The Great Controversy
Appendix
General Notes
Revisions adopted by the E. G. White Trustees
November 19, 1956, and December 6, 1979
Page 679
Page 50.
[Return to Page:
50]
Titles.--In a passage which is included in the Roman Catholic Canon Law, or
Corpus Juris Canonici, Pope Innocent III declares that the Roman pontiff is "the
vicegerent upon earth, not of a mere man, but of very God;" and in a gloss on the passage it
is explained that this is because he is the vicegerent of Christ, who is "very God and very
man." See
Decretales Domini Gregorii Papae IX (Decretals of the Lord Pope Gregory
IX), liber 1,
de translatione Episcoporum, (on the transference of Bishops),
title 7, ch. 3;
Corpus Juris Canonici (2d Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; (Paris,
1612), tom. 2,
Decretales, col. 205. The documents which formed the Decretals
were gathered by Gratian, who was teaching at the University of Bologna about the year
1140. His work was added to and re-edited by Pope Gregory IX in an edition issued in 1234.
Other documents appeared in succeeding years from time to time including the
Extravagantes, added toward the close of the fifteenth century. All of these, with
Gratian's
Decretum, were published as the
Corpus Juris Canonici in
1582. Pope Pius X authorized the codification in Canon law in 1904, and the resulting code
became effective in 1918.
For the title "Lord God the Pope" see a gloss on the Extravagantes of Pope
John XXII, title 14, ch. 4, Declaramus. In an Antwerp edition of the
Extravagantes, dated 1584, the words "Dominum Deum nostrum
Papam" ("Our Lord God the Pope") occur in column 153. In a Paris edition, dated
1612, they occur in column 140. In several editions published since 1612 the word
"Deum" ("God") has been omitted.
Page 50.
[Return to Page: 86]
Infallibility.--On the doctrine of infallibility as set forth at the Vatican Council of
1870-71, see Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, vol. 2, Dogmatic
Decrees of the Vatican Council, pp. 234-271, where both the Latin and the English
texts are given. For discussion see, for the Roman Catholic view, The Catholic
Encyclopedia, vol. 7, art. "Infallibility," by Patrick J. Toner, p. 790 ff.; James
Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (Baltimore: John Murphy Company,
110th ed., 1917), chs. 7, 11. For Roman Catholic opposition to the doctrine of papal
infallibility, see Johann Joseph Ignaz von Doellinger (pseudonym "Janus") The Pope
and the Council (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1869); and W.J. Sparrow
Simpson, Roman Catholic Opposition to Papal Infallibility (London: John
Murray, 1909). For the non-Roman view, see George Salmon, Infallibility of the
Church (London: John Murray, rev. ed., 1914).
Page 680
Page 52.
[Return to Page:
52]
Image worship.--"The worship of images . . . was one of those corruptions of
Christianity which crept into the church stealthily and almost without notice or observation.
This corruption did not, like other heresies, develop itself at once, for in that case it would
have met with decided censure and rebuke: but, making its commencement under a fair
disguise, so gradually was one practice after another introduced in connection with it, that
the church had become deeply steeped in practical idolatry, not only without any efficient
opposition, but almost without any decided remonstrance; and when at length an endeavor
was made to root it out, the evil was found too deeply fixed to admit of removal. . . . It
must be traced to the idolatrous tendency of the human heart, and its propensity to serve the
creature more than the Creator. . . .
"Images and pictures were first introduced into churches, not to be worshiped, but either
in the place of books to give instruction to those who could not read, or to excite devotion in
the minds of others. How far they ever answered such a purpose is doubtful; but, even
granting that this was the case for a time, it soon ceased to be so, and it was found that
pictures and images brought into churches darkened rather than enlightened the minds of the
ignorant--degraded rather than exalted the devotion of the worshiper. So that, however they
might have been intended to direct men's minds to God, they ended in turning them from
Him to the worship of created things."--J. Mendham, The Seventh General Council, the
Second of Nicaea, Introduction, pages iii-vi.
For a record of the proceedings and decisions of the Second Council of Nicaea, A.D. 787,
called to establish the worship of images, see Baronius, Ecclesiastical Annals,
vol. 9, pp. 391-407 (Antwerp, 1612); J. Mendham, The Seventh General Council, the
Second of Nicaea; Ed. Stillingfleet, Defense of the Discourse Concerning the
Idolatry Practiced in the Church of Rome (London, 1686); A Select Library of
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2d series, vol. 14, pp. 521-587 (New York, 1900);
Charles J. Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church, From the Original
Documents, b. 18, ch. 1, secs. 332, 333; ch. 2, secs. 345-352 (T. and T. Clark ed.,
1896), vol. 5, pp. 260-304, 342-372.
Page 53.
[Return to Pages: 53,
574]
The Sunday Law of Constantine.--The law issued by the emperor Constantine on
the seventh of March, A.D. 321, regarding a day of rest from labor, reads thus:
"All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable Day of the
Sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the fields, because it
frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for planting the grain in the furrows
or the vines in trenches. So that the advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the
occasion of a short time perish."--Joseph Cullen Ayer, A Source Book for Ancient
Church History (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913), div. 2, per. 1, ch. 1, sec.
59, g, pp. 284, 285.
The Latin original is in the Codex Justiniani (Codex of Justinian), lib. 3,
Page 681
title 12, lex. 3. The law is given in Latin and in English translation in Philip Schaff's
History of the Christian Church, vol. 3, 3d period, ch. 7, sec. 75, p. 380,
footnote 1; and in James A. Hessey's
Bampton Lectures, Sunday, lecture 3, par.
