17. The Woman’s Son
“And she brought forth a male child, who is about to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre.” Ver. 5.
The Spirit is here careful to designate the sex of the child that was to be born of the Woman. It is termed in the original, ὑιον ἄρρενα, literally, a male offspring. He was brought forth at length; but not “devoured” by the Dragon-Power; for he was destined to “rule all the nations with an iron sceptre,” in the Italian Heaven, from which the Woman’s adversary, or Satan, was to be ejected. It was not a female child that was to be born; but a man, whose birth had long been foretold in the prophets. In Ps. x. 15, 18, he is styled “the wicked and evil man,” and “the Man of the Earth,” whose arm is broken in the epoch when “Yahweh” becomes “King of the hidden period and beyond; and the heathen are perished out of His land.” The Spirit in David makes the following address to him in Ps. lii: “Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O Mighty Man? The mercy of AIL is all the day. Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp p. 70 razor working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue! But AIL shall beat thee down forever, He shall take thee away, and pluck thee from thy dwelling-place, and will root thee out of the land of the living. The righteous shall see and fear, and upon it they shall laugh, saying, Behold the man that made not Elohim his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
Daniel styles this Mighty Man, “THE KING”—a man of power; ruling potentially and sovereignly over nations, during many centuries to the epoch of his destruction in the time of the end.” He is thus described in Dan. xi. 36-39. “And the King shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every ail (or Power); and shall speak marvellous things concerning the AIL of ails (the Power of powers, or the greatest, and the source, of all power); and he shall flourish till the indignation shall be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the gods of his ancestors, אלהי אבתיו, elohai avothahv; nor the desire of wives, nor regard any eloahh, “or god.” “But upon his place (or throne) shall he do honor to the אלֹהּ מעזים, eloahh mahuzzim— the god of guardians: and to an eloahh, ‘or god,’ which his ancestors knew not shall he do honor with gold, and silver, and with costly gems, and durable things. Thus shall he do to the Bazaars of the guardians pertaining to a FOREIGN GOD (eloahh) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall give them authority over many; and shall divide the land for gain.”
Thus, we see exhibited in the ancient and remarkable oracle of the Deity, an Absolute Sovereign Power, which repudiates the gods of his predecessors, and sets up in their place a god of foreign origin, who becomes a constituent of the power by which he is enthroned. Hence, the power consists of, or is represented by, the King and his god; who exalt and magnify themselves above every power, temporal and spiritual, claiming sovereignty and lordship upon the whole habitable. The King has the priority of existence in the New Constitution of things—new in relation to the old, under which the gods of his predecessors bore rule through their priests. The priority is manifest from the fact, that he is the founder of the glory of his New God—“whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory.” The acknowledgment of the candidate for divine honors, must be accepted as the date of his creation: that is, the aspirant became a god, as soon as he was recognized by the King. Until this recognition, the King would be supreme in all the spiritual and temporal affairs of his dominion. He would be the chief magistrate, the commander-in-chief of the military p. 71 forces, and the chief bishop, of his empire; but when he should come to set up his new god, he would in so doing, delegate to him the supervision and administration of all spiritual and ecclesiastical affairs. This arrangement would make his god “the Head of all the Churches” of the habitable; while he would reserve to himself the headship of the State.
This foreign god unknown to his predecessors, is styled Eloahh Mahuzzim—a god of fortresses. A fortress is a strong place affording defence and protection. “The way of God,” is termed in Proverbs x. 29, “a fortress to the upright.” Upon the same principle, “saints and angels” are regarded as fortresses, or guardians, to those who worship them. These are the fortresses, or Mahuzzim, of the system of superstition, whose Supreme Pontiff is the god created by “the King.” His special fortress, is a phantasm he styles St. Peter. This is the guardian of his godship; besides which, he claims the protection of all the supposed existences of “the spirit-world.” The Virgin Mary, whom he styles “the Queen of heaven,” is conspicuous among these. No god, according to his own tradition, was ever so strongly fortified as he. All the conceivable saints and angels of the invisible world are his fortresses, protectors, or guardians. One cannot help but think, however, that they must be very negligent of their duty at the present time; for his godship is manifestly dying for want of protection by the powers of heaven and earth. Illustrative of these fortresses are the remarks of Chrysostom, a subject and priest of the King, who flourished in the 4th century. In his homily on the martyrs of Egypt, he says: “The bodies of those saints fortify the city more effectually for us than impregnable walls of adamant; and like towering rocks placed around on every side, repel not only the assaults of enemies that are visible, but the insidious stratagems also of invisible dæmons, and counteract and defeat every artifice of the devil as easily as a strong man overturns the toys of children.”
The buildings pertaining to this God of Guardian Saints and Angels are styled by Daniel, “the Bazaars of the Guardians.” The noun מבצר, mivtzahr, is derived from the root בצר, bahtzar, which among other meanings signifies to enclose with a wall. As a noun בצר, bĕtzĕr signifies ore of gold and silver, precious metals, store, or treasure so secured. Parkhurst has the following upon the word: “Derivative, Bazaar, a kind of covered market-place among the eastern nations, somewhat like our Exeter ’Change in London; but frequently much more extensive. Latin, or rather Punic, Byrsa, the Burse at Carthage;” equivalent to the French Bourse. In the English version, the phrase is rendered, “the most strongholds,” with which those who compiled the marginal readings were not satisfied; and therefore they have p. 72 tried to improve it by substituting the words “fortresses of munitions.” Moses Stuart renders it fenced strongholds; and the foreign god he styles, “the god of strongholds; that is, the god that has power over them.” He confesses, however, that verse 39 is “a difficult verse, which has occasioned many discrepant interpretations.” He refers to Lengerke, who, he remarks, “makes the fenced strongholds to mean temples, and the sentiment to be, that the tyrant will do for temples and their foreign gods the same thing that verse 38 says he will do in respect to the god of strongholds, that is, he will bestow many liberal presents upon them.” As neither Lengerke nor Moses Stuart seem to see anything in Daniel (the last chapter, perhaps, excepted) beyond the times of Antiochus, some hundred and sixty years, or so, before the birth of Jesus Christ, their temples and “strongholds” have relation to “fortified strongholds of foreigners” attacked by Antiochus, and temples of idols. Lengerke has almost fallen upon the correct meaning. Had he referred the bĕtzĕr, heëmantively written mivtzar, to the temples of “guardian saints” instead of to those of the pagan Greeks, he would have hit the mark exactly; but then, how could he be so uncharitable as to turn the “Holy Father” of Christendom so-called, into a foreign god, and all the ecclesiastical edifices of his bishoprick dedicated to the disembodied ghosts of reputed saints, into Bazaars, or places of traffic in spiritual merchandize, and in “the bodies and souls of men!”—Apoc. xviii. 13.
