by Rev. M MacSween, M.A.
(Continued from page 80.)
2. The Rise of the Papacy to the Temporal Supremacy
Here we will endeavour to trace the several steps by which the Papacy gradually rose to the height which it attained some 300 years before the Reformation. Rome Pagan had persecuted the early Christians: Rome Pagan had become nominally Christian under Constantine, and had ceased persecuting. Then, Rome nominally Christian became Rome Papal, and persecuted more severely than ever before. After Pope Boniface III became Universal Bishop in 607, thus attaining the ecclesiastical supremacy, the Papacy longed to be free from the yoke of the Eastern Roman Emperors at Byzantium, and so obtain the temporal supremacy also. How was this object achieved? Here is the answer.
In 496, Clovis the Great, King of the Franks, won a crushing victory over the Allemani at Soissons, and became a professing Christian. This event was of great importance to the Papacy, and to Europe. The title of “Eldest Son of the Church” was bestowed on Clovis by the Bishop of Rome. During the course of the 6th century, many barbarian Kings and peoples—including the Anglo-Saxons of Britain—acknowledged themselves as spiritual vassals of the Papacy. Pope Gregory I, “the Great”, (590-604), saw to it that no Metropolitan Bishop henceforth entered upon the duties of his office without a pallium (a white mantle embroidered with crosses) from Rome. The monk Boniface, (680-754), completed what Gregory I had begun, by travelling throughout Germany and France preaching absolute submission to Peter and his representative, the Pope of Rome. It is easy to see how much this tended to consolidate the spiritual supremacy, and so paved the way for the temporal supremacy of the Papacy. But it was in the 8th century, (700-800), that the most considerable addition was made to the temporal supremacy of the Papacy. Clovis had become the first King of the Merovingian dynasty in France. This dynasty lasted for 250 years, when it was superseded by the Carolingian dynasty. King Childeeric III, the last of the Merovingian Kings, was a weak, incapable prince. The redoubtable Charles Martel was “the Mayor of the Palace”, and next to the French throne. The Saracens had invaded France, and were threatening the civilisation of Europe.
Charles Martel conquered them in a seven days’ battle near Tours in 732, thus saving Europe from the scourge of Islamism. The government of France was now practically in the hands of Charles Martel. The great iconoclastic disputes had set the Papacy at variance with the Roman Emperors of the East, and the Arian Kings of Lombardy were at the gates of Rome, threatening its destruction. With the very existence of the Papacy thus threatened, the Pope turned his eyes to France. There, the bold Pepin, son and successor of Charles Martel, had just usurped the throne of the weak Childeeric III, but he needed papal confirmation of his usurped dignity. When the Pope, Stephen II, (752-757), appealed to Pepin for help, Pepin agreed to give this in return for papal confirmation. The Pope agreed to do as Pepin wished, providing Pepin would free the See of Rome from the Lombards and from the domination of Byzantium. So Pepin led his army across the Alps, defeated the Lombards, laid the Keys of the conquered towns on the altar of Peter, and made Pope Stephen II a free prince. Thus, in the year 755 was laid the foundation of the temporal power of the Papacy. The Pope was now a temporal monarch. He girded on two swords, one on each side, as emblems of the spiritual and temporal power. The Pope then crowned Pepin King of France. Pepin’s gifts were confirmed by his yet more distinguished son, Charlemagne. The Lombards had again besieged the Pope in Rome. The Pope again appealed to France for help, and Charlemagne, the successor to Pepin, entered Italy with his army, defeated the Lombards, and visited the Pope, showing profound veneration towards the Pontiff. Charlemagne later intervened on other occasions to save the Papacy. He decreed that “the Pope, being God’s Vicar, could not be subject to the judgment of man”. Desiring to revive the old Roman Empire, and in return for his repeated succours, Pope Leo III invited Charlemagne to Rome, and placed the crown of the Western Empire upon his head in 800 A.D. Papists have maintained that Pope Leo III by a Divine Right vested in him as Bishop of Rome, had all crowns and kingdoms at his disposal, and so acted in this way, thereby showing his power. In return for this, Charlemagne, a man of brilliant abilities and a great warrior, decreed that one tenth of all incomes must be given to the Papacy on the severest pains of forfeiture.
But the Pope must have grounds for such assumptions of power, and so the false “Decretals of Isidore”, which are now fully proved, and are universally considered to have been bold and unblushing forgeries, were promulgated between 847 and 853. By then, supreme jurisdiction was claimed by the early Popes. These Decretals including the “Donation of Constantine”, which is now acknowledged by Romanists themselves to be spurious, were made to do more service about 858, being requisitioned by Pope Nicolas I.