1, 3d ed., Murray's printing of 1866, p. 58. See discussion in Schaff, as above referred to;
in Albert Henry Newman,
A Manual of Church History (Philadelphia: The
American Baptist Publication Society, printing of 1933), rev. ed., vol. 1, pp. 305-307; and
in Leroy E. Froom,
The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers (Washington, D.C.:
Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1950), vol. 1, pp. 376-381.
Page 54.
[Return to Pages: 54,
266]
Prophetic dates.--An important principle in prophetic interpretation in
connection with time prophecies is the year-day principle, under which a day of prophetic
time is counted as a calendar year of historic time. Before the Israelites entered the land of
Canaan they sent twelve spies ahead to investigate. The spies were gone forty days, and upon
their return the Hebrews, frightened at their report, refused to go up and occupy the
Promised Land. The result was a sentence the Lord passed upon them: "After the number of
the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear
your iniquities, even forty years." Numbers 14:34. A similar method of computing future
time is indicated through the prophet Ezekiel. Forty years of punishment for iniquities
awaited the kingdom of Judah. The Lord said through the prophet: "Lie again on thy right
side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee
each day for a year." Ezekiel 4:6. This year-day principle has an important application in
interpreting the time of the prophecy of the "two thousand and three hundred evenings and
mornings" (Daniel 8:14, R.V.) and the 1260-day period, variously indicated as "a time and
times and the dividing of time" (Daniel 7:25), the "forty and two months" (Revelation 11:2;
13:5), and the "thousand two hundred and threescore days" (Revelation 11:3; 12:6).
Page 56.
[Return to Page: 56]
Forged writings.--Among the documents that at the present time are generally
admitted to be forgeries, the Donation of Constantine and the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals are
of primary importance. "The 'Donation of Constantine' is the name traditionally applied,
since the later Middle Ages, to a document purporting to have been addressed by Constantine
the Great to Pope Sylvester I, which is found first in a Parisian manuscript (Codex lat.
2777) of probably the beginning of the ninth century. Since the eleventh century it has
been used as a powerful argument in favor of the papal claims, and consequently since the
twelfth it has been the subject of a vigorous controversy. At the same time, by rendering it
possible to regard the papacy as a middle term between the original and the medieval Roman
Empire, and thus to form a theoretical basis of continuity for the reception of the Roman law
in the Middle Ages, it has had no small influence upon secular history."--The New
Page 682
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. 3, art. "Donation of
constantine," pp. 484, 485.
The historical theory developed in the "Donation" is fully discussed in Henry E. Cardinal
Manning's The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, London, 1862. The
arguments of the "Donation" were of a scholastic type, and the possibility of a forgery was
not mentioned until the rise of historical criticism in the fifteenth century. Nicholas of Cusa
was among the first to conclude that Constantine never made any such donation. Lorenza
Valla in Italy gave a brilliant demonstration of its spuriousness in 1450. See Christopher B.
Coleman's Treatise of Lorenzo Valla on the Donation of Constantine (New York,
1927). For a century longer, however, the belief in the authenticity of the "Donation" and of
the False Decretals was kept alive. For example, Martin Luther at first accepted
the decretals, but he soon said to Eck: "I impugn these decretals;" and to Spalatin: "He [the
pope] does in his decretals corrupt and crucify Christ, that is, the truth."
It is deemed established that the "donation" is (1) a forgery, (2) the work of one man or
period, (3) the forger has made use of older documents, (4) the forgery originated around
752 and 778. As for the Catholics, they abandoned the defense of the authenticity of the
document with Baronius, Ecclesiastical Annals, in 1592. Consult for the best
text, K. Zeumer, in the Festgabe fur Rudolf von Gneist (Berlin, 1888). Translat-
ed in Coleman's Treatise, referred to above, and in Ernest F. Henderson,
Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages (New York, 1892), p. 319;
Briefwechsel (Weimar ed.), pp. 141, 161. See also The New Schaff-Herzog
Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1950), vol. 3, p. 484; F. Gregorovius,
Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. 2, p. 329; and Johann Joseph Ignaz von
Doellinger, Fables Respecting the Popes of the Middle Ages (London, 1871).
The "false writings" referred to in the text include also the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals,
together with other forgeries. The Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals are certain fictitious letters
ascribed to early popes from Clement (A.D. 100) to Gregory the Great (A.D. 600),
incorporated in a ninth century collection purporting to have been made by "Isidore
Mercator." The name "Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals" has been in use since the advent of
criticism in the fifteenth century.
Pseudo-Isidore took as the basis of his forgeries a collection of valid canons called the
Hispana Gallica Augustodunensis, thus lessening the danger of detection, since
collections of canons were commonly made by adding new matter to old. Thus his forgeries
were less apparent when incorporated with genuine material. The falsity of the
Pseudo-Isidorian fabrications is now incontestably admitted, being proved by internal
evidence, investigation of the sources, the methods used, and the fact that this material was
unknown before 852. Historians agree that 850 or 851 is the most probable date for the
completion of the collection, since the document is first cited in the Admonitio of
the capitulary of Quiercy, in 857.
The author of these forgeries is not known. It is probable that they
Page 683
emanated from the aggressive new church party which formed in the ninth century at
Rheims, France. It is agreed that Bishop Hincmar of Rheims used these decretals in his
deposition of Rothad of Soissons, who brought the decretals to Rome in 864 and laid them
before Pope Nicholas I.
Among those who challenged their authenticity were Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464),
Charles Dumoulin (1500-1566), and George Cassender (1513- 1564). The irrefutable proof
of their falsity was conveyed by David Blondel, 1628.
