Elpis Israel/Chapter 13

THE fourth beast of Daniel's vision, the ten-horned and two-horned beasts, and the image of the sixth head of the ten-horned beast, are so many different symbols, which represent the Sin-power in its European constitution. The. apocalyptic beasts and their image are introduced into the thirteenth chapter of Revelation to represent certain things in relation to the Little Horn, to its Eyes, and to its Mouth, which could not have been set forth in the symbol of the Roman dominion seen by Daniel. In this prophet the Eyes of the Little Horn are said to be "like the eyes of a man," which gave it "a look more stout than its fellow-horns." Of the mouth it is said that " it spake very great things," which were "words against the Most High"; and that "because of the voice of these great words," consumption and final destruction came upon the whole beast.

This is the nearest approach the Eyes and Mouth make to that order of men called the Popes. They are represented as an audacious and blasphemous power, "wearing out the saints of the Most High, and changing tirnes and laws"; and concerning the saints, it is added, "They were given into his hand until a time, times and the dividing of tirne."

Under a new symbol, some additional information is given respecting the Eyes and Mouth in the exercise of their power, etc. They are inserted into an image, which is said to resemble that head of the ten-horned beast which had been wounded in its power, throne, and jurisdiction over the third part of the Roman world (Rev 8:12,13; 13:3,14) This was the sixth, or imperial, head. Hence, the Eyes and Mouth were part of an imperial Image. Now, when we look mto the testimony, we find that it did not set up itself; but is the puppet of another power represented by a beast with two horns, which answers to the Little Horn itself, minus the Eyes. The Mouth of the Little Horn, of the two-horned, and of the ten-horned Beasts, is common to the three symbols -- it is mouth to them all. It is said to be like the mouth of a dragon; hence it is Roman and Imperial -- the speaking organ of the three. Now, the same things are affirmed of it by John as by Daniel. He says, "It speaks great things and blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in the heaven." And then it is added that "it was given to him to make war with his saints and to overcome them." It also continues the same length of time which is expressed by " forty-two months" instead of by "time, times, and dividing of time" for it is clear that as long as the beast lives, so long will its mouth continue to speak.

Now, in the exercise of the power given to it, the imperial or Papal image spoke, and in consequence of its speaking it caused all to be killed who would not do homage to it. It also caused all its subjects to be marked with the sign of a cross "in their right hand" in ordination, and " on their foreheads" in paidorhantism and unless a man had this mark it would not permit him to "buy or sell " as a spiritual soul-merchant in its bazaars.

The symbols of this chapter of revelation, it may also be remarked, represent the Gentiles in their civil and ecclesiastical constitution, who tread down the holy city.' (Rev.11:2) This is evident from the testimony, that the beast with its ten horns and mouth of a lion, possessed "power over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." From what has been advanced the reader will then perceive that two parties are represented which are antagonists, namely, the saints and the sin-power. Hence, he has before him a symbolical exhibition of the sentence upon the serpent, saying, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The saints are marshalled on the side of the woman and their persecutors on the side of the serpent. The war has been long, fierce, and bloody; but the saints' victory is certain and the destruction of the beasts and their image inevitable and sure.