But we here note also the growth of that superstition which had risen to a height in the 4th century, and in which lay the life and strength of the Papacy.
The great majority of Christians in Europe were no more than baptised heathen. The clergy were glutted with wealth and abandoned in vice and ignorance. All Charlemagne’s attempts at reformation proved abortive. Men believed that crimes might be expiated by donations to the Papacy, and whole provinces were often donated to it. The crafty priesthood decreed that property gifted to the Papacy should be regarded as the property of God, and was thus inalienable. All these evils flowed from one cardinal error. The great truth of Christianity—that salvation is of grace—was completely buried by the Papacy. In its place was put salvation by works. Forsaking God’s way of salvation revealed in the Scriptures, which is salvation by Christ, men sought salvation in themselves, and so lost their liberty. The prison doors were not opened till the Reformation.
But the corruption known as Image-worship, which prevailed at this time is a great factor in the rise of Papal temporal Supremacy. Image-worship first rose in the East, but soon found its champions in the Popes of Rome. The use and worship of Images was firmly established about 590, and from this time the idolatry rapidly increased. Although some churches condemned the adoration of Images—as in France and England—yet they adopted the perilous course of tolerating them in their churches as “the memorials of faith and history”. Charlemagne was of this mind, but the authority and example of the Popes of Rome were stronger than Charlemagne himself. Image-worship finally triumphed almost universally, though it helped to cause the final separation between the Papacy and the Eastern Church in 1054, under Pope Leo IX, whose legates excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople in his own church of St Sophia. Italy had thrown off the yoke of the Eastern Emperors and had come under the power of the Papacy, and the Merovingian dynasty in France had been superseded by the Carlovignian. Both Italian and French revolts were zealously encouraged by the Papacy, and both contributed greatly to elevate its temporal supremacy. Thus the Pope received his spiritual supremacy from the murderer Phocas, and his temporal supremacy from the usurper Pepin. The foundations of the Papacy are thus laid in blood and rebellion. When we look at the Papacy, are we not indeed looking at the face of Antichrist? In establishing the worship of Images, the Papacy perfected the corruption of its worship. In grasping the temporal sovereignty, it perfected the corruption of its government. The two arms of the Papacy had thus become those of Superstition and the Sword. By them she was to enslave the minds and bodies of men. By the year 800, the Papacy had become not simply a corrupt church, but a Pagan institution, yea, “the masterpiece of Satan”. Thus, the Papacy had fought and won the battle for the temporal supremacy, but the Popes were still subject to the Emperors. Although they did not yet directly and formally advance their claim to dispose of crowns and kingdoms, yet that principle was implicit in their acts in crowning Pepin and Charlemagne, and in their claim to be the successors of Peter, and Vicars of Christ, and that therefore there was but one ruler on earth—the Pope of Rome. Previous to Charlemagne, no newly-elected Pontiff could be legally consecrated without the consent of the Emperor. But once Charlemagne was dead, (814), the Papacy resolved not to wear this badge of subordination any longer. The throne of Charlemagne was contested in war by his posterity, but in 876 Charles the Bald was proclaimed Emperor by the Pope. In return for this, Charles the Bald resigned for himself and his successors all right in sanctioning the Pope’s election.
Thus, the Imperial Sanction was dispensed with. The Papacy would not have attained the summit of its wishes had not a new power—that of Germany—arisen, superior to that of France. In the 10th century the Papacy was the most powerful element in Europe, and we are not surprised to find that century described in history as “The Darkest Century”. There was nothing so foul as orgies of the Vatican. Most of the Popes of this and following eras revelled in every abomination. There were 16 Antipopes from 997 to 1180, and there followed the “Great Schism” with rival Popes at Rome and Avignon from 1378 to 1415. We state this to indicate something of the intrigue, fraud, adulteries, and violence that now raged in Rome.
But in tracing the rise of the Papal temporal supremacy, we now meet with Otho I, Emperor of the Germans, (939-973), who found the Papacy running its career of crime, and in danger of perishing in its own corruption.
Because the Papacy might be of great use in extending their own power, the German Emperor and his successors sought to reform, but not to destroy, the Papacy. They deposed several Popes who were notorious for their vices, and substituted others. Thus, the Emperors again nominated the Pope. But they lavished unbounded wealth upon the Papacy in return for the support of hosts of monks and priests who used their influence in helping forward the power of Germany. This acquisition of wealth formed an important element in the growth of the Papacy, the Emperor, Henry II of Germany, being especially distinguished for his generosity. The folly of the Crusades begun by Pope Urban II, (1088-1099), of which there were seven in all till 1291, left great possessions to the Papacy. So long as the German Emperors were strong kings, there was no hope of supreme temporal supremacy for the Papacy. But as soon as this ceased, then the Papacy would have the opportunity of obtaining the mastery. In due time, this opportunity presented itself, when Henry IV, then a child, ascended the German throne, (1056-1106). Shortly afterwards, the strong and cunning Gregory VII, (Hildebrand), became Pope, (1073-1085). Hildebrand’s great object was to free the Papacy from the authority of the Empire, and to establish a universal, visible theocracy on earth, with the Pope at its head. The times proved very favourable for the attainment of his object. The Normans had just conquered England; France had an infant King, Spain was partly under the Moors, Germany was distracted by warring barons.