The churches, chapels, and cathedrals, then, are “the most strongholds” of the King’s superstition, which has spread itself over Europe and America. They are the houses of business dedicated by the prospering craft to “Guardian Spirits.” There are laid up in store the images and pictures of reputed saints. They are Saints’ Houses in which are deposited their shrines; silver, gold and ivory crucifixes; “religious articles” of all sorts; together with old bones, and various kinds of votive trumpery. They are literally, “Dens of Thieves,” without ever having been houses of the Father—dens, where people are hoodwinked, and by “sharp practice” robbed of their money under divers false pretences. They are places where pews are sold by auction, the proudest sittings being knocked down to Mammon’s greatest favorites; places where fairs of vanity and deceit are held for “pious objects;” and whose spiritual empirics pretend to “cure souls” in consideration of so much per annum. In view of these facts, the scriptural epithet bestowed upon the ecclesiastical edifices of the Apostasy, is most appropriate. They are truly bazaars of spiritual merchandize; and the prospering craft, “the great men of the earth,” papal, catholic, and protestant, made rich by trading in their wares, are the Bazaar-Men, who extort all kinds of goods from their deluded p. 73 customers by putting them in sulphurous and mortal fear; and comforting them with counterfeits upon some transpatial bank when time shall be no more! They “buy and sell” under license from the Ecclesiastical Power, having received its “mark upon their foreheads, or on their right hands.” The reader may find their inventory of merchandize in Apoc. xviii. 12, 13. Among the articles received in exchange for their “spiritual things,” are tithes, bodies (σωματα) and souls of men. But the trade of these soul-and-body merchants is in anything but a satisfactory state at present. Great numbers of their customers have discovered that the profit is all upon one side; nor are they backward in proclaiming that when a favorable opportunity presents they will break up the iniquitous concern, and make the cheats disgorge their unhallowed gains. This will be to them a sad day—a day of universal bankruptcy for the weeping and wailing merchants of “Babylon the Great;” for “no man buyeth their merchandize any more.” When a man’s trade is thus extinguished, nothing but ruin stares the shattered tradesman in the face. This is the fate that awaits the preachers of all the “other gospels” of the bazaars—gospels other than Paul preached, and which leave men in ignorance and disobedience; gospels which make them partisans of human crotchets and traditions; and the apologists of anything sincerely professed as a substitute for the truth.
It is a remarkable feature in this prophecy that the Bazaars for priestly and clerical wares are distinguished from houses or shops of fair and honorable trade, by being styled Bazaars of Mahuzzim. When jewellers, bakers, hardware-men, and such-like, open stores, they emblazon their signs with their own names. When people go to the baker’s or the butcher’s, they do not say they are going to St. Paul’s or St. Barnabas, as if the stores were theirs. But when the clergy of “the King” and his foreign god, whether they be loyal or non-conformist, open bazaars for the sharp practice of their trade, they impose upon the credulous and strongly deluded public the idea that they belong to the apostles and their brethren! They say that these ancients “of whom the world is not worthy,” are still alive and in heaven, and greatly interested in human affairs, especially in church edifices, and in the orchestral and pulpit demonstrations therein! Hence, they set up statues in niches, and on parapets, which they call by their names, and make them presents of their churches, as is evident from the names they bear; as St. Sophia’s at Constantinople, St. Peter’s at Rome, Our Lady’s at Paris, St. Paul’s at London, and so forth. The flagrancy of the imposture, however, consists in this, that while they profess to give these houses of the King’s god to the “departed spirits” they call by these names, they will not permit the gospel the p. 74 apostles preached, and the institutions they ordained, to be announced in their walls; but, by various arts, perversely persist in its exclusion, and in making it of none effect by their vain and foolish traditions. But the whole system is a cheat, and a very profitable one for the present to those who live by it. It is eccleslastical craft caused to prosper by the Civil Power, or “the King;” and it will continue to prosper “till the indignation shall be accomplished;” when Israel’s Commander will bring it to an end, and cause the truth, by the energy whereby he is able to subdue all opposition, and to unmask all impostures, to prevail at last.
This king, or Imperial Power, and its foreign god, are presented in Dan. vii. 8, 20, 24, 25, under the symbol of a Little Horn, in which were EYES like the eyes of man, and a MOUTH speaking very great things. In this, the Eyes and the Mouth are representative of the foreign god; while the Little Horn itself is significative of “the king,” or power, that glorifies him. This remarkable constitution of Church and State did not obtain in the days of Paul and John. The former in 2 Thess. ii predicted its manifestation as the result of apostasy from the faith; and that when that apostasy was well developed, the power would be revealed. Not, however, in full manifestation at the beginning. The power had to receive its birth, and to grow to manhood, or maturity; so that when it had fully established itself above all, it might be in a position to set up its foreign god. Paul styles the power, “the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition:” and foreseeing the extraordinary arrogance of the spiritual element of the power, he speaks of it as one “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called a god, or an object of reverence; so that he as a god sitteth in the temple of the god, showing himself that he is a god. This is the god Daniel styles “a foreign god;” and by John in Apoc. xiii. 2, 5, “the Mouth of the Beast as the mouth of a lion, and speaking great things and blasphemies;” and in verses 14, 15, “the Image of the Beast,” which received life and ability to speak from the Civil Power.
