THE KINGDOM OF THE CLERGY·
The head of this dominion is "His HOLINESS the POPE/1 The
Crown or Tiara is elective; and though the Monarch is called his
holiness, he is tho most adulterous hypocrite and blasphemer among men· A wild beast is not more savage thin this Lamb-speaking, but
bloodthirsty monster. The prophet Daniel describes him as a Horn
having eye*, an episcopal power,/i/ce the eyes of a man, and a moutk
that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fel*
lows· And he tells us that this Horn made war with the saints (or
woman in the wilderness) and prevailed against th<m, ihi» same pros
phet predicted that he would speak great words against the Most High%
end wear out the taints of the Most High, and think to change times
and laws; and he continues that the saints would be given into his
power, till a time, limes, and the dividing of lime or 1260 years. Dan.
•ii. 8,20,21, 25· All which the concurrent testimony of ancient and
modern history assures us has been literally accomplished by means
of the tyranny we are contemplating. Another proof of the authenticitj
of the Scriptures; for Daniel prophecied 1000 years before the
event 8 took place» In this Horn, or I mace of the Beast, the MAN of
8m, the Son of PERDITION, the LAWLESS ONE, or as Justin Martyr,
who lived before the middle of the 2d century, calls him—the Man of
Blasphrmy—w&s ful y revealed. His manifestation began in Constantino,
and by "the profession" of the spirit, or Mystery of Iniquity,
through his successors was at last consummated in the Topes:—
through whom the same spirit has been transmitted to all the religious
factions that oow prostrate and desolate society· It has flowed like
a mighty torrent, from the Apostles1 days, through the "Clergy" and
"Fathers" of the first age?, through Constantine, and his successors,
their prelates and disciples,—through the lopes. Cardinals, Archbishops,
Bishops· Priests an:: Deacons,—and through all tho Hierarchies,
and Sects. wh;ch revolted against their Master, the Pope, even
to the most insignificant of our age; all having impressed upon them
the matk of the Beast in thir foreheads or in thtir hands." Ί he Pope,
ie called tho SON of PERDITION, because his dominion will betaken
away and destroyed. Tertullian. who lived at tho end of the 2d
century, expounding these words, "only he who now hinders will fire·
vent* until he be taken out of the way" saye "Who can tins be but the
Roman State, the division of which into ten kingdoms will bring on
Antichrist (this word may signify both the enemy of Christ and the
vicar of Christ: and no one is more the enemy of Christ than he who
arrogates his name and power, as no one more directly opposes a king
than he who assumes his title and authority. Anli signifies pro, vice%
loco as well as contra, e regione. ex ad verso;' ηηά anlibasiieus is prorex
or viceroy* anthvpatos proconsul; the criticism therefore is fully sustained)
~"and then the WICKED ONE shaft be revealed. And in his
Defence he assigns it as a particular reason why the Christians prayed
for the Roman Empire, because they knew that the greatest calamity
hanging over the world was retarded by the continuance of it.*' Let my
sceptical readers examine Dan. vii.2 These, ii. Kev.xii. 13· The duration
of this ecciestastical tyranny in not to continue longer than 1260
years from its rise. It will be overthrown,therefore about the year 1647.
The destruction of the Popcdom or dominion of the Clergy, was not
to be destroyed instantaneously, but progressively. Not by any one sudden
convulsion but by ihe SPIRIT OF HIS MOUTH was the Lord Jesus to
consume him; and by the BRIGHT SHINING OF HIS COMING is the Lord
utterly to destroy him. At the Wight shining of the rising sun the
darkne-s flees away: so by the near approach of the Sun of Righteousness
shall this Mystery of Iniquity be destroyed, whose coming
was according to the energy of Satan, with all the powtr% and signs and
of falsehood. 3 These, ii. 9· The woman who fled into the
wilderness (Rev. xii,) the true witness for Jesus, who maintained his
testimony, m hich is the spirit of prophecy; —yOF, the true Church of
Christ» "the pillar and support of the truth," was to maintain the testimony
of the Apostles and Prophets—the TWO WITNESSES—THE TWO
OLIVE TREES, and the TWO LAMPS, b'azing and shining in the gloom
of the dark ages,—SHE was to "prophecy," (exhort, dehort, edify, and
console) for 4*2 months or 1260 days (a day for a year) chthed tn sack·
doth, ihe symbol of anguish and distress. These witnesses stand before
ike Lord of the whole earth. *\Hnd when they shall be about finuhing
(hotan lelesoosi) their testimony," the Kingdom of the Clergy was to
open a war against them of the moat wild, savage, and bloody character.
