The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

I. Papal Departures Awaken New Suspicions

In previous chapters we have observed how the Roman church consolidated her positions, and how she came very close to attaining her ambitious aim of transforming the Christian world into a close-knit theocracy, ruled by the pope. When, however, in the course of political events and general developments, the national states of Europe deprived her of her final victory, she had, nevertheless, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, established well-defined guiding principles for all her future activities. Her attitude toward all problems concerning church policy became fixed, and has since that time undergone only very minor changes. PFF1 787.1

1. FORGERIES PERMEATE CANON LAW

Mention should be made, in this connection, of the famous Decretum Gratiani (Decretum of Gratian). This work of the Benedictine monk, Gratian, was issued about 1150 from the University of Bologna, Europe’s leading law school. It thenceforth became the standard textbook, or manual, for the guidance of Roman Catholic theologians. For six centuries it was the court of appeal on all questions of canon law, just as Protestants appeal to Holy Scripture. PFF1 787.2

The growth of canon law extended over centuries, and its sources are as multiform as are those of Roman civil law. These embrace the Scriptures, the early pseudo-apostolic writings, the traditions of the primitive Christian community, the writings of the Fathers, together with ecclesiastical customs—and most important of all, the decretals of the popes and the decrees of the councils. PFF1 787.3

First, these collections were assembled in historical sequence. Then, in time, they were brought into topical arrangement. And after the time of Charlemagne gaps were often filled with citations from forged documents. The two best known among such forgeries were the False Decretals of Isidore of Seville and the Donation of Constantine. Beginning with the tenth century, many such compilations of canon law had been made, but all were superseded by the famous Decretum Gratiani, which accomplished for canon law what Peter Lombard’s Sentences have done for theology. ² PFF1 788.1

Gratian’s work was soon supplemented by various compilations, and these in turn were superseded by the codification made under order of Gregory IX, in 1234. This codification preserved Gratian’s Decretum intact. Arranged in five books, it became the Corpus Juris Canonici (Body of Canon Law). A new and authentic edition, decreed by the Council of Trent, and completed in 1580, was introduced by these words of Pope Eugenius III, in a papal bull: PFF1 788.2

“It shall not be lawful to make any addition to this work, or to change or transpose anything in it, or add any interpretation to it; but as it is now printed in this our city of Rome, let it be preserved uncorrupt for ever.” ³ PFF1 788.3

No single book has exercised greater influence in the Roman church, its system of laws constituting the Papacy in essence. Yet Pennington shows that of 107 alleged decretal epistles of popes of the first four centuries, eighty-four were forgeries, with only twenty-three genuine. Gratian has quoted as authority sixty-five of the forgeries and one of the genuine epistles, basing 324 canons on the forgeries and 11 canons on the genuine! ⁴ Such is the amazing picture presented by this Decretum. PFF1 788.4

2. PAPAL ARROGANCE BRINGS NEW PROTESTS

The persistent assumption of the Roman church—of being the supreme force in ruling the world, and the highest authority in deciding not only spiritual but purely worldly matters—brought the church, by the very nature of the case, into conflict with her own primitive positions. The higher she rose in worldly power, the farther she departed from her earlier spiritual inheritance. And men in all walks of life began to see the vast discrepancy between the teachings of Jesus—and His simple life dedicated to the service of humanity and pulsating with the divine stream of love—and the pompous behavior of the professed vicars of Christ, who used political devices of all description’s to enhance their power, and employed fire and sword to annihilate opponents and dissenters. PFF1 789.1

The more courageous of these men spoke out loudly against the abuses of the hierarchy and yearned for a reform of the church or for a new age to come. These movements in the church we encountered in the preceding three chapters. This entire development likewise definitely shifted the accent in prophetic interpretation of certain of the figures in Daniel and the Apocalypse, especially those referring to Antichrist. PFF1 789.2

We have noticed that all through the earlier part of the Middle Ages, almost without exception, Antichrist was anticipated to be the personification of all satanic powers. He was also expected to come from the East, to rule for three and a half literal years. Under him the most gruesome persecution of the church would finally occur, with his destruction at the ushering in of the great judgment day. PFF1 789.3

3. GUIBERT OF NOGENT ON ANTICHRIST

The early Crusaders, for example, strongly believed that they were fulfilling a divine mission by establishing a Christian kingdom in Jerusalem, and thereby hastening the coming of Antichrist, and indirectly the return of Christ in glory. A clear witness to this was GUIBERT OF NOGENT (1053-1124), bishop of Puy, one of the fiery preachers of the First Crusade. Hear him: PFF1 789.4

“For it is clear that Antichrist is to do battle not with the Jews, not with the Gentiles; but, according to the etymology of his name, He will attack Christians. And if Antichrist finds there no Christians (just as at present when scarcely any dwell there), no one will be there [at Jerusalem] to oppose him, or whom he may rightly overcome. According to Daniel and Jerome, the interpreter of Daniel, he is to fix his tents on the Mount of Olives; and it is certain, for the apostle teaches it, that he will sit at Jerusalem in the Temple of the Lord, as though he were God. And according to the same prophet, he will first kill three kings of Egypt, Africa, and Ethiopia, without doubt for their Christian faith. This, indeed, could not at all be done unless Christianity was established where now is paganism [meaning Mohammedanism].” ⁵ PFF1 790.1

Therefore, reasons Guibert, the Christians should conquer Egypt, Africa, and Ethiopia (the three horns of Daniel 7), so that “the man of sin, the son of perdition, will find some to oppose him.” PFF1 790.2

The “times of the Gentiles,” when “Jerusalem shall be trodden down,” means their rule over the Christians, or else “the fulness of time for those Gentiles who shall have entered secretly before Israel shall be saved.” PFF1 790.3

“These times, most beloved brothers, will now, forsooth, be fulfilled, provided the might of the pagans be repulsed through you, with the cooperation of God. With the end of the world already near, even though the Gentiles fail to be converted to the Lord (since according to the apostle there must be a withdrawal from the faith), it is first necessary, according to the prophecy, that the Christian sway be renewed in those regions, either through you, or others, whom it shall please God to send before the coming of Antichrist, so that the head of all evil, who is to occupy there the throne of the kingdom, shall find some support of the faith to fight against him. ⁶ PFF1 790.4

4. CRUSADES USED TO INCREASE INFLUENCE

At the same time the Papacy capitalized upon the Crusades as a means of gaining influence in the Greek and Armenian churches, and spreading the influence of Latin Christianity eastward. But, according to Harnack, the ardor of the earlier Crusades was the direct result of the Cluny monastic movement. The supremacy of the church must be established. “It was the ideas of the world-ruling monk of Cluny that guided the crusaders on their path.” ⁷ And Ranke states: PFF1 790.5

“Now the high priest [Pope] put himself at the van of the warlike knights, who although in a different sense were still bearing the Frankish name. He crowned himself as emperor and received by their bow the twofold adoration. In like manner as the great caliphs on whose order Jerusalem was conquered, the pope attempted to present to the world in his person also the worldly unity of the people which were bound together in like faith.” ⁸ PFF1 791.1

5. THEATRICAL PLAYS ON ANTICHRIST

The general public was well acquainted with these ideas of Antichrist. They were even propagated by means of theatrical plays, for instance, the Ludus de Antichnsto, previously mentioned. ⁹ But when the Crusades did not bring the expected results, voices began to be heard loudly disclaiming the idea of a personal Antichrist, and stressing the need for another explanation. One highly outspoken voice was that of Gerhoh of Reichersberg. PFF1 791.2