Now, the Pagan Imperial Roman Power existed before the Woman; and so did Jesus Christ. Neither of them, therefore, could be the son to be born of her. But in the days of Constantine, there was a great revolution in the State, the effects of which are felt in all Europe and America to this day. When he became Emperor of Rome, the constitution of the empire was modified in Church and State. He assumed supremacy in both; and became the Chief Bishop—“the Bishop of the bishops”—of “the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church,” so called. He established the Catholic Apostasy as the most favored religion of the Roman State; but, according to Labanius, p. 75 “made no alteration in the legal worship; the temples indeed were impoverished, but the sacred rites were performed there.” Though the Court was transferred to Constantinople, the Senate continued to hold its sessions in Rome, where by solemn decrees it still presumed to consecrate the divine memory of their sovereigns; and Constantine himself was associated, after his death, to those gods of his predecessors whom he had renounced and insulted during his life. “The titles, the ensigns, the prerogatives, of SOVEREIGN PONTIFF,” says Gibbon, “which had been instituted by Numa, and assumed by Augustus, were accepted without hesitation, by seven christian emperors, who were invested with more absolute authority over the religion which they had deserted, than over that which they professed.” Hence, this Son of the Woman, styled by historians “the first christian emperor,” was at once Sovereign Pontiff of paganism, and Chief Bishop of the Catholic Church! Such a child born and son given could be no other than “THE MAN OF SIN.” The historical testimony of Gibbon concerning this personage is demonstrative of the true character of the Woman’s Son. “The first of the christian emperors,” says he, “was unworthy of that name till the moment of his death.” This he clearly proves in his great work. In the days of the apostles they only were christians who believed “the gospel of the kingdom,” and were immersed; but Constantine was ignorant of it, and therefore could not believe it, and was not immersed until three days before his death, A.D. 337. During many previous years he was reputed a christian by the Catholic Church. He assumed the character of a bishop, presided at ecclesiastical councils, gave judgment against christians reputed “heretical” by his party, enjoined the solemn observance of the first day of the week, which he called the day of the sun, Die Solis, after his once favorite god, and in the same year, A. D. 321, directed the regular consultation of AURUSPICES. He was permitted by the Catholic Woman to enjoy most of the privileges of her communion. Instead of retiring from the congregation, when the voice of the deacon dismissed the profane multitude, he prayed with the faithful, disputed with the bishops, preached on the most sublime and intricate subjects of theology, celebrated with “sacred rites” the vigil of Easter, and publicly declared himself, not only a partaker, but, in some measure, a priest and hierophant of the “christian mysteries.” In view of such premises as these, what shall we say of such a church, and of such a religion, whose professors could permit, and even applaud, such flagrant violation of the first principles of the doctrine of Christ? The only conclusion attainable is that such a community is the CHURCH OF ANTICHRIST, and her imperial protector and chief, THE MAN of SIN.
p. 7618. The Manner of His Birth
The Man-Child of Sin, or “the King,” was born, or made manifest, after this wise. We have seen how Constantine escaped the designs of the Dragon-Emperor Galerius. Having arrived at Boulogne, he accompanied his father to Britain, who died soon after in the imperial palace at York, A. D. 306. According to the constitution of the empire, the appointment of a successor to the vacant office of Augustus, was the prerogative of Galerius. The flower of the western armies had followed the deceased monarch into Britain. The opinion of their own importance, and the assurance that Britain, Gaul, and Spain would acquiesce in their nomination, were diligently inculcated on these legions by the Woman’s partisans, and other revolutionary adherents of Constantine. The throne was the object of his desires; and the attainment of it was his only means of safety. He was well acquainted with the character and sentiments of Galerius, who in vowing the destruction of the christian name, was implacable towards those who favored it. He was therefore sufficiently apprised, that if he wished to live he must determine to reign. After a show of decent and even obstinate resistance, affected to justify his usurpation, he yielded to the acclamations of the army, which saluted him as Augustus, and emperor. Upon this, he immediately despatched a letter to Galerius, informing him of his father’s death, modestly asserting his natural claim to the succession, and respectfully lamenting, that the affectionate violence of his troops had not permitted him to solicit the imperial purple in the regular and constitutional manner. The first emotions of Galerius were those of surprise, disappointment, and rage; and as he could seldom restrain his passions, he loudly threatened that he would commit to the flames both the letter and the messenger. But his resentment insensibly subsided. Without either condemning or ratifying the choice of the British army, Galerius accepted Constantine as the sovereign of the provinces west of the Alps, but gave him only the title of Cæsar, and the fourth rank among the Roman princes, whilst he conferred the vacant place of Augustus on his favorite Severus. The apparent harmony of the empire was still preserved, and Constantine, who already possessed the substance, expected, without impatience, an opportunity of obtaining the honors of supreme power.
For the first, and indeed the last time, the Roman World was administered by six emperors, A. D. 308. The opposition of interest, and the memory of a recent war, divided the empire into two great hostile powers. In the west, Constantine and Maxentius acknowledged p. 77 the superior influence of Maximian; while in the east, Licinius and Maximin honored with more real consideration their benefactor Galerius: but upon the death of the elder princes, Maximian and Galerius, a new direction was given to the views and passions of their surviving associates.
During six years Maxentius reigned in Rome. He was repeatedly heard to declare that he alone was emperor, and that the other three princes were no more than his lieutenants, on whom he had devolved the defence of the frontier provinces, that he might enjoy without interruption the elegant luxury of the capital. In the crisis thus formed, A. D. 312, Constantine was convinced that the hostile and ambitious designs of the Italian emperor made it necessary for him to arm in his own defence. Maxentius was constitutionally the head of the Dragon-Power, being enthroned in Rome, and identified with the Roman Senate. He openly avowed his pretensions to the whole monarchy of the west, and had already prepared a very considerable force to invade Constantine’s jurisdiction on the side of Rhœtia.