In the previous chapter I have briefly sketched the cruelties practised by the Ten Horns, the Little Horn, and the ecclesiastical image upon the witnesses and the holy city (called the saints in the aggregate) in all the countries in which they have appeared. France and the "bloody house of Austria" have been pre-eminent in the strife. They are dyed in infamy of every kind, which they have enacted on the most virtuous of the human race. In all their deeds of fiendishness they have been applauded by the archdemon of the Papacy, who styles them his beloved sons, and the mercenary instruments of his cruelty, his "dear children." Does the reader suppose that the just and merciful Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of those who keep His commandments and have His testimony, hath looked on the fiendism of the sin-power with indifference; and that He will permit their wrongs to die Un-avenged? If he do, he has greatlv mistaken God's character, and knows nothing at all of the awful judgments He has decreed against those who "bruise the heel" of His beloved. Did He judge Egypt for oppressing Israel, though at the time idolaters; did He sink Sodom into the volcanic abyss for its crimes; and did He punish Judah with pestilence, famine, sword, and scattering for eighteen centuries, because of unbelief of " the truth as it is in Jesus," and for killing His servants -- and will He not avenge His elect whom He hath chosen, upon the demoniac powers which have continued to crush them ? The scripture saith, " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints"; and "precious shall their blood be in his sight." If the blood of the murdered Abel, crying from the ground, was heard of God and avenged, what shall be said of that exceeding great and piercing cry, which upon the same principle, ascends to His throne from that ocean of blood which has been poured out like water from the hearts of his slaughtered saints? Doth it not cry aloud to heaven against popes, emperors, kings, hypocritical and blaspheming priests, and their hordes of mercenaries; and against all ecclesiastical abettors of arbitrary power in Church and State? Yes, that voice, though unheard and unheeded by those who worship the beasts and their image, continually ascendeth, and hath " entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth," saying, "How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge aud avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (Rev. 6:10) The hour has come, and the death-knell of the destroyer hath sent forth its clangour throughout the dominion of the Roman beast. As in the case of Sodom, though unseen by the eye of the flesh, God hath "come down to see if they have done altogether according to the cry." He has found it even so. "Their sins have reached unto heaven," therefore. He will reward them double for all the evil with which they have afflicted His saints.

Such, then, is the case before us. The great national crime has been committed, and perpetuated, of converting the truth of God into a lie, of blaspheming His name, and of bruising the heel of His saints. All nations are guilty of this, and as national offences can only, and must necessarily, be punished by national judgments, retribution is pouring out upon them according to the word of the Lord. The outline I have sketched has brought us down to the epoch of the death of the two witnesses. Daniel beheld this, and at the same time received the information, that the Little Horn was to triumph over "the saints" to the end of the beast's life, which it arrives at by the end of 1,260 years. This long period having elapsed, he beheld a sight, the knowledge of which must rejoice the heart of every one who sympathizes in the award of justice to them who are oppressed. He saw a revolution in human affairs that completely reversed every thing that had previously existed. Instead of "the saints" being worn out any longer, he saw the power of judgment given to them to take away the dominion of the Little Horn, to slay the beast, and to destroy his body with the burning flame, so that nothing represented by the symbol should be left.

The territory which is to be the scene of this judgment is all that region comprehended in the Roman Dragon, and in the Austrian and German domain. By the Roman Dragon, I mean the old Roman territory, extending from the Euphrates to the German Ocean, including Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Roman Africa, and the other countries contained within the limits of the ten toe-kingdoms. Upon this territory, then, our attention must be fixed if we would discern the progress of the events by which the beast's destiny is fulfilled. He is to be destroyed by the burning flame. It is evident, therefore, that the territory of his dominion will be turned into a region of flame, in which the populations being everywhere insurgent, and contending with fire and sword against their oppressors, it will become "a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Rev 19:20). Into this are cast alive the two-horned beast of the earth, and the image, which before the end of its existence is stripped of its imperial character, and reduced to the humbler dignity of a "prophet," and that a false one.

What remains of this chapter will be occupied in explaining these words of the prophet, -- "The judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end." (Dan 7:26). The judgment sits upon the whole beast, and consists of slaying and burning. This distinction is preserved in the Apocalypse; for whilst the beast and false prophet are cast alive into a lake of fire, "the remnant," or the horns that remain, are "slain with the sword of him that sits upon the horse, which sword proceedeth out of his mouth." "With the breath of his' lips will he slay the wicked." This implies a prolongation of existence to certain powers beyond that of the beast and false prophet. These will be totally destroyed by "the saints"; but "the remnant" are reserved for a future fate at the hand of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Daniel makes the same distinction in ,the judgment of the fourth beast. Speaking of it as a whole, he says, "I beheld till the beast was slain, and his body given to the burning flame." The consuming affects the body; and the destroying, "the remnant" of his political carcase by the sword. Turkey, and the Austro-Papal dominions, constitute the hody and Little Horn of the beast. These go into perdition first. They entirely disappear from among "the powers that be"; as completely as a carcase cast into Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. After their fate is sealed, a power arises to conquer the toe-, or horn-kingdoms, which are not suppressed, but made tributary to the Conquering power; and are incorporated as vassal kingdoms into his dominion; and under his banner meet the Lord of hosts in battle in the plains of another Waterloo, called Armageddon, where both he and they are overcome, and lose their crowns for ever.

