapture, and whisk the entire group into a never-never land. We see tests of this device in the abduction of humans by those mysterious little alien greys who snatch people out of their beds and through windows into waiting “mother ships.” The calculated resistance to the universal religion and the new messiah and the ensuing holy wars will result in the loss of human life on a scale never imagined before in all of human history.

The Blue Beam Project will pretend to be the universal fulfillment of the prophecies of old, as major an event as that which occurred 2,000 years ago. In principle, it will make use of the skies as a movie screen (on the sodium layer at about 60 miles) as space-based laser-generating satellites project simultaneous images to the four corners of the planet in every language and dialect according to the region.It deals with the religious aspect of the New World Order and is deception and seduction on a massive scale.

Computers will coordinate the satellites and software already in place will run the sky show. Holographic images are based on nearly identical signals combining to produce an image or hologram with deep perspective which is equally applicable to acoustic ELF, VLF and LF waves and optical phenomena. Specifically, the show will consist of multiple holographic images to different parts of the world, each receiving a different image according to the specific national, regional religion. Not a single area will be excluded. With computer animation and sounds appearing to emanate from the very depths of space, astonished ardent followers of the various creeds will witness their own returned messiahs in convincing lifelike reality.

Then the projections of Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna, etc., will merge into one after correct explanations of the mysteries and revelations will have been disclosed. This one god will, in fact, be the Antichrist, who will explain that the various scriptures have been misunderstood and misinterpreted, and that the religions of old are responsible for turning brother against brother, and nation against nation, therefore old religions must be abolished to make way for the new age new world religion, representing the one god Antichrist they see before them.

Naturally, this superbly staged falsification will result in dissolved social and religious disorder on a grand scale, each nation blaming the other for the deception, setting loose millions of programmed religious fanatics through demonic possession on a scale never witnessed before. In addition, this event will occur at a time of profound worldwide political anarchy and general tumult created by some worldwide catastrophe.

The United Nation even now plans to use Beethoven’s “Song of Joy” as the anthem for the introduction for the New Age one world religion.

If we put this space show in parallel with the star wars program we get this: combination of electromagnetic radiation and hypnosis which have also been the subject of intensive research. In 1974, for instance, researcher G. F. Shapits, said of one of the research proposals that,

“…in this investigation it will be shown that the spoken words of the hypnotist may also be converted by electromagnetic energy directly and to the subconscious part of the human brain without employing any mechanical device for receiving or transcording the message, and without the person exposed to such influence having a chance to control the information input consciously. It may be expected that the rationalized behavior will be considered to have been taken out of their own free will.”

Anyone investigating so-called “channelling” phenomena right now would be wise to take this area of research into consideration. It will be noted that those who think of themselves as ‘channellers’ has escalated rapidly since this type of research was conducted. It is uncanny how similar their messages are, despite which entity they claim to be their source of divine guidance. It would suggest any individual considering the credibility of channelled information should be discerning and critically evaluate where the message they are receiving originates, and if the messages are specifically beneficial to the new world order.

The Sydney Morning newspaper published an item on March 21st, 1983 which announced that the Soviets were invading the human mind, the article having been submitted to the foreign editor by Doctor Nathan Abnuengy,assistant professor in the faculty of agriculture in Asia. It is worth quoting the article at length even though his grammar is a little old. This article relates to the Soviets who created the supercomputer we were discussing earlier and which is really important because these types of computers can be run through satellites and through space. The computers were fed with all the different languages and their meanings, the dialect of all peoples were fed to the computers with objective programs. But we are no longer talking about the Soviets; we are talking about the United Nations, the minions of the New World Order, who are feeding the computers with the necessary information.

The editor of the column in which the article appeared even states that the piece made points too important to ignore. I think it is possible that the persons who have created this mega-mind-control-program could sell the software to an organization and not be aware that the client might use the program and data to enslave all of humankind. Just imagine how far they have advanced since that article was published!

ARTIFICIAL THOUGHT AND COMMUNICATION

The advancement of techniques propel us toward the third step in the Blue Beam Project that goes along with the telepathic and electronically augmented two-way communication where ELF, VLF and LF waves will reach each person from within his or her own mind, convincing each of them that their own god is speaking to them from the very depths of their own soul. Such rays from satellites are fed from the memories of computers that have stored massive data about every human on earth, and their languages. The rays will then interlace with their natural thinking to form what we call diffuse artificial thought.

That kind of technology goes into the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s research where the human brain has been compared to a computer. Information is fed in, processed, integrated and then a response is formulated and acted upon. Mind controllers manipulate information the same way a computer for grammar manipulates information. In January 1991, the University of Arizona hosted a conference entitled, “The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Current and Emergent Phenomena and Biomolecular Systems.” What does that mean exactly? It means this: We refer to one paper that was delivered at the conference which stands out for its different attitude towards the development under discussion at that time. It was, in effect, a protest and chilling warning to the attending scientists about the potential abuse of their research findings.

Their findings, of course, stated that the United States has already developed communications equipment which can make the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk. It can relieve the terminally ill from pain without the use of drugs or surgery. I’m not talking about science fiction. A man might retain the use of all his faculties right up to the moment of his death.

This communications equipment depends upon a completely new way of looking at the human brain and neuromuscular systems and radiation pulses at ultra-low frequencies. Some of this equipment is now operational within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It will never be used to make the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk because it is central to the domestic political agenda and foreign policy of George Bush and his puppet-masters of the New World Order.

Domestically, the new communications equipment is being used to torture and murder persons who match profiles imagined to be able to screen a given population for terrorists; to torture and murder citizens who belong to organizations which promote tolerance and peace and development in Central America; to torture and murder citizens who belong to organizations who oppose the development and deployment of nuclear weapons, and to create a race of slave cult automatons, or what is popularly called “the Manchurian Candidates.”

Overseas experimentation is taking place on hostages held by the United States and Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Germany, Finland and France. Additionally, there has been a long series of bizarre suicides among British computer scientists, all of whom have had some connection to the United States Navy.

What is possible to ask before such a psychology of terror is this: would any government, corporation or psychiatrist wilfully promote such horror today? The answer is quite obviously, “Yes.”

Government agencies and the corporations that work with them toward New World Order are prepared to promote anything that will help them achieve their objective of total social control.

As for the question of why. For one thing, if you terrify the public and make them fear for their safety, they will allow you to implement draconian law enforcement practice, disarm them and keep extensive records on them, and they only have to tell you that it is all to protect you, of course. Secondly, it promotes the decay of the present democratic forms of political systems and leads societies to search for alternative methods of political ideology. Of course, the alternative has already been planned.

It is called the New World Order and it will not have your safety or interests at heart. As George Bush said: “Read my lips.” Fear has always been used by powerful elite to control and subjugate the masses.

The old maxim, “divide and conquer,” is being played out to the limit worldwide to ensure that everyone is frightened for their personal safety, and to be suspicious of everyone else. This, too, is mind control.

To go further in regard to the new technology which is at the base of the NASA Blue Beam Project, we have to consider this statement by psychologist James V. McConnell which was published in a 1970s issue of Psychology Today.He said, “The day has come when we can combine sensory deprivation with drug hypnosis and astute manipulation of reward and punishment to gain almost absolute control over an individual’s behavior. It should then be possible to achieve a very rapid and highly effective type of positive brainwashing that would allow us to make dramatic changes in a person’s behavior and personality.”

Now, when we talked before about that kind of ray and the telepathic and electronically augmented communication, the kind of rays that are fed from the memories of computers which store massive data about humans, human language and dialects, and we said that the people will be reached from within, making each person to believe that his own god is speaking directly from within his or her own soul, we refer to that kind of technology and that kind of thinking that same psychologist was espousing, that is: we should be trained from birth that we should all do what society wants us to do rather than what we want to do for ourselves; that because they have the technology to do it, no one should now be allowed to have their own individual personality.

This statement and these ideas are important because it is the basic teaching of the United Nations that no one owns his or her own personality. And that same psychologist claims that no one has any say-so about the kind of personality they acquire and there is no reason to believe you have the right to refuse to acquire a new personality if your old personality is considered “antisocial.”

What is important in this declaration is that the New World Order will be set up over the current system, meaning the old way of thinking and behavior and religion will be considered the “old” and incorrect way of thinking and that they can change it at one of the eradication camps ² of the United Nations to make sure that anyone with this “antisocial” behavior will be disposed of quickly so that other modified individuals will be able to fulfill the needs and agendas of the new world order without being distracted by the truth.

Could this be the greatest mind control project ever?

The NASA Blue Beam Project is the prime directive for the New World Order’s absolute control over the populations of the entire earth. I would suggest you investigate this information carefully before dismissing it as fanatic lunacy. If we go further in the different reports we have presented, we find that the mind-control operations and technology include a transmitter that broadcasts at the same frequency as the human nervous-system,which transmitter is manufactured by the Loral Electro- Optical Systems in Pasadena, California.

Loral, a major defense contractor, has previously conducted research on directed energy weapons for Lt. Gen. Leonard Perez of the US Airforce who was searching for a weapon that could implant messages into the minds of the enemy while urging his own troops on to superhuman deeds of valor! The device employs electromagnetic radiation of gigahertz frequencies (microwaves) pulsed at extremely low frequencies (ELF). It is used to torture people both physically and mentally from a distance.

Weapons of this type are thought to have been used against a British woman protesting the presence of American cruise missiles at Greenham Common Airbase during the 1970s. This weapon can be used to induce total sensory deprivation by broadcasting signals into the auditory nerve at such high power that it blocks the ability of the individual to hear themselves think!

The process employed by such ELF technology are described in various US Defense Department publications, including one entitled, “The Electromagnetic Spectrum and Low Intensity Conflict,” by Captain Paul E. Tyler, Medical Commandant, US Navy, which is included in a collection entitled, “Low Intensity Conflict and Modern Technology Edict,” by Lt. Col David G. Dean, USAF. The paper was delivered in 1984 and the collection published 1986 by Air University Press, Maxwell Airforce Base, Alabama.

Another pulse microwave device can deliver audible signals directly to an individual while remaining undetectable to anyone else. The technology is very simple and can be built by using an ordinary police radar gun. The microwave beam generated by the device is modulated at audio frequencies and can broadcast messages directly into the brain. Now here we come to the NASA Blue Beam Project. The broadcasting of subliminal two- way communication and images from the depths of space correspond directly to that kind of technology.

In his book, The Body Electric, Nobel Prize nominee Dr. Robert O. Becker describes a series of experiments conducted in the early 1960s by Allen Frie, where this phenomena was demonstrated as well as later experiments conducted in 1973 at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research by Dr. Joseph C. Sharp who personally underwent tests in which he proved he could hear and understand messages delivered to him in an echo-free isolation chamber via a pulsed microwave audiogram, which is an analog of the word’s sound vibration beamed into his brain. Becker then goes on to state, “Such a device has obvious application for covert operations designed to drive a target crazy with unknown voices or deliver undetectable instructions to a programmed assassin.”

Now figure out when we hear that voice from the New World messiah who would be speaking from space to all of the sane (?) people of the earth who might give instructions to zealots and religious fanatics, we would see hysteria and social mayhem on a scale never witnessed before on this planet. No police forces in the world, even as a combined front, could deal with the disorder that will follow!

A 1978 book entitled Microwave Auditory Effect and Application, by James C. Lynn, describes how audible voices can be broadcast directly into the brain.This technology could actually allow the blind to see and the deaf to hear. Instead, it has been turned into a weapon to enslave the world.

Allen Frie also reports that he could speed up, slow down or stop the hearts of isolated frogs by synchronizing the pulsed rate of a microwave beam with the heart itself. According to Dr. Robert Becker, similar results have been obtained using live frogs, which shows that it is technically feasible to produce heart attacks with rays designed to penetrate the human chest.

[editor’s note: Both the author of this report and his colleague died of “heart attacks” only days apart. We should mention also that Dr. Becker does not participate in such research.]

It has been demonstrated that focused ultra high frequency (UHF) electromagnetic energy beams can be used to induce considerable agitation and muscular activity or induce muscular weakness and lethargy. Microwaves can also be used to burn human skin and aid the effect of drugs, bacteria and poisons or affect the function of the entire brain. These effects were all revealed at length by the CIA on September 21, 1977 in testimony before the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research. Dr. Sidney Gottlieb who directed the MK- Ultra program at that time, was forced to discuss the scope of the CIA’s research to find techniques of activation of the human organism by remote electronic means. So this is something that exists right now, that has been pursued to its highest degree, that can be used from space to reach any person, anyplace on the face of the earth.

If we go deeper in that process of mind control over the people we find that the equipment and technology has been used to influence politics in a much more direct fashion. Michael Dukakis, the Democrat candidate running against George Bush in the 1988 election was targeted with microwave technology in order to impede his public speaking performance once the public opinion polls showed he posed a serious threat to Bush’s election prospects. He also claims that the equipment was used against Kitty Dukakis and drove her to the brink of suicide. In the Disneyland world of US politics, a presidential candidate with problems such as these, would obviously lose their race to the White House.

In the December 1980 edition of the US Army journal, called the Military Review,a column by Lt. Col. John B. Alexander, entitled “The New Mental Battlefield: Beam Me Up, Spock,” provides further insight into the technical capabilities at the disposal of the comptroller. He writes:

“Several examples will demonstrate areas in \which progress have been made. The transference of energy from one organism to another; the ability to heal or cause disease to be transmitted over a distance, thus inducing illness or death from no apparent cause; telepathic behavior modification which includes the ability to induce hypnotic states up to a distance of 1,000 kilometers have been reported.

The use of telepathic hypnosis also holds great potential. This capability could allow agents to be deeply planted with no conscious knowledge of their programming.”

In movie terms, the Manchurian Candidate lives, and does not even require a telephone call.

“Other mind-to-mind induction techniques are being considered. If perfected, this capability could allow the direct transference of thought via telepathy from one mind or group of minds to a select target audience. The unique factor is that the recipient will not be aware that thought has been implanted from an external source. He or she will believe the thoughts are original.”

This is exactly what we were talking about.

The third step in the NASA Blue Beam Project is called the Telepathic Electronic Two-Way Communication. Lt. Col. Alexander’s article continues:

“If it is possible to feed artificial thought into the multigenic field via satellite, the mind control of the entire planet is now possible.An individual’s only resistance would be to constantly question the motivation behind their thoughts and not act upon thoughts which they consider to be outside their own ideological, religious and moral boundaries.”

Once again, it is wise to consider how television, advertising, modern education and various types of social pressure are used to manipulate those boundaries. It has been reported by Lt. Col. Alexander who said, in the summary of his Military Review article: “The information on those kinds of technologies presented here would be considered by some to be ridiculous since it does not conform to their view of reality.”

But some people still believe the world is flat.

Now, this means a lot, because if people do not believe this kind of technology is possible, or that it is science fiction, those people put themselves in great jeopardy, because on the night when those thousand stars will shine from space, during the night when the New Messiah will be presented to the world, they will not be prepared and will have no time to prepare to save themselves against that kind of technology. They don’t believe and they won’t take time to prepare.

This is exactly what happens to people who are convinced by Satan into believing that he doesn’t exist, so they have no defence against him.

UNIVERSAL SUPERNATURAL MANIFESTATIONS VIA ELECTRONICS

The fourth step concerns the universal supernatural manifestation with electronic means. It contains three different orientations.

One is to make mankind believe that an alien (off-world) invasion is about to occur at every major city on earth in order to provoke each major nation to use its nuclear weapons in order to strike back. This way, the United Nations Court will require that all those nations which launched nuclear weapons to disarm when the invasion is shown to have been false. And how will the United Nations know that the invasion was false? They will have staged it, of course.

The second is to make the Christians believe that the rapture is going to occur with the supposed divine intervention of an alien (offworld) civilization coming to rescue earthlings from a savage and merciless demon. Its goal will be to dispose of all significant opposition to the implementation of the New World Order in one major stroke, actually within hours of the beginning of the sky show!

The third orientation in the fourth step is a mixture of electronic and supernatural forces. The waves used at that time will allow “supernatural forces” to travel through optical fibers, coaxial cables (TV), electrical and phone lines in order to penetrate to everyone at once through major appliances. Embedded chips will already be in place. The goal of this deals with global Satanic ghosts projected all around the world in order to push all populations to the edge of hysteria and madness, to drown them into a wave of suicide, murder and permanent psychological disorders. After the Night of the Thousand Stars,worldwide populations will be ready for the New Messiah to re-establish order and peace at any cost,even at the cost of abdication of freedom.

PHASING OUT CASH AND INDEPENDENCE

The techniques used in the fourth step is exactly the same used in the past in the USSR to force the people to accept Communism. The same technique will be used by the United Nations to implement the new world religion and the New World Order.

A lot of people ask when this is going to happen and how they will accomplish the visions of the Night of a Thousand Stars, and the events that will point to the days when it will begin. According to the many reports we have received, we believe it will begin with some kind of worldwide economic disaster.Not a complete crash, but enough to allow them to introduce some kind of in-between currency before they introduce their electronic cash to replace all paper or plastic money. The in-between currency will be used to force anyone with savings to spend or turn in their cash because they understand that people who have money and are not dependent upon them might be the very ones who will mount an insurrection against them. If everyone is broke, no one can fund a war of any kind: paper currency will cease to exist. This is one of the first signs.

But to implement the worldwide electronic money system, everyone in the world who might have money in the future, will have to have a way to transfer money electronically. Before that time, everyone will have spent, before the year 2,000, all of their cash, reserves and assets. Everyone has to be 100 percent dependent upon the Council for their existence.

To prevent any kind of independence, the New World Order has already implanted microchips in wild animals, birds, fish, etc. Why? They want to make certain that the people who will not accept the New World Order will not be able to hunt or fish anywhere in the world. If they try, they will be tracked and traced by satellites, then hunted down and imprisoned or killed.

The New World Order is already changing the laws of all nations to make everyone dependent upon a single food and vitamin supply. They are changing laws about religion and psychiatric disorders in order to identify anyone who is potentially threatening to the NWO. Those who are found defective will be sent to eradication camps 2,where their organs will be taken and sold to the highest bidders ³. Those who are not killed outright will be used as slave labor or used in medical experiments.

The goal of a dictatorship is to control everyone, everywhere on the planet, ruthlessly and without exception. That’s why the new technology being introduced everywhere is a technology for the control of the people. The technology of the 1940s and 1950s was used to help the people have an easier and more productive life. The new technology is designed and built to track down and control people everywhere. This technology is being manufactured for a specific purpose and to refuse to see and recognize that purpose, which is to enslave the entire populations of the world, is to deny the emergence of the Antichrist and the establishment of the New World Order religion and government.

If you cannot see, if you cannot learn, if you cannot understand, then you and your family and friends will succumb to the fires of the crematoria that have been built in every state and every major city on earth ⁴,built to deal with you. No one is safe in a totalitarian police state! ■

Notes:

1 http://i.am/jah/evolut.htm (Link no longer valid)

2 http://educate-yourself.org/cn/uscconcentrationcamps28jun01.shtml

3 http://educate-yourself.org/cn/chinaandorganhavesting31mar06.shtml

4 http://educate-yourself.org/ps/psrcresmokestackshawaii31jul01.shtml

Conclusion

If any of this is true and will actually happen someday, will your faith in God’s Word be shaken? It won’t if you know the Bible as well as you should! If you know what the written Word of God has to say, you will know that any attack on the Bible comes from Satan. You will therefore see through the deception and your faith in the written Word of God will not be shaken!

Continued from Chapter XXVIII. The Expedition of Gog; Or Irruption Of Nations From The North And East.

WE are unwilling to drop the curtain on this dark scene, and, therefore, before leaving this grand Apocalyptic history, we turn to another of its visions. While the scenes of destruction we have described are going forward, another company is seen, occupying a place of safety, and singing songs of victory.