Their testimony was to finish in the year 1573*6; and as history
informs us the war against them broke out on the memorab e eve of
St. Bartholomew's Day, 1572, which lasted ceven days, and in which
near 50,000 were murdered in the streets of Paris, and 25,000 in the
provinces of France. This war lasted 113 yean», when the witnesses
were "conquered and slain." In I'j55, and 1656,. the Waidenses suffered
tremendous persecution. In the siuth of r ranee alone 1,000,000
were put to death. In Ireland, on Oct. 23, 1641,50,000 were murdered
in a few days. Within the same period, 100,000 wete put to death by
the hand of the executioner, in Holland; this was one cause of the
United Provinces throwing off the Spanish yoke. In Oct. 18, IG85,
100,000 victims were sacrificed on the clerical altars, and 500,000
driven into exile. This date closes the war of 113 years. The number
Above cited amounts to 1,325,000, which falls far short of the eurn
total. "And they who dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them,
and be g!ad; and shall send gifts to each other." Header! observe
the fulril-iient of John's prediction. "When Che letters of ihe Pope's
Legate were read in the assembly of the Cardinal?, by which he assured
the Popj that all was transacted by the express will and command of
the King, it was immediately decreed that the Pope should march with
his Cardinals to the Church of St. Mark, and in tho most solemn
manner give thanks to God for so great a blessing conferred on the
See of Rome and the Christian world; and that, on the Monday after,
solemn mass should be celebrated in tho Church of Minerva, at which,
the Pope, Gregory XIII., and Cardinals were present; and that a
jubilee should be published throughout the whole Christian world,
and the cause of it declared to be, to return thanks to God fur the
extirpation of the enemies of the Truth and Church in France. In
the evening the cannon of St. Angelo were fired to testify the public
joy; tho whole city illuminated with bonfires; and no one sign of
rejoicing omitted that was usually made for the greatest victories
obtained in favor of the Roman Church.9'
The truths which these witnesses maintained against Papal corruptions,
were prostrated in all the Papal Kingdoms, or provinces of the
Kingdom of the Clergy. In France, in all the territories of the house
of Savoy; in Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, and all the other dominions
of the bloody house of Austria, and in the other Papal states where
they most abounded, they were either murdered, banished, or «ilenced,
•o that they have scarcely been heard of since. But. mark! the retributive
vengeance of the Lord God Almighty. After a lapse of three
prophetic periods and a half (105 years) their enemio^who thought
them perished forever, were seised with terror at the sight of their
resurrection. This resurrection of the witnesses, or as it is expressed»
their ascension to heaven in a cloudy in the sight of their enemies—took
place about the year 1790; when the Constituent Assembly of France
solemnly recognized the rights of men* and proclaimed liberty of con*
science, and of religrous opinion* to all the French nation. This is
Called the breath of life from God entering int9 them% when ihey were
Again free to renew their prophesying. This was the great voice tcLy*
ing unto them* Come up hither* And immediately, xn that same hour%
the French monarchy -the tenth fart of the city of Mystic Babylon fell
by a great and terrible political convulsion, which destroyed 7000 titles
of men, belonging to the Kingdom of the Clergy. Among these titles
may be enumerated the names of Right Reverend Fathers in God,
Most Reverend Bishops, Most Reverend Mothers, or Lady Abbesses,
Prioresses, &c. Metropolitans, Rectors, Vicar?, Canon?, Curates, Arch
Deacons, Deans, and Reverend Doctors, Carmelites, Augustines, Dominicans,
Jacobines, Franciscans, Capuchins, Je.-uites, Minimes, Jansen
is ts, Dtikc3, Earls, Marquises, Counts, Barons, Baronets, Knights,
Bannerets, Kings, Queens, Piinces, and Princesses, besides sn infinite
company of others whose numbers it is not easy to define. All these
were swept away and banished from the Realm of France. The persecutors
became the persecuted, and reduced to a vagrant life in remote
and foreign Iand9. The calamities of France during the REIG Ν of TER·*
KOR, are well known. Nor did other countries escape the wrath of God;
for, by the hand of NAPOLEON, his destroying angel. He poured out tha
vial of bis wrath upon the Sun, or governments of the earth. Rev·
xvi 8 And by the six me messenger, he wreaked his vengeance on
the throne of the Beast - Rome- and his Kingdom- Italy- was darkened,
and they gnawed their tongues for anguish* and reviled the i>od of hea~
ven^for their pains and their ulcers, and reformed not from ihtirw^rks —
•. 10, 11. Those who are acquainted with the history of Europe for
the last 45 years, will know how to appreciate these bints. My design
dees not require that I should enlarge furthor on those interesting
matters at present; all I request is, that my readers will peruse what
I have advanced, with the Apocalypse in their hands,reading diligently
the 11th, 12th. 13th and 16th chapters.
We have arrived now at that period in the history of the Kingdom
of the Clergy, in which the French nation abolished their authority in
France. The Catholic Clergy are reduced to a level with their brethren,
and their tyrannical and absurd superstition rejected as the religion
of the state. We await another explosion in Europe, which will
make the ears of them that hear tingle at the report. Wo! to the
Clergy; a third and tremendous wo awaits them! The second wo is
past* but the third wo comes quickly.
From what has been advanced, the following would seem to be the
da tee of the fulfilment of the Apocalyptic predictions, tibularly arranged.
