FACTS OF FAITH
By Christian Edwardson
Chapter 5
A Time, and Times, and Half a Time
THE
little horn of Daniel 7:8, 25, was to reign for "a time and times and
the dividing of time." This same "time, and times, and half a time" is
also mentioned in Revelation 12:14, and in the sixth verse it is said to
be "a thousand two hundred and threescore days." In prophecy a day
always stands for a year. (Ezekiel 4:6.) This prophetic period is
therefore 1260 literal years. We shall now show that these 1260 years
began in 538 A. D., and invite the reader to notice the four great
changes that took place that year:
1.
We have already seen that the little horn symbolized the Papacy, and
that three Arian kingdoms, which stood in its way, were plucked up by
the roots, and that the last of these received its deathblow in 538 A.
D. through the efforts of Justinian, the faithful son of the church of
Rome.
2.
History states that the work of Justin and Justinian in elevating the
Papacy to power brought on a new era, introducing the Middle Ages:
"Accordingly, the religious and political tendencies of the Empire now
took so different a direction as to positively constitute the dawn of a
new era .... Thus at last Rome had triumphed, after fighting so long
with unflinching vigour and without yielding a single point.""The
Barbarian Invasion of Italy," P. Villari, Vol. I, pp. 177, 178.
"The reign of Justinian is more remarkable as a portion of the history
of mankind, than as a chapter in the annals of the Roman Empire or of
the Greek nation. The changes of centuries pass in rapid succession
before the eyes of one generation ....
"With the conquest of Rome by Belisarius, the history of the ancient
city may be considered as terminating; and with his defence against
Witigis IA. D. 538], commences the history of the Middle Ages.""Greece
Under the Romans," George Finlay, pp. 198, 240, Dent edition, revised by
author, 1877.
3.
Even the Papacy itself changed, so there was a new order of popes after
538 A. D. History relates:
"Down to the sixth century all popes are declared saints in the
martyrologies. Vigillius (537-555) is the first of a series of popes who
no longer bear this title, which is henceforth sparingly conferred. From
this time on the popes, more and more enveloped in worldly events, no
longer belong solely to the church; they are men of the state, and then
rulers of the state.""Medieval Europe," Belmont
and Monod (revised by George Burton Adams), p. 120. New York: H. Holt &
Co., 1902.
In
the foregoing quotation the date of Vigillius should be 538 instead of
537 for the following reason:
"Vigillius having been thus ordained in the year 537, . . . and the
death of Silverius having been certainly not earlier than 20 June, A. D.
538, it is evident that for at least seven months his position was that
of an unlawful anti-pope, his predecessor never having been canonically
deposed" Dictionary of Christian Biography, Drs. Smith and Wace, Vol. IV, art.
"Vigillius," p. 1144. London: 1887.
For
this reason A. Bower says:
"From the death of Silverius the Roman Catholic writers date the
Episcopacy of Vigillius, reckoning him thenceforth among the lawful
popes.""History of the Popes," Vol. II, p. 488, under the year "538."
Dublin: 1751.
"His [Silverius'] death happened on the 20th of June . . . 538. "Id.,
p. 488.
Dr.
Philip Schaff says:
"Vigillius, a pliant creature of Theodora, ascended the papal chair
under the military protection of Belisarius (538-555)""History
of the Christian Church" (7vol. ed.), Vol. III, p. 327. New York:
Scribner's, 1893. See also "General History of the Catholic Church,"
M. l'Abbe J. E. Darras, Vol. II, pp. 146, 147 (New York: 1866), and "The
Official Catholic Directory" for 1933, "List of Roman Pontiffs" on page
7. 4. Dr. Sunmerbell gives still another reason why we should date the
beginning of the papal supremacy from 538. He says:
"Justinian . . . enriched himself with the property of all 'heretics
"that is non-Catholics, and gave all their churches to the Catholic;
published edicts in 538 compelling all to join the Catholic Church in
ninety days or leave the empire, and confiscated all their goods.""History of the Christian Church," pp. 310, 311. Cincinnati: 1873.