Speaking of the Little Horn, or Austro-Papal power, the prophet says, "They shall take away his dominion." Now the context shows that the agents indicated in "they" are the "saints" with whom the horn has contended so long. In the twenty~second verse he says, "Judgment was given to the saints." Having received power to judge, what use did they make of it? This is answered in the twenty-sixth verse "to take away his dominion"; and if a further inquiry be made, by what means? The reply is by consuming and destroying it with fire and sword. There is a fitness in this. The Austro-Papacy has been established by fraud and violence; and shored up to the end of its existence by murder. It has fattened on the blood of the two witnesses in all countries of its dominion; and therefore the rule of the judgment is to "give them blood to drink, for they are worthy" (Rev 16:6). This is the fate impending over Austria and all thrones which have given their power to execute the will of the Roman prophet.

But to this some may object, How can the saints execute the judgment written, (Psalm 149:5-9) seeing that the beast overcame them and killed them in the reign of Louis XIV ? It is very certain that they cannot, unless they are the subjects of a political resurrection ; and this the testimony affirms they should be. But before they rose from political death, they were to remain politically dead, but unburied, for three symbolic days and a half; after which the spirit of political life from God was to enter into them; and in consequence they were to stand upon their feet, ascend to power, and strike terror into all their enemies who beheld them.(Rev 11:8-12). They were to lie dead and unburied "upon the broad way of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." Jesus was put to death in Judea; but then Judea was a Roman province at the time, and therefore a part of "the great city"; for all the Roman provinces were regarded merely as an extension of Rome which ruled over them, inasmuch as the Roman city was made co-extensive with the empire by the edict of Caracalla. This empire, then, as a whole, is figuratively designated by the Spirit as Sodom and Egypt~as Sodom, because of its filthiness, and as Egypt, because of its darkness; and as Sodom and Egypt conjointly, because the fate of Sodom awaits Rome, and the judgments of Egypt, the nations that acknowledge its spiritual dominion.

The ten horns of the Roman Dragon are ten parts of this great city; the most ample of which, as will be seen by consulting a map of the Roman empire, is the realm of France. It is, therefore, styled "the broad way" by the Spirit. Here the witnesses received their death blow, which was speedily followed by their political death in all other parts of the great city. Though politically dead the witnesses were still visible, or unburied. The democracy and the Calvinists still existed in France; and democracy and dissent in England, where thousands of the Huguenots found refuge; but in all countries of the beast they were at zero in political affairs.

In their exile from Europe, multitudes found an asylum in the American wilderness. There they mingled with their brethren, whose progenitors had expatriated themselves from Britain to escape the galling yoke of Church and State Toryism which was carrying itself with a high hand. Thus, by the tyranny of the beast, liberty and democracy were crushed in Europe, and simultaneously planted in American soil. But even there the witnesses were not permitted to rest, for they lived in the other hemisphere, though dead in this. Home tyranny claiming the right to tax the unrepresented, the descendants of the Puritans and Huguenots resisted, and refused to pay. A profligate and extortionate government goaded them into insurrection, by which they became entitled to the honourable distinction of "rebels," and by their success, to that of "patriots." The struggle was between might and right. An arbitrary government demanded tribute, and an ignorant clergy tithes; and the democracv, religious and secular, gave them lead and steel. This was the old fashion in which they had been accustomed to "devour their enemies" during their 1,260 years' contest with the beast. But the conflict was unequal; and but for the suicidal policy of one of its horns, the witnesses would have again been overcome.

The liberty-hating, and the heretic-slaying, Bourbons sent a fleet and army to enable "liberty, equality and fraternity" to triumph in America! Not that they hated sectarianism and democracy less than formerly, but that they hated England more. La Fayette and his companions, though scions of nobility, became the sons of freedom. Britain was check-mated; and the model republic founded, and acknowledged by all the horns of the beast. There, then, beyond the broad waters of the mighty deep, the tree of liberty, planted by the two prophets of human rights, spreads its ample and expanding branches, affording shade and shelter for the persecuted and oppressed of all nations, who may be fortunate enough to escape the "great iron teeth" and "brazen claws" of the all-devouring monster of the sea.