This vision synchronizes with that of the seven vials: for these white-robed harpers on the shores of the glassy sea appeared to John at the same moment that he beheld the seven angels of the seven last plagues issue from the temple. When the angels began to pour out their vials, the harpers began their song, and they continued to sing during the whole period of the vials, filling up the pauses of the storm with their melody, which might be heard at times mingling with its thunders. They are described as they who had gotten the victory, or, more literally, are getting the victory, over the beast, which marks them out as the Protestant remnant, who, having escaped the pollutions of Popery, are now preserved by God from its plagues.

They stand on, or by, a sea of glass, having the harps of God. This brings vividly before us those glorious transactions of which the Red Sea was once the scene. Guided by the pillar of fire, the tribes had passed safely through its depths; and, standing on its further brink, the vast assembly joined their voices in a triumphal hymn, which swelled along the shores of the gulf, and rose loud above the thunder of the surge that was now rolling over Pharaoh and his host. It is from this scene that the symbol before us is borrowed; and it tells us that it is another such deliverance that awaits the Church, and another such catastrophe that shall overwhelm her foes.

If, as some believe, there was spread out before John a miniature of the Roman earth all the time these visions were going forward, then it is possible that the apostle may have seen that particular locality in Western Europe which the harpers were to occupy. Taking this vision in connection with the fall of the tenth part of the city at the Reformation, Mr. Elliot points pretty distinctly to Britain as the spot in question. But though British Protestants doubtless form the main division in this army of harpers, we must not exclude others. In all the Popish countries are little companies of Protestants, whom we are disposed, we think, on good ground, to rank among these harpers. The calmness of the sea—for its surface is of glassy smoothness —is a general figure denoting their safety and tranquility. They feel without alarm the shocks of the earthquake, they see without terror the bursts of the tempest, and while others are blaspheming God by reason of their “sores and their pains,” they are praising Him, “for true and righteous are His judgments.” But the sea is mingled with fire, the symbol of judgment; implying that, though protected wonderfully by the providence of God, awful calamities would prevail around them.

When we contrast our own tranquility with the alarm, turmoil, and convulsion, into which the Popish earth has been thrown, whose inhabitants have literally no rest day nor night, the majestic repose of Britain has all the moral effect of a noble hymn sung to God, who is thus separating “between the precious and the vile,” and bearing testimony before the world to the value of His Truth. But when we think of the guilt which we have contracted of late years in the national support given to Popery, have we not reason to fear that we shall be made to share in its final plagues, and that our country, though still a “sea of glass,” as compared with the Popish Continent, will be “a sea of glass mingled with fire?”

As the tribes halted on the shore of the Red Sea, and sang the song of Moses, so the New Testament tribes, when mystic Egypt shall be destroyed, will gather on the shore of that sea from whose depths they have come up, and will sing the song of the new dispensation, celebrating the power and faithfulness of the Moses, even the Lamb, who has led them through the sea. In this deliverance the Church of both Testaments, the Old and the New, will share; both Churches, therefore, will unite in this song, and so the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb will form one song. The leading note of their song is given:

Such is the first note of ascription. When the mystery of Providence shall be finished in the destruction of antichrist, and the Church has come to view the beginning in the light of the end, the obscurity and apparent confusion and contradiction that now appear to mar the scheme will be rolled away, and she will be left in amazement at the unity and grandeur of the work, and the power of the Workman. “Great and marvellous” she shall see the work to be, and He by whom it has been done she will acknowledge to have shown Himself the “Lord God Almighty.”

“Just and true,” continues these harpers, “are thy ways, thou King of saints.” A grand discovery of moral principles awaits the world in this catastrophe. It is to form the last and crowning step in the long demonstration of the eternal rectitude of God’s procedure. And when this step shall have been accomplished, the completeness of the whole proof will be clearly seen, and its irresistible force will be universally felt.

“Just and true,” shall the Church say with one voice, “are thy ways, thou King of saints.” Not the Church only, but the nations generally, shall be deeply impressed with a sense of the justice and truth of God. Accordingly the song of the harpers concludes with an anticipation of the immediate approach of a better dispensation.

The moral character of God, the laws on which His government of the world is based, and the grand principles which enter into the right constitution of human society, being publicly demonstrated in these awful scenes, taken in connection with all that has been before them since the rise of the Papacy; and the world being now put fully in possession of them, we have reason to think they will never again be lost. We cannot conceive of the knowledge of the six primary mechanical powers being lost. The mechanic and the artisan will proceed on these principles till the end of time. The law of gravitation, and other fundamental laws of science, being now fully established, will continue, through all time, to form the base of all the reasonings and discoveries of philosophy. Why should not moral truth, once fully discovered and clearly demonstrated, be retained, by the help of the Divine Spirit, with equal permanency?

The grand fundamental laws of moral and religious truth, though the first in importance, have been the last to be discovered: nor till the awful scenes of the seventh vial have been completed, will these great principles be fully evolved, and the world attain to the clear and full knowledge of them. Mankind having come by painful experience into possession of them, once for all, they will never again be lost, but will continue henceforward to mold the character and regulate the actings of society, in both its corporate capacity and its individual members. The reign of these principles will constitute the MILLENNIUM.

Download the entire book The Seventh Vial in PDF format which I created from from the chapters on this website.

All chapters of The Seventh Vial – By J.A. Wylie

Continued from Chapter XXVII. The Tripartition And Burning Of The Great City

UNDER the Seventh Vial, the judgment takes a sudden enlargement. The cloud of wrath, which hitherto had hung suspended above the Latin earth, stretches out, and shrouds in its tempests both the north and the east, the seat respectively of Greek idolatry, and Mohammedan superstition. All the prophets have spoken of this great era, Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, in especial, and it is only when we compare their prophecies, and attempt to read coming events, obscurely and doubtfully at the best, by the light of their convergent predictions, that we learn something of the revolutions and changes that await the world. We lift up our eyes, and lo! it seems as if the whole earth were in motion.

The plains of the east, where the centuries as they passed saw all unchanged, are stirred now; their countless tribes have struck their tents, and are marching westward. The doors of the frozen north are opened once more, and the bands of Scythia issue forth to invade the south. All are a-foot, and on the march; a motley host they form, speaking different tongues, brandishing every variety of weapon; clad in every costume, from the furs of Lapland to the silks of India; tribes of ancient lineage, and races of modern origin, all moved by a common impulse, rally to one point, where some great event is to be transacted, which shall form a culminating epoch in history.

At the head of this army marches a great leader. Prophecy had named him of old time, and had specially foretold his rise at this period of the world’s history. Ezekiel chapter 38 styles him Gog, of “the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” The land of Magog is that peopled by the Scythians. The Scythians are descended from Magog, the son of Japheth, and go under the various names of Turks, Tartars, and Scythians, and their territories extend from the center of Asia to the northern sea, comprehending the modern Russia. Rosh, which in our translation is rendered “chief,” the Septuagint makes a proper name, in which sense it denotes Russia.

This power (Gog) is to conceive the great design of conquering the world. With this view, he is to put himself at the head of the various nations which people the north of Europe and the north-west of Asia. He is represented by Ezekiel as supported by Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya; Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands, and many people. With this great following, he is to set out on an expedition against the west and south of Europe, tempted thereto, it may be, by finding its nations exhausted by mutual wars and social disorganization, and, deeming the hour come, to make a prey of their cities and lands, their commerce and riches.

The suddenness and irresistible force of the irruption is finely described,

This invasion will take place after several abortive attempts of the same kind. “I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws;” (Ez. 38:4a) but when the Divine purpose is to be served,

The same conquering power is foretold by Isaiah chapters 45 and 46 under the name of the ancient Cyrus. That power is girded with strength by the true God; it is to come like “a ravenous bird from the east” to execute God’s judgments upon His enemies; and, having fulfilled its appointed mission, it disappears. Immediately thereafter the skies begin to drop down, and the earth bursts into singing; which fixes this irruption of the nations to the times immediately preceding the millennium.

May not the reference of Daniel be to the same great events, when he describes the “king of the north” coming “like a whirlwind, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries, and he shall overflow and pass over?” – Daniel 11:40

These form a class of prophecies the most obscure, perhaps, in the sacred volume. Nevertheless, certain great events are here foreshadowed with tolerable distinctness. First of all, we may infer that these predictions will find their fulfillment in some gigantic scheme of ambition, which will precipitate the nations of the north and north-east upon the rest of the world. Second, that this irruption will be contemporaneous with the final judgment of antichrist, or so immediately consequent upon it, as to form one grand tragedy with it. Third, that this great host, after executing God’s purpose of destruction upon the countries and nations, against which, drawn by ambition on their own part, and a righteous providence on God’s, they will come, they shall themselves be destroyed. Fourth, that this destruction shall overtake them when they are on the point of turning their arms against a people standing in a peculiar relation to God, and enjoying his special protection. Fifth, that the hand of God will be so awfully visible in their overthrow, that the event will arrest the attention of men, and pave the way for the conversion of the world.

It is scarce possible that we can be mistaken in fixing on Russia as the pre-destined leader of this grand invading host. Russia alone, of all existing powers, fulfills all the conditions of the prophecy. She occupies the territories from which this irruption is to issue. She is mistress of the various tribes and nations which are to form it. Her rise has been portentously rapid, springing up in almost our own day, from barbarous insignificance to the rank of a first-rate power, overshadowing two hemispheres, and, while herself safe from attack, she threatens all others.

But, mainly, her avowed policy runs in the very line, and tends to the very issue indicated in the prophecy. Dreams of conquest, such as never haunted the pillow of Napoleon, are the traditional and cherished purposes of the Czar. Since the days of Peter the Great, who is said to have first chalked out the bold design and left it as a legacy to his successors, the ambition of Russia has been to push her conquests in the East and in the West, and fixing her throne at Constantinople, to make herself the predominating power in the earth; in short, its sole autocrat and master.

Repeated attempts have the emperors made to consummate this grand design, but hitherto these attempts have not been successful. Russia has been “turned back.” -That she will make another attempt is, we deem, just about as certain as that Russia exists, and, with the dry rot of revolution, weakening every year the kingdoms of Western and Southern Europe, and the prodigious accessions of strength daily accruing to Russia from the development of her vast resources, we do not see what is to hinder that attempt being at length completed and crowned.

Is not, in fact, the realization of this scheme going on at this very hour before our eyes? Every summer finds Russia farther advanced in her march southwards. Every campaign sees new tracts incorporated with her already vast territory, and new tribes enrolled in her already prodigious armies. These new adherents are the very nationalities and races pointed at in the prophecy, and it does seem as if, in this irrepressible expansion of the Russian empire and this gathering to her standard of diverse tongues and arms, we saw the rise of that very host which prophecy foretells, and the beginnings of that invasion which is to “ascend and come like a storm,” and to be “like a cloud to cover the land.”

The restoration of Palestine to the Jews, the resuscitation of Poland, the erection of a powerful and constitutional Protestantism in Germany and Hungary, would do something to ward off the danger. They are the only measures that offer protection against this threatened flood from the northern quarters. But, were these steps to be taken, it is not unlikely that Russia might attempt to anticipate them, by precipitating her purposed invasion, before there is time to complete such a bulwark.

The Testament of Peter the Great has a curious interest in connection with the prophecies which we are considering. The authenticity of that extraordinary document is somewhat doubtful. This, however, matters little. Whoever was its author, it truly describes the policy of the Czars. It is the program on which they are acting, and which they have already, to a considerable extent, realized. But more, it is the self-same scheme of gigantic ambition which the prophets of Israel, three thousand years ago, sketched out as that which would be adopted by “Gog, of the land of Magog.” It is the “very evil thought” which was to come into his mind in the latter days. It would almost seem as if the framer of the “Testament ” had borrowed his idea from the old prophets. As, for instance, the last seven clauses of The Will. (Webmaster: This is referenced in a Wikipedia article, The Will of Peter the Great.)

“We must keep steadily extending our frontiers northward along the Baltic, and southward along the shores of the Black Sea.

“We must progress as much as possible in the direction of Constantinople and India. He who can once get possession of these places, is the real ruler of the world. With this view we must provoke constant quarrels at one time with Turkey, and at another time with Persia. We must establish wharfs and docks in the Euxine (Greek name for the Black Sea), and, by degrees, make ourselves masters of that sea as well as of the Baltic, which is a doubly important element in the success of our plan. We must hasten the downfall of Persia, push on into the Persian Gulf; if possible, re-establish the ancient commercial intercourse with the Levant through Syria, and force out way into the Indies, which are the store-houses of the world. Once there, we can dispense with English gold.

“Moreover, we must take pains to establish and maintain an intimate union with Austria, apparently countenancing her schemes for future aggrandizement in Germany, and all the while secretly rousing the jealousy of the minor states against her. In this way we must bring it to pass that one or the other party shall seek aid from Russia; and thus we shall exercise a sort of protectorate over the country, which will pave the way for future supremacy.

“We must make the house of Austria interested in the expulsion of the Turks from Europe, and we must neutralize its jealousy at the capture of Constantinople, either by preoccupying it with a war with the old European States, or by allowing it a share of the spoil, which we can afterwards resume at our leisure.

“We must collect round our house, as round a center, all the detached sections of Greeks which are scattered abroad in Hungary, Turkey, and South Poland. We must make them look to us for support, and then, by establishing beforehand a sort of ecclesiastical supremacy, we shall pave the way for universal sovereignty.

“When Sweden is ours, Persia vanquished, Poland subjugated, Turkey conquered—when our armies are united, and the Euxine and the Baltic are in possession of our ships—then we must make separate and secret overtures first to the court of Versailles, and then to that of Vienna, to share with them the dominion of the world. If either of them accepts our propositions, which is certain to happen, if their ambition and self-interest are properly worked upon, we must make use of the one to annihilate the other; this done, we have only to destroy the remaining one by finding a pretext for a quarrel, the issue of which cannot be doubtful, as Russia will then be already in the absolute possession of the East, and of the best part of Europe.

“Should the improbable case happen of both rejecting the propositions of Russia, then our policy will be to set one against the other, and make them tear each other to pieces. Russia must then watch for and seize the favorable moment, and pour her already assembled hosts into Germany, while two immense fleets, ladened with Asiatic hordes, and convoyed by the armed squadrons of the Euxine and the Baltic, set sail simultaneously from the sea of Azoff, and the harbor of Archangel. Sweeping along the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, they will overrun France on the one side, while Germany is overpowered on the other. When these countries are fully conquered, the rest of Europe must fall easily and without a struggle under our yoke. Thus Europe can and must be subjugated.”

We who now live, as also our sons, are, to all appearance, destined to witness a series of stupendous events, in which the hand of God will be visible to all the earth, and in which the most fearful judgments and the richest mercies will be signally blended. We are on the eve of the great final exodus of the Church; and mightier miracles than those which attended her first exodus will signalize this her last and final one. There is another pursuing host to be overthrown, there is another Red Sea to be passed through, and another song of deliverance to be sung.

Not in a day, not in a year, are we to expect that these changes will be consummated. If, in half a century from the present time, they are finished and over, the work may justly be regarded as great, marvelous, and rapid.

The Greek and Roman idolatries are to be swept from the earth; the imposture of Mohammad, and all kindred delusions, are to be smitten and to pass away; vast ethnical changes are to take place, implying a change in the general condition of mankind, and the peopling anew of many regions of the earth. And not till after these whirlwinds have shaken the world, and these fires have purified it, will be heard “the great voice of much people” (Revelation 19), “saying, Alleluia,” announcing that now the long-expected era of regeneration and blessedness has fully dawned.

Continued in Chapter XXIX. Harpers By The Sea Of Glass

All chapters of The Seventh Vial – By J.A. Wylie

Continued from Chapter XXVI – Part 2. Voices, Thunders, and Lightnings.

BEFORE deciphering the ominous characters traced by the mysterious hand upon the walls of his palace, Daniel saw it fit to tender a reproof to the monarch, whose ear fear had now opened. First, he rebuked him for not profiting by the notable warning given him in the awful chastisement which befell Nebuchadnezzar, his father. As he well knew Nebuchadnezzar was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. And he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses; they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that He appointeth over it whomsoever He will.

And second, he rebuked the monarch for having taken the vessels of the house of the God of heaven, and having with his lords, and his wives, and his concubines drank wine in them, and praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know. This was his double sin, impenitency (not penitent, not being regretful of wrongs done), and impiety. And lo! here was its punishment, written full in his sight, in a few brief characters, unread as yet, save by the conscience of the king, which most surely divined the doom with which they menaced him.

This two-fold sin has been committed over again by the monarch of “Babylon the Great.” The modern Belshazzar has slighted with contempt the warning given him in the terrible overthrow of the man who was before him. He has, too, like his prototype of twenty-five centuries ago, prostituted the vessels of the sanctuary by taking them to grace his revels on the seven hills. When the “heart” of Caesar “was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride,” the warriors of the North were sent against him, who “deposed him from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him,” and drove him forth to herd with the barbarous Goths. Here was a fall as humiliating as that which befell Nebuchadnezzar, when, driven from the society of his lords, he roamed with the beasts of the field.

But the Pope refused to be warned by the fate of his predecessor. With spirit haughtier than that of Caesar, and with impiety more daring than Pagan emperor ever was guilty of, he appropriated the vessels of the house of the Lord, the blessed doctrines of Holy Writ, and prostituted them to the purpose of decking his Pagan temple. He made them simply the means of procuring riches, and honours, and glory to his cardinals, and bishops, and priests, and of upholding the pomp and pride of the pontifical chair.

The sin of the old Chaldean king was venial (minor) compared with that of his modern representative. The Vatican Mount has for ages been the scene of orgies more impious, more blasphemous, and more obscene, than any which the imperial Palatine ever knew, or any that shook the walls and roof of the royal palace of Babylon on that night, when the tumult was stilled at once and for ever, by the writing of the hand of doom. The Pontiff rifled the temple over again. He abstracted the golden vessels of the Christian Church, and he drank wine out of them with his lords, and wives, and concubines, and praised, in his drunken devotion, the gods of silver and gold, of brass, and iron, and wood.

It mattered not that liberty and virtue were outraged, that nations were destroyed, and that countless myriads of immortal souls were lost, if glory and wealth continued to flow in upon the “Church.” Divine ordinances were profaned, religion was turned into mockery, dead men were worshiped, the woman was drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus; and thus the obscene revel went on, its delirious mirth rising louder and louder every age, till at last, in 1789, a “hand” came forth—an awful dispensation of Providence—which wrote upon the walls of Europe the words of doom—God had numbered His kingdom and finished it.

Then the smoke of Babylon began to ascend into the sky, and the conflagration kindled then has gone on, with short pauses, ever since, in the revolutions, the bloody wars, the spoliation of ecclesiastical property and revenues, and the gradual consumption of all the dignity, wealth, and political dominion and power which upheld the Papacy. This is the predicted burning of the great city which has so often provoked the lament, Alas! alas! Again and again have we seen Papal Europe from side to side a scene of social burning. We have seen everything consuming, and turning into dross, just as if fire were preying upon it. Law, order, the power of princes, the dignity of thrones, the sanctity of altars, the estates of nobles, the wealth of merchants, industry, trade, confidence, all tending as rapidly to naught, as if thrown into the midst of a devouring conflagration. And we have seen both the kings of the Papal earth, and the false prophet of Rome, enduring torment in this lake of fire, and we have heard them venting their poignant grief in lamentations and bitter maledictions (cursing), gnawing their tongues, and gnashing their teeth, and, by reason of their ceaseless alarms, resting not day nor night.

But the most terrific blaze of that great conflagration is yet to come. Often has its fitful and lurid splendor broken over Europe since 1789; but higher yet in midheaven shall rise its flame, and wider yet over earth shall shine the light of its ruin, and then Rome shall sink in ashes, and lie covered for ever with the blackness of darkness. The instant sign of the final catastrophe will be the tripartition of the great city.