The same is stated by Samuel Chandler in "History of Persecution," pp.
142, 143; and by Edward Gibbon, in "Decline and Fall," chap. 47, par.
24.
The State Religion
Thus
we see that Roman Catholicism was made the state religion in 538, and
all other religions were forbidden. What gave special significance to
these edicts of Justinian was the fact that he had already in 533
declared the bishop of Rome to be the head of the universal church, and
had subjected all the priests even of the East under the see of Rome.
This fact he wrote to Pope John II on March 15, 533, in the following
language:
"With honor to the Apostolic See, . . . We hasten to bring to the
knowledge of Your Holiness everything relating to the condition of the
Church, as we have always had great desire to preserve the unity of your
Apostolic See, and the condition of the Holy Churches of God, as they
exist at the present time, that they may remain without disturbance or
opposition. Therefore, We have exerted Ourselves to unite all the
priests of the East and subject them to the See of Your Holiness ....
For we do not suffer anything which has reference to the state of the
Church, even though what causes the difficulty may be clear and free
from doubt, to be discussed without being brought to the notice of Your
Holiness, because you are the head of all Holy Churches, for we shall
exert Ourselves in every way (as has already been stated), to increase
the honor and authority of your see ....
"Therefore we request your paternal affection, that you, by your
letters, inform Us and the Most Holy Bishop of this Fair City, and your
brother the Patriarch who himself has written by the same messengers to
Your Holiness, eager in all things to follow the Apostolic See of your
Blessedness, in order that you may make it clear to Us that Your
Holiness acknowledges all the matters which have been set forth above.""The
Civil Law of Justinian," translated by S. P. Scott, A. M. (in 17
volumes), Book 12, pp. 11-13.
To
this letter Pope John II answered:
"John, Bishop of the City of Rome, to his most Illustrious and Merciful
Son Justinian. "Among the conspicuous reasons for praising your wisdom
and gentleness, Most Christian of Emperors, and one which radiates light
as a star, is the fact that through love of the Faith, and actuated by
zeal for charity, you, learned in ecclesiastical discipline, have
preserved reverence for the See of Rome, and have subjected all things
to his authority, and have given it unity....
"This See is indeed the head of all Churches, as the rules of the
Fathers and the decrees of Emperors assert, and the words of your most
reverent piety testify ....
"We have received with all due respect the evidences of your serenity,
through Hypatius and Demetrius, most holy men, my brothers and fellow
bishops, from whose statements we have learned that you have promulgated
an Edict addressed to your faithful people, and dictated by your love of
the faith, for the purpose of overthrowing the designs of heretics,
which is ill accordance with the evangelical tenets, and which we have
confirmed by our authority with the consent of our brethren and fellow
bishops, for the reason that it is in conformity with the apostolic
doctrine ....
"Therefore, it is opportune to cry out with a prophetic voice, 'Heaven
will rejoice with You, and pour out its blessing upon You, and the
mountains will rejoice, and the hills be glad with exceeding joy'...
"The favor of Our Lord . . . remain forever with you, Most Pious Son,
Amen ....
"Given at Rome, on the eighth of the Kaleads of April, during the
Consulate of Emperor Justinian, Consul for the fourth time"Id.,
pp. 10-15. Both of these letters appear in the "Code of Justinian,"
as well as the following law: "Concerning the Precedence of Patriarchs:
"Hence, in accordance with the provisions of those Councils, we order
that the Most Holy Pope of Ancient Rome shall hold the first rank of all
the Pontiffs, but the Most Blessed Archbishop of Constantinople, or New
Rome, shall occupy the second place after the Holy Apostolic See of
Ancient Rome, which shall take precedence over all other sees"Id.,
Vol. XVII, p. 125. ("Constitutions of Justinian," Vol. X VII, 9th
Collection, Title 14, chapter 2.)