Peace being proclaimed, the French army returned to Europe in 1783. This proved a refreshing breeze to the democracy of that kingdom. "Philosophers" were hard at work teaching the people to despise the superstition of Rome, and the creatures that fattened upon it. They miscalled it Christianity; as if the religion of Christ had the remotest affinity to that of" Sodom and Egypt" But Romanism was the only view the people had of Christianity; for there had been no testimony borne against it in France for ninety-eight years. The priests taught them that Romanism was the religion of the Bible, but would not permit them to look into it to see. Need one be surprised, then, that when the democracy arose to judgrnent it should abolish such a Christianity as that which had destroyed them; treat the Bible with contempt; and even deny the existence of a God, who was supposed to sanction the falsehoods of Romanism, or to approve its hypocritical and licentious priests? The liberalism of the American auxiliaries manifested itself soon after their return, in the appearance of an American party in French politics. The influence of this in connection with the scepticism of " the philosophers," became " the breath of (political) life from God." It entered into the unburied 'witnesses and "they stood upon their feet," ready for action. Thus they drew their first breath in the very city where they had received their death blow.

A few words may be offered here respecting the time signified by "three days and a half," during which the two witnesses were deprived of political life. The Apocalypse as a whole is a miniature representation of "the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter" (Rev 1:1,19); that is, of things in existence while John was in Patmos, and of the things shortly to happen after he wrote, and until the setting up of the kingdom. Everything is exhibited on a smaller scale than the reality; and the time of the symbols is in keeping with them. Thus, multitudes of witnesses are reduced to two; and the years of their prophesying, to days. It would have been a violation of the fitness of things to have made them testify for 1,260 years, because this is far beyond the duration of human life, which is the rule of speaking in the case. So in indicating the time of their unburied state, the real time must be expressed in accordance with the physical laws. A dead body might lie in the open air for "three days and a half" without disappearing; but not three years and a half, or three months and a half. Hence, the symbol required the smallest possible period capable of expressing the real time of their political non-existence; and that is "three days and a half."

The time that elapsed between their death in 1685, and their resurrection in 1790, was 105 years. This is a period contalned in three lunations and a half, on the day for a year principle. It is harmoniously related to the "forty-two months" of the down-treading of the Holy City mentioned in Rev. 11:2. That is to say, forty-two months equals three-and-a-half years, which, in prophetic language, would be expressed as "three days and a half."

This consideration led Mr. Bicheno, a Baptist Pastor in Newbury, England, in 1793, to conclude that lunar days were intended. Taking the Jewish month of 30 days (for the 42 months of Rev. 11:2 are coupled with the 1,260 days in verse 3), Mr. Bicheno found that three-and-a-half times thirty, or 105 days (years), gave just the interval from the death of the witnesses in 1685 to their political resurrection in 1790, in the time of the Great French Revolution. Mr. Bicheno, though cloudy on some points, was nevertheless, sufficiently sound to be regarded as one of the witnesses. He did well in stirring up his own generation to the study of the Apocalypse; and in discovering for us the true import of the "three days and a half." His labour was not lost; and we thank our Heavenly Father for raising up such witnesses, whose memory the faithful in Christ Jesus do always delight to honour.

Now, "after three days and a half, the breath of life from God entered into the witnesses"; that is, after the three months and a half of day-years had fully expired, "they stood upon their feet." The death-period elapsed on Feb. 18, 1789, and in two months and fourteen days after, being May 4, they accepted the invitation of "a great voice from the heaven," saying to them, "Come up hither!" This great voice was the royal proclamation by which the States General were convened, and in which the witnesses took their seats as the third estate of the kingdom. They soon proved their existence there by the events which followed. They ascended to power in a portentous cloud, which burst upon the devoted heads of their enemies; and in the earthquake which followed they shook the world.