A. D.
Foundation of the Kingdom of Heaven, 33
The Woman brings forth her Masculine Son, 313
And escapes into the Wilderness, between that period and 316
Having testified in sackcloth for 1260 years, a» the two witness.
es, she* finishes her testimony in the Papal states, 1573-6
The Kingdom of the Clergy make war upon her on the eve of
St Bartholomew's, 1572
The war or period of persecution, lastg one hundred and thirteen
years, and terminates after the massacre ensuing the
11
A. D.
ι evocation of the Edict of Nantz, October 18th, with the death
of the witnesses, 1685
They lie unburied for three days and a half in the streets of the
city. A day for a Lunar month of years. A Lunar month
days days days
is 30 X 3 — 90 X 15 = 105 or years. 105 X 1685 gives the
era of their resurrection co-eval with the French Revolution, 1790
Kingdom of the Clergy organized of Pope, Priests and Kings,
having one purpose, 587
This litile Horn or Kingdom to continue 1260 years, which,
added to 587, gives for its final overthrow the year, or a very
few years after, 1847
Two periods have to be considered: First, when the consumption of
this Kingdom began; and secondly, when it is to be utterly destroy L
Tho former is a matter of History, the latter οι Prophecy. With facts,
therefore, at present, or with things accomplished, we have to do.
Tbe power of a Kingdom may be consumed by internal dissension
and external aggression. Truth is more powerful than error, and a
Kingdom divided against itself must be subverted. With the aggressive
influence of the truth, we meddlo not just now. That will be
investigated hereafter· It is to the dissensions we direct attention.
They are of two kinds; first, national rebellions against the Pope*s au~
thority; and second\y^ disputes and quarrels among the Clergy themselves.
The revolt of nations, however, against the authority of the Roman
See, being consequent on their clerical disputes, we shall chronologize
them as we proceed, under their respective and appropriate heads,
premising always, that wherever a clerical faction has gained the ascendant,
by their partizans having recourse to arms, neither it, nor the
minor factions, which shall be found to have subsequently split off, can
in any wi«Q claim apostolicity, or lay any pretensions to the character
or constitution of churches of Christ. His church is not stained with
the blood of its opponents, neither was it founded or upheld by the
power of the *woid. On the contrary, the churches of England, Ire·
land, Scotland, Switzerland, Holland, and of Luther, aro all baptized
in blood by tneir adherents. And be it remembered, that so long as
the Two true Witnesses against Papal corruption cherished the spirit
of non-ros stance, they maintained their gr< und in the presence of
their enemies but as soon as they drew tho sword in thoir own defence,
their adversaries overcame and s-lew them.
About th? beginning of the 26th century, the Roman Pontiffs reigned
in the utmost trnnquility, having triumphed, as wo have seen, over
the enemies of Romanism. Complaints, however, reached him, from
powerful princes and «overeign states, against his own despotism, and
tho unbridled licentiousness and enormous and unparalleled crimes of
hisadnerents, the clergy and monks of^evcry name and dinominatian"
These remonstrants demanded publicly, as their ancestors had dono
before thorn, a reformation of the CHURCH OF ROME, in ail its several
departments. In short, the epoch was at hand, when God was about
to put it in their hearts, by the means antecedently and subsequently
developed, to BEGIN to hate. the. harlot and make her desolate and naked;
and to eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. Rev xvii 18. The means
which effected this great and rr.uch Hosired POLITICO RELIGIOUS REVOLUTION,
were the invention of printing, A. D. 1430, Iho revival of
learning, the progress of scientific discovery, the sudden rice of
men of genius, and the undaunted and praiseworthy daring of an
obsoure Augustinian Eremite, named MARTIN LUTHER; who offered
himself to public view in the year 1517. as a protester against the sale
of Papal indulgences This extraordinary man, was a native of
Eieelbeit in Saxony; and at this time, professor of the scholastic the*
ology of the age, which was a ruere jumble of absurd superstition,
in a University at Wittenberg. The Pontifex Maxim us of the Roman
world, at that time, was the learned, effeminate and luxurious
Leo X, Luther was an independent thinker, but a disciple of St.
Augustine, though more partial to the decisions of Scripture, and the
dictates of reason, than to the authority and opinions of fallible men.
The events of his life were not originally premeditated; but circumstances,
by their successive developements, led him on in the perpetration
of his memorable, high handed rebellion. Some of the political
leaders of the German Confederacy saw in him a fit instrument to aid
them in throwing off the Roman yoke. The Elector of Saxony and
others, patronized the Au^ustin friar, and under pretence of a zeal for
religion, made war upon the Emperor and Pope. The war of Smal-.
eald was the consequence, A. D. 1546. Before the first shot was fired,
Luther died in peace at his native place, and thus escaped the calami·
ties that threatened his country. The deplorable scenes of bloodshed,
desolation and discord which ensued, continued till 1555, when a "religiouspeace"
was consented to, by the articles of which
TBS GERMAN BRANCH OF THE JkPOSTACY,
OR, THE LUTHERAN CHURCH,