Hildebrand’s first step was to decree the celibacy of the clergy. Thus set free from earthly ties, they were to live for the exaltation of the Papacy. Hildebrand’s second step was to forbid all clergy from receiving investiture from the secular power. These two measures caused 200 years of wars and bloodshed before the Papacy attained universal domination. This War of Investitures which now began, deluged much of Europe in blood. Hildebrand’s decree against lay investitures was followed by another, declaring Germany an electoral monarchy, but permitting the German barons to retain an interest in the election of Bishops. Henry IV then deposed Gregory VII, and Gregory in return excommunicated Henry. Then we have the sad spectacle of Henry IV crossing the Alps in winter, and standing barefoot for three days in the snow at the door of the Pope’s residence in Canossa, to beg the Pope’s forgiveness. Henry, however, having obtained the Pope’s forgiveness, soon afterwards attacked Rome, causing Gregory to flee to Salerno, where he ended his days in exile. Gregory VII was dead, but his principles survived. In 1122 a compromise was made between the Emperor Henry V and Pope Calixtus II, which favoured the Papacy. The spiritual element was taken away from the control of the secular. The power of the Empire gradually sank, while the power of the Papacy steadily advanced. Thus, we find Pope Adrian IV granting Ireland to the English King, Henry II in 1156, and we arrive at the summit of papal power in 1198, when Pope Innocent III, (1198-1216), ascended the Papal throne. From this throne, Pope Innocent III regulated all the affairs of the world. This was the Pope who excommunicated King John of England, placing his kingdom under interdict, and forcing him to hold his crown and realm as the vassal of the Pope. He also crowned the Emperor Otho IV, obtaining great concessions from him. But Innocent III is outstanding chiefly for his introduction of that infernal institution, the Papal Inquisition. This he set up for the extirpation of “heresy”, being the first Pope to discover the danger to the Papacy in the Scriptural faith and worship of the Albigenses and Waldenses in Southern France, and in the fastnesses of the Alps. The Papal Inquisition was set up by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, the year of Magna Carta in England. Thousands of the Lord’s people perished under the murderous engine of the Papal Inquisition. They held, in the main, the great principles of Scriptural, protestant truth, and showed this by their lives and deaths, inflicted by the Papacy under Innocent III, a Prince of Darkness and his successors, particularly Pope Gregory IX, (1227-1241), who convened the infamous Council of Toulouse in 1229, which organised more strictly this episcopal Inquisition, and forbade the laity to possess the Scriptures, except the Psalter and portions contained in the Breviary.
Thus, we have endeavoured to trace the course of the Papacy from its feeble rise in the 2nd century to its full development in the 13th. In its rise and progress, the Word of God was forsaken, and the sword and false document were freely used. The Papacy is the full development of man’s original apostacy, following upon the apostacy of Satan. The theory of the Papacy is unchanged today. The Papacy holds today that to the Pope all spiritual power has been delegated as head of the Church and God’s Vicegerent on earth; and all temporal power also, for the good of the Church. The Papacy must part with both claims, or none. Roman Catholics pay divine honours to the Pope, and, by the authority of their Canon Law, the Pope is styled the Almighty’s Vicegerent. This is blasphemy and treason.
In this, the 400th anniversary year of Calvin’s death, (he died on May 27th, 1564), we close our Paper with this statement from his “Institutes”, (Book VII, p. 152), “Paul says that Antichrist would sit in the temple of God, (2 Thess. 2, v. 4). But, when, he adds, that in his own time, the mystery of iniquity, which was afterwards to be openly manifested, had begun to work in secret, we thereby understand that this calamity was neither to be introduced by one man, nor to terminate in one man (2 Thess. 2, v. 3; Daniel 7, v. 9). Moreover, when the mark by which he distinguishes Antichrist is, that he would rob God of His honour, and take it to himself, he gives the leading feature which we ought to follow in searching out Antichrist; especially when pride of this description proceeds to the open devastation of the Church. Seeing then it is certain that the Roman Pontiff has impudently transferred to himself the most peculiar properties of God and Christ, there cannot be a doubt that he is the leader and standard-bearer of an impious and abominable Kingdom”.