Under date of March 25, 533, Justinian, writing to Epiphanius, Patriarch
of Constantinople, stating that he had written the above letter to the
pope, "repeats his decision, that all affairs touching the Church shall
be referred to the Pope, 'Head of all bishops, and the true and
effective corrector of heretics""The
Apocalypse of St. John," George Croly, A. M., p. 170, second edition.
London: 1828.
"The epistle which was addressed to the Pope, and another to the
Patriarch of Constantinople, were inserted in the volume of the civil
law; thus the sentiments contained in them obtained the sanction of the
supreme legislative authority of the empire ....
"The answer of the Pope to the imperial epistle was also published with
the other documents; and it is equally important, inasmuch as it shows
that he understood the reference that had been made to him, as being a
formal recognition of the supremacy of the see of Rome""A
Dissertation on the Seals and Trumpets of the Apocalypse," William
Cuninghame, pp. 185, 186. London: 1843; cited in "Source Book," pp. 383,
384, ed. of 1922. "
The recognition of the Roman see as the highest ecclesiastical authority
(of. Novellae, cxxxi) remained the cornerstone of his [Justinian's]
policy in relation to the West"New
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Vol. VI, art. "Justinian," p. 286.
Thus
we see that the way had been prepared in 533, in anticipation of the
three final acts which were to occur in 538, when the Arian powers were
destroyed, Catholicism made the state religion, and the Papacy placed
under the protection of the state, which gave rise to the long struggle
between church and state as to which should be supreme.
Having now seen that the 1260 years of papal supremacy began in 538 A.
D., it is an easy matter to find their close. Adding the 1260 years to
538 brings us to the year 1798. And if we have given the right
application to this prophecy, history must record an event in 1798 that
would appear like a death stroke to the Papacy. Turning to history we
find just such an event recorded:
The
official Swedish newspaper,
Stockholms Posttidning, for March 29, 1798, has the following news
item:
"Rome, the 21st of Feb. [1798], Pope Pius VI, has occupied the papal
chair for all of twenty-eight years, but the 15th inst. his government
in the Papal States was abolished, and five days later, guarded by one
hundred French soldiers, he was taken away from his palace and his
capital ....
"His . . . property was sold by the French, and among it were seven
hundred head of cattle, one hundred fifty horses, and eight hundred
cords of wood ....
"Poor Pius! He must have felt very sad as he left Rome to go into
captivity. When he departed his tear-filled eyes were turned
heavenward."
Rev. E. B. Elliott, A. M., says of these events:
"In the years 1796, 1797, French dominion being established by
Bonaparte's victories in Northern
Italy, . . . the French armies [urged] their march onward to the
Papal Capital .... The aged Pope himself, now left mere nominal master
of some few remaining shreds of the Patrimony of Peter, experienced soon
after in person the bitterness of the prevailing anti-papal spirit ....
"On pretence of an insult to the French Ambassador there, a French corps
d'armee under Berthier, having in February, 1798, crossed the Apennines
from Ancona, and entered Rome, the tricolour flag was displayed from the
Capitol, amidst the shouts of the populace, the Pope's temporal reign
declared at an end, and the Roman Republic proclaimed, in strict
alliance fraternization with the French. Then, in the Sistine Chapel of
the Vatican, the ante-hall to which has a fresco painted by Papal order
commemorative of the Protestant massacre on St. Bartholomew's day,
(might not the scene have served as a memento of God's retributive
justice?) there, while seated on his throne, and receiving the
gratulations of his cardinals on the anniversary of his election to the
Popedom, he was arrested by the French military, the ring of his
marriage with the Church Catholic torn from his finger, his palace
rifled, and himself carried prisoner into France, only to die there in
exile shortly after""Horoe
Apocalyptice," Rev. E. B. Elliott, A. M., Vol. III, pp. 400, 401.
London: 1862.
Arthur R. Pennington, M. A., F. R. Hist. Soc., says of this event:
"One day the Pope was sitting on his throne in a chapel of the Vatican,
surrounded by his cardinals who had assembled for the purpose of
offering him their congratulations on his elevation to his high dignity.