An early edition is given in Migne Patrolgia Latina, CXXX. For the oldest and
best manuscript, see P. Hinschius, Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianiae at capitula
Angilramni (Leipzig, 1863). Consult The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of
Religious Knowledge (1950), vol. 9, pp. 343-345. See also H. H. Milman, Latin
Christianity (9 vols.), vol. 3; Johann Joseph Ignaz von Doellinger, The Pope and
the Council (1869); and Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of
Christianity (1939), vol. 3; The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5, art. "False
Decretals," and Fournier, "Etudes sure les Fausses Decretals," in Revue d'Historique
Ecclesiastique (Louvain) vol. 7 (1906), and vol. 8 (1907).
Page 57.
[Return to Page: 57]
The Dictate of Hildebrand (Gregory VII).--For the original Latin version see
Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici, ann. 1076, vol. 17, pp. 405, 406 of the Paris
printing of 1869; and the Monumenta Germaniae Historica Selecta, vol. 3, p. 17.
For an English translation see Frederic A. Ogg, Source Book of Medieval
History (New York: American Book Co., 1907), ch. 6, sec. 45, pp. 262-264; and
Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar H. Mcneal, source Book for Medieval History
(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905), sec. 3, item 65, pp. 136-139.
For a discussion of the background of the Dictate, see James Bryce, The
Holy Roman Empire, rev. ed., ch. 10; and James W. Thompson and Edgar N.
Johnson, An Introduction to Medieval Europe, 300-1500, pages 377-380.
Page 59.
[Return to Page: 59]
Purgatory.--Dr. Joseph Faa Di Bruno thus defines purgatory: "Purgatory is a
state of suffering after this life, in which those souls are for a time detained, who depart this
life after their deadly sins have been remitted as to the stain and guilt, and as to the
everlasting pain that was due to them; but who have on account of those sins still some debt
of temporal punishment to pay; as also those souls which leave this world guilty only of
venial sins."--Catholic Belief (1884 ed.; imprimatur Archbishop of New York),
page 196.
See also K. R. Hagenbach, Compendium of the History of Doctrines (T. and T.
Clark ed.) vol. 1, pp. 234-237, 405, 408; vol. 2, pp. 135-150, 308, 309; Charles Elliott,
Delineation of Roman Catholicism, b. 2, ch. 12; The Catholic
Encyclopedia, vol. 12, art. "Purgatory."
Page 59.
[Return to Pages: 59,
84,
103,
128]
Indulgences.--For a detailed history of the doctrine of indulgences see Mandell
Creighton, A History of the Papacy from The Great
Page 684
Schism to the Sack of Rome (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1911), vol. 5,
pp. 56-64, 71; W. H. Kent, "Indulgences,"
The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 7,
pp. 783-789; H. C. Lea,
A History of Auricular Confession and Indulgences in the
Latin Church (Philadelphia: Lea Brothers and Co., 1896); Thomas M. Lindsay,
A History of the Reformation (New York; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917), vol.
1, pp. 216-227; Albert Henry Newman,
A Manual of Church History
(Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publication Society, 1953), vol. 2, pp. 53, 54, 62;
Leopold Ranke,
History of the Reformation in Germany (2d London ed., 1845),
translated by Sarah Austin, vol. 1, pp. 331, 335-337, 343-346; Preserved Smith,
The
Age of the Reformation (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1920), pp. 23-25, 66.
On the practical outworkings of the doctrine of indulgences during the period of the
Reformation see a paper by Dr. H. C. Lea, entitled, "Indulgences in Spain," published in
Papers of the American Society of Church History, vol. 1, pp. 129-171. Of the
value of this historical sidelight Dr. Lea says in his opening paragraph: "Unvexed by the
controversy which raged between Luther and Dr. Eck and Silvester Prierias, Spain continued
tranquilly to follow in the old and beaten path, and furnishes us with the incontestable
official documents which enable us to examine the matter in the pure light of history."
Page 59.
[Return to Page: 59]
The Mass.--For the doctrine of the mass as set forth at the Council of Trent see
The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent in Philip Schaff, Creeds of
Christendom, vol. 2, pp. 126-139, where both Latin and English texts are given. See
also H. G. Schroeder, Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (St. Louis,
Missouri: B. Herder, 1941).
For a discussion of the mass see The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol 5, art.
"Eucharist," by Joseph Pohle, page 572 ff.; Nikolaus Gihr, Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,
Dogmatically, Liturgically, Ascetically Explained, 12th ed. (St. Louis, Missouri: B.
Herder, 1937); Josef Andreas Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite, Its Origins and
Development, translated from the German by Francis A. Brunner (New York:
Benziger Bros., 1951). For the non-Catholic view, see John Calvin, Institutes of the
Christian Religion, b. 4, chs. 17, 18; and Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Doctrine
of the Real Presence (Oxford, England: John H. Parker, 1855).
Page 65.
[Return to Page: 65]
The Sabbath Among the Waldenses.--There are writers who have maintained that
the Waldenses made a general practice of observing the seventh-day Sabbath. This concept
arose from sources which in the original Latin describe the Waldenses as keeping the
Dies Dominicalis, or Lord's day (Sunday), but in which through a practice which
dates from the Reformation, the word for "Sunday" has been translated "Sabbath."
But there is historical evidence of some observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the
Waldenses. A report of an inquisition before whom were brought some Waldenses of
Moravia
in the middle of the fifteenth century declares that among the Waldenses "not a few indeed
celebrate the
Page 685
Sabbath with the Jews."--Johann Joseph Ignaz von Doellinger,
Beitrage zur
Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters (Reports on the History of the Sects of the Middle
Ages), Munich, 1890, 2d pt., p. 661. There can be no question that this source
indicates the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath.