By the “great city” is meant that mixed system of polity, civil and ecclesiastical, of which the Pope was the directing head. This city was co-extensive with Papal Europe. The various countries were the several quarters of that city, the capitals of the nations were its streets. Rome was its form or broad place. In the earthquake of the Seventh Vial, this great city will be rent into three parts; that is, its States will break loose from their present arrangement, and form themselves into three confederacies. This tripartite division will be facilitated, doubtless, by the fall of “the cities of the nations;” that is, the several national polities throughout Europe. Like the parent polity of Rome, they are of a mixed character, partly civil, partly ecclesiastical. She is the metropolitan; they are the provincial cities of the Papal empire. They will fall in the shock of the great earthquake, leaving only three grand parties or political federations with, or, more probably, without their kings.

It will not escape notice that as we saw three frogs go forth, to enlist recruits each to his own banner; so now we behold a corresponding result, Europe ranged into three bodies or camps. On the flag of the one will be inscribed “Despotism,” on that of the other “Popery,” and on that of the third “ Revolution.” Such are the three principles which will meet and wrestle together on this last fatal field. To this spot, unaware that it is the appointed place of doom, the “Tophet ordained of old,” (Isaiah 30:33, Tophet: a place of ritual fire or burning for pagan sacrifices) will each lead down its followers, assembling, thus, all the Papal nations; and here will they wreak upon one another the vengeance due to ages of martyrdom. In that day of burning and wrath, of tribulation and bitter anguish, will the Papacy find its grave.

So soon as the tripartite division of the Roman earth has been completed, the final stroke will fall. The words, “came in remembrance before God,” are associated with one of the most terrific judgments of early times. Similar language was used by God with reference to Sodom, on the evening that preceded that awful morning when He rained fire and brimstone upon it from the Lord God out of heaven. The division of the great city into three parts will mark the very eve preceding the conflagration of the mystic Babylon. On the next morrow shall her plagues come. Upon that “Wicked” “He shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest.”

Will the fire in which she shall be consumed be literal fire? It is the opinion of many expositors of name that it will be literal fire; and their views receive countenance, as they suppose, from the fact that the whole country of Italy is volcanic. They think it not impossible that its now extinct craters may anew and simultaneously burst into action, and convert the country around Rome into a lake of fire. We are disposed to regard the fire and burning, under which the last judgment of the Papacy is set forth, as symbolic; and that this symbol has been selected from its fitness to denote the peculiar severity of her last plagues, and the utter consumption and annihilation which they will produce, it being the property of fire to annihilate that on which it preys. It will form a more striking demonstration of the baleful nature of Popery, as well as of the wisdom and justice of her great Judge, that her final calamities should grow out of her crimes; that the connection between the two should be manifest to the whole world; that the passions of the European nations, whom she has so long retained in ignorance and slavery, and robbed both of their temporal wealth and their eternal salvation, roused by the recollection of her numerous thefts, idolatries, and murders, should burst their chains, and be directed like burning fire against her.

Of this sort was the eating of the harlot’s flesh, and the burning of her with fire, by the kings of Europe, after the first outbreak of the French Revolution. When authority shall be prostrate, and the popular vengeance comes to rage without restraint, what more likely than that the same scenes will be enacted over again? The pillagings, massacrings, burnings, the destruction of property, and the general proscription that fell upon the Popish hierarchy, may again be inflicted upon them, but in more terrible measure. Nor would we deny that the rage of the elements may combine with the fury of man, to give additional terror to the scene, and to make still more visible the hand of God in the awful plagues of her ruin. Of this we are certainly informed, that these plagues will come unexpectedly, when the words are in her mouth, “I shall not be a widow,” that they will come suddenly, “Alas! alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come;” and that they will be irretrievable, “As a millstone cast into the depths of ocean, so shall Babylon with violence be cast down, and shall rise no more.” Her plagues, moreover, will be unprecedentedly awful; exhibiting in point of horror the full realization of what Babylon and Sodom, in their fall, exhibited only in type, and forming an anticipation of the terrors of the judgment-day.

The thrones, hierarchies, and powers of the Papal world will accompany Rome in her descent into the tomb. That era will be the judgment-day to nations. It will be the burial-day of the old earth. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and all the stars of the political and ecclesiastical firmament shall fall. It is not easy to find words in which to convey an adequate impression of the solemnity of the epoch, and the transcendent importance and terrible grandeur of the events which will then be witnessed. Kingdoms will be tossed and tumbled. The dominion and glory of twelve centuries will suddenly go out in darkness. Empires will be borne to the tomb; and how? Not amid the solemn grief of nations, but amid the exulting shouts and bitter execrations of enraged peoples. Princes of ancient and honourable lineage will go forth, discrowned, into exile. The beauty of renowned capitals will be defaced by war: the monuments of a past civilization, the creations of genius, and the triumphs of art, will perish amid the flames of conflagration. The symbols of authority will be desecrated: the fences of order will be torn down: the restraints of law, the obligations of morality, and the sanctions of religion, will all be contemned and set at nought.

The visitation will be awful beyond all former precedent, seeing it will contain the boarded vengeance of ages. Most impartial and unsparing will it truly be, sweeping off into destruction all that has lent itself to the support of idolatry, and purifying the earth as if by fire. The dukedom set up but yesterday, and the empire that dates its rise from the era of the Gothic invasion; the electorate that includes but a few hundred square acres, and the kingdom that comprehends within its ample limits extended plains, mighty rivers, vast mountain-chains, and races diverse in language and in blood; monarchs small and great, from the petty chief of a handful of followers, to the master of countless hosts—all “shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling: they shall sit upon the ground.”

The potentates that were of old time, who have long dwelt in Hades —Ashur, and all his company; Elam, and all his multitude; Edom, his kings and all his princes—when the rumor of this great event shall reach the dominions of death, will be moved at the tidings, and shall rise up from their seats to welcome this mightiest of crowned chiefs, whose day has at last come.

Continued in Chapter XXVIII. The Expedition of Gog; Or Irruption Of Nations From The North And East

All chapters of The Seventh Vial – By J.A. Wylie

My Australian friend Daniel shared this YouTube with me about the New Jersey drones phenomenon, and I knew I had to share it when I learned the speaker’s excellent credentials.

Chase Hughes (Houston, Texas) is an American expert on the analysis of human behavioral science. Hughes serve three terms in the United States Military (Navy) for more than twenty years as a human behavior analyst and interrogator. He developed the peer respected “Behavior Pilot Program” studying Human Intelligence (HUMINT) commands, which outlines discoveries that drastically altered the previously held notions of what influence and persuasion meant in human culture. He also developed the government training program “CuePrime” which was the first interrogation behavior analysis tool which revolutionized law enforcement training in the U.S. He is also the creator of the “Pre-Violence Indicators Index,” designed to alert personnel to pre-attack behaviors. He is also the creator of other life-saving systems such as ‘The Hostile Hospital’ and ‘Tactical Psychology’. (Source: https://wikitia.com/wiki/Chase_Hughes)

I hope the strong language Chase Hughes uses sometimes will not offend anyone. He may not be a Christian yet, but I think what he’s teaching is very important information for everyone. Sad to say, I believe some of my own friends to be victims of a psyop they picked up from either the mainstream media or social media.

Transcription

Chase Hughes: Are we in the middle of a psychological operation right now? There are thousands of drone sightings.

Witness: I’ve never seen so many UFOs in my life.

Chase Hughes: And more weird stuff every single day.

Lady, Ms. Mace: Were they human or non-human?

Man replies: Non-human.

Government hearing man: We are not alone.

Chase Hughes: You deserve to know how to tell what the hell is going on. And I just did a very confidential talk to my inner circle last night. But I think that you need to see this.

Tucker Carlson: (On the question did aliens come to earth in 1945?) People within the U.S. government believe it’s true.

Government hearing man: The world deserves the truth.

CNN anchor lady:Growing number of drone sightings.

Retired Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, Dr. Tim Gallaudent: They’re non-human. Higher intelligence.

Jounalist: The unidentified aircraft are the size of cars.

New Jersey young man: Like the classic UFO that you would see online.

Chase Hughes: A lot of people are wondering what the hell is going on. But what if I told you that the most dangerous thing is happening, but it’s inside of your head? If you just think about it for a second, there’s decades of silence on UFOs. And now suddenly the government is obsessed with talking about them.

I want to show you exactly tonight what the plans and motivations are if this is being done on purpose. And then I want to walk you through a foolproof way on how to spot public manipulation. I’m also maybe going to talk about what to do if it’s actually aliens.

If you don’t know, I’m the guy that trains psyops. I’m the person that teaches this kind of stuff to companies and stuff.

So the government’s kind of gone from decades of denial to throwing around terms like UAPs, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Unofficial Hearings. Add to that this sudden rise in reports of drones all over the place, these weird sightings and emergency declarations that are going on, I think in New Jersey right now. And it feels like we’re being prepped for something. But what are we being prepared for? So let’s dig in.

So why would this be happening right now? So we’re going to go both sides. It’s aliens. It’s not aliens. Let’s do both sides here. Most governments don’t just usually open up about things like this without a reason. With all governments, when they start pushing a narrative, it’s most often to serve a bigger agenda if this is deliberate. So here are three possible reasons I can think of why this might be happening.

Number one, a distraction tactic. When huge issues are brewing like economic instability, political unrest, global crises, somebody’s done something bad and it’s about to get in the news, governments usually and very often create some kind of distraction.

So remember when the Pentagon released UFO footage in 2020, that conveniently happened during a global pandemic. This chaotic thing that was going on around the entire world that we all suffered through.

Number two, using fear as a tool. So fear unites people. So if there is a threat big enough, and I want you to remember if you’re just listening to me right now, I’m sitting on your kitchen counter or something like that, you’re making dinner, I said the word threat with huge quotes around it. If there’s a threat big enough like UFOs, people are more likely to trust their leaders, give up freedoms, and rally behind whatever solution that they’re offered. It’s the same playbook used during the Cold War. This was called the Red Scare for that reason. Or post 9-11 with the war on terror and the Patriot Act.

And then number three, testing the waters. This goes back to BC years. All three of these things go back to the BC (before Christ) years. This is not something that’s original. So governments tend to test and gauge how people react. So if we accept UFOs as real and we don’t freak out, that means we can kind of escalate the narrative without any pushback. So think of it like kind of a slow drip instead of pouring it all out at one time.

And if you want to look back at some of these historical parallels, this is not the first time this has happened. Just a few that come to mind right now.

The first is the Gulf of Tonkin. This happened in 1963 or 1964 (Webmaster: The imaginary incident was on August 4, 1964). The United States used extremely questionable reports of attacks on naval ships, which were not true, to justify escalating this Vietnam War.

And then in 1962, we had this thing called Operation Northwoods. This is a declassified plan about the U.S. officials staging, “fake attacks,” completely fake attacks, like blowing up planes with people in them to justify military actions against Cuba.

And in the post 9-11, what I would call a fear campaign. So after the attacks, governments push for these just sweeping changes like the Patriot Act, which expanded massive surveillance under the guise of terrorism.

So if you just replace terrorism or communism with UFOs, you can start to see a pattern. So what might be happening? What might be happening right here? It might upset you. It might piss you off. But we’re going to talk about that in just a second. Keep that in your back pocket for just a second.

Number one is a normalization phase. So just steadily leaking UFO footage, holding hearings, using all these terms like UAPs all the time. The government makes the idea of something out there seem reasonable. So this keeps people curious, but not panicked. Curious, but not panicked.

The second part of this is setting the stage for a big reveal. And I want you to keep that one in mind. So at some point, we might see a more dramatic event like a giant UFO sighting over a major city or footage that is just impossible to dismiss. And you could think giant holograms, giant drones, or other advanced tech just creating something that you cannot ignore.

So number three would be a need for a savior. So once the threat feels real enough, governments or even global coalitions could step in as these heroes. They might call for increased defense budgets. Maybe all the governments in this area need to unite into one big government, maybe a global response team, and I say that with quotes around it, to handle this threat. So this could lead to giant power shifts and more control in fewer hands is kind of the, maybe the goal of that.

And this, you could look this up. There was even a plan to stage a fake kind of alien invasion. This is on record on paper that there was a full government plan to make a fake alien invasion.

But what could be next? What could be down the pipeline from right now? If we follow this theory to the logical next step here, here’s what might happen.

First would be escalating UFO reports. They expect a lot more sightings, near misses with airplanes, mysterious objects interfering with infrastructure, like power grids or airports. It’s going to feel real and urgent.

The next would be a media blitz that would come after that. So mainstream media will amplify the story. They’re going to interview pilots. They’re going to release grainy videos and have experts explain these things that are maybe defying physics. The goal potentially, and I say all of this as a potential hypothetical, to make everybody believe this is a huge deal.

Next would be a global event. And this could be something absolutely wild, like some kind of coordinated UFO appearance, maybe a simulated attack, or even some claim that we’ve made contact. And it doesn’t have to be real. It just has to be believable enough.

And of course, then we have a solution. So after the chaos, governments might roll out solutions, like new defense initiatives, new military spending, government coalitions, governments kind of coming together, expanded surveillance maybe, and calls for like some international cooperation. All right.

So why should we care? Even if all this theory sounds way the hell out there, the technologies exist to make all of it plausible. Plausible. So holograms, drones, AI, deep fakes are advanced enough to fool large populations. And historically, going back to the year 1 AD, governments have shown that they’re not above manipulating fear to get what they want.

So now we get to what do we do? What the hell do we do about this? Number one, stay freaking critical. Do not take everything at face value. Always question why some stories are getting so much attention. And most importantly, who benefits from that story? And educate yourself. You need to look into historical precedents, maybe current technology. You could just use chat GPT for a lot of this. And some government strategies. So the more you know, the harder it is for you to be manipulated.

Focus on reality. So of course, this is nothing but conjecture. I’m just sitting here at my house. We’ve got a bonfire going on outside. We’re about to go sit outside for a little while and just enjoy nature around a fire like our ancestors did. And I’m not, I don’t know anything. I don’t know anything more than you do about what’s going on. So the sky’s the limit for this conjecture. But maybe it’s theatrics. But remember that not every light in the sky is some alien. Stay very grounded in what’s provable and know that getting angry at things that are outside your control is stupid. It’s just like drinking acid.

So here’s how to spot a psyop. And I’ve never said this publicly before, but here is the step-by-step formula that will enable you to spot a psychological operation. Separating manipulation from genuine news is like kind of playing detective. So here’s a few steps that will put you on top of everybody for being able to spot a psyop.

Number one is analyze the source. Is the outlet known for credible reporting or do they thrive in like sensationalism? So established outlets like Reuters sometimes, Wall Street Journal, they report facts first and others are way into drama. And psyops, psychological operations, extremely, very much rely on sensational headlines. If you see sensational headlines, you need to get the hell out. This is on all media, on both sides of the aisle. There is no aisle if you didn’t, hadn’t got that figured out already.

So next is who owns that platform that you’re looking at? So media ties with pharmaceutical companies, political entities, defense contractors, defense contractors. I dare you to look that one up tonight.

And so step two, question the timing. So you want to ask yourself, does the story that I’m looking at right now appear during a major crisis or scandal or upcoming election maybe? Psyops will very often distract from bigger issues like UFO footage released during major policy debates or global unrest, huge red flag.

Next is to follow the narrative. And I promise you don’t have to go do five hours of research to do it. You just ask yourself, are multiple outlets, this one question right here, are multiple outlets parroting the exact same language? If you see that s–t going down, you need to be very terrified that something’s going into your brain that doesn’t belong there.

So Psyops use coordinated messaging to reinforce a narrative. So look for phrases that feel copy and pasted like “unprecedented threat” or “undeniable evidence”. Those little phrases, you’re going to hear them. You will start to hear these everywhere you look. And the moment you hear copy paste phrases, that is a Psyop.

So step four, look for emotional triggers. So all Psyops thrive on pushing your buttons.

Think about the F.A.T.E. model. If you know what that is, Focus, Authority, Tribe, and Emotion. So this is fear, anger, amazement. So if a story feels like it’s designed, and I say the word designed with bold underline italics. If a story feels like it’s designed to make you react emotionally, get out fast, don’t even finish the story. Ask chat GPT about what you’re trying to figure out.

So stories about UFOs emphasize unknown threats without any evidence. You should be pretty careful about that.

And then just check the evidence. You ask yourself the question, are they providing evidence like document data, eyewitness accounts, or relying on anonymous sources and some vague claims? So if you ever hear the words, and I want you to burn these words into your head, I have never told anyone in my life how to expose a Psyop. But if you do all of these at once, you will never be manipulated.

This one question, with that stuff going on, I need to ask, is this going to expand government control or justify new laws? That one question. Well, what I’m saying, expand government control or justify new laws. Okay.

Analyze coverage patterns. So Psyops all the time dominate the news cycle and they drown out other stories. Real news coexists with other reports. Let me say that again. Real news coexists with other reports about stuff that’s going on. If one topic is everywhere while major global events get completely ignored, you’re in the middle of a Psyop.

Next is look for follow-ups. This is it. Real news evolves with new updates. Psyops fade once they’ve served their purpose. I’ll say that one more time if you’re taking notes.

Psyops will fade away when they have served their purpose. So as an example, if you see some inflated, sensational story that just vanishes after a week with no follow-up, that is called a distraction. It’s called a distraction.

So finally is trust your gut. Does it feel scripted? Sometimes things feel just off and I want you to trust your instincts. Back them up with research if you want to.

So what can you do? Like what the hell can you do about all this? The most important thing that I could give you and I had no idea that I was going to really be talking about any of this, but the most important thing is cultivate critical thinking skills. Learn to spot the propaganda. Go back through what I just talked about. Chris is going to make this recording available to everyone. I don’t know how or where. We’ll make it available to everybody here.

I don’t care if you’re an NCII plus or whatever. Look for patterns in how the media or the government communicates about things. Maybe UFOs. Do they spot or do they focus on fear? Or are they offering solutions that involve giving up freedom or increasing government power? So try to diversify all the places that you’re getting news from. Try to block every single news provider that you can possibly think of and use AI to get your news and tell AI to be concise and apolitical in its answer. It’s the best way to do it.

So I want you to memorize these three questions if you’re taking notes. Number one, who benefits from this narrative? Number two, what evidence is being shown and is it verifiable? Number three, why now? Why is it happening right now?

Next is strengthen your psychological state. Recognize these fear tactics. Fear is the number one easiest way to control human beings. Governments use all kinds of stuff as a way to unite people under a single narrative. So stay calm. Question why you’re being told to be afraid. Question why you’re being told to be afraid.

And this sounds like some bulls–t trope you might see on some yoga instructor video, but mindfulness is one of the most powerful practices that you can start to adopt today. There’s a million videos on it on YouTube. I’m not going to go into how to do it today. It’s one of the most powerful things you can do just in general for your success in your life, but it’s going to help insulate you from some of this stuff.

So just a few other ones. Stay connected to your community, not your online community. Get to know who your neighbors are. Get to know your neighbors. Walk across the street. Know everybody that lives around you. Go introduce yourself if you haven’t already. Your neighbors might be more important than you realize here if something goes down.

Build self-reliance as much as you possibly can. Stay grounded in reality. Always remind yourself that there’s a lot of stuff going on and through all the s–t we’ve been through as a species, as a country, as a globe, things usually just turn out okay in the end. It’s not that big of a deal.

And finally, just get your mindset protected. The more people panic, the more easily governments can sweeping control the nation. So practice a little bit of skepticism and help other people to stay calm. That’s your job. If you remember, you are the one studying authority and confidence and leadership. That’s your job to help people stay calm.

So stay educated, but just balanced. So research topic, like if you want to learn about this stuff, go Google Project Bluebeam. It may keep you up all night, but you take a look at that.

So fear-driven conspiracies can be just as manipulative as a government conspiracy. Finally, and I didn’t, man, I wasn’t going to say this because it sounds weird, but if there’s a power outage, you have zero money if you don’t have cash. So you may want to keep some cash on hand if you can, if you can afford it.