The resurrection of the Calvinist, and Secular, democracies, in the great city, constitutes a great and remarkable epoch in prophetic time. It was 1,260 years from A.D. 529. Now when we turn to the history of that period, we find that it also is dignified as a notable epoch of the times of the Gentiles. From 529 to December 16, 533, a period of four years and eight months, there were published the celebrated code, pandects, institutes, and novels of Justinian. "These were declared," says Gibbon, "to be the legitimate system of civil jurisprudence; they alone were admitted in the tribunals; and they alone were taught in the academies of Rome, Constantinople, and Berytus. He addressed them to the senate and provinces as his eternal oracles; and his pride, under the mask of piety, ascribed the consummation of this great design to the support and inspiration of the Deity." These documents became the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of the Roman empire; and as the new kingdoms of the west looked up to the majesty of Constantinople and the episcopate of Rome as the founts of jurisprudence, civilization, and religion, they gradually came to adopt the Justinian as the common law code of their kingdoms. An incident recorded in the memoirs of Lavallette will illustrate the truth of this. "The events that preceded the grand drama of 1789," says he, "took me by surprise in the midst of my books, and my love of study. I was then reading the Esprit des Lois, a work that charmed me by its gravity, etc. I wished also to become acquainted with the code of the laws of France; but Dommanget, to whom I mentioned my desire, laughed, and pointed to the Justinian code as the common law code of the kingdom." The institutes were published in 533, and in that year, in the case of an appeal by the Emperor Justinian to the ecclesiastical decision of the Bishop of Rome, he addressed him as the head of all the holy churches of the empire.

But the Justinian code was not adopted by Europe simultaneously, nor in 534, when his labours were complete. He had made the Roman bishop spiritual head of the empire, but his supremacy was not acknowledged by the toe-kingdoms until about seventy-five years after. Students flocked from all of them to the schools of Rome, Constantinople and Berytus, where they studied the law of the empire; and from these centres also priests and missionaries were sent to propagate the faith, and to convert the governments of the west to the religion of the Roman bishop. When this was accomplished, Roman law and Roman superstition struck deep root among the institutions of the west. The Roman high priest was regarded as their spiritual father; and the emperor, as the imperial head of the divided, but still Roman, dominion of the east and west. This work required years to complete; but when finished, as it was about 606 or 608, we find the contest between the Bishop of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople, for the spiritual supremacy of the world, brought to a conclusion by the former being proclaimed universal bishop by the Emperor Phocas. From 529 to 604 is a period of 75 years; and from 533 to 608 is also 75 years; and between 604 and 608, the Bishop of Rome obtained his legal recognition, which was celebrated by the erection of a statue to Phocas, with the date of 608 inscribed upon it.

This period of 75 years with a double beginning and a double ending of four years, is the period of the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of the ten-horned beast, when the Roman Dragon "gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority." (Rev 13:2) Now this symbol is to "continue forty and two months," which is. the representative time of the continuance of the things represented by the symbol expressed in miniature. It is the symbolical duration of the decemregal and imperial constitution of Roman. Europe. Daniel expresses the same duration by the phrase, "time, times, and dividing of time"; which also represents l,260 years. The beasts and their image, and the little horn and his eyes and mouth, are to prevail against the saints until the end of that period. The little horn, and the two-horned beast and the image, do not exist all that time; for they did not appear till 270 years "after" the Justinian epoch: but although they did not all rise from the earth and sea, and attain to dominion at one and the same time, yet it is plainly revealed, that they are all to lose their independence, and finally their sovereignties at the end of the 1,260 or forty-two months of years; so that while the ten horns will have practised 1,260 years from the time of Phocas, the little horn and his apocalyptic synonyms will have existed only somewhat more than 1,000. The Bishop of Rome, however, as lion mouth of the ten horns, will have passed through his 1,260 years.

Not to interrupt the train of thought before us, I shall finish what I have to say about the time of the beast before I return to the subject of the witnesses. The prophet saith, "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the 1,335 days." (Dan 12:12,13) The end of this period is a time of blessedness to the saints of the Holy City, because like Daniel they shall "stand in their lot in the end of the days." But so long as the fourth beast "prospers" this cannot be; for the Gentiles tread down the Holy City until the 42 months expire. . . . There will, however, be no delay of the resurrection on account of the "practising" of the beast, because it will have to be destroyed out of the way by the Holy City. The prophet informs us, that all things shown to him are to be finished after a "time, times, and a half," (Dan 12:7,2) or 1,260 years; and among these wonders is the resurrection of many of the dead to everlasting life....(Dan 12:7,2)

