The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.S3one Bishop of Rome had absorbed all the bishops of thewest. There was but one huge episcopate, with its headupon the Seven Hills ; while its hundred limbs, like thoseof the giant Briareus of classic mythology, were stretchedout over Europe, forming a monster of so anomalous andnondescript a character, that nowhere shall we find a figureadequately to depict it, save among the inspired hieroglyphicsof the Apocalypse, where it is porti'ayed under thesymbol of a beast, of lamb-like mien but dragon-ferocity.*At last the empire of the west was dissolved. The seatwhich had been occupied so long by the master of theworld was now empty.This had been noted beforehand inprophecy as the instant sign of the coming of Antichrist,that is, of his full revelation; for, as we have already seen,the Mystery of Iniquity was operative in the apostles'* days." He who now letteth will let,"'"' said Paul, alluding to theimperial power, which, so long as it existed, was an effectualobstruction to the papal supremacy,— " he who now lettethwill let, till he be taken out of the way ; and then shall thatWicked be revealed. "•f-The overthrow of the empire contributedmost materially towards the elevation of the Bishopof Rome; for, ^rst, it took the Caesars out of the way. " Asecret hand," says De Maistre, "' chased the emperors fromthe Eternal City, to give it to the head of the EternalChurclL^J Second, It compelled the bishops of Rome, nowdeprived of the imperial influence which had hitherto helpedthem so mightily in their struggles for pre-eminence, to fallback on another element, and that an element which constitutesthe very essence of the Papacy, and on which is foundedthe whole complex fabric of the spiritual and temporal dominationof the popes. The rank of Rome, as the seat ofgovernment and the metropolis of the world, had liftedher bishop to a proud pre-eminence above his peers. ButRome was the head of empire no longer : the prestige of* Revelations, xiii. 11. t 2 Thessaloaians, ii. 7, 8.J Du Pape, liv. ii. c. vl. p. ISO ; Lyon. 1S45.D