So always think of like when governments propose solutions ask, do they actually address the issue? What freedoms or powers are being taken in exchange? And is the solution long-term or a convenient grab for power?

So what if it is aliens? What the hell are we going to do? Let’s entertain the wild card here. What if it’s aliens? Maybe we’re finally ready to handle it, kind of. Maybe aliens showed up in the 50s or 60s. They were like, oh, these people have lost their minds, but maybe we’re ready now. Maybe we’ve hit some critical point in history where at this weird crossroads with climate change, we’re exploring Mars finally. Aliens are watching. Maybe they’re coming. Maybe we’re pinging the radar. We got all this tech and stuff like that, satellites out there. Maybe we just sent out some kind of we’re here signal and maybe they’ve always been here, but they’ve just been waiting and now we’re ready for level two, whatever that means.

But here’s why the timing feels suspect. Even if let’s just say aliens are legit. There’s some little gray dudes that are going to pop out of a ship or something. If they’re legit, the timing feels very convenient. Why? Because governments love to frame everything in terms of fear and control.

So if aliens are making contact, I want you to ask this. If you’re entertaining this concept with me, wouldn’t you expect them to be advanced enough to know how incompetent the governments are in this world? So the information would not flow through the government. So instead, all the info does come through the government. So it feels like there’s a layer there. There’s a layer. But if it’s real, it’s not just, oh, cool, there’s some aliens. It’s about what happens next and who decides how the narrative unfolds.

If this was helpful or interesting, and I certainly hope that it was, if you’re interested in diving deep into this training, I released the college level textbook of all of this information only a few weeks ago. It’s this giant book right here. And this is the textbook of the most advanced tactics and methods in this arena. And it’s called the Behavior Operations Manual. And there’s a link in the description if you want to check out the textbook.

So thanks for joining me. Stay safe and stay sane.

Continued from Chapter XXVI. The Seventh Vial Poured Into The Air.

Voices, Thunders, and Lightnings

In the Vision the fated monarch is seen to pause for a moment amid the deep silence of a vast hall. Its floor and walls are of black marble. It is centinelled (guarded) by two gigantic figures, who stand rigid and motionless. The one is giant Time, and bears a scythe and sand-glass; the other is the angel of Destiny, and is armed with an iron mace. The two dread figures stir not; nor word nor gesture of theirs breaks the silence of that wide funereal (solemn, mournful) looking chamber. In the glass in the hand of old Time the few remaining sands drop one after one: and the angel of Destiny watches their ebb with a stern inflexible look.

The last grain has fallen. And now is come the moment of fate. Raising aloft his ponderous club, the angel of Destiny strikes the wall against which he stands with a terrific blow, in an instant it is rent, it is shivered into a thousand pieces; and what a scene of savage warfare meets the eye. The stillness is at an end; and the roof of the vast chamber re-echoes fearfully with the tread of armies, the clang of trumpets, the clash of arms, the wild shout of the victor, and the dying groan of the vanquished.

Such, but on a scale immeasurably vaster, will the scene be when the seventh angel shall pour out his vial. Equally sudden will be the transition from deepest stillness to wildest uproar; and the calm will give character and effect to the tempest. Europe, like the Hall in the tale, will exhibit only motionless figures. It will present a floor of marble despotism, sealing down opinion, and governments standing, statue-like, leaning upon their vast armaments. No sound will break the silence save the stealthy motion and the low croak of the frogs, who will strive, in myriad swarms, to propagate their principles. One after one the years will pass. The breathless silence will remain unbroken. Moveless will stand the governments of the world, moveless, too, their vast armaments. History will appear to lack incident. Nevertheless, the years, and months, and days will keep running on. The last grain in Time’s glass will drop, and now the appointed hour will have arrived. Destiny will strike asunder the marble curtain of old conventionalities which has walled in Europe, and kept its affairs moving in the old-accustomed groove, in which men will be prognosticating they will move on for ever.

And through the vast chasm effected by the rending of the curtain what a scene of fierce conflict and tumultuous revolution will meet the eye! It will be felt that the pillars of the world have been shaken, and the foundations removed out of their place. A time of great trouble will suddenly come upon the kingdoms of the earth—a time of “famines and pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs from heaven”— “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; ” and on the earth “distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.”

The first intimation (announcement) which will be given to the world that the last and consummating vial has been poured out will be the “great voice,” saying, “It is done.” (Revelation 16:17) By this we are not to understand a literal voice sounding from the sky, but a dispensation of Providence proclaiming unambiguously to all who have hearts to understand it, that the old order of things is for ever at an end, and that a new era has come. It will give assurance to the Christian that the Divine and wondrous plan which God has been prosecuting throughout the ages has found its predestined conclusion in the universal and total overthrow of Satan’s kingdom on the earth. “It is done.” On the empire of the great Tyrant has fallen the finishing blow, and it sinks in ruin utter and irretrievable.

This will be immediately followed by “Voices, Thunders, and Lightnings.” These are the symbols of popular tumults, insurrections, and wars. This certainly predicts an uprising of all the nationalities of Europe. The great governments will lose their controlling power, and race will be seen warring with race, and party conflicting with party. This great battle of revolted and wrestling nationalities will rage from side to side of Europe, and will, not unlikely, include Western Asia as well.

We witnessed a similar uprising in 1848, when in a single fortnight a conflagration broke out which blazed from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Vistula (the longest river in Poland). Wider still and fiercer will the coming conflict be. The plains of Poland, the mountains of Carpathia, the vast valley of the Danube, the shores of the Bosphorus, the towns of southern Germany, and the mountains of the Tyrol, will all be stirred into tumult. The fire will run along the chain of the Alps and Apennines, kindling local conflagrations in France, in Spain, and in Italy. Everywhere will be strife; populations moved; governments menaced, or paralyzed. These will be but the beginnings of change, the first tremblings of the earth before the great shock which is to rock the world, overturn the mountains of political society, and bury them in the wide weltering ocean of revolution.

This convulsion will be the work of the three frogs; that is, the Popish ultramomatanes(clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope), the political reactionaries, and the atheistic revolutionists. Each party has its own cherished project, which it will strive to the utmost to realize. The Ultramontanes will conspire to lift the Church of Rome once more to universal sway over the nations. The Reactionaries will energetically labor to bring back the palmy days of despotic governments; and the Revolutionists, inferior in numbers and energy to neither of the other two parties, will leave no stone unturned towards realizing their golden dream of a universal republic.

To realize these grand visions, a somewhat varied and extensive instrumentality is now being employed. The Ultramontanes are avowing their old theories, that the Church is vested in a supreme sovereignty over society, and they are sending forth countless swarms of Jesuits, and affiliated members, to indoctrinate the world into ultramontane principles.

The Reactionaries are prosecuting their special scheme by the open agency of armies, and the secret machinery of police.

The Revolutionists advance their projects by clubs, by public conventions, by lectures and journals. Thus do these three great parties strive together; there is no land, however remote, no city, or village, however insignificant, scarce a family is there to which their operations do not extend, and in which they do not seek to plant their principles. Day and night the work goes on: much of it is unseen; it makes little noise, and creates no great alarm; but it proceeds with an energy that never abates, and a diligence that never pauses. Europe is mined and countermined by the machinations of these parties. The ground on which men walk is hollowed. The air overhead is surcharged with explosive materials. It needs but a spark to awaken the tempest. When it does burst, the ground will fall in; the structures that repose upon its thin crust, will be engulfed; and the silence that went before will he succeeded by a roar, as if of many waters, by the wailings of sorrow and terror; by the wild shrieks of dismay and suffering; by the thunderings of artillery; by the wrathful shouts of armed millions; by the despairing cry of sinking dynasties, and the crash of falling thrones.

For the coming of these terrible events, the battle of Sadowa has been largely instrumental in opening the way. The fate of that battle called suddenly into existence a powerful Protestant empire in the center of Europe, and threw the political balance on the side of liberty. Rome was not slow to see that a grand crisis had arrived; a crisis which left her only the alternative of sitting still, and being borne down by the progress of events, which everywhere— with one most anomalous exception, England, to wit—were setting powerfully against her, or, at whatever hazard to herself, and injury to society, of striking a bold blow for supremacy. She must attack the political predominancy of Prussia. The power of the new German kingdom is a fatal menace to herself; she must labor to break it up; she must sow dissensions among the various states and kingdoms which the victory of Sadowa placed under the sway of the House of Hapsburg, and, if possible, persuade them to desert the central state, and bring back old divided Germany once more. She must if possible prevent the states on the south of the Maine (a river in Europe) uniting with Prussia. She must arrest the constitutional progress of Austria. She must keep central and eastern Europe disunited, and play off the Popish against the Protestant principalities. She must fan the flame of insurrection in Poland, and so check somewhat her dreaded Muscovite foe. She must intrigue for the restoration of the old Bourbons in France and Italy. She must distract Naples by brigands, and Tuscany and Piedmont by the Paolotti, if so be the new kingdom may be broken up.

Arms she can no longer wield since Austria is fallen. She must conquer by principles. All states she must invade by her missionaries; and when her plans are ripe she will bring on a great war, and dash the European kingdoms one against the other, hoping to make fallen thrones and exhausted and prostrate nations the steps by which she may mount to her old dominion. This is the policy on which Rome has staked her future. It is a policy that is fraught with infinite hazard, for if it fails she must perish with it; if it succeeds she becomes the ruling power in Europe, and mistress, once more, of its nations.

This policy can be carried out only at vast suffering, for it involves the overthrow of the present order of things; but it is the plan which Rome, at this hour, boldly plots, in the hope that on the ruin of society she may be able to plant anew the foundations of a more glorious reign.

The action and re-action of the three parties upon one another will bring on

THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE.

The earthquake of the “Seventh Vial” is emphatically styled a “mighty” and “great” earthquake, “ such as was not since men were upon the earth;” “Earthquake” is the apocalyptic symbol of Revolution. The revolution here foretold will bring with it greater changes than ever before passed upon society. It will revolutionize the world once for all.

Since the Church entered into her great captivity, now twenty-five centuries since, there have been at least four great revolutions in the world. First the Chaldean power was overthrown. Next the Medo-Persian, after its term of rule was fulfilled, bowed to the supremacy of the Greeks: and the Greeks in their turn yielded up the sovereignty of the world to the Romans; and thus a third time the condition of mankind was changed. There came yet a fourth mighty revolution. The great empire of Rome, which had civilized by her genius and ruled by her scepter so many of the nations of the earth, closed at last her years of sovereignty, and fell before the Goths.

But the apocalypse foretells the coming of a fifth revolution. This will surpass all the revolutions which have been before it: its plowshare will reach to the very bottom of society: it will lay prostrate in the dust the Gothic kingdoms which stood up when the great empire of Rome fell, together with all that remains upon the earth of those great empires which flourished before the era of the ten kingdoms, sweeping from off the earth in a mighty tempest all those laws, institutions, religions, and customs, which grew out of these kingdoms, and which were connected with, and helped to defend the old Pagan idolatry, which was incorporated with, and received its fullest development in the politico-ecclesiastical constitution of medieval Europe. All must fall. This great tempest will bring with it a universal purification, for, in the first place, it will clear the ground of all those evil systems which have grown and flourished these three thousand years bygone; and, in the second place, it will open a way for the diffusion throughout all lands on earth of that light and truth which alone can purify the soul and regenerate society.

This blessed influence began to operate when the first shocks of this great earthquake were felt in 1789; and heathendom began, here and there, to be spotted with light, and the ancient promise to be fulfilled,

But the instant the last and consummating shock of that great earthquake shall have shaken the world, there will burst from the sky, like the coming of a sudden spring-time, or the opening of the portals of the morning, a sweet and gracious influence, which, in a marvelously short time, there is reason to think, will convert the earth. And so will be realized the sequel of the prophecy we have just quoted.

This, then, is the one grand revolution of the world. It will mark off its evil from its good days, “numbering and finishing” the one, and bringing in the other. It is that blessed change to which the prophets looked forward, with longing hearts, and kindling eyes, and whose dawn, though yet afar off, they could descry across the intervening tops of tyrannic empires and idolatrous ages. Not in a day, or in a year, will it come: it is already begun: the solemn events of our own strangely blended epoch, in which sweetest mercy walks side by side with judgments of unexampled terror, are in truth its footsteps; and mercies yet greater, and judgments still more terrible, which manifestly impend, will give to this change a consummation at once sudden, glorious, and complete.

All former revolutions looked toward this one, and prepared the way for it. The changes which they effected in the existing state of things were superficial and transient. They resembled the phenomena of a mid-winter storm, in which the rattling hail and the whirling snow descend upon the moveless surface of a frozen ocean. The waters, enchained by the frost, sealed down opinion, and presented a floor, hard and firm as a rock, on which still stood the old despotic governments, and the persecuting, idolatrous churches.

But the “earthquake” of the seventh vial will resemble the coming of a springtime. The waters will be upheaved from their bottom, the ice will be broken up, and while the mined fragments of the old tyrannies, political and ecclesiastical, are seen to sink in a stormy ocean, there will come a gush of verdure from shore to mountain-top, which will cover the earth with beauty, and evoke a universal shout of joy.

As regards the governments of Europe, those of them especially which have refused to admit into their constitution the preserving salt of Protestantism, the question is not, will they fall? but when? today or tomorrow? this year, or the year after? There is a widespread revolt against them.

Nor has this revolt arisen from any temporary cause. It is not a frenzy, whose violence will work its own cure, and when it has subsided, the repentant nations will hail the rule they now spurn, and bow their necks to the old yoke. No: it has sprung from ideas which have been the slow growth of centuries, but which have now leavened the entire mass, and brought on a movement of mind so mighty, irresistible, and so far beyond control, that no Government now existing, or that ever existed on the earth, can withstand it. These Governments have been weighed in the balance, and the nations have found them wanting, both as respects the liberty which the individual ought to possess, and the advance which society ought to make. This result is not the achievement of one or of a few ages; it is the triumph of the race. A world has shared the toils of the arduous struggle, as a world shall reap its fruits. It forms one of the great epochs of the human mind—an epoch which can never be re-crossed, and the passage of which has for ever sealed the fate of the Gothic Governments.

They may contrive for a little to delay their dissolution. A timely concession today, and a successful battle tomorrow, may prolong their existence for a few years; but their doom is inevitable. They are in the arms of a foe whose fresh, unspent vigor is a match a thousand times over for the exhaustion and feebleness of their senility.

That which imparts to this movement its omnipotent strength, and will secure its steady onward course, is, that, in the main it is founded on reason. Illusion, like that from which the Crusades sprang, is transient;—truth is immortal. The influences now at work in the political and moral world can no more be arrested than can those secret yet all pervading powers which begin to operate in the bosom of the soil, when the months of winter have expired, and the time has come for summer to revisit the skies, and renew the face of the earth. It is now upwards of half a century since Sir James Macintosh, in his “Vindiciae Gallicae,” reasoning from the analogy between the then state of Europe and that period of Grecian history when the heroic passed into the legislative ages, gave it as his opinion, that “the Gothic Governments of Europe had lived their time.”

To the same import is the testimony of another high authority—one who has studied society, not in books merely, but in the living world, and who has enjoyed the farther advantage of having acted his part in the great area. “We are arrived,” says Lamartine, in his “Polity of Reason,” “at one of the strangest epochs the human race has to cross in its progress towards their Divine destiny—an era of renovation and transformation similar, perhaps, to the gospel era. Shall we get over it and yet not perish?

No Apocalyptic theory biased the judgments of these men. Surveying European society, from their commanding position, with a keen glance, which observation had invigorated and philosophy enlarged, they announce the approach of that great moral revolution which the interpreter of the Apocalypse, guided only by its symbols, had taught the world to look for about this period of its history. What an illustrious triumph did science obtain, when, after their long voyage across the hitherto unfurrowed Atlantic, there rose before the crew of Columbus, in far-extending line, dimly seen through a veil of haze, the shores of the New World!

A yet more blessed triumph is about to crown Revelation, and a yet more welcome sight, after her long dreary voyage across the dark ages, is about to unfold itself to the Church, now that the more sagacious and farsighted of our philosophers and statesmen are heard to cry out, like the sailor from the mast-head, that they descry, through the mists and darkness of fearful revolutions, that renovated state of society that stands predicted in the Apocalypse.

Despotism had long withheld from society its rights: Communism has now come, affirming that society has no rights—that all centers in the individual, who is everything, and society nothing. By the atheism of its creed, Communism looses man from every sacred obligation; by its doctrines on property and other matters, it relieves him from every social bond; and thus it aims at sinking him into all the isolation, and more than the barbarism, of savage life.

If ever Heaven in His wrath sent an incarnation of malignity from the place of all evil, to chastise the guilty race of man, it is Communism. But the hell from which it has come is Rome: Communism has drawn its birth from the fetid womb of Popery, whose superstition has passed into atheism, and whose tyranny has engendered lawlessness; and now the progeny, with parricidal (related to, inclined to, or guilty of, the murder of one’s immediate family) fury, seeks to devour the parent.

From a feeble infancy it gathered strength by moments, till, finding itself strong enough to make war with the divinities of the political firmament, it threw down the gage (challenge) of battle. That battle has now gone on with varying success for eighty years. It has converted the Continent into a camp, and its territory into a battle-field. Its issue must be, that one or other of the two parties shall perish.

Should the Absolutists triumph, Europe must return, at the sword’s point, to her dungeon, and yield her limbs to the old manacles. Should the Communists prevail, there remains on earth no farther power of staying the Revolution, and it must roll on, avalanche-like, to the awful bourne (destination) Providence may have assigned it, crushing and burying in its progress thrones, altars, laws, rights, the fences of order and the bulwarks of despotism, the happiness of families and the prosperity of kingdoms.

But above the crash of thrones and the agonies of expiring nations we may hear the voice of the angel of the waters saying,

Had the Reformation succeeded the world would have been spared all these dreadful calamities. The Reformation was the Elijah before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. It was the Voice crying in the Papal wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” It addressed the apostate Churches of Europe as John (the Baptist) did the Jewish Church,

For three centuries, as John for three years, the Reformation has been a preacher of repentance to the Popish nations. Great as it was, and dignified and important as was its office, it announced itself, like John, to be only the harbinger of a mightier dispensation, saying,

But this great preacher’s warning, like John’s, was slighted.

Nevertheless, the Reformation has executed its mission, though in a different way from what had been anticipated. It has brought down the corrupt Churches and tyrannical Governments of Europe, not by the preaching of the gospel, but by the intellectual knowledge it has diffused. Had it been allowed to take its own way, it would have accomplished its mission without spilling a drop of blood, or overturning a single throne; but, fettered as it was by Governments, it has done its work amid direful wars and revolutions, for which those only are responsible who employed force to oppose it.

The Reformation gave to the European nations the printing-press and the Bible—the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. Providence designed that men should partake of both; but Governments put asunder what God had joined. The nations had access to the tree of knowledge, but were forbidden to touch the tree of life. The consequence has been, that they have acquired intellectual power, without moral principle to control it. Society has grown strong, but not wise. The Bible, with its ally the printing-press, would have reformed society without destroying it: the printing-press alone has destroyed it; though we trust that destruction will pave the way for its reformation. The wind, the earthquake, and the fire, will, as of old, be the harbinger of the “still small voice.”

