Part 11 (2/2)
Christ communicated to the apostles, and these to the bishops, the unction of the _Holy Spirit_; and this Spirit is to be procured only in that order of succession.... Faith in the heart no longer connected the members of the church, and they were united by means of bishops, archbishops, popes, mitres, canons and ceremonies.” History of the Reformation, Book I, Chap. 1. Thus, the Word and Spirit of G.o.d as the true vicars of Christ in his church were finally expelled from what was looked upon as the one visible church, and with them the true wors.h.i.+pers also were driven out; and nothing remained in the public view except the great company of profane idolaters already referred to. The same is referred to in a subsequent chapter as the flight of the true church into the wilderness, where, hidden from sight, she had a place prepared of G.o.d for twelve hundred and sixty days. So after all, G.o.d had a true church during the Dark Ages--a people that stood in opposition to the abounding corruption and iniquity of the church of Rome; a people that rejected the established hierarchy and gave heed to the Word and Spirit of G.o.d. But their numbers were so few, comparatively, that the operations of the two witnesses were greatly limited; hence they are represented as being clothed in sackcloth, a symbol of melancholy and mourning.
Among those who opposed the teachings of that apostate church were the Cathari, Poor Men of Lyons, Lombards, Albigenses, Waldenses, Vaudois, etc. The name Waldenses and Albigenses have frequently been loosely applied to all the bands of people that pa.s.sed under various t.i.tles in different countries and that opposed the doctrines and ecclesiastical tyranny of Rome. Speaking of the twelfth century, Bowling says: ”There existed at that dark period, when 'all the world wondered after the beast,' a numerous body of the disciples of Christ, who took the New Testament for their guidance and direction in all the affairs of religion, rejecting the doctrines and commandments of men. Their appeal was from the decisions of councils, and the authority of popes, cardinals, and prelates, to the law and the testimony--the words of Christ and his holy apostles.” History of Romanism, p. 272. Egbert, a monkish writer of that age, speaking of them, says that he had often disputed with these heretics, ”a sort of people,” he adds, ”who are very pernicious to the Catholic faith, which, like moths, they corrupt and destroy. They are armed,” says he, ”_with the words of Scripture_ which in any way seem to favor their sentiments, and with these they know how to defend their errors, and to oppose the Catholic truth. They are increased to great mult.i.tudes throughout all countries, to the great danger of the church [of Rome].”
For lack of s.p.a.ce, an extensive history of these interesting people can not be given; but a few references to them by their most inveterate enemies, the Papists themselves, are of such importance that I can not pa.s.s them by unnoticed. The testimony given by Evervinus, a zealous Catholic, in a letter he wrote to the celebrated Bernard, at the beginning of the twelfth century, relative to the doctrine and manners of these so-called _heretics_, is exceedingly valuable. Says he: ”There have lately been some heretics discovered among us, near Colonge [sic: Cologne], of whom some have, with satisfaction returned again to the church. One that was a bishop among them, and his companions, openly opposed us, in the a.s.sembly of the clergy and laity, the lord-archbishop himself being present, with many of the n.o.bility, maintaining their heresy from _the words of Christ and his apostles_. But, finding that they made no impression, they desired that a day might be fixed, upon which they might bring along with them men skilful in their faith, promising to return to the church, provided their teachers were unable to answer their opponents; but that otherwise, they would rather die than depart from their judgment.
”Upon this declaration, having been admonished to repent, and three days allowed them for that purpose, they were seized by the people, in their excess of zeal, _and committed to the flames_! and, what is most astonis.h.i.+ng, they came to the stake and endured the torment not only with patience, but even with joy. In this case, O holy father, were I present with you, I should be glad to ask you, how these members of Satan could persist in their heresy with such constancy and courage as is rarely to be found among the most religious in the faith of Christ?”
