The Holy Scripture - english version B.indd - Sabbat

326Pre-Reformation Interpreters.Berengaud‘s commentary on the Apocalypse, written in the same century, isthe least satisfactory of all. He was a Benedictine monk, and lived at a very darkperiod. His notion was that antichrist would be an avowed infidel andan open advocate of licentiousness. He was, as fas as is known,the first interpreter to propound this view.The interval during which these interpreters lived was marked by the steadyrise, but not by the full manifestation of the Papacy. Two notions contributedpowerfully to prevent their recognising in the imperfectly developed Papacythe predicted „man of sin.“ They imagined that as the eastern empire ofRome, seated at Constantinople, still continued, the „let“ or hindrance to themanifestation of antichrist remained, completely overlooking the fact that theantichristian power foretold in prophecy is definitely linked with the sevenhills of Rome, and thus with the fall of the western empire, and the apostasyof the Latin or western Church.Then they spiritualized and explained away a great deal of prophecy, andsupposed that they were living in the millenium, and that the antichrist wouldnot be manifested till the brief outbreak of evil at its close. This false notion hadfatal consequences. While these interpreters, in common with the generality ofChristians at their period, were looking for the advent of the „man of sin“ in thedistant future, he stole unperceived into their midst, and usurped the place ofChrist over His unwatchful flock.Before we leave this mediæval period, there are three remarkable testimoniesto which we must just refer. Gregory the Great, in the sixth century, declaredbefore Christiendom that whosoever called himself universal bishop or universalpriest was the precursor of antichrist. In this he was doubtless perfectlycorrect. When Boniface III., shortly after the death of Gregory, took his titlein the year 607, he became the precursor of antichrist, as fully reavealed underBoniface VIII.Gherbert of Rheims, before the year 1000, said of the pope sitting on his loftythrone in gold and purple, that if destitute of charity, he was antichristsitting in the temple of God.Lastly, Berenger, in the elventh century, referring to the pope‘s enforcementat that time of the doctrine of transsubstantiation, affirmedthe Roman see to be not the apostolic seat, but the seatof Satan.Thus gradually did an understanding of the true character of the Papacy dawnupon the Christian Church of this period.We will now, in the third and last place, briefly consider the history ofprophetic interpretation from the time of Gregory VII., in the eleventh century,to the Reformation, in the sixteenth.The pontificate of Gregory VII. was the era of the Papacy unveiled. At thisdate the pope dropped the mask of the shepherd, and exchanged the crook for thesceptre and the sword. The accession of Gregory VII. in 1073 is a great landmarkin the Church‘s history. Gregory VII., or Hildebrand, as he was called, created, aswe have before stated, the Papal theocracy. Do you know what this mean? He