Viewed in this light, what an aspect of fearful retribution does the present condition of Europe bear, and how strikingly does it correspond with the symbols under which the final plagues of the Papacy are exhibited—a harvest and vintage! The Papacy is not to be destroyed by supernatural agents. It is not fire from heaven in which Rome is to be burned. Her destruction is to be an effect from a cause long past, as the harvest is an effect from the seedtime. An era is to open on Europe, in which the tyranny and priestcraft of ages will yield all their evil fruits; and what, in truth, are the atheism and lawlessness that have so often celebrated their saturnalia (pagan sacrifice) of blood on the Continent, and may do so again, but the harvest of past oppression, secular and spiritual? May not the terrible wreck which has already partially befallen, and may yet in a fuller measure befall the thrones, princes, and hierarchies, the laws, commerce, and prosperity, of Papal Europe, be the burning of the great city Babylon, and the lamentations which have been poured forth over a catastrophe so unexpected and so vast, be the first echoes of the cry, “Alas! alas! that great city Babylon?” And, be it remarked, that the symbol, “the great city Babylon,” does not denote the priesthood, but that union of the hierarchical and dynastical powers which constitutes the Government of Papal Europe.

We take much too limited a view of the overthrow of the Papacy, when we conceive of it as extending only to the country of Italy and the persons of the Pope and his clergy. The system was a European one, and so must be its destruction. The political constitutions of the various kingdoms formed the framework of the Papacy—the body of the beast—while Popery was its spirit; and therefore the destruction of these Governments must form a large part of the destruction of the Papacy.

Accordingly, at this hour we behold the ten horns, and the little horn, their head and ruler—the kings and the Pope—sinking by equal stages. On these grounds we are strongly disposed to view the present wreck of the political power, spiritual wares, and temporal merchandise, of Papal Europe, as being the begun realization of the awful tragedy of Revelation xviii.; and when that tragedy shall be complete, and when the world comes to look back upon it from a distance of two hundred years, it will be seen to contain all the magnificence, terror, and retribution, of the Apocalyptic symbols.

And is not the fact that Rome’s destruction will flow directly from her crimes, analogous to God’s usual procedure? and will it not form a solemn illustration of that law of moral retribution under which the world has been placed, and which, by linking the punishment to the sin, as the effect is linked to its cause, puts the idea of escape altogether out of the question? The dispensation in this way will wear a more judicial aspect. Although the Italian peninsula, as some expect, should sink in a sea of fire, that would prove nothing as regards the character of the Papacy. But when we behold the ruin of Rome growing out of her sin, her destruction is seen to be, not the result of accident, but the operation of law: her fall becomes a public execution, following, on a solemn investigation into her character, and solemn sentence on her crimes. God will not only destroy her, but He will destroy her in such a way as to make it apparent that she deserved to be destroyed. He will spare her till she has become corrupt and loathsome in the sight of all; and thus she shall perish, accursed of men, as well as abhorred of God.

We think we can see certain great ends to be gained by her destruction at this time. A scheme had been concocted in the depths of the Vatican for placing Rome once more at the head of the European kingdoms. She put herself forward as leader in the great European movement for reform; and for a short while the scheme succeeded beyond even the expectations of its authors. Italy was again prostrate at the feet of the Popedom: the journals of all Europe, England included, were hailing Pius the Ninth as the great reformer of the age. Dazzled by the visions of dominion which, after the widowhood of half a century, were again opening upon her, Rome was boasting, “I am no widow: I shall be a lady for ever.” But while the words were in her mouth, the blow fell which brought to an end all these hopes. Her artfully-contriven scheme but conducted her to a height whence her fall was the greater—

(Latin for the bigger they are, the harder they fall.)

We think, too, that should Rome’s destruction happen under the pontificate of a man personally amiable, it will teach a great truth to the world: it will show that God’s anger is against the system; and that He is punishing, not so much the present race of Papists, as the system of the Papacy from its beginning. It is instructive here to observe that it is said, “Great Babylon came in remembrance before God.” -Revelation 16:19

It was not so much her present wickedness that God saw, as her past crimes that He remembered. As generations passed away, these crimes appeared to be sinking into a profounder oblivion: they were forgotten on earth, and, as it seemed, in heaven, too, till recalled to Rome’s remembrance, and to the world’s, by the peculiar character and awful severity of her plagues. It is instructive to observe, likewise, that “the seven golden vials” were said to be “full of the wrath of that God who liveth for ever and ever.” While this intimation (announcement) is fitted to convey an awful idea of the greatness of Rome’s punishment, it also indicates the reason why its execution has been deferred. God’s government is not limited to one age. Among men, when a crime is committed, it must be punished speedily, if punished at all, for both the offender and his judge will soon cease to be. But God lives for ever; and, under a government extending from the beginning to the end of time, the sins of one age may stand over and be punished in another; but the longer vengeance is deferred, as in Rome’s case, it will be the more awful. It is indeed “ a fearful looking for of wrath” that remains to her—the wrath of that God that liveth for ever and ever.

It was the opinion of Sir Isaac Newton, that the main revolution foretold in the Prophets had not yet taken place. In this opinion we thoroughly concur. The grand era of which the prophets speak with one consent, and in the description of which they have employed such a splendor of diction, and lavished such a fullness and variety of metaphor, is not yet consummated. We meet with nothing that answers to it amid all the revolutions of the past. But if the unprecedented events in progress be, as in truth they appear to be, that great coming of Christ, in the erection of His Kingdom, that is so frequently the burden of prophetic song, and that great destruction of His foes to which so many significant allusions are scattered throughout the Bible, what inexpressible grandeur does that impart to the drama now proceeding in Europe!

Viewed thus, it presents the noblest field of study which the providence of God ever opened to the mind of man. It is seen to be no mere ebullition (sudden, violent outpouring) of evil passions, chance directed, and ending in nothing: it is the winding up of a divinely-arranged drama. It is fraught with eternal principles, applicable to all ages and all nations. It reads to the world lessons the most important, and proclaims truths the most sublime; it brings truth from her grave, and consigns error to the abyss her own self had dug; it illustrates the character of God, and sheds ineffable splendor upon His government; it explains the past, and it unveils the future; it shows that the long struggles of the past—long to the Church, though not to Him with whom a thousand years are but as one day—struggles in which, in truth, iniquity hitherto has had the best of it—bear to the glory and prosperity of Christ’s Kingdom yet to come, the same relation which the early wars of a nation bear to its state of settled and prosperous empire, and serve an analogous end to the future state of society, as did those geological convulsions to the world by which it was prepared for being the abode of man.

It is to be desired that the Church should take this view of the matter, otherwise it may turn out that she has neglected to take to herself the comfort, and to give to God the glory, of events which are an answer to the cry of the martyrs and to her own prayers. She may be in danger, too, of becoming appalled at the horrors that are darkening over the world, and which may shed no little gloom upon her, forgetful that the stage on which was shed the blood of the martyrs must be purged in like manner by fire and blood—that society, like the individual, must die before it can enter on a new and higher existence—and that a gulf, “deep beyond plummet’s fathom,” divides her from her kingdom, in the awful passage across which empires and societies shall perish, while she alone shall survive.

The Removal Of The Islands And Mountains

The “great earthquake” by which the world was rocked was so violent, and its shocks were so long continued, that the entire surface of the earth was changed, and presented an altogether new appearance. The mountains fell and the islands sank. The yawning earth swallowed up the former, leaving all a plain; and a raging sea covered the other with its tumultuous billows. There is no difficulty in reading this symbolic writing, but the meaning is so terrible that we fear to interpret it—

It is a new earth on which we find ourselves. The old has disappeared. All the familiar landmarks which have stood for ages are vanishing around us. The mountains on whose verdant slopes men had planted the olive and the vine, and out of whose bowels they had dug the precious ore; the islands of the sea, where they had reared their habitations, and where they and their fathers had long dwelt, all that appeared most durable and stable, is passing away, and the place that knew them once is knowing them no more. Unseen but mighty forces are acting at the foundation of things, and the very framework of society is in a state of dissolution. Such is the change here foreshadowed. It is hard to believe that governments, great and small: governments which have lasted for a thousand years, which have left their imperishable footprints in history: which have molded the genius and directed the destiny of mighty nations by their institutions and laws, and which even to this very hour are upheld by the power of mighty armies, are fated to pass away—to disappear like the unsubstantial vapor which the sun lights up for a moment with a golden splendor—to shift like the painted scenes of a pantomime—and that the swelling waves of revolution are to break in and flow over, and cover the space where they stood.

Yet what other interpretation can we give to the prophecy? “ Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.” The world is to awaken out of its sleep; and the exploits of great empires —of France, of Spain, of Rome—the wars they have waged, the victories they have won, the glory, dominion, and power they have acquired, all in short that makes up their brilliant history, will be remembered, in the new and better age of the world, but as the dreams of a night that is passed, and as a tale that has been told. We cannot but heave a sigh when we think that this is the end that awaits the kingdoms of Papal Europe; and, without doubt, the monarchies also that have upheld Mohammedanism.

And it is not difficult at this hour to see the sure coming of what prophecy foretold so long before. Since they were first smitten in 1789, these governments have made no perceptible advance in inherent stability. Again and again have they been brought to the brink of ruin, but they have failed to learn the lesson these events were fitted to teach, that the principles on which they were proceeding would in the end work their ruin. Nothing effectual have they done to conciliate their subjects, or to advance the cause of rational liberty and true religion. Any ameliorations (the process of making a bad or unpleasant situation better) which have taken place have been the result of the action of other parties; and not of the governments which still retain their old attitude of antagonism to the great body of the people. Meanwhile, the principles of revolution are being more widely propagated. Pantheism is year by year enrolling more numerous disciples. Governments are every hour running deeper in debt, while their only precaution against the evil day is overgrown armies, a precaution which, by the taxation it necessitates, and the drain it inflicts upon husbandry and commerce, only renders more terrible and sure the calamities it is meant to ward off.

In fine (ultimately), while on the one hand no principle of power has been found, on the other the forces of decay and destruction are ceaselessly working; and with every sand that falls in the glass of Time, the hour of OVERTURN comes nearer, in which the islands will flee away, and the mountains shall not be found.

It is generally agreed, among interpreters of the inspired Volume, that a single year comprises the history of the Deluge. From the day that the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, till the waters had again retired within their ancient bed, and the face of earth had become dry, an interval of only twelve months and ten days had elapsed. At the expiry of this short period, the rocky peak and the verdant slopes of Ararat rose, beauteous as ever, above the retiring waters, and the fathers of the post—diluvian world came forth from the ark to till and plant anew the bosom of the earth, cleansed in this awful manner from the pollutions of its first inhabitants. But though a brief twelve months sufficed to regenerate the Old World, the purification of the New must needs be a work of longer time. The fiat of Omnipotence could bury the earth and all its guilty inhabitants in one common grave, and, when the period of entombment had expired, the same power could again bring forth the ancient hills and shores, and an election from the ancient race.

But the vast moral change which society must undergo before it can realize its own anticipations, or fulfill its divinely revealed destinies, must necessarily form a much more lengthened process. Accordingly, the flood which 1789 poured upon Europe has not yet subsided. The waters are still upon the face of the earth: the doors of the great deep whence these waters issued have not yet been closed. Those mighty mountain billows with which they came thundering onwards at their first outbreak, have been allayed, no doubt; but the waters keep silently but steadily increasing. Inch by inch, they are swallowing up the mountains of political despotism. The springs, the pastures, and the woods, which girt their base—the tranquility and order which were enjoyed even under these despotisms——have long since been submerged; and now nothing is seen above the flood but the bare and rocky peak of military power. But a little, and even that will lie many fathoms below the dark surface of the flood, and a wide weltering ocean will cover all, from which the mountains of the political earth, unlike those of the antediluvian world, are destined never more to re-emerge, and, in their present form, appear on this scene of things.

The Vintage

In the land of Judea, the vintage followed the harvest, at an interval of about three months. So the symbolic harvest of the Apocalypse comes first, and the vintage succeeds. The harvest symbolizes, we have already said, the destruction to overtake the secular institutions of the Roman earth, and was fulfilled, we are of opinion, in the wars of the first six vials, which affected mainly, though not exclusively, the Popish thrones and nations. These have had a short term added to their existence, but not in their former power; and are reserved, evidently, that they may figure, as foretold, on the last scene with their companion the false prophet. The vine being the symbol of a Church, the vintage must necessarily symbolize, mainly, the judgments that await the ecclesiastical institutions of Papal Christendom—the corrupt Churches of the Latin earth.

It is very noticeable that the symbols now become full of a blessed meaning to the Church, even when most largely charged with wrath to her enemies.

The term “Son of Man,” applied to Him who appeared enthroned upon the white cloud, leaves it undoubted that this is the Saviour. It refers back to the prophecy of Daniel, where “one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven.” How different the guise in which He now appeared, from that in which He showed Himself to His Church, immediately before the twelve hundred and sixty days! Then He was encompassed by dark clouds, His feet were as pillars of fire, and a rainbow was on His head; all denoting days of darkness, a mysterious and trying path to be trodden, in which the Church should have need to keep hope alive by recalling God’s covenant of perpetuity with her. But now He is surrounded by symbols of gladness, of prosperity, and of victory; He sits upon a white cloud; on His head is a golden crown; and in His hand a sharp sickle, the instrument of judgment. But why did Christ appear at this moment? He is seen sitting in judgment upon His great enemy, presiding over his final destruction; and thus the last act, as well as every preceding one, is seen to be His doing, and the end of this great drama is connected in a striking manner with its beginning.

The moment to thrust in the sickle and reap the vine of the earth is announced by an angel from the altar. This angel had power over fire—that is, it was his duty to keep alive the altar-fire, and take care of the ashes of the sacrifice consumed in that fire. This is a symbol full of meaning. It plainly indicates that the reaping of the vine, and the treading it in the wine-press, is a sacrifice to justice. But what was the sin that required this great expiatory judgment? This, too, is plainly shown in the symbol. The angel from the “altar” indicates, as the procuring cause of this vengeance, the slaughter of the witnesses. s0 early as the third century, on the opening of the fifth seal, the cry of martyrs had arisen from under the altar:

This points to a second company of martyrs to be slain before the blood of those that fell under Pagan Rome could be avenged, namely, the martyrs under the Papacy. But now the roll of martyrdom has been completed, and there is nothing to obstruct the infliction of a full measure of vengeance. Accordingly, the terms in which the pouring out of the third vial is described announce that the deferred vengeance had commenced. “They have shed the blood of saints [the primitive martyrs], and of prophets [those who prophesied during the twelve hundred and sixty days], and thou hast given them blood to drink.” The song of the angel, too, on occasion of this commencing act of retribution, refers us back to the invocation of the souls beneath the altar, seeing his song turns on the same attributes to which the souls beneath the altar had appealed:

An awfully judicial character, then, shall belong to the epoch of the vintage. It is the answer to the loud cry which was heard to issue from beneath the altar while Pagan Rome was yet standing, and which has been growing louder with each succeeding age. The vengeance of that period will be on a scale commensurate with the blood Rome has shed, reaching back to the earliest days.

We call attention to the reason assigned for reaping now: “her grapes are fully ripe.” This has been commonly referred to the sin of the Roman Church as being filled up. We apprehend it refers to a change that is to take place within that Church, analogous to that which the vine undergoes when it becomes ripe. When may a corrupt Church be said to be ripe? Just when the natural issue or fruit of her false faith has been fully developed, which it is when her worship passes into open idolatry, and the belief of her members into downright infidelity or atheism. This appears to fix the prophecy in its reference to our own times; for the Church of Rome has undergone precisely such a change as is here indicated. She has proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. She makes a creature the supreme object of her worship, and so she has completed and crowned her idolatry. And, as regards her people, their faith has turned into blind unreasoning submission to authority; and, in instances not a few, into grossest atheism, with works correspondingly bad. Thus the grapes of the mystic vine are fully ripe—the fields are white unto the harvest.

If the vine is allowed to overpass the period of its maturity, it becomes unfit for the wine-press. An analogous necessity exists for gathering the clusters of the mystic vine, now if ever. A century hence, if the influences at present in existence continue to operate, Popery will have rotted away, and perished in its excessive maturity, and scarce anything will remain to be gathered and cast into the wine-press. But it is not agreeable to the analogy of the Divine government, or consistent with the predictions of the Divine Word, that that Church should be permitted to pass quietly from the scene of her crimes, unvisited by punishment. No ,- the vine must not be allowed to molder and perish: it must be reaped and burned; its clusters must be gathered and trodden. But, unless we can suppose an infusion of fresh sap to make it flourish anew, it must be reaped speedily, if reaped at all. Hence the urgency of the command, “Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.”

It is especially worthy of remark, that each of the three leading idolatries— Hinduism, Mohammedanism, and Popery—is in precisely the same condition. All are ripe for the sickle of the Great Reaper. Their false faith has passed, to a greater or less degree, into no faith, and the nations which adhere to them are sunk in political and moral rottenness. When the sap of superstition flowed vigorously in the veins of these mighty trunks, their roots took so firm a hold of the soil, and the strength of their gnarled boughs was such, that they could bid defiance to any storm; but now, drained of their sap, the first breeze that sets in threatens to rend their moldering stems in pieces. Hinduism is passing into skepticism : it is now a weak, timorous, and shrinking thing, which cannot long subsist. Mohammedanism has become an affair of decent Observances, and has lost the fiery zeal and proselytizing spirit that made it once formidable. Even Judaism has relinquished its peculiar glory and hope; and the only Messiah whose advent it now waits for is that of a political enfranchisement. Popery itself has become infected with infidelity, and is rotten to the very core.

It is sufficiently striking, surely, that all the leading superstitions in the world should have grown old simultaneously— that all should have reached their hoar age together. The fact is incontrovertible. Wherever we look it is the same. Everywhere idolatry is on the point of vanishing away, and a dark portentous ATHEISM is about to take its room. So far as man can see, the reign of UNIVERSAL SKEPTICISM is about to begin. But is not this the very character of the age that is to witness the predicted coming of the Son of Man? “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” – Luke 18:8

The vine of the earth being ripe, the sharp sickle is thrust in, and her clusters are gathered. The gathering of the vine may possibly symbolize the drawing together into one place of the adherents of Papacy, so that judgment may be executed upon them without compromising the safety of others. The vine being gathered, it is cast

In scriptural times and countries the wine-press was placed without the city. So this symbolic wine-press is spoken of as being trodden outside the mystic city. The “blood ” indicates slaughter; and the dimensions of the wine-press are such as to show that the slaughter will be tremendous. The blood that filled it was found, when measured, to extend sixteen hundred furlongs, or about an hundred and fifty miles, and in depth to reach to the horses’ bridles. If one side of the wine-press only is denoted, the area would be enormous, and the slaughter fearfully great; and even though we should understand all the four sides as included in this measurement, the catastrophe would be unspeakably awful. This is about the breadth of Italy; and not a few have fixed on the Campagna as the fated spot.

Some stress may be laid on the circumstance that the term “great” is here dropped, which in other parts of the Apocalypse is usually prefixed to “city,” when the Papal system, in all its extent of territory, is meant, as “great Babylon,” “the great city.” This makes it not wholly improbable that, when it is said, “the wine-press was trodden without the city,” the allusion may be, not to the entire extent of the Papal territory, but simply to the limits of the literal city of the seven hills. If the territory around Rome should become the scene of the vintage, then that judgment is analogous to that of the second and third vials, whose inflictions fell mainly on those very spots where the blood of the martyrs had been shed.

Others look to Judea as the locality indicated; and it is worthy of notice, that the length of that country, from Lebanon to the southern boundary of the tribe of Judah, is about an hundred and sixty miles. “Wheresoever the carcase is,” said our Lord, “there will the eagles be gathered together.” And where the vine grew, there, it is probable, will her grapes be gathered, and trodden in the wine-press. Than the symbol of this judgment nothing could be more awful. A sea of blood, on the lowest computation, very nearly forty square miles in area, and four feet in depth. Apart from the prophecy, to what issue do things at present tend, save to some catastrophe great beyond precedent?

We have only to think of the overgrown armies of our times, of the cruel instruments wherewith a too successful invention has furnished us, and of the millions that will meet in conflict whenever the trumpet of war shall sound, to be able to realize, although still, very inadequately, how full of horror and blood must be the battle-fields of the future.