"Justinian's legislation (A.D. 530-3) was all devoted to the building up and strengthening of the Catholic Church; while the legislation of the National Assembly (A.D. 1790-3) was all directed to its destruction. It is a remarkable fact that these two mutually antagonistic and subversive systems of legislation flourished exactly 1,260 years apart from epoch to epoch, and that the one hour of 30 years added to it, or 1,290, brings us to the beginning of the outpouring of the sixth vial (A.D. 1820) 'upon the great River Euphrates.' . . . Is this, indeed, the true ending of Daniel's 1,290? And, if so, is A.D. 1865-6 the ending of the 1,335, as well as of John's forty and two months? If it be, then there is an epoch upon us of four years in any day of which Christ may come as a thief. . . . This appears to me, at this writing, to be the correct interpretation of the times. It is, of course, impossible to say that the interpretation is without error. The ensuing years will determine this point beyond dispute. while I write, it is the most satisfactory to my own mind. I have thought that Daniel's 1,290 terminated in 1864, and his 1,335 in 1909. But in writing the exposition of this chapter, the fact of the great earthquake-resurrection of the witnesses being exactly 1,260 years after the promulgation of the civil law of the city, and the hour of 30 years added, bringing us to the beginning of the pouring out upon the desolator of the Holy Land, that which is determined (Dan. 9: 27), or 1,290 years afterwards -- I do not feel at liberty to persist in rejecting my original conviction that the 1,290 ends in 1820; and the 1,335 forty-five years after, or in the epoch current with 1865-6 or thereabouts.

In A.D. 800 came the restoration of the Roman empire of the west, or establishment of the little Latin Horn of Daniel, and two horned beast, and the image, of the Apocalypse. This was 270 years from the publication of the Justinian code; and 240 from the settlement of Italy, according to the articles of the Pragmatic sanction, by which "Rome was degraded to the second rank" among the cities of the empire. The fourth trumpet, which proclaimed the smiting of the sixth head of the Beast in its jurisdiction over a third part of the Roman territory, still continued its soundiugs. The events which pertained to it yet, showed themselves in the wars between Justinian and the Vandals, Goths, and other people, until Italy was depopulated of many millions of its inhabitants. Under this trumpet, the sovereignty of the eternal city suffered a total eclipse; so that the imperial day shone not upon her "for a third part of it, and the night likewise" (Rev 8:12). This was a day and night of years, the minimum of time demanded by the nature of the eclipse.

A day of years, and a night of years, are each 360 years along; for as a day in symbolic time represents a year, or 360 days; so if the decorum of the symbol require it, each of these days may represent a year. A scripture, or Jewish, day contains 12 hours; and a night likewise. Hence, the third part of a day is four hours; and the third part of a night, four hours also. An hour being a twelfth part is equal to 30, which multiplied by 4 gives 120 years for the third part of the day; and 120 years for the third part of the night, which added together make 240 years. Now, if my calculation and interpretation be correct, it follows that Rome (in which there had been seven sovereignties from the foundation of the city till the fall of the Gothic kingdom of Italy in A.D. 553) should be no more the seat of empire, from the degradation by the Pragmatic sanction until the end of 240 years. In other words, that at the end of that period her eclipse should terminate, and she should once more shine forth with imperial splendour.

Now, no interpretation of prophecy is worth anything which is not sustained by facts; for prophecy is not a prediction of opinions, principles, or feelings, but of tangible and stubborn facts. What, then, are the facts in the case before us? I give the answer to this question in the words of Gibbon. "On the festival of Christmas," says he, "the last year of the eighth century (i.e., 800) Charlemagne appeared in the church of St. Peter. After the celebration of the holy mysteries, Leo suddenly placed a precious crown upon his head, and the dome resounded with the acclamations of the people, 'Long life and victory to 'Charles, the most pious Augustus, crowned by God the great and pacific emperor of the Romans!' The head and body of Charlemagne were consecrated by the royal unction; after the example .of the Caesars, he was saluted or adored by the pontiff; his coronation oath represents a promise to maintain the faith and privileges of the Church; and the frrst fruits were paid in his rich offerings to the shrine of the aposile." Gibbon styles him "the Restorer of the western empire," which included France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Hungary; and from the restoration of which Europe," says he, "dates a new era." Thus, Rome's eclipse passed away, and her system was again illumined by the shining forth of the imperial sun, moon, and stars over the third part from which they had been so long obscured.