Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John · Isaac Newton
CHAP. VIII.
Sed nostram quoque præceptionem hæc ratio provocavit. Nec ulterius vel Hilario, quem adhuc Episcopum nuncupare sola mansueta Præsulis permittit humanitas, nec cuiquam alteri ecclesiasticis rebus arma miscere, aut præceptis Romani Antistitis liceat obviare: ausibus enim talibus fides & reverentia nostri violatur Imperii. Nec hoc solum, quod est maximi criminis, submovemus: verum ne levis saltem inter Ecclesias turba nascatur, vel in aliquo minui religionis disciplina videatur, hoc perenni sanctione discernimus; nequid tam Episcopis Gallicanis quam aliarum Provinciarum contra consuetudinem veterem liceat, sine viri venerabilis Papæ Urbis æternæ auctoritate, tentare. Sed illis omnibusque pro lege sit, quicquid sanxit vel sanxerit Apostolicæ Sedis auctoritas: ita ut quisquis Episcoporum ad judicium Romani Antistitis evocatus venire neglexerit, per Moderatorem ejusdem Provinciæ adesse cogatur, per omnia servatis quæ Divi parentes nostri Romanæ Ecclesiæ detulerunt, Aetî pater carissime Augusti. Unde illustris & præclara magnificentia tua præsentis Edictalis Legis auctoritate faciet quæ sunt superius statuta servari, decem librarum auri multa protinus exigenda ab unoquoque Judice qui passus fuerit præcepta nostra violari. Divinitas te servet per multos annos, parens carissime. Dat. _viii._ Id. Jun. Romæ, Valentiniano A. _vi._ Consule_, A.C. 445. By this Edict the Emperor _Valentinian_ enjoined an absolute obedience to the will of the Bishop of _Rome_ thro'out all the Churches of his Empire; and declares, that for the Bishops to attempt any thing without the Pope's authority is contrary to antient custom, and that the Bishops summoned to appear before his judicature must be carried thither by the Governor of the Province; and he ascribes these privileges of the See of _Rome_ to the concessions of his dead Ancestors, that is, to the Edict of _Gratian_ and _Valentinian_ II. as above: by which reckoning this dominion of the Church of _Rome_ was now of 66 years standing: and if in all this time it had not been sufficiently established, this new Edict was enough to settle it beyond all question thro'out the _Western Empire_.
Hence all the Bishops of the Province of _Arles_ in their Letter to Pope _Leo_, A.C. 450, petitioning for a restitution of the privileges of their Metropolitan, say: _Per beatum Petrum Apostolorum principem, sacrosancta Ecclesia Romana tenebat supra omnes totius mundi Ecclesias principatum_. And _Ceratius_, _Salonius_ and _Veranus_, three Bishops of _Gallia_, say, in their Epistle to the same Pope: _Magna præterea & ineffabili quadam nos peculiares tui gratulatione succrescimus, quod illa specialis doctrinæ vestræ pagina ita per omnium Ecclesiarum conventicula celebratur, ut vere consona omnium sententia declaretur; merito illic principatum Sedis Apostolicæ constitutum, unde adhuc Apostolici spiritus oracula reserentur_. And _Leo_ himself, in [16] his Epistle to the metropolitan Bishops thro'out _Illyricum_: _Quia per omnes Ecclesias cura nostra distenditur, exigente hoc à nobis Domino, qui Apostolicæ dignitatis beatissimo Apostolo Petro primatum, fidei sui remuneratione commisit, universalem Ecclesiam in fundamenti ipsius soliditate constituens_.
While this Ecclesiastical Dominion was rising up, the northern barbarous nations invaded the _Western Empire_, and founded several kingdoms therein, of different religions from the Church of _Rome_. But these kingdoms by degrees embraced the _Roman_ faith, and at the same time submitted to the Pope's authority. The _Franks_ in _Gaul_ submitted in the end of the fifth Century, the _Goths_ in _Spain_ in the end of the sixth; and the _Lombards_ in _Italy_ were conquered by _Charles_ the great A.C. 774. Between the years 775 and 794, the same _Charles_ extended the Pope's authority over all _Germany_ and _Hungary_ as far as the river _Theysse_ and the _Baltic_ sea; he then set him above all human judicature, and at the same time assisted him in subduing the City and Duchy of _Rome_. By the conversion of the ten kingdoms to the _Roman_ religion, the Pope only enlarged his spiritual dominion, but did not yet rise up as a horn of the Beast. It was his temporal dominion which made him one of the horns: and this dominion he acquired in the latter half of the eighth century, by subduing three of the former horns as above. And now being arrived at a temporal dominion, and a power above all human judicature, he reigned [17] _with a look more stout than his fellows_, and [18] _times and laws were_ henceforward _given into his hands, for a time times and half a time_, or three times and an half; that is, for 1260 solar years, reckoning a time for a Calendar year of 360 days, and a day for a solar year. After which [19] _the judgment is to sit, and they shall take away his dominion_, not at once, but by degrees, _to consume, and to destroy it unto the end. [20] And the kingdom and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall_, by degrees, _be given unto the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him_.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.