Page 65.
[Return to Page: 65]
Waldensian Versions of the Bible.--On recent discoveries of Waldensian
manuscripts see M. Esposito, "Sur quelques manuscrits de l'ancienne litterature des Vaudois
du Piemont," in Revue d'Historique Ecclesiastique (Louvain, 1951), p. 130 ff.;
F. Jostes, "Die Waldenserbibeln," in Historisches Jahrbuch, 1894; D. Lortsch,
Histoire de la Bible en France (Paris, 1910), ch. 10.
A classic written by one of the Waldensian "barbs" is Jean Leger, Histoire Generale
des Eglises Evangeliques des Vallees de Piemont (Leyden, 1669), which was written at
the time of the great persecutions and contains firsthand information with drawings.
For the literature of Waldensian texts see A. Destefano, Civilta Medioevale
(1944); and Riformatori ed eretici nel medioeve (Palermo, 1938); J. D. Bounous,
The Waldensian Patois of Pramol (Nashville, 1936); and A. Dondaine,
Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum (1946).
For the history of the Waldenses some of the more recent, reliable works are: E. Comba,
History of the Waldenses in Italy (see later Italian edition published in Torre
Pellice, 1934); E. Gebhart, Mystics and Heretics (Boston, 1927); G. Gonnet,
Il Valdismo Medioevale, Prolegomeni (Torre Pellice, 1935); and Jalla,
Histoire des Vaudois et leurs colonies (Torre Pellice, 1935).
Page 77.
[Return to Page: 77]
Edict Against the Waldenses.--A considerable portion of the text of the papal
bull issued by Innocent VIII in 1487 against the Waldenses (the original of which is in the
library of the University of Cambridge) is given, in an English translation, in John
Dowling's History of Romanism (1871 ed.), b. 6, ch. 5, sec. 62.
Page 85.
[Return to Page: 85]
Wycliffe.--The historian discovers that the name of Wycliffe has many different
forms of spelling. For a full discussion of these see J. Dahmus, The Prosecution of
John Wyclyf (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952), p. 7.
Page 86.
[Return to Page: 86]
Infallibility.
For the original text of the papal bulls issued against Wycliffe with English translation
see J. Dahmus, The Prosecution of John Wyclyf (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1952), pp. 35-49; also John Foxe, Acts and Monuments of the Church
(London: Pratt Townsend, 1870), vol. 3, pp. 4-13.
For a summary of these bulls sent to the archbishop of Canterbury, to King Edward, and
to the chancellor of the University of Oxford, see Merle d'Aubigne, The History of the
Reformation in the Sixteenth Century (London: Blackie and Son, 1885), vol. 4, div. 7,
p. 93; August Neander, General
Page 686
History of the Christian Church (Boston: Crocker and Brester, 1862), vol. 5, pp.
146, 147; George Sargeant,
History of the Christian Church (Dallas: Frederick
Publishing House, 1948), p. 323; Gotthard V. Lechler,
John Wycliffe and His English
Precursors (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1878), pp. 162-164; Philip Schaff,
History of the Christian Church (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1915), vol.
5, pt. 2, p. 317.
Page 104.
[Return to Page: 104]
Council of Constance.--A primary source on the Council of Constance is
Richendal Ulrich, Das Concilium so zu Constanz gehalten ist worden (Augsburg,
1483, Incun.). An interesting, recent study of this text, based on the "Aulendorf Codex,"
is in the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library, published by Carl Kup,
Ulrich von Richental's Chronicle of the Council of Constance (New York, 1936).
See also H. Finke (ed.), Acta Concilii Constanciensis (1896), vol. 1; Hefele,
Conciliengeschichte (9 vols.), vols. 6, 7; L. Mirbt, Quellen zur Geschichte
des Papsttums (1934); Milman, Latin Christianity, vol. 7, pp. 426-524;
Pastor, The History of the Popes (34 vols.), vol. 1, p. 197 ff.
More recent publications on the council are K. Zaehringer, Das Kardinal Kollegium
auf dem Konstanzer Konzil (Muenster, 1935); Th. F. Grogau, The Conciliar
Theory as It Manifested Itself at the Council of Constance (Washington, 1949); Fred
A. Kremple, Cultural Aspects of the Council of Constance and Basel (Ann
Arbor, 1955); John Patrick McGowan, d'Ailly and the Council of Constance
(Washington: Catholic University, 1936).
For John Huss see John Hus, Letters, 1904; E. J. Kitts, Pope John XXIII
and Master John Hus (London, 1910); D. S. Schaff, John Hus (1915);
Schwarze, John Hus (1915); and Matthew Spinka, John Hus and the Czech
Reform (1941).
Page 234.
[Return to Page: 234]
Jesuitism.--For a statement concerning the origin, the principles, and the
purposes of the "Society of Jesus," as outlined by members of this order, see a work entitled
Concerning Jesuits, edited by the Rev. John Gerard, S.J., and published in
London, 1902, by the Catholic Truth Society. In this work it is said, "The mainspring of the
whole organization of the Society is a spirit of entire obedience: 'Let each one,' writes St.
Ignatius, 'persuade himself that those who live under obedience ought to allow themselves to
be moved and directed by divine Providence through their superiors, just as though they
were a dead body, which allows itself to be carried anywhere and to be treated in any
manner whatever, or as an old man's staff, which serves him who holds it in his hand in
whatsoever way he will.'