Continued in Chapter XXVII. The Tripartition And Burning Of The Great City

All chapters of The Seventh Vial – By J.A. Wylie

Continued from Chapter XXV. The Harvest Of The Earth.

STANDING as we now do in the immediate presence of the great final catastrophe, we are tempted to look back to the beginning of the long and eventful drama. The retrospect includes a period of twenty-five centuries. In the remote past, to which we now direct our glance, the idolatrous world-power is seen mounting the throne of universal dominion, while the Church, attired in sackcloth, passes into her long captivity. Slowly the ages revolve, but they bring with them only increased power and glory to idolatry, and to the Church crueler persecutions and darker woes.

In its progress westward empire transfers the scepter of the world from the Babylonian to the Merle-Persian; from the Medo—Persian to the Macedonian; from the Macedonian to the Roman: and this last finally hands over his throne and dominion to the Papal power. In the Papacy we behold tyrannous oppression and idolatrous blasphemy finding their fullest and most monstrous development. He is the last enemy, for the very height to which he carries his wickedness precludes the possibility of a more “Wicked” coming after him: “He as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing Himself that He is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4) than which there is no higher seat to which a successor might aspire.

But all this while it was going ill with the Church. To her there came no relaxing of her chains, and no opening of her prison doors. But now the revolving years have completed their cycle, and brought round the appointed day, and the trumpet of the great Jubilee is now to be blown, announcing that the world’s oppressor and the Church’s great persecutor is to be hurled from his throne, and that truth and peace are to reign upon the earth. But terrible throes attend the birth of this new creation.

A short calm, a heavy and anxious suspense, will precede this great tempest. The angels will hold the four winds of the political firmament that they may not blow till the frogs have fulfilled their mission. These missionaries of evil will go about their work with the utmost dispatch (promptness and efficiency), and with unexampled persistency and energy. In countless croaking swarms they will spread everywhere; defiling the earth, and polluting the air. They will inspire the policy of governments, they will place them in antagonism to one another, and thus sow the seeds of wars. In one country they will stand up for the despot: in another, they will preach insurrection: skilfully sowing suspicions and fomenting passions.

Churches they will labor to corrupt and divide, or, where it better suits their purpose, to combine. They will organize in the dark, forming great secret societies, prepared against the hour of action. Thus having poisoned society by their corrupt principles, and alienated classes and interests by their stealthy machinations, there will arise, all suddenly, when perhaps the world is saying peace peace, and its wise men can see no sign of coming convulsion, a terrific tempest, which will darken the whole social and political horizon of the world, and by its lightning wars, and earthquake revolutions will shake Europe, and very probably also eastern Asia, from one extremity to the other.

“It is done,” so does the great voice proclaim the moment the angel has emptied his vial. In the original the announcement is conveyed in one single word, and that a word having the sharp, clear, ringing sound of a trumpet (Greek word). The voice proceeded “out of the temple of heaven, from the throne;” from which we infer that the event, when it comes, will proclaim as with trumpet-blast, its character and mission. It will be so decisive and all-embracing, that not a doubt will remain as to who He is who has sent it, or what the work it is destined to accomplish. It will be manifest at once that it is a last and consummating blow, for the great voice is heard even before “the thunders and lightnings” which are to follow have burst over the world, or the earth quake has shaken it—which is to throw down the great city. When that knell shall strike upon the ear of antichrist, as he sits, Belshazzar-like, in his palace, his countenance will be changed, the joints of his loins will be loosed, and his knees will smite one against another. He will know that his kingdom is departed from him.

But to the Church, oh, what a welcome and blessed sound! It is, shall she say, my Saviour who comes. It is the thunder of His chariot wheels that I hear. This is the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is the day I have longed to see. The hope of its coming has kept me from despair in days of darkness. It has gladdened my heart in prison and at the stake: and now it is come! Make haste, and bring me my bridal robe, that I may go forth and meet my Lord. Let me take down my harp from the willows, and greet His coming with a song of joy. Sorrow and tears! long have I been familiar with you: now I bid you farewell. This day I begin my anthems, to which earth shall listen entranced, and whose notes, as they swell upwards, will blend with the song of prophets and apostles, and be prolonged in the alleluias around the throne!

The Vial Poured Into The Air

The preceding vials had affected each a part of the antichristian system; but this falls with destructive force upon the whole of it. The first was poured upon its earth, the second upon its sea, and so on; but this is poured into its air. The atmosphere encompasses the globe, and any derangement occurring there is fatal to the whole earth; so this vial poured into the air of the Papacy, will involve the entire system in ruin. Its earth, sea, rivers, and firmament, will all be smitten at once; and after a series of dreadful convulsions, its fabric will be for ever dissolved.

As regards the symbol before us, we can be at no loss to interpret it, seeing it has been adopted into the forms of our ordinary discourse. We daily speak of the social and political atmosphere. Into this atmosphere will the seventh vial be poured.

The air is the region of electric storms: accordingly, the pouring of the vial into it will be instantly followed by “voices, thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great.” (Revelation 16:18) These are the usual Apocalyptic symbols of tumults, insurrections, wars, and revolutions. The great and universal changes introduced by the earthquake are further described by a reference to the islands and mountains, the symbol of great and small monarchies:

Contemporaneous with the shocks by which the earth will be moved to and fro, the mountains overturned, and the islands submerged, a great hail will be poured down from the firmament. Hail is the emblem of northern war; and this hail-storm will be of unprecedented severity, every stone being about the weight of a talent. This tremendous infliction, however, does not induce repentance; for “men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” (Revelation 16:21)

Accordingly, the vial is consummated by a last and awful judgment on the Papacy. In the earthquake, the great city was divided into three parts, as not unusually happens to cities similarly visited; and the cities of the nations fell. This was the immediate precursor of the destruction of antichrist; for it is added,

We are taught, then, to expect, at the period referred to, some sudden and great derangement of the political atmosphere of Europe—the consequence, most probably, of the action of the three spirits, who will succeed in charging it, as it were, with the most vicious, disorganizing, and antagonistic elements, which some event will suddenly bring into fierce collision; and in a single day, as it were, the whole of Europe, so far, at least, as it was included in the limits of Pagan and of Papal Rome, will burst out in violent tumults and insurrections; and these will issue in a revolution of unprecedented magnitude—unprecedented both in the largeness of its sphere and the complete and radical character of its changes. All former revolutions have implied only a change from one form of government to another; but this will involve the destruction of government altogether.

When the Chaldean empire fell, it was succeeded by the Medo-Persian; when that was removed, it was replaced by the Macedonian; and when the Macedonian came to an end, it was followed by the Roman. But by what will the fall of the ten Roman kingdoms be succeeded? By the reign of anarchy, for a short period. The fall both of the little kingdoms and the great monarchies of Europe is plainly predicted in the Apocalyptic representation; for John saw that in the earthquake every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

This revolution will be followed, or, more probably, accompanied, by a war of unexampled severity and horrors. The hail of the first trumpet was fulfilled in the descent of the northern nations; the hail of the seventh trumpet, in the terrible wars of the French Revolution; but here we have a hail-shower whose violence is more terrific, and its effects more destructive still; for every stone is about the weight of a talent. This symbolic hail will fall on Europe from some northern region—for hail is a northern product— from France, or perhaps Russia.

Another accompaniment, or rather consequence, of the earthquake, is the division of the great city into three parts-either the formation of the European commonwealth, after its present kingdoms are broken up, into three grand confederacies, or a threefold schism in the Roman Catholic Church, or very probably both. This will be immediately followed by the destruction of great Babylon, whose doom is here intimated in terms the partial obscurity of which imparts a terrible emphasis to their meaning:

Let us compare that part of the monarch’s dream of the four kingdoms which synchronizes with the prediction before us. Nebuchadnezzar traced the image to its ten toes—the ten kingdoms. He saw the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and become like the chaff of the summer thrashing-floors; when all suddenly the winds of heaven arose, and swept away their very dust. The fourth kingdom was not succeeded by a fifth; nor was it overthrown by external violence, or removed by a foreign sword: it grew weak apace; its iron became mixed with clay: the democratic mingled with the despotic element, and undermined it. It fell at last by internal disorganization; and the winds of popular fury, bursting upon it in terrific force, swept its fragments away, and effaced every trace of its existence. Such is the catastrophe which prophecy reveals as awaiting the ten Roman kingdoms of modern Europe.

The prophecy of Daniel synchronizes with the seventh vial, and throws light upon it. The symbols of Daniel and John are different: not so their import, however; for both point most obviously to the same terrible conclusion. Both portend (indicate) an entire change in the social and political fabric of Europe—the fall of its kingdoms, the extinction of its dynasties, the alteration of its laws and forms of government, the abolition of its offices and dignities, the dissolution of its armies, the destruction of all the symbols of its authority, and the obliteration even of the territorial boundaries of its States. Nothing short of this can fulfill the figures of Daniel and the symbols of the Apocalypse.

In the one we not only behold the image ground to powder, but its last particles swept away by the tempest. In the other we see the earthquake burying cities, overthrowing mountains, and so agitating the ocean, that its islands are submerged by its tumultuous waves. If figures have any meaning, these must import the total overthrow of all the powers that now bear rule in Europe, and the utter extinction of the last vestige of their authority. It is a new creation which the world is to undergo, and dreadful upheavings and convulsions will usher it in.

Already almost we seem to hear the great voice saying, “It is done,” in the impression, strong and deep, in which men of all classes and all nations share, that a new era is opening on the world! The statesman, the Christian, the masses, all alike participate in this feeling. That awful and unknown Future discloses itself to few, but it makes its approach felt by all. It is a pillar of cloud to the world— a pillar of fire to the Church. The elements now dominant in society are altogether diverse from those which at any former period molded its institutions or governed its affairs. Thus, we lack the clue in our endeavors to explore the future. The conditions of the problem are unascertained. Induction, analogy, and even our past experience, avail us nothing. One thing only do all feel and acknowledge— that an unprecedented change is approaching, and that the Future must be altogether different from the Past.

This is no vague and ungrounded impression, like what has existed at some former stages of the world’s history, springing from the ferment of men’s minds, whose hopes were excited and their imaginations dazzled by the novelty of unwonted events. It is the legitimate conclusion of calm reason. It rests on a basis of well-ascertained facts. Its strength in different minds is in proportion, not to the ignorance, but to the knowledge which the person possesses, of human society. Those who have the best opportunities of making themselves extensively acquainted with the state of the world, are those who entertain the impression most deeply. Society has come to possess new powers of thought, new principles of action, new elements of change. We speak more particularly of that part of the world which is held forth in the Apocalypse as the scene of its catastrophes. In the first place, the foundation of all obligation has been completely razed in the minds of the inhabitants, generally speaking, of this portion of the world, which, let us ever remember, is, and for the past two thousand years has been, the most influential portion of the world.

The Pantheism which in the end of the last century was confined to the closets of the studious—whose three foci (plural of focus, center of activity or attention) were Clarence, Lausanne, and Ferney—whose three apostles were Voltaire, Gibbon, Rousseau—is now the vulgar creed of the European masses. God to them is but a principle, not a person. They feel that they have no relations to Him, are not accountable to Him, and have neither good nor evil to hope for from Him. It is plain that in minds in which this creed is entertained, all sense of obligation must be at an end; and with the sense of obligation extinct, on what ground can authority longer maintain itself? It has lost its fulcrum, and finds itself paralyzed. It is plain that men with such a creed are prepared to abolish all authority, make their own will their law, and their own interest their end, the very first moment they may become sufficiently numerous and powerful to resist constituted order with impunity.

Popery has been the primary agent in bringing about so fearful a state of matters. The mummeries (pretentious ceremonies) of her priests prepared men to listen to the impieties of Voltaire. The dogmas of atheism are not more shocking to reason than those of the Papacy. And as on Popery mainly rests the guilt, so on her mainly shall fall the doom.

But along with the new mental philosophy came a new political philosophy—new theories of social life— new opinions regarding the uses and prerogatives of Government, the source of power, and the extent of popular privileges. The spread of these theories was powerfully aided by the means, of recent discovery and invention, for the instantaneous diffusion of knowledge—the daily journals, the clubs, delegates, university lectures, tracts, pamphlets, volumes, sermons, songs. Machinery the most varied and powerful was employed in the cause, and wrought with untiring energy; and converts were made by hundreds and thousands. While the two great apostles of infidelity were sleeping in the catacombs of the Pantheon, their disciples were traversing Europe, fighting with the weapons their masters had supplied, battering down the strongholds of superstition, and undermining the fabric of Government. While the guardians of the old order of things slept, the enemy was sowing his tares. Every day recruited their numbers: numbers gave them courage, and union gave them strength. They saw that without them governments were weak; they saw, too, that governments had lost them; and they stood prepared, on the first provocation, to shiver into atoms, at one mighty blow, the old powerless monarchical fabrics, whose appearance was still imposing, but whose real strength was gone. To recur to Daniel’s symbol, the heavens are, at this hour, black with the gathering storm, and the merest accident may suffice to draw down the lightnings of popular fury, which are destined to shatter into a thousand pieces those political structures from which the golden splendour and the iron strength have alike departed.

Continued in Chapter XXVI – Part 2. Voices, Thunders, and Lightnings

All chapters of The Seventh Vial – By J.A. Wylie

Continued from Chapter XXIV. The Kings Of The East—The Three Frogs.

THE harvest implies several preliminary stages. There is, first, the sowing of the seed; there is next the season of growth; and, last of all, comes the harvest, when, by the process of the suns, the plant having been ripened, it is cut down by the reapers, and borne into the garner. All these processes go on by fixed laws, which the Creator has ordained, and which are unalterable by man. By no human power can Spring and Harvest be made to coincide, or the period he annihilated which God has ordained to intervene between the two. And especially by no human power can the relation between seed-time and harvest be changed, so as that one shall sow bad seed and reap good. The same kind of seed, and no other, which one carries to the field in spring, will he gather and lay up in the barn in autumn.

It is the harvest of the symbolic earth which is now to be reaped.

This great symbolic harvest arrives by the same stages as the natural one. There is, first, a time of sowing; there is, second, a process of ripening; there is, third, a great era of reaping, and the seed reaped is of the same sort with that which is sowed. What are we to understand by this symbolic harvest? Undoubtedly there is here foretold a grand appointed era when evil principles having ripened, and noxious systems having arrived at their widest possible development, are to be mowed down by the sharp scythe of Divine judgment.

The principles and systems here in question are those which were to flourish on the Papal earth. Their spring-time was the fifth and sixth centuries, when the despotic principles and the superstitious dogmas were planted, which, in later ages, grew up into the tyrannic governments, and idolatrous churches of Europe.

Our Saviour, in His parables, oft made reference to a great coming harvest: in that harvest the tares were to be rooted up; not before, lest the wheat, the institutions of the Truth, not yet having as yet acquired stability, should perish also in the fiery judgments which were to consume the tares. Both were to grow together until the harvest. This is the harvest which has now arrived: for now the great systems of evil, which were planted so early, and which were ripening all through the middle ages, have now reached their maturity, and are ready to be cut down.

We must here distinguish between the “harvest” and the “vintage,” for it is the “harvest of the earth” that we now behold reaped by the angel. The vine is the symbol of a Church; and the vintage, by consequence, symbolizes the appointed period of destruction, waiting the ecclesiastical institutions of the Papal earth. The “harvest” has respect to the secular institutions of the Roman world; to its governments, and to nations in their civil capacity: and it predicts an era when these institutions shall be cut down, and burned in the fire of judgment.

That era opened at 1789. Then the bloody scythe of war began to reap the harvest of the Papal earth. It has been going on ever since. In the great battle of Sadowa the last leaf of that harvest was carried on. There now remains the “vintage,” the reaping of the ecclesiastical institutions of the Papal world, and this will fall under the Seventh Vial. It will be shorter but sharper than the harvest. It will consist of one terrific dispensation of vengeance: the “great winepress of the wrath of God.”

But it is of “the harvest of the earth” that we now speak. It opened in 1789. The dark Angel of Revolution came up from the depths below and France was reaped with the guillotine. The same terrible reaper went forth to all the countries of the Papal earth in succession ——to Spain, to Italy, to Germany, to Austria—bearing the great red scythe of war, and all were reaped in their turn. Institutions and laws, crowns and ducal coronets, nations and their capitals, all fell beneath the terrible scythe of this dread reaper, and all were borne home in one bloody harvest. And even now that reaper does not seem to have fully ended his work, or laid aside his sharp sickle, for he is still seen striding across the fields of Europe, and we fear the last and most terrible sweep of his scythe is yet to be witnessed.

But how does the Revolution fulfill the symbol of the “harvest?” When was the seed sown, and by what process ripened, from which has come this great harvest? This is what we would briefly explain. There never was a revolution since the beginning of time whose causes were so deep-seated as that which broke out in 1789, and which, with occasional pauses, has been progressing ever since. The upheavings with which the whole of the Continent is from time to time agitated come from the very bottom of society. The changes we have seen are not the production of an agency that operates only on the surface: they are the growth of feelings and views with which the whole of European society is leavened. There are events which attract much attention while in progress, and raise great expectations of the good they are to accomplish; but the changes they work lie only on the surface of society, and never penetrate so deep as to affect its internal constitution. Such events always disappoint the hopes they excite; they produce no permanent change in the condition of the species, and leave no track behind them in future years. These changes have been induced on society rather than grown out of it. They have come without preparation, and therefore have gone without result. They have had their birth in the heads of statesmen, and not in the hearts of the people. They have been thrust by strength of arm into the soil, not sprung from the seed; and hence, like those trees of liberty which our Parisian neighbors were so busily engaged in planting in 1848, the same sun which expands the green leaves of others only burns up theirs outright. But the revolution now in progress in Europe is not one of these. It is the harvest of a great seed-time.

The laws which regulate these moral harvests are as fixed and definite as those which regulate the harvests of the earth. A certain time must intervene between the sowing and the reaping in the one case, as necessarily as in the other. What is literature in one generation is opinion in the next, and law and fact in that which succeeds.

Through these several stages has the great harvest passed which Europe is now reaping. It was literature in the days of Voltaire and Rousseau; it became opinion in France in the end of last century, where many favorable circumstances conspired to ripen it somewhat earlier than in the rest of Europe; but now, and for the past quarter of a century, it has been opinion both east and west of the Rhine, both south and north of the Alps; and what was first literature, and, as such, was expressed in biting sarcasms and ingenious sophisms on the elegant pages of Rousseau, and next opinion, finding vent in vigorous articles in the daily papers, or in fiercely-spouted orations at the evening clubs, has now, with marvelous and astounding suddenness, passed into such tangible and palpable facts as barricades, blouses, pikes, and caps of liberty.

There have been few revolutions in history whose springs have been so deep-seated; and hence it is that it is daily widening its sphere, and growing intenser in its action. Its plowshare is reaching the very foundations of society. It appears destined to form one of the grand epochs of time, and to work a change—we feel satisfied, ultimately, of a beneficial kind —on the condition of the species, which will entitle it to take rank with the mightiest revolutions of past ages, some of which it may even surpass in the magnitude of its issues.

History does not furnish an example of such another revolution—a revolution which has advanced gradually, yet irresistibly, from its first principles—which has molded opinion for itself—which has never advanced a stage till it had first prepared its ground—which has required many centuries for its growth, and, now that it is fully developed, has changed the aspect of the world; for its effects cannot be confined to Europe, but must extend to the farthest verge of civilization.

We are accustomed to speak of three French revolutions; but, in truth, the great movement in that country, though it has had three noted manifestations, is but one, and is truly European in its character. This movement was stopped for a while by the great war which followed its first outbreak; but no sooner was that war at an end, than the movement began again to progress. It is bearing the world onward to a new and untried era. Its course is entirely in the hands of God; and lies as far beyond man’s control as does that grand movement of the sun and planets which is every hour advancing our system upon some unknown point in space.