On a sudden, the shouts of an angry multitude penetrated to the
conclave, intermingled with the strokes of axes and hammers on the
doors. Very soon a band of soldiers burst into the hall, who tore away
from his finger his pontifical ring, and hurried him off, a prisoner,
through a hall, the walls of which were adorned with a fresco,
representing the armed satellites of the Papacy, on St. Bartholomew's
day, as bathing their swords in the blood of unoffending women and
helpless children. Thus it might seem as if he were to be reminded that
the same God who visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation, had made him the victim of His
retributive justice for a deed of atrocity which had long been crying
aloud to Him for vengeance""Epochs
of the Papacy," pp. 449, 450. London: 188I.
Rev.
Joseph Rickaby, an English Jesuit, writes:
"When, in 1797, Pope Pius VI fell grievously ill, Napoleon gave orders
that in the event of his death no successor should be elected to his
office, and that the Papacy should be discontinued.
"But the Pope recovered. The peace was soon broken; Berthier entered
Rome on the 10th February, 1798, and proclaimed a republic. The aged
Pontiff refused to violate his oath by recognizing it, and was hurried
from prison to prison in France .... No wonder that half Europe thought
Napoleon's veto would be obeyed, and that with the Pope the Papacy was
dead.""The Modern Papacy," p. 1. London Catholic Truth Society.
Rev.
George Trevor, Canon of York, writes of this eventful year:
"The object of the French Directory was the destruction of the
pontifical government, as the irreconcilable enemy of the republic ....
The aged pope was summoned to surrender the temporal government; on his
refusal, he was dragged from the altar .... His rings were torn from his
fingers, and finally, after declaring the temporal power abolished, the
victors carried the pope prisoner into Tuscany, whence he never returned
(1798).
"The Papal States, converted into the
Roman Republic, were declared
to be in perpetual alliance with France, but the French general was the
real master of Rome .... The territorial possessions of the clergy and
monks were declared national property, and their former owners cast into
prison. The Papacy was extinct; not a vestige of its existence remained;
and among all the Roman Catholic powers not a finger was stirred in its
defence. The Eternal City had no longer prince or pontiff; its bishop
was a dying captive in foreign lands; and the decree was already
announced that no successor would be allowed in his place""Rome: From the Fall of the Western Empire," pp. 439, 440. London: 1868.
An
English secular writer, John Adolphus, says of 1798:
"The downfall of the papal government, by whatever means effected,
excited perhaps less sympathy than that of any other in Europe; the
errors, the oppressions, the tyranny of Rome over the whole Christian
world, were remembered with bitterness; many rejoiced, through religious
antipathy, in the overthrow of a church which they considered as
idolatrous, though attended with the immediate triumph of infidelity;
and many saw in these events the accomplishment of prophecies, and the
exhibition of signs promised in the most mystical parts of the Holy
Scriptures.""History of France
from 1790-1802," Vol. II, p. 379. London: 1803.
God's prophetic clock had set the year 1798 as the end of the papal supremacy, and when that hour struck, the mighty ruler on the Tiber, before whose anathemas the kings and emperors of Europe had so long trembled, went "into captivity" (Revelation 13:10), and his government in the Papal States was abolished. Thus the historical events fit exactly into the mold of prophecy, and establish the fact that "we have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn." 2 Peter 1:19. But prophecy foretells that this "deadly wound" would be healed, and that the world once more, for a brief moment, would follow the papal power. (Revelation 13:3.) [1] In the following chapter we shall consider the other specifications of this remarkable prophecy.
[1 The healing of the deadly wound was well advanced in Christian Edwardson's time; but the world was not yet following the papal power when he wrote Facts of Faith in 1943. How different the world scene in the year 2013! No honest mind can deny the evidence that Rev. 13:3b is rapidly being fulfilled. The validation of the historical method of prophetic interpretation and the "proof text" hermeneutic is undeniable!]