"This absolute submission is ennobled by its motive, and should be, continues the . . .
founder, 'prompt, joyous and persevering; . . . the obedient religious accomplishes joyfully
that which his superiors have confided to him for the general good, assured that thereby he
corresponds truly with the divine will.'"--The Comtesse R. de Courson, in Concerning
Jesuits, page 6.
Page 687
See also L. E. Dupin,
A Compendious History of the Church, cent. 16, ch. 33
(London, 1713, vol. 4, pp. 132-135); Mosheim,
Ecclesiastical History, cent. 16,
sec. 3, pt. 1, ch. 1, par. 10 (including notes);
The Encyclopedia Britannica (9th
ed.), art. "Jesuits;" C. Paroissen,
The Principles of the Jesuits, Developed in a
Collection of Extracts From Their Own Authors (London, 1860--an earlier edition
appeared in 1839); W. C. Cartwright,
The Jesuits, Their Constitution and
Teaching (London, 1876); E. L. Taunton,
The History of the Jesuits in
England, 1580-1773 (London, 1901).
See also H. Boehmer, The Jesuits (translation from the German, Philadelphia,
Castle Press, 1928 ); E. Goethein, Ignatius Loyola and the Gegen-reformation
(Halle, 1895); T. Campbell, The Jesuits, 1534-1921 (New York, 1922); E. L.
Taunton, The History of the Jesuits in England, 1580-1773 (London,
1901).
Page 235.
[Return to Page: 235]
The Inquisition.--For the Roman Catholic view see The Catholic
Encyclopedia, vol. 8, art. "Inquisition" by Joseph Bloetzer, p. 26 ff.: and E.
Vacandard, The Inquisition: A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of
the Church (New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1908).
For an Anglo-Catholic view see Hoffman Nickerson, The Inquisition: A Political and
Military Study of Its Establishment. For the non-Catholic view see Philip Van
Limborch, History of the Inquisition; Henry Charles Lea, A History of the
Inquisition of the Middle Ages, 3 vols.; A History of the Inquisition of
Spain, 4 vols., and The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies; and H. S.
Turberville, Medieval Heresy and the Inquisition (London: C. Lockwood and
Son, 1920--a mediating view).
Page 265.
[Return to Page: 265]
Causes of the French Revolution.--On the far-reaching consequences of the
rejection of the Bible and of Bible religion, by the people of France, see H. von Sybel,
History of the French Revolution, b. 5, ch. 1, pars. 3-7; Henry Thomas Buckle,
History of Civilization in England, chs. 8 , 12, 14 (New York, 1895, vol. 1, pp.
364-366, 369-371, 437, 540, 541, 550); Blackwood's Magazine, vol. 34, No.
215 (November, 1833), p. 739; J. G. Lorimer, An Historical Sketch of the Protestant
Church in France, ch. 8, pars. 6, 7.
Page 267.
[Return to Page: 267]
Efforts to Suppress and Destroy the Bible.--The Council of Toulouse, which met
about the time of the crusade against the Albigenses, ruled: "We prohibit laymen possessing
copies of the Old and New Testament. . . . We forbid them most severely to have the above
books in the popular vernacular." "The lords of the districts shall carefully seek out the
heretics in dwellings, hovels, and forests, and even their underground retreats shall be
entirely wiped out."--Concil. Tolosanum, Pope Gregory IX, Anno. chr. 1229.
Canons 14 and 2. This Council sat at the time of the crusade against the Albigenses.
"This pest [the bible] had taken such an extension that some people had
Page 688
appointed priests of their own, and even some evangelists who distorted and destroyed the
truth of the gospel and made new gospels for their own purpose . . . (they know that) the
preaching and explanation of the Bible is absolutely forbidden to the lay
members."--
Acts of Inquisition, Philip van Limborch,
History of the
Inquisition, chapter 8.
The Council of Tarragona, 1234, ruled that: "No one may possess the books of the Old and
New Testaments in the Romance language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them
over to the local bishop within eight days after promulgation of this decree, so that they may
be burned lest, be he a cleric or a layman, he be suspected until he is cleared of all
suspicion."--D. Lortsch, Histoire de la Bible en France, 1910, p. 14.
At the Council of Constance, in 1415, Wycliffe was posthumously condemned by Arundel,
the archbishop of Canterbury, as "that pestilent wretch of damnable heresy who invented a
new translation of the Scriptures in his mother tongue."
The opposition to the Bible by the Roman Catholic Church has continued through the
centuries and was increased particularly at the time of the founding of Bible societies. On
December 8, 1866, Pope Pius IX, in his encyclical Quanta cura, issued a syllabus
of eighty errors under ten different headings. Under heading IV we find listed: "Socialism,
communism, clandestine societies, Bible societies. . . . Pests of this sort must be destroyed
by all possible means."
Page 276.
[Return to Page: 276]
The Reign of Terror.--For a reliable, brief introduction into the history of the
French Revolution see L. Gershoy, The French Revolution (1932); G. Lefebvre,
The Coming of the French Revolution (Princeton, 1947); and H. von Sybel,
History of the French Revolution (1869), 4 vols.
The Moniteur Officiel was the government paper at the time of the Revolution
and is a primary source, containing a factual account of actions taken by the Assemblies, full
texts of the documents, etc. It has been reprinted. See also A. Aulard, Christianity and
the French Revolution (London, 1927), in which the account is carried through
1802--an excellent study; W. H. Jervis, The Gallican Church and the Revolution
(London, 1882), a careful work by an Anglican, but shows preference for Catholicism.