That Constantine at this crisis was in the womb of the Catholic Woman, appears from the fact, that while he exercised his limited sovereignty over the provinces of Gaul, his christian subjects were protected by his authority, while, says Gibbon, “he wisely left to the gods the care of vindicating their own honor. If we may credit the assertion of Constantine himself, he had been an indignant spectator of the savage cruelties which were inflicted by the hands of Roman soldiers on those citizens whose religion was their only crime.” The example of Galerius, his implacable enemy, had made this severity odious to him. By the authority and advice of his dying father, he determined to pursue an opposite course. He immediately suspended or repealed the edicts of persecution, and granted the free exercise of their religious ceremonies to all those who had already professed themselves members of the church. They were soon encouraged to depend on the favor as well as on the justice of their sovereign, who had imbibed a secret and sincere reverence for the name of Christ, and for the God of the christians.
“The warm and active loyalty of the Catholics exhausted in Constantine’s favor every resource of human industry; and they confidently expected that their strenuous efforts would be seconded by some divine and miraculous aid. The enemies of Constantine,” continues Gibbon, “have imputed to interested motives the alliance which he insensibly contracted with the Catholic Church,” or the Woman, and which apparently contributed to the success of his ambition. In the beginning of the fourth century the Catholics still bore a very inadequate proportion to the inhabitants of the p. 78 empire; but among a degenerate people like the Romans and Greeks, who viewed the change of masters with the indifference of slaves, the spirit and union of the Catholic minority would assist the popular leader, to whose service, from a principle of conscience, they had devoted their lives and fortunes. The ranks of his legions were filled with the proselytes of the new faith; so that when they marched against Maxentius, a great number of the soldiers had already consecrated their swords to the service of Christ and of Constantine. In the Catholic councils assembled under Constantine’s protection, the authority of the bishops was employed to ratify the obligation of the military oath, and to inflict the penalty of excommunication on those soldiers who threw away their arms during the enjoyment of peace by the church. But the Woman was not confined to the dominions of Constantine. She overspread the Dragon empire; so that while he increased his adherents from her communion in Britain, Spain and Gaul, he could depend on the support of the Catholics in the provinces, which were still possessed or usurped by his rivals. Thus a secret disaffection was diffused among the Catholic subjects of Maxentius and Licinius—the Dragon Power against which he was about to contend. The regular correspondence which connected the bishops of the most distant provinces, enabled them freely to communicate their wishes and their designs, and to transmit without danger any useful intelligence, or any pious contributions, which might promote the service of Constantine, who publicly declared that he had taken up arms for the deliverance of the Catholic Church.
By this declaration he constituted himself the Woman’s champion against the Dragon, in all the Roman World: nevertheless, he had not yet announced himself as one of her sons. The real and precise date of Constantine’s conversion to Laodicean Catholicism has been variously stated. Eusebius has ascribed the faith of Constantine to a sign alleged to have been displayed in the heavens whilst he was waging war against Maxentius. A contemporary writer affirms with the most perfect confidence, that in the night that preceded the last battle with Maxentius, Constantine was admonished in a dream to inscribe the shields of his soldiers with the celestial sign of God, the sacred monogram of the name of Christ—thus ☧; that he executed this command, and that his valor and obedience were rewarded by the decisive victory of the Milvian Bridge. But it is not easy to determine if this were a real miracle, or merely a “lying wonder.” Probably it was the last. Be this as it may, the victory of the Milvian Bridge developed Constantine as the FIRST IMPERIAL SON OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, commonly, but absurdly, styled, “the first Christian Emperor.” Previous to that victory he was an usurper of imperial p. 79 rank, unrecognized by the Roman Senate, and the Coming Man of the Catholic party; favoring its policy, but temporizing between them and their opponents. He was in the womb of his mother, but not yet born of her, as the chief ruler of the Roman nations.
His birth could not be accomplished without the pains of parturition. His mother was “in pangs, straining to bring forth.” These pangs and strainings were the pains of persecution, and the efforts of war for deliverance. The threatened invasion of his territory by Maxentius caused Constantine to hesitate no longer. He gave private audience to ambassadors, who in the name of the Senate and people, conjured him to deliver Rome from a detested tyrant; and without regarding the timid remonstrances of his council, he resolved to prevent the enemy, and to carry the war into the heart of Italy.
The enterprise was as full of danger as of “glory.” Maxentius was prepared to resist him with 120,000 foot, and 18,000 horse. But Constantine was not to be deterred by this array. At the head of about 40,000 soldiers, he descended into the plain of Piedmont by the road across the Cottian Alps, now styled Mount Cenis, with such activity, that his army arrived there before the court of Maxentius had received any certain intelligence of his departure from the banks of the Rhine. He stormed, and entered Susa sword in hand, and cut in pieces the greater part of the garrison. About forty miles from thence, in the plains of Turin, he encountered the lieutenants of Maxentius, commanding a force largely consisting of heavy cavalry, horses and men clothed in complete armor. Their weight was almost irresistible, and they flattered themselves that they would easily break and trample down the army of Constantine. But his skillful evolutions divided and baffled them. They fled towards Turin, which shut its gates against them, so that very few escaped the sword of their pursuers. The result of this victory was the submission of Milan, and almost all the cities of Italy between the Alps and the Po, which also embraced with zeal the party of Constantine.
From Milan to Rome the Æmilian and Flaminian highways offered an easy march of four hundred miles. But he preferred for strategic reasons the route by Verona. He was met by a large body of cavalry which he defeated near Brescia, and pursued to the gates of Verona. He crossed the Adige, a rapid river encompassing three sides of the city, and laid siege to it. Pompeianus, finding that he could not successfully defend it, escaped from Verona, and with indefatigable diligence collected an army sufficient either to meet Constantine in the field, or to attack him if he obstinately remained within his lines. But leaving part of his legions to continue the p. 80 siege, he led those troops on whose valor and fidelity he more particularly depended, in person against the enemy. The engagement began at the close of the day, and was contested with great obstinacy the whole night. The return of light displayed the victory of Constantine, and a field of carnage covered with many thousands of vanquished Italians. Pompeianus was found among the slain; Verona immediately surrendered at discretion, and the garrison was made prisoners of war.