It is beyond question the great agent by which the fourth and last monarchy of Daniel is to be broken in pieces. And we see it executing its mission with irresistible and uncontrollable force, abrogating the laws, abolishing the very forms and symbols of authority, and grinding to powder the framework of the iron kingdom of Rome; prostrating thrones; extinguishing dynasties; crushing altars and priesthoods; driving into exile princes and nobles; pouring contempt upon the policy of statesmen and the strength of armies; rocking the chair of St. Peter itself, and filling its occupant with inconceivable grief, perplexity, and dismay; and evoking against the seven hills, whose thunders were wont to shake the world, the mighty winds of popular rage, which threaten every moment to sweep in their fury, from the face of the earth, that awful throne which has so long enslaved and desolated it.

Continued in Chapter XXVI-1. The Seventh Vial Poured Into The Air

All chapters of The Seventh Vial – By J.A. Wylie

I believe those so-called drones the size of cars flying over New Jersey that go dark when approached are demonic entities. I have heard that Satan’s fallen angels imitate the shapes of the aircraft of the technology of the time. I read once they used to imitate dirigible aircraft when they were still in use before the burning of the Hindenburg in 1937. After that, they turned into saucer shapes. And now they look like drones. Has anyone seen a drone as large as an SUV on the ground? I haven’t.

I asked my friend Brandon who lives in the Appalachian mountains about this and he replied,

I’m pretty sure Trump and Musk are going to use SpaceX to “prove” we had a parent race that created us. It’s demons, the Fallen. They’ll show that they’ve made contact with them. Then the enemy will start being active with government and changing society. Transhumanism will be what the “aliens” say we have to do. It’s “our next step in evolution.” …but you can only do it if you become part of the Beast System. Transhumanism is on the rise, especially in Europe and America.

Brandon then sent me this talk by Laura Aboli about transhumanism. I never heard of her before and wondered if she is a Christian. She does talk about God. And in another video that included a pastor I heard her say God became a man 2000 years ago.

Laura Aboli shares some great insights about transhumanism! The video is only 12 minutes long with a transcription under it.

Laura Aboli “Transhumanism: The End Game”

Transcription

I’m glad to be here today to talk about what I believe is the most important topic of our time. The title of my talk, Transhumanism, the Endgame, probably gives away my take on the matter.

I’m not going to get into the technical aspects of transhumanism, though I do believe that one of the problems we face with regards to public understanding of the matter is that it encompasses such a wide range of things. And we’ve seen some of them, from genetic engineering, implant technology, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, all the way to cybernetic prosthetics. Although all of these things fall under the transhumanist label, I think there’s a very important distinction to be made between technology that seeks to assist people with a disability in order to regain a normal quality of life, and technology that seeks to transform us entirely.

The focus of my talk today will be on the ultimate transhumanist goal, what has been termed by Ray Kurzweil, one of the leaders of the movement, as The Singularity.

In his book titled “The Singularity is Near, When Humans Transcend Biology,” he writes: There will be no distinction post-singularity between human and machine, or between physical and virtual reality. It’s very important to understand that transhumanism is simply the transitional stage between humanism and post-humanism. Make no mistake, the final goal is to eradicate humanity as we know it.

Once you understand the final destination, it becomes much easier to look back and identify the psychological conditioning, the biological tampering, the cultural grooming and the educational prepping that we have been subjected to for decades in preparation to making us accept a post-human future. It takes a lot of physical and psychological abuse to get an intelligent species like ours to agree to its own extinction. Most, if not all, that has transcended in the last 60 years was designed to get us closer to accepting such a dystopian reality.

Whether you care to accept it or not, we live in a hyper-controlled matrix where our perception of reality is meticulously planned, managed and executed in order to control and steer us in whichever direction they wish. And the direction is a post-human world. For this, they first needed to destabilize, dehumanize and demoralize humanity through every means possible. The destruction of the nuclear family, children being indoctrinated by the state, abortion, the eradication of God and spirituality from education, life in megacities and away from nature, toxic food, air and water, social media replacing real human connection and interaction, engineered financial crisis and taxation, endless wars and massive migration, stress, anxiety, depression, drugs and alcohol, constant fear-mongering, moral relativism as the new religion, and I could go on and on about how humanity has been influenced and forced to move away from all the things that give us strength, security, purpose and meaning.

A weak, immoral, disconnected, ignorant and unhealthy population is an easy target for the next stage, the creation of an entire generation of androgynous beings. Masculinity is under attack psychologically, culturally and biologically. Women are being replaced in sports, entertainment and politics by men pretending to be women. And children are being indoctrinated at school to think that gender is a choice.

The transgender movement is not a grassroots movement. It comes from the top. It has nothing to do with people’s freedom of expression, sexuality or civil rights. It’s an evil psyop with a clear agenda to get us closer to transhumanism by making us question the most fundamental notion of human identity, our gender.

If you don’t know who you are, if you already identify as a hybrid between a man and a woman, you will be easily convinced to become a hybrid between human and machine. Gender ideology is the 2 plus 2 equals 5 from George Orwell’s 1984 dystopian novel. It’s the final test to see whether we will follow the most absurd party line towards our own extinction.

But 2 plus 2 equals 4. And no matter how you choose to dress, call yourself or change your physique, we’ll not change that. The sad reality, though, is that in the gaslighting process to get us closer to a post-human future, they have mentally and physically harmed an increasing number of children and young people. And it’s only getting worse. This must be stopped.

Understanding the philosophy and the ideology behind the transhumanist movement is crucial if we’re going to make the right choices as a species. Transhumanism stands on the premise that there is no God, that there is no spiritual realm, and that we possess no soul.

Does anybody feel like a soulless being in this room? It is the most materialistic and Darwinian understanding of who we are. And in my opinion, it is the most reductionist and frankly, insulting notion of humanity.

For decades, we have been prepped and groomed to accept the notion that without technological enhancements, we will not survive the future, but instead become obsolete. Yuval Noah Harari is doing a marvelous job at convincing everyone that we will become what he calls the useless class in the face of a world driven by AI, that we are simple, hackable animals restricted by our own biology.

But the truth, however, is very, very different. They don’t want to alter us because we are flawed, weak, and limited. They want to alter us because we are none of those things. And it’s increasingly difficult to control the billions of resourceful, resilient, and creative humans that we are.

There is a reason why it’s called artificial intelligence. And that’s because it is artificial. It’s not real intelligence. Real intelligence necessitates of consciousness. Something that machines will never possess.

And in any case, who said we wanted to merge with machines? Why should we allow some megalomaniac nerds and their big tech billionaire friends dictate our future? I think most people just want to be able to live a peaceful life in a healthy environment where they can pursue their dreams. Technology must be at our service, not to replace us or destroy us.

Give us free energy, and the world will transform instantly. Give us nutritious food, clean air and water, and disease will be eradicated. Allow us to live in a humane system instead of a free-range tax farm, and you will see how depression, anxiety, and stress dissipate.

Let’s use technology to make our lives more humane, not to make humans a thing of the past. The things we value most are those things that cannot be replicated by machines. Empathy, compassion, courage, intuition, imagination, passion, love. All of the things that make us unique. We are the most sophisticated beings on this planet, and possibly the universe for all we know. Our body is a universe in itself, one that we still have not yet fully discovered, and our brains are the most complex cognitive piece of biological machinery in the world.

Just to give you a sense of our brain power, in 2013, joint teams of researchers from Japan and Germany got together to simulate a single second of human brain activity. They created an artificial neural network of 1.73 billion nerve cells connected by 10.4 trillion synapses. Sounds very impressive. But actually, it’s only a fraction of every human being’s nerve cells. Scientists believe we all carry between 80 and 100 billion nerve cells, or about as many stars, in the Milky Way. The researchers were actually not able to simulate the human’s brain activity in real time, and it took 40 minutes with a combined muscle of 82,944 processors to get just one second of biological brain processing time.

But they want to make you think you’re useless. They don’t want to make you better. They don’t want to make you a superhuman. The end game is to make you a totally controllable piece of machinery, another thing in the Internet of Things. As Klaus Schwab has said on numerous occasions, the fourth industrial revolution will not change the world, it will change you. They will entice you with promises of immortality, but it’s digital immortality.

They will try to convince you of a life without disease and suffering, but by disconnecting you from the natural web of life and connecting you to the grid. And they will speak of becoming gods, Homo Deus, in the words of Mr. Harari.

Well, we once took a bite of that apple, and we fell. And we’ve been falling ever since. But I think we now have a chance to redeem ourselves. We now have a chance to change our ways, to understand our foolishness, to see where we went wrong, a chance to walk in the right direction, with appreciation, with humility, with courage, with truth, with faith, and with love.

Let’s not take this chance to transform ourselves to something different, but to become the best version of ourselves. We are not here to become God. We are here for God to experience life through us.

Thank you.

Continued from Chapter XXIII. The Sixth Vial—Drying Up Of the Euphrates

This is the best commentary on the three frogs of Revelation chapter 16 that I have ever read! The chapter talks about the Jesuits and their link to secret societies. They are all working together with the Jesuits for a common goal. The emphasis in bold in the text are mine.

THERE was a special end to be served by the drying up of the “Euphrates.” We have already glanced at that end; let us again turn to it for a little. The time has nearly come when “Babylon” must fall. The predestined instruments of her overthrow are on their way to besiege her; but this great river—“the Euphrates”—lies in their path, and arrests their march. The sixth vial falls upon it, and dries it up, and the host go forward.

Who are these kings from the East? How will the drying up of the symbolic Euphrates prepare their way? On what errand will they travel westward? Expositors of the Apocalypse have found themselves much at a loss for a natural and satisfactory answer to these questions. The symbol is taken, as we have said, from what occurred at the siege of the literal Babylon. The Euphrates was diverted from its channel, and the conquerors, who came from the East, entered the dry bed of the river, and the city was taken. Mystic Babylon is now on the eve of being overthrown; and the exhaustion of the Austrian empire —the last remaining military prop of the Papacy—may open a passage to the kings and armies whom it may be the purpose of God to summon to the scene of Babylon’s destruction, partly to aid in overthrowing her, and partly to be themselves overthrown.

An intimation follows almost immediately, that in the battle of that great day of God Almighty, not only will the kings of the Roman earth be present, but likewise the kings of the whole world. It is probable that the representatives of the four great monarchies—the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman—so far as these are still on the earth, will be assembled on that occasion, and finally destroyed. Thus the monarch beheld in his dream, that the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, was broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer thrashing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them. But of this we shall have occasion afterwards to speak.

The changes which have passed upon the Austrian Empire have opened the way for other and greater changes, all of which will in the end prove adverse to the Papacy. It has unsettled the order of things in both East and West. It has rent the Treaties of 1815, which were so many guarantees for the continuance and supremacy of the Papal Power. It has cast the predominance of political and military power in Germany on the side of Protestantism. It has stirred into life the numerous nationalities and tribes which people the Danube valley, and the regions stretching away to the Asiatic frontier. Fierce, predatory, warlike, these tribes hold themselves ready for any incursion which may promise to reward them with rich booty, or new seats. It has brought the Eastern Question upon the stage with a new significance. All these uncertainties, perils, changes, the day of Sadowa (1866 decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War) has hung over the world. It was the opening of the gates of the West to the nationalities and powers of the north and northeast of Europe—to their policy first, and to their arms, it may be, next.

In connection with this, it is instructive to mark that in Isaiah we have a series of prophecies extending from the forty-first to the forty-sixth chapters, foretelling a great uprising of nations, and describing their westward march, in hostile array, on some errand of vengeance. Before this terrible army “rivers are to be dried up,” and “the two leaved gates” (Isaiah 45:1) are to be opened. The scene on which this mighty host is to make its appearance is the same of which we are now speaking—the final siege and overthrow of the mystic Babylon. We are thus led to think it probable that the closing scene of the Papacy will be attended by a wider convulsion than a merely European one; that it will embroil both East and West; that peoples of Asiatic and Scythic blood—the remnants of ancient historic nations, and the races of modern origin—will come up to the siege of the mystic Babylon, and be mingled with the nationalities of Europe, on this theater of consummating judgment.

After the pouring out of the sixth vial upon the Euphrates, Europe will become the scene of busy intrigue. The skies of the western world are to clear up for a little space; the lightnings and hail of the seventh trumpet will be deferred, and the quiet interval will be intensely occupied by the agents of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, who shall prosecute with incredible zeal and activity their unconscious mission of bringing on the grand catastrophe.

We determine the character of these three frogs, or spirits, by tracing their origin. The first issues from the mouth of the dragon, which is the old serpent, the devil. This can be nothing else than infidelity, the religion of Rome in its dragon form, in conjunction with its usual concomitants, democracy, and rebellion against all authority, Divine and human.

The next issues from the mouth of the beast, i.e., the seven-headed and ten-horned beast. The characteristic principle of this beast, as distinguished from that of the false prophet, is despotism.

The third and last spirit comes from the mouth of the false prophet, and beyond question is Popery. We have no hesitation, then, in concluding that the three principles that are to burst into widespread and vehement action, during the brief interval of quiet in Western Europe, are infidelity, despotism, and Popery. This marks conclusively, we think, our own times as the period to which the prophecy has reference. It is plain that the advocates of these principles were to propagate them, not by the sword, but by loquacious (excessive) talk; for they are symbolized as frogs—stingless frogs; a figure which has been employed since the time of Cicero, who applies it to the prating demagogues of his day, to designate the noisy advocates of demoralizing principles.

Who is so ignorant as need be told how rampant these three principles are at this moment in every country in Europe? No sooner had peace returned to the West, than Popery, with prodigious effort, set about repairing the calamities of the vials. She advanced her former blasphemous pretensions; intrigued in every court of Europe; flattered sovereigns; pandered to the passions of the people; had her men of science for the learned; her miracle-workers for the ignorant; sent missionaries into every land; affected liberality in free states, and erected the Inquisition in certain despotic ones. Thus did she labor to recover her ancient dominion.

The spirit of despotism, too, rallied from the terrible blows which the French Revolution had dealt it. The former dynasties were restored, and, untaught by the bitter experience of the past, began systematically to act on the principle of enlarging the kingly prerogative, and curtailing the popular privilege. France itself was no exception. There this line of policy was pursued, both by the elder Bourbons and the house of Orleans, who have borne sway. since the Revolution of 1830.

And, as regards infidelity, there never was an age since the Flood in which so great a proportion of the human race were disbelievers. Were the great apostles of infidelity, Voltaire and Rousseau, to look up from the dead, how would they be astonished at the success of their labors! For we affirm, without fear of contradiction, that a large proportion of the people of Europe at this moment have a creed which may be summed up in three words: they fear nothing, worship nothing, and believe in nothing. With what restless energy has this spirit been propagating itself these thirty years past! Agencies innumerable has it pressed into its service: the journals and novels of France, the poetry and philosophy of Germany, the university chairs on the Rhine, the academies and printing-presses of the Helvetic towns—all have been the vehicles of conveying infidelity, under its various forms of neology (new Bible interpretations), socialism, communism, pantheism; and the result that has been wrought out, especially on such a groundwork as the Popish mummeries had been the means of creating, is not surprising. Thus have these symbolic frogs covered Europe, penetrating everywhere, loading the air with their croakings, and polluting the earth with their filth.

Ours is pre-eminently the age of great secret societies; and these societies are of three classes, corresponding in character, as they do in number, to the “three frogs” which were seen to go forth on their mission when the sixth vial was poured out. Among these societies that of the Jesuits holds a first place. Instituted about a quarter of a century after the Reformation, with the view of checking (hindering) the progress of the gospel, its numbers have prodigiously increased, and now they swarm in all the countries of Europe. Wider still, there is not a land on earth where they are not busy, intriguing, and conspiring. Their advance is as silent, and their trail as rank and abominable, as that of the frogs of Egypt. They have but one object—the glory of the Popedom; and to accomplish this object their constitutions declare all means to be lawful—deceit, assassination, insurrection, perjury—all are sanctified by the end. Their myriad wills are in complete subjection to one will, that of their general. They are in his hand as the staff is in the hand of a living man. His edicts are of equal authority with the commands of God. He has but to speak, and it is done. Other rulers have to use persuasion, or to employ force, or to hold out bribes: none of these encumbrances embarrass the action of the general of the Society of Jesus. He has but to signify his will, and myriads of agents are ready to execute it, whatever the service—to strike down an individual or to convulse a kingdom; or wherever performed, at home or at the ends of the earth.

The great ambition of the Jesuits is to direct education; but they fill all offices, as they profess all creeds. They have enrolled kings in their company; and they do not disdain shoe-boys. When we take into account their numbers, their organization, their principles, their objects, they are truly the most mysterious and formidable power that ever existed or operated on the earth.

The strength of the main body is much increased by their custom of creating and attaching affiliated societies. These greatly extend the operations of the parent society. The members of these societies are bound by secret oaths, they are employed in special services, and they go under different names in the different countries, such as the Paolotti in Italy, and the Fenians in Great Britain.

Pope Clement XIV. proscribed (banned, abolished) the Jesuits (in 1773) in the bull “Dominus ac Redemptor,” exclaiming as he affixed his signature, “I have subscribed my death-warrant.” Pius VII., after the battle of Waterloo, restored them (in 1814). The deed was done at a moment when the Papal power had to be re-established, and when the temporal and spiritual authority had to reconstruct new machinery for its working. The bark of Peter, as the bull hinted, sorely buffeted by tempests, needed these experienced and skillful rowers. This act of the Pope gave a new Romanism to the world. Henceforward Jesuitism became the executive of the Church of Rome. The Society dominates bishops, councils, and the Pope himself.

Increased extension and activity has of late been given to revolutionary clubs. The journals of France and Germany notify the rise of such societies in almost every town of the Continent. Their object is the overthrow of all existing governments, the establishment of a great European Republic, the abolition of all priestcraft, the inauguration of the religion of Reason—whatever form of faith that may be—and the redistribution of property. The organization of these societies is less perfect, and their secrecy less complete, than that of the Jesuits; still their machinery and ramifications are on a very extensive scale. They are the reaction against a Church which has outraged reason, and against governments which, of late years, by their enormous armaments, and their crushing taxation, have outraged liberty, and are mining trade. Governments which can maintain themselves only by bayonets, and whose only work is to repress, have tempted their subjects to ask on what foundation they rest their moral right to exist? These societies have their organs and missionaries for diffusing their principles among the populations of Europe The Convention which met at Geneva. last summer, made up of delegates from every country, and which preached a crusade against all churches and governments, may be accepted as a token of how the tide is running, and of the growing power and energy of the revolutionary idea.

Nor is the old despotic principle asleep: it couches in attitude ready to spring: it eyes steadfastly the Ultramontanes on the one side, and the Revolutionists on the other; and watches the moment to make its leap. The frequent meetings of crowned heads; the frightful growth of armies; the ceaseless manufacture of warlike materiel, including newly invented machines of destructive power so enormous, and so absolutely terrific, that their use must speedily bring either war to an end, or the world to an end, attest the existence of the old spirit of tyrannic power, and that before it closes its career it will yet furnish some new and awful proof of its ferocity.

Such are the three principles that strive together in Europe. All three are vile and diabolical. They mark our era as that of the “three frogs,” and they bid us be ready for the catastrophe which it is their mission to provoke. When we see contrary currents blowing in the sky, we say it will be tempest: a little while, and the flash of the lightning will be seen, and the roar of the thunder will be heard.

When we lift our eye to the ecclesiastical and political firmament, we can clearly discern three well defined currents contending in it. They blow with steady force; every hour their fury increases; black masses gather on the horizon; the darkness grows deeper; a little longer, and the contending winds and the gathering clouds will issue in the tempest’s crash. With what terrific grandeur will the storm then rage! Through the vault above will career the lightning; from one end of heaven to the other will be heard the thunder’s voice; while great earthquakes will shake the world. In that day the cities of the nations shall fall, and great Babylon will rise up in remembrance before God.