On the relation of church and state in france during the French Revolution see Henry H.
Walsh, The Concordate of 1801: A Study of Nationalism in Relation to Church and
State (New York, 1933); Charles Ledre, L'Eglise de France sous la
Revolution (Paris, 1949).
Some contemporary studies on the religious significance of the Revolution are G. Chais de
Sourcesol, Le Livre des Manifestes (Avignon, 1800), in which the author
endeavored to ascertain the causes of the upheaval, and its religious significance, etc.;
James Bicheno, The Signs of the Times (London, 1794); James Winthrop,
A Systematic Arrangement of Several Scripture Prophecies Relating to Antichrist; With
Their Application to the Course of History
Page 689
(Boston, 1795); and Lathrop,
The Prophecy of Daniel Relating to the Time of the
End (Springfield, Massachusetts, 1811).
For the church during the Revolution see W. M. Sloan, The French Revolution and
Religious Reform (1901); P. F. La Gorce, Histoire Religieuse de la
Revolution (Paris, 1909).
On relations with the papacy see G. Bourgin, La France et Rome de 1788-1797
(Paris, 1808), based on secret files in the Vatican; A. Latreille, L'Eglise Catholique et
la Revolution (Paris, 1950), especially interesting on Pius VI and the religious crisis,
1775-1799.
For Protestants during the Revolution, see Pressense (ed.), The Reign of Terror
(Cincinnati, 1869).
Page 280.
[Return to Page: 280]
The Masses and the Privileged Classes.--On social conditions prevailing in
France prior to the period of the Revolution, see H. von Holst, Lowell Lectures on the
French Revolution, lecture 1; also Taine, Ancien Regime, and A. Young,
Travels in France.
Page 283.
[Return to Page: 283]
Retribution.--For further details concerning the retributive character of the
French Revolution see Thos. H. Gill, The Papal Drama, b. 10; Edmond de
Pressense, The Church and the French Revolution, b. 3, ch. 1.
Page 284.
[Return to Page: 284]
The Atrocities of the Reign of Terror.--See M. A. Thiers, History of the
French Revolution, vol. 3, pp. 42-44, 62-74, 106 (New York, 1890, translated by F.
Shoberl); F. A. Mignet, History of the French Revolution, ch. 9, par. 1 (Bohn,
1894); A. Alison, History of Europe, 1789-1815, vol. 1, ch. 14 (New York,
1872, vol. 1, pp. 293-312).
Page 287.
[Return to Page: 287]
The Circulation of the Scriptures.--In 1804, according to Mr. William Canton of
the British and Foreign Bible Society, "all the Bibles extant in the world, in manuscript or in
print, counting every version in every land, were computed at not many more than four
millions. . . . The various languages in which those four millions were written, including
such bygone speech as the Moeso-Gothic of Ulfilas and the Anglo-Saxon of Bede, are set
down as numbering about fifty."--What Is the Bible Society? rev. ed., 1904, p.
23.
The American Bible Society reported a distribution from 1816 through 1955 of
481,149,365 Bibles, Testaments, and portions of Testaments. To this may be added over
600,000,000 Bibles or Scripture portions distributed by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
During the year 1955 alone the American Bible Society distributed a grand total of
23,819,733 Bibles, Testaments, and portions of Testaments throughout the world.
The Scriptures, in whole or in part, have been printed, as of December, 1955, in 1,092
languages; and new languages are constantly being added.
Page 690
Page 288.
[Return to Page:
288]
Foreign missions.--The missionary activity of the early Christian church has
not been duplicated until modern times. It had virtually died out by the year 1000, and was
succeeded by the military campaigns of the Crusades. The Reformation era saw little foreign
mission work, except on the part of the early Jesuits. The pietistic revival produced some
missionaries. The work of the Moravian Church in the eighteenth century was remarkable,
and there were some missionary societies formed by the British for work in colonized North
America. But the great resurgence of foreign missionary activity begins around the year
1800, at "the time of the end." Daniel 12:4. In 1792 was formed the Baptist Missionary
Society, which sent Carey to India. In 1795 the London Missionary Society was organized,
and another society in 1799 which in 1812 became the Church Missionary Society. Shortly
afterward the Wesleyan Missionary Society was founded. In the United States the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was formed in 1812, and Adoniram Judson
was sent out that year to Calcutta. He established himself in Burma the next year. In 1814
the American Baptist Missionary Union was formed. The Presbyterian Board of Foreign
Missions was formed in 1837.
"In A.D. 1800, . . . the overwhelming majority of Christians were the descendants of
those who had been won before A.D. 1500. . . . Now, in the nineteenth century, came a
further expansion of Christianity. Not so many continents or major countries were entered
for the first time as in the preceding three centuries. That would have been impossible, for
on all the larger land masses of the earth except Australia and among all the more numerous
peoples and in all the areas of high civilization Christianity had been introduced before A.D.
1800. What now occurred was the acquisition of fresh footholds in regions and among
peoples already touched, an expansion of unprecedented extent from both the newer bases
and the older ones, and the entrance of Christianity into the large majority of such countries,
islands, peoples, and tribes as had previously not been touched. . . .
"The nineteenth century spread of Christianity was due primarily to a new burst of
religious life emanating from the Christian impulse. . . . Never in any corresponding length
of time had the Christian impulse given rise to so many new movements. Never had it had
quite so great an effect upon Western European peoples. It was from this abounding vigor
that there issued the missionary enterprise which during the nineteenth century so augmented
the numerical strength and the influence of Christianity."--Kenneth Scott Latourette, A
History of the Expansion of Christianity, vol. IV, The Great Century A.D.