The resources of Maxentius, both in men and money, were still considerable. A third army was soon collected, more numerous than those which had been lost in the battles of Turin and Verona. The contempt of the Roman people, who tumultuously reproached his pusillanimity and insolence, while they celebrated the heroic spirit of Constantine, compelled him to assume the command of the army in person. But before he left Rome he consulted the Sibylline books. These were the ancient oracles of the old Roman superstition, whose guardians were as well versed in the arts of this world, as they were ignorant of the secrets of fate; they returned him the very prudent answer that, Illo die hostem Romanorum esse periturum, “on that day the enemy of the Romans would perish;” which might adapt itself to the event, the vanquished prince, of course, becoming the enemy of Rome.
On arriving at Saxa Rubra, about nine miles from Rome, Constantine discovered the army of Maxentius prepared to give him battle. Their long front filled a very spacious plain, and their deep array reached to the banks of the Tyber, which covered their rear, and forbade their retreat. Constantine charged in person at the head of the Gallic horse, whose impetuosity determined the fortune of the day. The defeat of the two wings left the flanks of the infantry unprotected, and the undisciplined Italians precipitately fled. The prætorians, conscious that their offences were beyond the reach of mercy, were animated by revenge and despair. But they were unable to recover the victory. The confusion then became general, and the dismayed troops of Maxentius, pursued by an implacable enemy, rushed by thousands into the deep and rapid Tyber. Maxentius endeavored to reach the city by the Milvian Bridge, but he was forced into the river by the crowd, where he was immediately drowned by the weight of his armor. On the recovery of his body from the mud next day, his head was exposed to view, which convinced the people of their deliverance, and admonished them to receive with loyal and grateful demonstrations the victorious Constantine, “who thus achieved,” says Gibbon, “by his valor and ability the most splendid enterprise of his life.” p. 81 This “most splendid enterprise” was his birth as the Woman’s Son. Before, he was an usurper and adventurer, but by these splendid defeats of the forces of the Dragon, and the acquisition of his throne and capital, he was assigned by the decree of the Roman Senate, the first rank among the three Augusti who governed the Roman World. He was now exalted to a position of great influence, which he speedily exerted in favor of the Catholic Church. He had not yet attained to Supreme Godship in the Roman heaven, by which he could “rule all the nations” of the empire “with an iron sceptre.” By the overthrow of Maxentius he annexed Italy and Africa to his dominion; but there still remained the territories held by Licinius and Maximin, the two other Augusti. The former ruled the nations of Illyricum; the latter, those of Egypt and Syria. But the destiny marked out by Deity for the Woman’s Imperial Son, was that he should rule all these nations with an iron sceptre; so that we may expect to find that his career will be onward until he acquires the sole dominion over the whole Roman Habitable.
About five months after the conquest of Italy, in March, A.D. 313, Constantine made a solemn and authentic declaration of his sentiments, by the celebrated Edict of Milan, which restored peace to the Catholic Church. After the death of Maximin, it was received as a general and fundamental law of the Roman world. Constantine, with the ready, but not hearty, concurrence of Licinius, provided for the restitution of all the civil and religious rights of which the catholics had been deprived. It was enacted that the places of worship, and public lands, which had been confiscated, should be restored to the Catholic Church, without dispute, without delay, and without expense; and this severe injunction was accompanied with a gracious promise, that if any of the purchasers had paid a fair and adequate price, they should be indemnified from the imperial treasury. The two emperors proclaimed to the world, that they had granted a free and absolute power to the catholics, and to all others, of following the religion which each individual thinks proper to prefer, to which he has addicted his mind, and which he may deem the best adapted to his own use. Thus, as expressed by Eusebius, while the East was involved in the shades of infernal darkness, the auspicious rays of celestial light warmed and illuminated the provinces of the West. The piety of Constantine was cited as an unexceptionable proof of the justice of his arms; and his use of victory in their favor confirmed the opinion of the catholics, that their hero was inspired, and conducted, by the Lord of hosts.
p. 8219. The Son’s Ascent to the Deity
“And her son was forcibly carried up to the Deity, and his throne.”
Before the Woman’s Son could “rule ALL the nations” of the Roman Habitable, it was necessary that he be placed upon the throne of the Deity. “There is no power but of the Deity,” says Paul; “and the powers that be are ordered of the Deity.” The throne of the Deity upon the Roman Habitable would be the seat of the Supreme and Sole Sovereignty of the empire, wherever it might be located. Jerusalem is styled “the throne of Jehovah” in Jer. iii. 17. That city is the place where supreme power will be established in the Millennium. It was also Jehovah’s throne when occupied by David and Solomon—1 Chron. xxix. 23. But in the days of Constantine, supreme power had long before departed from Jerusalem. Israel and Judah had been broken and divorced; and a people formed from among the Gentiles for the Divine Name. This people came to contend with the Pagan Dragon for supreme power. After a long and bloody conflict they acquired it by the will of the Deity, “of whom are all things”—1 Cor. viii. 6. Their military commander is, therefore, said to have arrived at the Deity and his throne. Hence Constantine, as sole emperor of the Roman world, invested with supreme power in all spiritual and temporal affairs, is the illustration of the import of the text predicting the translation of the Woman’s Son “to the Deity and his throne.”
But under the circumstances of the case it was not possible for him to attain that high position without further conflict. He had fought his way up from a Cæsar of the fourth rank of Roman princes, to be the first of the three Augusti of the empire; but he could ascend no higher while his two colleagues, Licinius and Maximin, ruled Illyricum and the East. These had to be removed by force of arms; for they were not the men voluntarily to abdicate position and power in favor of a rival as ambitious as themselves.
The word in the original indicating this necessity, is ἡρπασθη; rendered in the Common Version, “was caught up.” The phrase “to the Deity” implies ascending from a lower to the highest position. Hence the word “up.” The word implies violence in the action it represents; as, to convey, take or carry by force. I have, therefore, rendered it, was forcibly carried up. Her son did not forcibly translate himself into the possession of supreme power; but he was carried up to that high position by his victorious armies, whose hearts and arms were energized by divine power.
p. 83War in the Heaven; or, 20. The Ascent Historically Illustrated
“And there was war in the heaven; the Michael and his angels waged war against the Dragon; and the Dragon fought and his angels, but prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in the heaven.”