He then proceeds: ”Their heresy is this: They say that the church (of Christ) is only among themselves, because they alone follow the ways of Christ, and imitate the apostles, not seeking secular gains.... Whereas they say to us, 'Ye join house to house, and field to field, seeking the things of this world.'... They represent themselves as the poor of Christ's flock, who have no certain abode, fleeing from one city to another, like sheep in the midst of wolves, enduring persecution with the apostles and martyrs: though strict in their manner of life--_abstemious, laborious, devoted, and holy_ ... living as men who are not of the world. But you, say they, lovers of the world, have peace with the world, because ye are in it. False apostles, who adulterate the word of G.o.d, seeking their own things, have misled you and your ancestors. Whereas, we and our fathers, having been born and brought up in the apostolic doctrine, have continued in the grace of Christ, and shall continue so to the end.... They affirm that the apostolic dignity is corrupted by indulging itself in secular affairs, while it sits [professedly] in St Peter's chair. They do not hold with the baptism of infants, alleging that pa.s.sage of the gospel, 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.' They place no confidence in the intercession of saints and all things observed in the church, which have not been established by Christ himself, or his apostles, they p.r.o.nounce to be superst.i.tious. They do not admit of any purgatory fire after death, contending, that the souls of men, as soon as they depart out of the bodies, do enter into rest or punishment ... by which means they make void all the prayers and oblations of the faithful for the deceased....
I must inform you also, that those of them who have returned to our church, tell us that they had great numbers of their persuasion, scattered almost everywhere.... And as for those who were burnt, they, in defense they made of themselves, told us that this heresy had been _concealed from the time of the martyrs_ [by which is meant the early period of Christianity] and that it had existed in Greece and other countries.”
Although Bernard began a strenuous opposition to these people, still he testifies: ”If you ask them of their faith, nothing can be more Christian-like; and if you observe their conversation, nothing can be more blameless, and what they speak they make good by their actions....
As to life and manners, he circ.u.mvents no man, overreaches no man, does violence to no man. He fasts much and eats not the bread of idleness; but works with his hands for his support.”
Claudius, archbishop of Turin, who joined in hunting and persecuting them to the death, writes, ”Their heresy excepted, they generally live a purer life than other Christians.” Again, ”In their lives they are perfect, irreproachable, and without reproach among men, addicting themselves with all their might to the service of G.o.d.”
The sum and substance of their offense is mentioned by Ca.s.sini, a Franciscan friar, where he says, ”That ALL THE ERRORS of these Waldenses consisted in this, that they denied the church of Rome to be the holy mother church, and _would not obey her traditions_.”
In conclusion I quote from the celebrated Roman Catholic historian Thua.n.u.s. He states their tenets as follows: ”That the church of Rome, because it renounced the true faith of Christ, WAS THE Wh.o.r.e OF BABYLON ... that consequently _no obedience was to be paid to the Pope_, or to the bishops who maintain her errors; that a monastic life was the sink and dungeon of the church, the vows of which [relating to celibacy] were vain ... that the orders of the priesthood were marks of the great beast mentioned in the Apocalypse; that the fire of purgatory, the solemn ma.s.s, the consecration days of churches, the wors.h.i.+p of saints, and propitiations for the dead, were the devices of Satan.” Lib. VI, Sec.
16, Lib. XXVII. The chief offense of these so-called heretics seems to have been that they denounced the Pope as ”Antichrist” and the apostate church of Rome as ”the Babylonish harlot.”
7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
11. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from G.o.d entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
12. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
At the expiration of the twelve hundred and sixty years the scene changes. The prophecy of the witnesses in their sackcloth state, hidden away from sight in the wilderness, ends, and they are now brought out into public view--but only to be killed. Their slaughter takes place at the hands of the beast. When we come to consider chapter XIII, we shall see that the Papacy is described as a beast reigning for forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty years, after which time another beast possessing great power and authority appears on the scene. This second beast is Protestantism, and through it the murder of the two witnesses at the close of the Papal supremacy in the vision before us was effected.
It would seem, by the similarity of statement that the beast ”ascendeth out of the bottomless pit,” that the slaughter of the witnesses was effected by the Papal beast (chap. 17:7, 8); but the Mohammedan delusion also is said to have proceeded from ”the bottomless pit.” Chap. 9:1, 2.
The expression _bottomless pit_ is doubtless used merely to signify the source of certain powers in contradistinction to the heavenly source from which others proceeded. Although the Papal beast is said to have originated in the bottomless pit, the second beast also doubtless proceeded from the same source, for he possessed many of the characteristics of the former, and caused the earth to wors.h.i.+p the first beast, as explained in chapter 13. That he was not of heavenly origin is shown by the statement that he came up ”out of the earth.” Chap. 13:11.
But the direct proof that it was the Protestant beast, and not the Papal beast--although the same expression as to its origin is used concerning it--that slew the two witnesses, is found in the fact that the reign of the first, or Papal, beast was limited to forty two months (chap. 13:5), corresponding to the twelve hundred and sixty years in which the witnesses prophesied in the vision before us; while it was after the _close_ of this period, at the time when the second, or Protestant, beast arose (chap. 13:11), that the witnesses were slain.