1800-A.D. 1914 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1941), pp. 2-4.
Pages 327, 329.
[Return to Pages: 327,
329,
399
]
Prophetic Dates.--According to Jewish reckoning the fifth month (Ab) of
the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign was from July 23 to August 21, 457 B.C. After Ezra's
arrival in Jerusalem in the autumn of the year, the decree of the king went into effect. For
the certainty of the date 457 B.C. being the seventh year of Artaxerxes, see S. H. Horn and
L. H. Wood, The
Page 691
Chronology of Ezra 7 (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn.,
1953); E. G. Kraeling,
The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri (New Haven or
London, 1953), pp. 191-193;
The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
(Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1954), vol. 3, pp. 97-110.
Page 335.
[Return to Page: 335]
Fall of the Ottoman Empire.--The impact of Moslem Turkey upon Europe after
the fall of Constantinople in 1453 was as severe as had been the catastrophic conquests of the
Moslem Saracens, during the century and a half after the death of Mohammed, upon the
Eastern Roman Empire. Throughout the Reformation era, Turkey was a continual threat at
the eastern gates of European Christendom; the writings of the Reformers are full of
condemnation of the Ottoman power. Christian writers since have been concerned with the
role of Turkey in future world events, and commentators on prophecy have seen Turkish
power and its decline forecast in Scripture.
For the latter chapter, under the "hour, day, month, year" prophecy, as part of the sixth
trumpet, Josiah Litch worked out an application of the time prophecy, terminating Turkish
independence in August, 1840. Litch's view can be found in full in his The Probability
of the Second Coming of Christ About A.D. 1843 (Published in June, 1838); An
Address to the Clergy (published in the spring of 1840; a second edition, with
historical data in support of the accuracy of former calculations of the prophetic period
extending to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, was published in 1841); and an article in
Signs of the Times and Expositor of Prophecy, Aug. 1, 1840. See also article in
Signs of the Times and Expositor of Prophecy, Feb. 1, 1841; and J. N.
Loughborough, The Great Advent Movement (1905 ed.), pp. 129-132. The book
by Uriah Smith, Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, rev. ed. of 1944,
discusses the prophetic timing of this prophecy on pages 506-517.
For the earlier history of the Ottoman Empire and the decline of the Turkish power, see
also William Miller, The Ottoman Empire and Its Successors, 1801-1927
(Cambridge, England: University Press, 1936); George G. S. L. Eversley, The Turkish
Empire from 1288 to 1914 (London : T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd., 2d ed., 1923); Joseph
von Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte des Osmannischen Reiches (Pesth: C. A.
Hartleben, 2d ed., 1834-36), 4 vols.; Herbert A. Gibbons, Foundation of the Ottoman
Empire, 1300-1403 (Oxford: University Press, 1916); Arnold J. Toynbee and Kenneth
B. Kirkwood, Turkey (London, 1926).
Page 340.
[Return to Pages: 340,
565,
596]
Withholding the Bible From the People.--The reader will recognize that the text
of this volume was written prior to Vatican Council II, with its somewhat altered policies in
regard to the reading of the Scriptures.
Through the centuries, the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church toward circulation of the
Holy Scriptures in vernacular versions among the laity shows up as negative. See for
example G. P. Fisher, The Reformation, ch. 15,
Page 692
par. 16 (1873 ed., pp. 530-532); J. Cardinal Gibbons,
The Faith of Our Fathers,
ch. 8 (49th ed., 1897), Pp. 98-117; John Dowling,
History of Romanism, b. 7,
ch. 2, Sec. 14; and b. 9, ch. 3, secs. 24-27 (1871 ed., pp. 491-496, 621-625); L. F.
Bungener,
History of the Council of Trent, pp. 101-110 (2d Edinburgh ed.,
1853, translated by D. D. Scott); G. H. Putnam,
Books and Their Makers During the
Middle Ages, vol. 1, pt. 2, ch. 2, pars. 49, 54-56. See also
Index of Prohibited
Books (Vatican Polyglot Press, 1930), pp. ix, x; Timothy Hurley,
A
Commentary on the Present Index Legislation (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1908),
p. 71;
Translation of the Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII (New York:
Benziger Brothers, 1903), p. 413.
But in recent years a dramatic and positive change has occurred in this respect. On the
one hand, the church has approved several versions prepared on the basis of the original
languages; on the other, it has promoted the study of the Holy Scriptures by means of free
distribution and Bible institutes. The church, however, continues to reserve for herself the
exclusive right to interpret the Bible in the light of her own tradition, thus justifying those
doctrines that do not harmonize with biblical teachings.
Page 373.
[Return to Page: 373]
Ascension Robes.--The story that the Adventists made robes with which to
ascend "to meet the Lord in the air," was invented by those who wished to reproach the
Advent preaching. It was circulated so industriously that many believed it, but careful inquiry
proved its falsity. For many years a substantial reward was offered for proof that one such
instance ever occurred, but no proof has been produced. None who loved the appearing of
the Saviour were so ignorant of the teachings of the Scriptures as to suppose that robes which
they could make would be necessary for that occasion. The only robe which the saints will
need to meet the Lord is the righteousness of Christ. See Isaiah 61:10; Revelation
19:8.
For a thorough refutation of the legend of ascension robes, see Francis D. Nichol,
Midnight Cry (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1944),
chs. 25-27, and Appendices H-J. See also Leroy Edwin Froom, Prophetic Faith of Our
Fathers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1954), vol. 4, pp.
822-826.
Page 374.