When Constantine was declared by the Roman Senate the first of the three Augusti, Licinius, the Illyrian Augustus, seemed cordially to endorse his policy with respect to the Catholic Church. But his subsequent conduct soon betrayed the reluctance with which he had consented to the wise and humane regulations of the Edict of Milan. The convocation of provincial synods was prohibited in his dominions; his catholic officers were ignominiously dismissed; and if he avoided the guilt, or rather danger, of a general persecution, his partial oppressions were rendered still more odious, by the violation of a solemn and voluntary engagement.
The interview between Constantine and Licinius at Milan was brief. In the midst of the public festivity these allies were suddenly obliged to take leave of each other. An inroad of the Franks demanded the presence of Constantine on the Rhine; and the hostile approach of Maximin required the immediate presence of Licinius. Maximin had been the secret ally of Maxentius, and without being discouraged at his fate, he resolved to try the fortune of a civil war. He invaded the dominion of Licinius with a disciplined and veteran army of about seventy thousand men. Licinius encountered him with thirty thousand, and after a severe contest, gave him a signal and decisive overthrow. Maximin, perceiving that all was lost, fled with great precipitation. He was the most implacable of all the enemies of the Catholic Church; but he did not long survive his defeat to torment it. Three or four months after he died by divine justice; and the provinces of the east, delivered from the terrors of civil war, cheerfully acknowledged the authority of Licinius.
The Roman world was now divided between Constantine and Licinius; the former being master of the West, and the latter of the East. Constantine, as the military chieftain of the Catholic Church, which the Deity had predetermined should have the rule instead of the Pagan Priesthood, is styled in the prophecy ὁ Μιχαηλ, the Michael: that is, the Michael of the situation. This name is Hebrew in a Greek dress. The Hebrew is resolvable into three words put interrogatively, as מי־כ־אל, or Mi, who, cah, like, ail power? Or Who like that power divinely energized to cast the Pagan Dragon, surnamed p. 84 the Diabolos and the Satan, out of the Roman heaven? There was no contemporary power under this Sixth Seal that was able to contend successfully against it. Hence Constantine, as the instrument of the Deity in the development of his purpose, is styled “the Michael.” He was not personally the Michael, or “first of the chief princes” spoken of in Dan. x. 13, nor the Michael termed in Dan. xii. 1, “the great Prince who standeth for the children of Daniel’s people;” but for the time being he filled the office that will hereafter be more potently and gloriously illustrated by the Great Prince from heaven, who will bind the dragon and shut him down in the abyss for a thousand years—Apoc. xx. 2, 3. The militant mission of Constantine and the Great Prince, Jesus Christ, are similar, but not identical. The power of the Deity was with Constantine, as it was with Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, and the first Napoleon; while Christ is the great power of the Deity corporealized. Constantine was to rule all the nations of the Roman Habitable with an iron sceptre from the time he attained supreme power till he died, which was about fourteen years. Christ Jesus and his brethren are to rule all the nations of the globe with an iron sceptre for a thousand years—Apoc. xix. 15: ii. 26, 27. Constantine stood up with Catholics, and for them and Christians, against the Pagan Dragon. Christ Jesus will stand up for the saints, and with them, against the Catholic Dragon and Beasts whom he will bind and destroy. Thus the word parallelizes the greater and the less in their military antagonism, to the powers hostile to the Divine Name. It may, therefore, be fairly admitted that in his military career against the Dragon, Constantine was a typical Michael—typical of that Michael who shall stand up in the resurrection period, and bring all the nations of mankind into subjection to his almighty power.
But the Michael, Constantine, was not alone in his wars. There were associated with him “his angels.” Angels are agents employed to execute the will and pleasure of those who commission them. They may be mortal or immortal agents, and hold their commission of the Deity or of men. In the prophecy, the Divine Power, or AIL, commissioned certain mortal agents, known as Constantine and his adherents, to cast the Dragon and his adherents out of the Roman Heaven. The same power that co-worked with Constantine co-operated with his retainers. They were, therefore, the Michael-power and its angels—the corrupt and militant class of the Woman’s children.
“And there was war in the heaven.” “Wherever the scene is laid,” saith Daubuz, truly, “heaven signifies, symbolically, the ruling power or government; that is, the whole assembly of the ruling powers, which, in respect of the subjects, or earth, are a political heaven, being p. 85 over and ruling the subjects, as the natural heaven stands over and rules the earth: so that according to the subject is the term to be limited.” The scene is laid in “the whole habitable of the Dragon;” hence “the heaven” in the prophecy signifies the whole assembly of the ruling powers of the Roman Dragon. This being the subject of the prophecy, the term must be limited to the official region of the Roman world.
In the Roman Heaven, then, there was to be war. There had already been a war there; that namely, between Licinius and Maximin. But this could not be the war predicted; for, although Maximin was defeated, he was not cast out by Licinius; having died in office and from disease: neither were Licinius and his adherents “the Michael and his angels.” The chief difference between Licinius and Maximin was, that the former was a hypocritical and cruel politician and pagan; while the latter was all this and more ferocious, but without the hypocrisy. No; the particular war predicted was to be waged between “the Michael” and the Dragon; and not to reach its final termination until the place of “the Dragon and his angels” should be “found no more in the heaven.” Constantine took no part in the war against Maximin, being engaged in checking the incursions of the Franks across the Rhine.
Since the death of Maximin, Licinius by his patronage of “the gods of his ancestors,” and his hatred, ill-concealed, of Constantine and the catholics, came to be represented from A.D. 314 to A.D. 324, by the Dragon-tail which “drew the third part of the stars of the heaven”—Ver. 4. I say from A.D. 314, because previously to this date, he was the chief luminary of two-thirds; of his own Illyrian third, and of Maximin’s Asiatic third which he acquired by his death.