To many this may seem a hard saying; but I request that the matter be given the most careful attention in the light of prophecy and divine truth. It is true that the Sixteenth Century Reformation at first brought the witnesses out of the wilderness of seclusion where they had remained during the long night of Romanism and exhibited them to the public view; but when thus placed upon exhibition, they were soon robbed entirely of their position as the Vicars, or Governors, of G.o.d's church.
Since creed and sect-making first began, the Word and Spirit have not possesed governing power and authority in Protestantism; but men have usurped that place and prescribed authoritative rules of faith and practise for the people. The principles of Higher Criticism have so far pervaded the realm of sectarian theology that a vast number of the clergy no longer regard the Bible as the inspired word of G.o.d to man, but simply as a remarkable piece of religious literature recording the natural development of the religious consciousness among a peculiarly sensitive race of people. Protestantism certainly has placed the Bible on the dissecting table and dismembered it in a manner wholly unknown before. While Protestants will not for a moment allow the blessed Book to be hidden out of sight--put ”into graves”--still they will not grant it that place it should occupy as the sole discipline of faith, so it is a dead letter to them. That all-glorious doctrine of Bible _unity_, which fills the whole New Testament, strikes a deathblow to all the carnal divisions and inst.i.tutions of sectarianism; and so with one accord they unite in _fighting it_. ”Oh, the good old blessed Bible! we could not do without it,” say they; yet, as everybody knows, they are governed by the discipline and laws that they or their representatives have formulated. Thus, the Word and Spirit of G.o.d are brought under the public gaze, only to be treated with such indignity in G.o.d's sight, and killed; while infidels look on, and tauntingly remark, ”Either the religion of to-day is no Christianity, or the Word of G.o.d is a lie.”
In the beginning of this dispensation the church of G.o.d not only consisted of all those who were spiritual, but const.i.tuted a visible, organic body as well, made up of numerous local congregations that were separate in the management of their internal affairs, yet interrelated with each other, and were directed by humble pastors, who were, in reference to each other, _equal_. The Word of G.o.d was their only discipline, and the Spirit of G.o.d, their great Teacher and Guide. Thus, the two witnesses were active in their official position, in the public view, as the Vicars or Governors of the church of G.o.d on earth. When, however, men usurped the place of these Vicars by ignoring the Spirit and rejecting the Word and making their own rules of faith, the effect was a national hierarchy--the church of Rome, which for twelve hundred and sixty years stood in the public view. Yet the two witnesses were still alive, though driven into obscurity and ”clothed in sackcloth”; for they still acted in their official position in the congregations of the medieval Christians already referred to, who resisted the doctrines of men and clung tenaciously to the simple, primitive form of church government and allowed the Spirit and Word authority supreme.
But during the Protestant era Christians the world over became identified with the various sects, hence were representing to the world the beast power instead of the true church. Thus, during the Protestant period, the church of G.o.d, _in its organic form_, was not represented anywhere on earth; for its members were scattered among those who were ”wors.h.i.+ping the beast and his image.” Hence the two witnesses, during this era, had no place to operate in their official capacity as the Governors of G.o.d's church and are therefore represented as slain. The government of Protestant sects is not effected by the Word and Spirit; for the inst.i.tutions themselves are of human origin, and men are their law-makers and governors.
When the two witnesses are deprived of their governing power and the rules and disciplines of men subst.i.tuted in their place, a decline into worldliness is the invariable result. This has been the case repeatedly in sectarianism. In fact, Protestantism, as a component part of that great city Babylon, has so given herself over to ”revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries,” that a voice from heaven has declared her to be ”the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” Chap. 18:2.
Witness the shows, festivals, frolics, grab-bag parties, kissing bees, cake-walk lotteries, and other abominations unnumbered, that are carried on without shame, under the guise of religion, in the high places of this modern Babylon! If the Word of G.o.d with the full power and authority of his Spirit could be turned in upon them, it would be like the torment of fire; but no, it is dead to them, and they rejoice and make merry and continue in ”the same excess of riot.”
In the description before us, this city of sectarianism in which the two witnesses are slain is ”spiritually [or mystically] called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” It is a mystical Sodom, Egypt and Jerusalem--a Sodom for wickedness and lewdness, an Egypt for the captivity and oppression of G.o.d's people, and a Jerusalem for the crucifying of the Son of G.o.d afresh and putting him to an open shame.
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