[Return to Page: 374]
The Chronology of Prophecy.--Dr. George Bush, professor of Hebrew and
Oriental Literature in the New York City University, in a letter addressed to William Miller
and published in the Advent Herald and Signs of the Times Reporter,
Boston, March 6 and 13, 1844, made some important admissions relative to his calculation
of the prophetic times. Dr. Bush wrote:
"Neither is it to be objected, as I conceive, to yourself or your friends, that you have
devoted much time and attention to the study of the chronology of prophecy, and
have labored much to determine the commencing and closing dates of its great periods. If
these periods are actually given by the Holy Ghost in the prophetic books, it was doubtless
with the design that they should be studied, and probably, in the end, fully
understood; and no man is to be charged with presumptuous folly who reverently makes the
attempt to do this. . . . In taking a day as the prophetical term for a year,
I believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the high names of
Page 693
Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Kirby, Scott, Keith, and a host of others who have
long since come to
substantially your conclusions on this head. They all agree
that the leading periods mentioned by Daniel and John, do actually expire
about this
age of the world, and it would be a strange logic that would convict you of heresy for
holding in effect the same views which stand forth so prominent in the notices of these
eminent divines." "Your results in this field of inquiry do not strike me so far out of the way
as to affect any of the great interests of truth or duty." "Your error, as I apprehend, lies in
another direction than your
chronology." "You have entirely mistaken
the
nature of the events which are to occur when those periods have expired. This is the
head and front of your expository offending." See also Leroy Edwin Froom,
Prophetic
Faith of Our Fathers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1950),
vol. 1, chs. 1, 2.
Page 435.
[Return to Page: 435]
A Threefold Message.--Revelation 14:6, 7 foretells the proclamation of the first
angel's message. Then the prophet continues: "There followed another angel, saying,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen. . . . And the third angel followed them." The word here
rendered "followed" means "to go along with," "to follow one," "go with him." See Henry
George Liddell and Robert Scott, Greek English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1940), vol. 1, p. 52. It also means "to accompany." See George Abbott-Smith,
A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark,
1950), page 17. It is the same word that is used in mark 5:24, "Jesus went with him; and
much people followed Him, and thronged Him." It is also used of the redeemed one hundred
and forty-four thousand, Revelation 14:4, where it is said, "These are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth." In both these places it is evident that the idea intended to be
conveyed is that of "going together," "in company with." So in 1 Corinthians 10:4, where
we read of the children of Israel that "they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them,"
the word "followed" is translated from the same Greek word, and the margin has it, "went
with them." From this we learn that the idea in Revelation 14:8, 9 is not simply that the
second and third angels followed the first in point of time, but that they went with him. The
three messages are but one threefold message. They are three only in the order of
their rise. But having risen, they go on together and are inseparable.
Page 447.
[Return to Pages: 447,
581]
Supremacy of the Bishops of Rome.--For the leading circumstances in the
assumption of supremacy by the bishops of Rome, see Robert Francis Cardinal Bellarmine,
Power of the Popes in Temporal Affairs (there is an English translation in the
Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.); Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, The
Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ (London: Burns and Lambert, 2d ed.,
1862); and James Cardinal Gibbons, Faith of Our Fathers (Baltimore: John
Murphy Co., 110th ed., 1917), chs. 5, 9, 10, 12. For Protestant authors see Trevor Gervase
Jalland, The Church and the Papacy (London: Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, 1944, a Bampton
Page 694
Lecture); and Richard Frederick Littledale,
Petrine Claims (London: Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1899). For sources of the early centuries of the Petrine
theory, see James T. Shotwell and Louise Ropes Loomis,
The See of Peter (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1927). For the false "Donation of Constantine" see
Christopher B. Coleman,
The Treatise of Lorenzo Valla on the Donation of
Constantine (New York, 1914), which gives the full Latin text and translation, and a
complete criticism of the document and its thesis.
Page 565.
[Return to Page: 565]
Withholding the Bible from the People.--See note for page 340.
Page 578.
[Return to Page: 578]
The Ethiopian Church and the Sabbath.--Until rather recent years the Coptic
Church of Ethiopia observed the seventh-day Sabbath. The Ethiopians also kept Sunday, the
first day of the week, throughout their history as a Christian people. These days were
marked by special services in the churches. The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath has,
however, virtually ceased in modern Ethiopia. For eyewitness accounts of religious days in
Ethiopia, see Pero Gomes de Teixeira, The Discovery of Abyssinia by the Portuguese
in 1520 (translated in English in London: British Museum, 1938), p. 79; Father
Francisco Alverez, Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia During the Years
1520-1527, in the records of the Hakluyt Society (London, 1881), vol. 64, pp. 22-49;
Michael Russell, Nubia and Abyssinia (Quoting Father Lobo, Catholic missionary
in Ethiopia in 1622) (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1837), pp. 226-229; S. Giacomo
Baratti, Late Travels Into the Remote Countries of Abyssinia (London: Benjamin
Billingsley, 1670), pp. 134-137; Job Ludolphus, A New History for Ethiopia
(London: S. Smith, 1682), pp. 234-357; Samuel Gobat, Journal of Three Years'
Residence in Abyssinia (New York: ed. of 1850), pp. 55-58, 83-98. For other works
touching upon the question, see Peter Heylyn, History of the Sabbath, 2d ed.,
1636, vol. 2, pp. 198-200; Arthur P. Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Eastern
Church (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1882), lecture 1, par. 1; C. F. Rey,
Romance of the Portuguese in Abyssinia (London: F. H. and G. Witherley,
1929), pp. 59, 253-297.