Now, he was reduced from a tail, or following, of two-thirds to one-third of the stars of the Roman firmament by a war with Constantine. A year had scarcely elapsed after the death of Maximin, before Constantine and Licinius turned their arms against each other. This was a war, but not the war predicted. It was a war for the development of the Dragon’s Tail—the tail end of the pagan dragon-power. The character of Licinius was perfidious. He secretly fomented a conspiracy against the authority of Constantine. But this vigilant ruler discovered it before it was ripe for execution. Licinius haughtily refused the extradition of the criminals who had sought refuge in Illyricum. This confirmed the suspicions of Constantine; who, without further loss of time in the interchanges of diplomacy, marched against him with twenty thousand men. Licinius met him near Cibalis in Pannonia with thirty-five thousand. Licinius was defeated p. 86 with a loss of twenty thousand. After this he retreated, but halted in the plain of Mardia in Thrace, where he determined to hazard another battle. This was no less obstinate and bloody than the former; the troops on both sides displayed the same valor and discipline; but the superior abilities of the Woman’s Son again decided the fortune of the day in his favor. The loss of two battles, and of his bravest veterans, reduced the fierce spirit of Licinius to sue for peace. His situation was almost desperate. Constantine, however, consented to retain him in “the heaven,” but with a dominion considerably reduced. He left him in possession of a third part of the Roman Habitable, consisting of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt; now comprehended in Modern Turkey: but the provinces of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Dacia, Macedonia, and Greece, the other third, were annexed to the Western Empire; so that the dominions of Constantine now extended over two-thirds, from the confines of Caledonia to the extremity of Peloponnesus.
Thus terminated this war in the heaven. It had reduced the dominion of the pagan element; but had not given the Woman’s son rule over all the nations of the habitable; nor had it cast the great red dragon and his angels out. The overthrow of Maxentius, with whom Maximin was allied, that is, the birth of the Woman’s son; left “the earth and the sea” in the possession of Licinius and Maximin: who, in relation to “the inhabiters of the earth and sea,” constituted “THE DIABOLOS.” The signs of the times convinced them, that the pagan political power was doomed to speedy extinction, unless its fall could be arrested by the overthrow of the catholic party and its military chief. This they were determined to compass if possible. Hence, the two wars in the heaven, which brought “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and sea: because the diabolos had come down (from Italy where he had reigned before the defeat of Maxentius) unto them, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time”—Verse 12. This “short time” was a period of about twelve years; that is, from A.D. 312 to A.D. 324, when Constantine became sole emperor of the Roman world.
The recent treaty of peace between the Diabolos-emperor, Licinius, and the Woman’s Son, Constantine, maintained the tranquillity of the empire above eight years. A very regular series of imperial laws commences about the period of this treaty, the most important of which were intimately connected with the new system of policy and religion, which was not perfectly established till the last and peaceful years of his reign.
In the exalted state of glory to which he had attained A.D. 323, it was impossible that Constantine should any longer endure a partner p. 87 in the empire. Confiding in the superiority of his genius and military power, he determined to exert them for the ejection of “the dragon and his angels out of the heaven.” For this purpose he commenced the war predicted in the seventh verse. Licinius prepared himself for the contest, collected the forces of his Eastern Third, the “Angels” of his power, and soon filled the plains of Adrianople with one hundred and fifty thousand foot, and fifteen thousand horse; and the straits of the Hellespont with a fleet of three hundred and fifty galleys of three ranks of oars. The troops of Constantine, the Michael of the situation, amounted to a hundred and twenty thousand horse and foot. Constantine’s naval preparations were in every respect much inferior to those of Licinius. They did not exceed two hundred small vessels. With this naval preponderance he might have carried an offensive war into the centre of his rival’s dominions, and so have changed the whole face of it. But the prudence of Licinius was at fault in contending with “the Michael and his angels,” whose attack he awaited in a fortified camp near Adrianople. Constantine’s advance from Thessalonica was arrested by the broad and rapid Hebrus, the steep ascent from which to the city was filled by the army of Licinius. Here were now assembled Licinius and Martinianus, whom he had made Cæsar, “the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chiliarchs (chiefs of a thousand men) and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman”—Apoc. vi. 15. This was the great day of the Lamb’s wrath upon the pagan dragon-tail, and the third part of the stars of the Roman firmament that followed it. “The Michael and his angels,” the executioners of the Lamb’s wrath, “waged war against the Dragon.” Many days were spent in doubtful and distant skirmishes; but at length the obstacles of the passage and the attack were removed by the intrepid conduct of Constantine. Zosimus, an historian who was the partial enemy of his fame, relates a wonderful exploit of Constantine. He says that the valiant emperor threw himself into the Hebrus, accompanied only by twelve horsemen, and that by the effort or terror of his invincible arm, he broke, slaughtered, and put to flight a host of one hundred and fifty thousand men. Other causes combined to develop this result; for while he was perplexing Licinius with his artful evolutions, a body of five thousand archers deployed from a thick wood in his rear, and made it necessary for him to take up a new position in the plain. The advantage of position being lost, the contest was no longer equal. “The Dragon fought, and his angels, but prevailed not.” His confused multitude of new levies was easily vanquished by “the Michael,” and his experienced veterans of the West. Thirty-four p. 88 thousand of the Dragon’s forces were slain; their fortified camp was taken by assault on the evening of the battle. The greater part of the fugitives “hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.” The logic of their flight hither was that they might hide from the conqueror; and the language of it was, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne”—Apoc. vi. 16. Next day they came forth from their hiding places, and surrendered themselves to the discretion of the victor.
This battle of Adrianople had been a consummation of “woe to the inhabiters of the earth:” the time had now come for a like consummation of “woe to the inhabiters of the sea.” Here were five hundred and fifty vessels full of combatants, drawn together from the maritime part of the Roman earth, to engage in the great conflict between the worshipers of the idols, and the catholic believers in the Divine Unity. While Constantine was besieging Byzantium, to which Licinius had retired after his defeat at Adrianople, Crispus, the eldest son of Constantine, was entrusted with the daring enterprise of forcing the passage of the Hellespont. This he performed with great courage and success. The engagement between the contending fleets lasted two days. A south wind springing up about noon, carried his vessels against the enemy, and as the advantage was improved by his skill and intrepidity, he soon obtained a complete victory. A hundred and thirty vessels were destroyed, and five thousand men were slain. The Hellespont being now open, Licinius perceived that he could not hold Byzantium much longer. Therefore, before the place was surrounded, he prudently removed his person and treasures to Chalcedon in Asia.