On the very eve of battle a solemn warning is tendered. “Behold, I come as a thief;” (Revelation 16:15a) for this event is to overtake the world with unprecedented and startling suddenness. How plainly do these words indicate a pause in the judgment, and a sudden recommencement!

This warning plainly imports, that immediately before that great day, individuals and Churches will be exposed to peculiar temptation to forsake their principles, here symbolized by their garments. The temptation will not arise from the persecution of force, but from the seduction of these three spirits.

Do recent events throw no light on this prediction? Has not Puseyism (also known as Tractarianism, a system of High Church principles set forth in a series of tracts at Oxford in 1833–41 that tried to bring the Church of England back under the Roman Catholic Church) solicited some to part with the doctrine of Christ’s atonement and intercession? Has not Erastianism (advocating the doctrine of state supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs) solicited others to give up the headship of the Lord Jesus? And has not neology (new method of theological interpretation) tempted others to make shipwreck of the faith altogether? A peculiar blessedness will be his who watcheth and keepeth his garments. When the night of judgment descends upon the world, a sanctuary will be opened, where he may mark in safety the widespread ruin, and come forth with his Lord when it is over.

Continued in Chapter XXV. The Harvest Of The Earth

All chapters of The Seventh Vial – By J.A. Wylie

Continued from Chapter XXII. The Fifth Vial—Darkness In The Kingdom Of The Beast.

THE shadow of the sevenfold night into which the symbolic earth of the Apocalypse was cast when the fifth angel poured out his vial is still seen resting upon it, when suddenly another terrible peal is heard rolling from its sky, and another flaming bolt is seen cleaving the darkness, and, falling upon one of its principal streams, it drinks up its waters, and lays dry its bed.

Expositors of the Apocalypse have been much divided hitherto as regards their interpretations of this vial. They were of opinion that it predicted the overthrow of some leading power of the Papal world—some power which stood related to the Church of Rome, much as the Euphrates did to the ancient Babylon; but which power it was, and whether it was a European or an Asiatic one, they were not agreed.

One class of expositors thought that the “Euphrates” was put as the representative or symbol of that great empire of which it is the principal stream, and saw in the apocalyptic picturings the gradual exhaustion of the Turkish empire, and its ultimate and total subversion. Another class of interpreters were of opinion that the kingdom in question was to be sought for within the limits of the Papal earth, and that it must be a kingdom holding a pre-eminent rank as a supporter of the Papacy, and that it was most probably Austria.

Providence, the one and only interpreter of prophecy, has now, as it appears to us, decided this question, and has decided it in favour of the latter class of interpreters. We say this all the more freely, inasmuch as we were inclined to be of the opinion of those who saw in the figurations of this vial the approaching fall of the Turkish Empire, and the doom of Mohammedan superstition. That event, so much to be desired, is manifestly at no great distance; the morning will break, the darkness that has so long covered these once glorious lands will flee away; but instead of preceding the fall of Romanism in the West, it will most probably accompany it; and the events of the sixth vial will pave the way for the execution of the Divine purposes upon both idolatries. In a common catastrophe—unexampled in its extent, in its terror, and in its completeness—will Romanism and Mohammedanism most probably find their end.

We return to the vial. It takes us to the East, and carries us a long way back in history. We are beside the Euphrates; its stream has been suddenly smitten, and the kings of the East are crossing its dry bed. This calls up before us the last eventful night of the literal Babylon. Inside the walls all is revelry. The monarch and his nobles, gathered in the palace, keep a feast in honor of the gods of Babylon, and the vessels of Jehovah are brought forth to grace the banquet. While they are praising the gods of wood and stone, sudden consternation strikes the assembly, for there, in the midst of the city, is the host of Media and Persia. But how have they entered? In the darkness of the night the beseigers, having dug a trench, draw off the waters of the Euphrates, and, marching along the dry bed of the river, penetrate within the walls, and Babylon is taken.

The same thing, in substance, is to take place over again in the siege of the mystic Babylon, and this, we conceive, is the event which is brought before us in the symbols of the sixth vial. We are shown “Great Babylon” sitting within the shadow of her last night. The vial which immediately preceded the one we are now considering, had covered her with darkness, and that darkness is to pass away only when on her shall break the lightnings of ruin, and on the Church shall open the golden morning of deliverance.

In the gloom that mantles her we can see the agents of her destruction busy at work: for she who once was worshiped by the nations is now hated of them, and they have come up against her to besiege her. Already her towers and battlements totter to their fall. The five previous vials which have been emptied in fury upon her have made hideous gaps in her defenses. For what do we see in the demoralized and prostrate state of the Popish nations—Spain beggared, France revolutionary, Italy in revolt, and committing acts of sacrilegious spoliation, as Rome accounts them, upon the property of “the Church” —but the demolition of those ramparts, which, in former ages, stood in impregnable strength around the Papacy.

But there still remains, that is, at the time just anterior to the pouring out of the sixth vial, one state, which has escaped, in good degree, the general decadence of the Popish nations, and which is still thoroughly loyal to Rome. That state covers her with the shield of her policy and her arms. That state is to the mystic Babylon what the Euphrates, rolling its deep floods beneath its walls, was to the literal city. It is on this symbolic Euphrates that the next judgment is to be executed, that its waters—its people, revenues, and military prestige—may be dried up. Upon this power is the sixth vial emptied: it falls, and its crash announces to Rome that her last political bulwark has given way, and that the road is now open for the entrance of her foes, whatever time they may judge it fitting to put an end to her dominion. So much the symbol suggests. Let us now come to facts.

The events of Divine Providence have made it plain, we think, that the one remaining defense of the antichristian system, here specially marked out for sudden and unexpected overthrow, was Austria. That empire had largely escaped the general blight of the Popish kingdoms. It was not revolutionary. It retained its military prestige up till the very morning of the battle of Sadowa. Among the great powers it was pre-eminently the champion of Rome, and the only one which she thoroughly trusted. To the last Austria preserved her fidelity to the concordat which placed her political and military strength at the service of the Papacy. If France was the “Nile” or “Sea” in which thereby Rome traded and carried on her spiritual commerce and became rich, Austria was her “Euphrates,” her encircling rampart; for the arms of that empire were in Rome’s last days her main reliance. But the hour came when the sixth vial must be poured out.

On the one terrible day of Sadowa was this vial emptied upon the devoted kingdom. Like all the vials it came quickly. On the morning of that day—9th July, 1866— Austria stood forth before the world the same mighty empire it had always been. The injury it had sustained in the tempests of 1848 it had repaired. Its territories were as wide, its subject races as numerous, and its military renown as great as before. But the same day which opened so proudly for Austria set upon it an appalling and irretrievable wreck. We know not if in all history there be such another collapse of a great empire. Her archdukes and princes slain: her armies routed, her place among the great powers lost: the renown acquired on a hundred battle-fields perished, and the prestige which had come down to her from six centuries vanished; all this forms a catalog of calamities greater perhaps than ever before befell kingdom in one day. It seemed as if an angel had come down from heaven and breathed upon this empire, and its strength, glory, and dominion were in an instant gone.

And what a blow to Rome! Austria was an embodiment of absolutist (absolutism: a political theory that absolute power should be vested in one or more rulers) and reactionary (ultraconservative in politics) principles—the principles against which Providence has been making war these three centuries. She existed only to guard these principles. Her soil was an interdicted one to the Bible and the missionary. There art stood still, knowledge was proscribed (forbidden as harmful or unlawful), and commerce was fettered. On the frontier of Austria progress of all kinds was arrested.

One art only did that empire study—the art of war. Austria was a great military power, and it employed its arms to restrict the rights of peoples and to uphold and enlarge the claims of prerogative. It was an embodied “right divine.” It was the political cesspool of Europe. To it there gravitated whatever tyrannous maxim or noxious prejudice had been expelled from neighbouring states. Other Papal kingdoms moved a little with the tide, Austria lay immovably fixed above her old moorings. She was a very tower of strength to that “Church” whose last authoritative utterance, the Encyclical of 1864 (Webmaster: Also known as the Syllabus of Errors), is one compendious anathema upon liberty, religion, and progress.

It is not Austria only—old absolutist and priest-ridden Austria—which has closed its career; it is Europe—Europe as readjusted in 1815, and readjusted in the interests of the Papal power—which has closed its career, and which must be reconstructed. Those famous treaties which Rome always appealed to, and behind which she entrenched herself, are now torn in pieces. This is a rampart fallen, a source of defense dried up.

While Austria retires from the stage which she has alternately desolated by her arms and illumined by her glory, Prussia (a historical nation that consisted of parts of Germany, Poland, Russia, and Lithuania) comes in her room. Population, territory, political influence, and military power, now pass over to the latter state. This is a mighty gain on the side of Protestantism and civilization. The shadow that rested on the east of Europe recedes, and the sphere of the light is enlarged. Draw a line along by the Main eastward through Germany; all the states on the north of that line are ranged on the side of Prussia.

Here is a Power governing a territory, which embraces middle and northern Germany, and is inhabited by upwards of thirty millions, having one policy, and one military organization, substantially Protestant. On the south of the Main we behold another confederation, amounting to about ten millions of Germans, not yet formerly united with Prussia, but in all likelihood destined to be so, but of which she is even now virtually the ruler. Thus, as the result of a campaign of only ten days in the July of 1866, we behold the rise of a great German and Protestant Power, forty millions strong, under the leadership of Prussia. While Austria— the champion of the Papacy, the persecutor of the saints—finds herself suddenly shorn of her power, and the numerous races which, like a great river, she had gathered into her immense channel, are fleeing from under her scepter, and leaving her without strength on the battle-field, or influence at the council-table. In both respects Rome will sorely miss her.

But all these dark events turn their silver lining to the Church. Christ has heard the cry of His saints, and broken Austria “in pieces as a potter’s vessel.” So shall He one day lay low the towers and pinnacles of all those proud empires which have lifted themselves up “against the Lord and His anointed.”

Though sorely humiliated, Austria has not been altogether extinguished. With a change of policy, and under the direction of a Protestant prime minister, there may yet await her a future of no small promise. To become a first-rate power, a great predominating military empire, stretching her wings from the border of Asia to the heart of Germany, she can no longer hope to be: but dissevered from the Papacy, it is possible that she may recover not a little of what she has lost, and maintain a respectable position among the kingdoms of the world.

On the morrow after Sadowa her star seemed to be set for ever; but no sooner did she begin to part company with the Papacy than her star re-appeared, and began to mount into the horizon. Loosed from the chains of Rome, new life entered into her, and already she has made great progress in the work of reconstruction. The constitution recently sanctioned by the emperor contains a pretty full measure of constitutional liberties. But the greatest achievement of the new Austria is that by a fundamental law of the state she has nullified the concordat. This made her the slave of the Papacy, and to have flung aside that incubus was indeed a wonderful triumph over the old ultramontane spirit and a most gladdening manifestation of the growing power of the principle of a free conscience.

If Austria is making these strides into the open air of liberty, if Austria declares that her sword shall no longer be at the service of priestcraft, and that a Papal bull shall no longer override an imperial edict; if Austria proclaims the equality of all religions before the law, of what European country shall we despair? There is a spirit at work, which grows as it passes, like a great ocean wave, and which is driving the night before it, and bringing in the day of evangelical truth. From the carnage-covered field of Sadowa what blessings have already arisen, and what blessings may yet arise, to Austria and to Europe. In the thunders of that battle-field, Rome heard the fall of her last political defense, and liberty and religion saw a barrier swept out of their path which had long withstood their advance. When the smoke of the battle-field had cleared away, an unexpected and blessed sight met the eye! The ancient and venerable Churches of Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary, which had suffered an all but total extinction by the House of Austria, were seen rising out of the dust into which they had been trodden, and taking quiet and sure possession of a soil which had been so abundantly watered by their fathers’ tears and blood. As they look around on the new world, into which they have been ushered, and find all so changed;—that now they build their Churches, and organize their missions, and exercise all their civil and religious rights, none making them afraid, they scarce believe for joy. But when at length they feel that their new privileges are real, they give vent to their wonder and joy in the ancient song,

Continued in Chapter XXIV. The Kings Of The East—The Three Frogs

All chapters of The Seventh Vial – By J.A. Wylie

Continued from Chapter XXI. The Fourth Vial—The Sun Of Fire

WE now transfer ourselves to the banks of the Ticino, in upper Italy. It is a quiet eventide in April, 1859. The squadrons of Austria, two hundred thousand strong, are defiling (marching in a line) along the noble granite bridge which spans the river; while the little army of Piedmont hastily assembles in front, in order to delay the advance of the Austrian host, and give time to the French legions, which are at this moment descending the slopes of the Cottian Alps, to come to their aid. The campaign for Italian Independence—the fifth act of the drama—is about to open.

The locality this vial was to smite was the “seat,” or, as it is in the original, the “throne” of the beast. The order of progression, according to which the judgment rises higher and higher, is here maintained. This vial strikes the loftiest seat—the very pinnacle of the Papal power—the very center of the Papal world. We were previously told, when shown the rise of the beast, that the dragon that is imperial Rome gave him his “throne and power;” and it was actually the boast of the Pope that his palace, his city, his territories, “the patrimony (inheritance) of Peter,” he had received as a gift from Caesar. It is thus clear that the fifth vial was to be poured upon the Temporal Power, and the territorial possessions of the Pope.

How do the historic events of 1859 fulfill this supposition? Did the war-cloud which so suddenly rolled down from the Alps, after sweeping over Italy, discharge its last and heaviest burst over the city and throne of the Popes? It did.

The strife was begun in that spacious Lombard Plain, on which so many bloody fields have been stricken, and where countless hosts sleep their last sleep. The campaign was short, sharp, and decisive. First came the great battle of Montebello: this was immediately followed by the yet greater battle of Magenta; and, last and bloodiest of all, came Solferino; and now Austria retreated beyond the Adige, and all of Italy on the west of that river was free.

These exploits of France in the north of Italy were immediately followed by the yet more brilliant campaign of Garibaldi in the south of the Peninsula. Setting sail from Genoa with a thousand followers, he liberated Sicily, and crossing the Straits of Messina, completed almost as soon as he had begun the conquest of the Neapolitan kingdom, the soldiers laying down their arms, and the king fleeing at his approach. The Almighty had given the Neapolitan princes as stubble to his bow.

And now the cloud which had discharged itself in peals so terrific first in the north and next in the south of the Peninsula gathered darkly round the territory and throne of the Pontiff. Victor Emmanuel carried the war into the Papal States, and reft (robbed) the chair of Peter of its goodliest possessions. Bologna on the north, the Marches of Ancoha, and the fertile Umbria on the east were taken from the “Holy Father,” and he was left with only the herbless and treeless plain around Rome, and half a million of subjects. Thus was the “throne of the beast” not extinguished indeed, but eclipsed—shorn of its power and revenues.

The events that fulfilled this vial are characterized, in common with those that fulfill all the other vials, with a startling and dazzling suddenness. This characteristic was eminently to mark the third woe;—it “cometh quickly.” The very words in which the pouring out of the vials are narrated indicate celerity of execution. This unexpectedness—this launching of the bolt with lightning speed and power was designed, not only to make the blow more stunning, but to make the hand of God more manifest, if men would but see it.

Alas! They have extolled the genius of the human agents, they have lauded their promptitude in action, their fertility of resource, their courage; but they have not acknowledged the God who endowed them with these gifts, and used them for the execution of His holy purposes.

This vial was to shroud the kingdom of the beast in darkness. “Darkness” is the symbol of social and political confusion. No term but “darkness” could adequately describe the condition in which the events of 1859 left the affairs of Italy and of the whole Roman Catholic world. The actors in these scenes thought they were advancing to a settlement of European affairs; the Italians were dreaming of a fully emancipated kingdom, with Rome for its capital, when suddenly all parties found themselves unexpectedly confronted with a great insoluble problem. This problem ramified into a hundred other enigmas which equally defied adjustment, and which presented a state of affairs of the utmost perplexity and entanglement. The exigencies (urgent demands) of Victor Emmanuel require that the Pope should demit (resign) his temporal power: the exigencies of the other Popish sovereigns require that he should retain it. The Italians demand Rome as their capital: but Rome is precisely the city which the Pope cannot give up. Italy wishes to be consolidated as a kingdom; but this she cannot be while there are two sovereigns in her. But two sovereigns there must remain, for the Temporal Princedom is the center of the Papal empire, and its destruction would infer a violent rending and dissolution of that whole empire: it would convulse the “Catholic world” to its extremities.

It is nothing to say that it is not within the compass of diplomacy to reconcile these antagonistic claims: it is not in the nature of things—it is not within the compass of possibilities to reconcile them. The position is darkness—darkness that may be felt. “We dwell in darkness,” says M. Guizot, referring to these numerous insoluble problems, “we walk on ruins.”

This awful night, foretold to fall down on the Papal world, was typified by the plague of darkness in Egypt, during which no one rose from his seat. At this hour there is a complete arrest upon the three leading actors in the Papal world—the Emperor of France, the King of Italy, and the Pontiff. Not one of the three can adopt a definite line of political action. They can but sit still, and wait. They are galled, and they fret in their position: yet stir they dare not, save at the risk of bringing on a convulsion which would shake the whole of Europe.

This darkness is the prelude to the long night that awaits the Papacy. In its sky, sun and stars will shine no more; the gloom will be dispersed not otherwise than by the fiery light streaming in through the rents of ruin.

It was foretold that they should “gnaw their tongues for pain;”—that is, kings, priests, and people, all of whom were to be cast into this darkness. The result of affairs in Italy has been disappointing to all parties. Their most cherished hopes have been falsified; and in the bitter recriminations which one has urged against another, and in the expressions of chagrin and mortification which have come from all, we behold the predicted “gnawing of the tongue.” No one has raised so loud and persistent a wail over the misfortunes which have come upon him as the Pope. His sacred person has been insulted; his divine prerogatives have been contemned (treated with contempt); sacrilegious hands have been laid upon the revenues of his Church; and horrible blasphemies have been-spoken against his holy seat, and he has not been slow to publish to the world the anguish of soul which these multiplied afflictions have caused him. Allocution (spoken address, formal speech) has followed allocution; expressed in almost the very words of prophecy. As for instance, in his allocution of August 1860, he tells us that he is “drinking to the lees the cup of bitterness and sorrow.” The Times, putting into the Saxon of England what the Pope expresses in the theological language of Italy, called these allocutions “a continuous shriek of cursing.”

Again we hear the thrice melancholy announcement, “they repented not of their deeds.” Kings, priests, people, go on, like Pharaoh, impenitent, tormented, blaspheming to the very end. What an awful picture of the state of the Papal world, as it is here beheld on the brink of its last woe! The plagues of all the vials are pressing upon it at once; the atheistic sores of the first vial; the revolutionary and sanguinary (blood thirsty, murderous) doctrines of the second; the wars of the third, in the shape of overgrown armaments; the tyrannic inflictions of the fourth; and now the “darkness” of the fifth; for the judgment is cumulative, and each vial as it is poured out, so far from revoking the plague of that which went before it, but adds to it, till the suffering becomes overwhelming and intolerable, and the last expression of physical torment is exhibited in “the gnawing of the tongue.”

Still there is no confession of their own and their fathers’ sins; there is no turning to the God of heaven; and no forsaking of their idolatries. They still wear the chains of their great spiritual oppressor. Their conscience is still in his keeping. The nation of Italy has not even yet escaped from the prison of the Vatican. The Bible has entered at the red gap of war, but alas! The liberty it offers is little prized. We are the Church’s children, say they, and were never in bondage to any man. And so, instead of bathing their eyes, long darkened, in the blessed radiance of the gospel, they love the shade of the old darkness, and resent as an injury rather than welcome as a kindness, any attempt to dispel it. Thus they repent not of their deeds.

Continued in The Sixth Vial—Drying Up Of the Euphrates

All chapters of The Seventh Vial – By J.A. Wylie