"Indulgences are the most precious and the most noble of God's gifts." "There is no sin so great that an indulgence can not remit; ... only let him pay well, and all will be forgiven him." "Come, and I will give you letters, all properly sealed, by which even the sins that you intend to commit may be pardoned." "I would not change my privileges for those of St. Peter in heaven; for I have saved more souls by my indulgences than the apostle by his sermons." "The Lord Omnipotent hath ceased to reign; he has resigned all power to the Pope." See D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, Book III, Chap. 1.
Martin Luther was an Augustine monk and a teacher of theology in the University of Wittemberg. Before Tetzel appeared in Germany, Luther possessed a wide reputation for learning and piety, and he had also entertained doubts respecting many of the doctrines of the church. During an official visit to Rome in 1510 he was almost overwhelmed with sorrow because of the moral corruption there; but while penitentially ascending on his knees the sacred stairs of the Lateran, he seemed to hear a voice thundering in his soul, "The just shall live by faith!" This marked an important epoch in his career.
When Tetzel appeared in Saxony with his indulgences, Luther fearlessly opposed him. He drew up ninety-five theses against the infamous traffic and nailed them to the door of the church at Wittemberg, and invited all scholars to criticise them and point out if they were opposed to the doctrine of the Word of God or of the early church Fathers. Here the invention of printing proved to be a powerful agency in advancing the cause of reformation by scattering copies of these theses everywhere; and soon the continent of Europe was in a perfect turmoil of controversy. The Pope excommunicated Luther as a heretic. In reply Luther burned the Papal bull publicly at Wittemberg. Shortly afterward Luther produced his celebrated translation of the Bible in the German language. Even a brief history of the entire Reformation would be too large for the limits of the present volume, therefore with a few words respecting the nature of the work of the Reformation we will pass on to another prophetic vision.
The great secret of the early success of the reformers was their appeal from the decisions of councils and regulations of men to the Word of God. So long as the Word and Spirit of God were allowed their proper place as the Governors of God's people, the work was a spiritual blessing. But this happy state of affairs did not long continue. Within a few years the followers of the reformers were divided into hostile sects and began to oppose and persecute each other. Luther denounced Zwingle as a heretic, and "the Calvinists would have no dealings with the Lutherans." The first Protestant creed was the Augsburg Confession (1530). This date marks an important epoch. From this time the people began to lose sight of the Word and Spirit of God as their Governors and to turn to the disciplines of their sects, which they upheld by every means possible. Thus we find Calvin at Geneva consenting to the burning of Servetus, because of a difference of religious views; and in England the Anglican Protestants waged the most bitter, cruel, and relentless war not only against Catholics, but against all Protestants who refused to conform to the Established Church. The Protestants placed armies in the field and fought for their creeds, as during the Thirty Years' War in Germany and the long period of the Hugenot wars in France. The real work of the Reformation, the promulgation of so much of the truth of the Bible, was an inestimable blessing to the world; but the rise of Protestantism (organized sectism) in 1530 introduced another period of apostasy as distinct in many of its features as was that of Romanism before it. The historian D'Aubigne recognizes an important change at this period. He says:
"The first two books of this volume contain the most important epochs of the Reformation—the Protest of Spires, and the Confession of Augsburg.... I determined on bringing the reformation of Germany and German Switzerland to the decisive epochs of 1530 and 1531. The history of the Reformation, properly so-called, is then in my opinion almost complete in those countries. The work of faith has there attained its apogee: that of conferences, of interims, of diplomacy begins.... The movement of the Sixteenth Century has there made its effort. I said from the very first, It is the history of the Reformation and not of Protestantism that I am relating." Preface to Vol. V.
11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
The symbolic description of this beast directs us also to a political and a religious system rising at the expiration of the twelve hundred and sixty years' reign of the first beast, but that he was no such terrible beast politically as the one before him is proved by the fact that he had but two horns and they like a lamb. This beast rose "out of the earth"—the Apocalyptic earth, or the territory of the Roman empire. The first beast rose out of the sea, which, as before shown, signifies the heart of the empire in an agitated state; for the ten horns came up through the greatest political convulsions that the page of history records. When John beheld the second beast "coming up," however, the empire was in a state of comparative quiet, although fierce wars followed afterward. He stands as a symbol of Protestantism in Europe; although his power and influence afterwards extended beyond the "earth"—the Apocalyptic earth—into "the whole world." Chap. [16:14]. That this beast came up upon the same territory occupied by the Papacy is proved also by the statement that "he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him." It was predicted in a subsequent chapter ([17:16]) that the ten horns, or kingdoms of Europe, after supporting the Papacy during the Dark Ages, would later turn against her. This has met a remarkable fulfilment under the reign of Protestantism.
The first two nations to turn violently against Popery were England and Germany. They have ever since been the chief supporters and defenders of Protestantism, and they are doubtless the two kingdoms symbolized by the two horns of the beast. While at one time the Pope was a temporal sovereign and could, by his political and ecclesiastical power, humble with ease the mightiest nations of Europe before him, his authority has been wrested from him by degrees, so that to-day not a vestige of his temporal power remains, and his anathemas fall harmlessly. The nations have asserted their rights as kings. When King Victor Emmanuel entered Rome on the twentieth day of September, 1870, the Pope's temporal sun set forever, and he does not control even the city in which he lives—Rome. He is often referred to as "the prisoner of the Vatican." "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity," said the prophecy; "he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword." It was by force of arms that the Popes obtained and maintained their temporal power over the nations, and by the force of arms they have had their authority torn from them. Religion has been referred to as "the basis of government"; for the legislators of any country are to a great degree influenced in their deliberations by religious sentiments. In all Protestant countries that greatest of Protestant principles, religious liberty, is as truly recognized by statute as was that infernal principle of the Papacy, religious intolerance, when formerly enforced by law. Protestant principles have so far permeated the nations of Europe formerly controlled by the Papacy that religious toleration is generally granted. In Italy, the headquarters of Popedom, where the Catholics are greatly in the majority, religious liberty is granted by law. And even Spain, denominated by the Encyclopædia Britannica "the most Catholic country in the world," exhibits "a general indifferentism to religion," meaning that the fanaticism and intolerance of former ages that caused thousands, and perhaps millions, to be slain, is rapidly dying out. In the vision before us, however, the special actions ascribed to this beast—speaking, working miracles, deceiving, making an image and imparting life to it, etc., which all belong properly to the department of human life—show conclusively that it is the character of this beast as an ecclesiastical power that is the chief point under consideration. He was not to become such a terrible beast politically (for his horns were only like a lamb), but "he spake as a dragon." As soon as we enter the department to which speaking by analogy refers us, we find this beast to be a great religious power; and it is in this character alone that he is dilineated in the remainder of the chapter. That the description of a religious system is the main burden of this symbol, is shown also by the fact that it is in every case referred to in subsequent chapters as the "false prophet." Chap. [16:13]; [19:20]; [20:10]. Therefore every reference I make to this second beast hereafter should be understood as signifying the religious system of Protestantism, unless otherwise stated.