Such were still the resources and abilities of Licinius, that, after so many successive defeats, he collected in Bithynia a new army of fifty or sixty thousand men, while Constantine was still actively employed in the siege of Byzantium. The vigilant Michael did not neglect the last struggles of the Dragon. He transported a considerable part of his victorious army across the Bosphorus; and soon after their landing fought the decisive battle of the war on the heights of Chrysopolis, or, as it is now called, Scutari. “The angels” of the Dragon, though lately raised, ill armed, and worse disciplined, made head against “the Michael and his angels” with fruitless but desperate valor, till a total defeat, and the slaughter of five and twenty thousand men, irretrievably determined the fate of the Supreme Pontiff of the Idols and his adherents. Licinius retired to Nicomedia from whence he opened negotiations with Constantine. Peace and affluence were granted to him on condition of sacrificing Martinianus, whom he had created Augustus, and of resigning the p. 89 imperial office. Licinius accordingly solicited and accepted the pardon of his offences, laid himself and his purple at the feet of his Lord and Master, was raised from the ground with insulting pity, was admitted the same day to the imperial banquet, and soon after was sent away to Thessalonica, which had been chosen for the place of his confinement, which was soon terminated by death at the hand of the executioner.
Such was the result of this last “war in the heaven.” “The Dragon and his angels fought and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in the heaven”—verse 8. “He was cast out into the earth; and his angels were cast out with him”—verse 9: and in his projection, “his tail drew the third part of the stars, and cast them to the earth”—verse 4. The memory of Licinius was branded with infamy, his statues were thrown down, and, by a hasty edict, all his laws, and all the judicial proceedings of his reign were at once abolished. By this victory of Constantine, A. D. 324, the Roman world was united under the authority of one emperor; and he the first of a long line of emperors, who, though not christian, but catholic, repudiated “the gods of their ancestors.” The immediate and memorable consequences of this revolution were the foundation of Constantinople, and the establishment of the Laodicean Catholic Apostasy as the religion of the State.
While these stirring and exciting events were transpiring, their connexion with apocalyptic prophecy was not unperceived by Constantine and his adherents. In a letter to Eusebius he writes of “that dragon having been deposed from the governance of affairs, by God’s providence.” And Eusebius further relates, that in a picture elevated by Constantine over his palace gate, there was represented the cross placed over his head; and beneath his own and his children’s feet, his enemies under the semblance of a dragon cast down headlong into the abyss. In a letter also to Eusebius he says, “But now that liberty is restored, and that Dragon driven from the administration of public affairs by the providence of the Supreme Deity, and our instrumentality, we trust that all can see the efficacy of the Divine power.” A dragon is a symbol stamped on some of the coins of Constantine. I have the representation before me of two, on which the cross, the symbol of the catholic church, is erected over a fallen dragon, the symbol of Roman superstition in its political constitution.
Licinius himself seems to have been aware that the conflict was not simply a matter of personal rivalry and ambition between him and Constantine, but the great question which system of belief and practice was genuine and designed of the Eternal Power, be that p. 90 power the gods of the Roman Habitable, or “the foreign God” whom the adherents of those gods derided, to prevail. This question was considered by both parties as on trial in the contest of the “short time,” and to be determined by its issue.
As a religious preparation for the impending conflict, Licinius collected around himself Egyptian seers and diviners, enchanters, jugglers, and the priests and prophets of his idols, and having propitiated his deities with sacrifices, then inquired what was to be the issue to him of this “war in the heaven.” If he had inquired of an enlightened christadelphian of the period he could have told him that it would be to cast him out of the heaven into the earth, and his angels (the Egyptian seers and diviners, enchanters, jugglers, priests, prophets, and all his officials) with him; but there was none such in his tail, or following, to testify the truth: he, therefore, had recourse to the stars drawn in his tail, who unanimously assured him that he would undoubtedly prove the stronger in the contest, and be victorious; a judgment everywhere reiterated in long and elegant songs by the Oracles of the Idols. Elated by these deceitful promises, he advanced with great confidence, and prepared for battle. When about to begin, he summoned his trustiest attendants and friends to meet him in a consecrated grove, spacious and irrigated, in which were set up all kinds of idol-statues, and having lighted wax tapers, in the after-fashion of papists and ritualists, and offered the accustomed victims to them, he delivered the following address:
“Friends and fellow-warriors, these are the gods of our ancestors, whom, received from our earliest predecessors as objects of worship, we honor; but he who commands the army that is drawn up against us, having adopted an atheistic opinion, violates the customs of the fathers, venerating a god from abroad, I know not whence, and disgraces his troops with his ignominious standard (the Cross with the monogram of Christ) trusting in which he arms not so much against us as against the gods whom he offends. This occasion therefore will show which of us errs in his belief, and will decide between the gods who are honored by us, and by the other party; for either by showing us victors, it will show our gods are most justly regarded as auxiliaries and saviours; or, if the Deity of Constantine, come from I know not whence, shall prevail over ours, which are many, let no one thereafter doubt what Deity ought to be worshiped, but go to the strongest, and present to him the reward of the victory. If the foreign god, whom we now deride, should appear the mightiest, we must acknowledge and honor him, and bid farewell to those to whom we have vainly lit wax tapers. But if ours prevail, which is p. 91 not to be doubted, then, after the victory, we must proceed to war against the atheists.”
Thus, the contest was considered by both parties as between the christians’ Deity and the many gods of paganism. Each party regarded itself as the respective instrument of these. Hence the propriety of the apocalyptic title bestowed on the enemy of the dragon-tail, “the Michael.” Constantine’s victory was regarded by him, by the church, and by the people at large, as the victory of the Deity, that is living and true, over the false deities, of christianity over idolatry. Eusebius says, that “when the whole was, by the power of Deity, the Saviour, subjected to Constantine, he made known to all the Giver of his prosperity, and testified that the Deity, not he, was the author of his victories.”