used becomes clear when we read
other verses ol the vision.
“lhe dragon stood belore the wo-
man which was ready to he delivered,
for to devour her
it was bor. And
Man-chald,
trons with a tad ol
child was couche up unto God, and
to His throne” Verses 1, 0.
We have here
tion of the events assoc RIES [with the
first advent of Jesus. As a "Man-child”
He was born into the world,
of 1 Ie was
ascension.
What power sought to destroy Flim
at His birth What power actually
encompassed His death: And from
what power was He delivered when
He was carried up into heaven: The
answer to all these questions is, of
course, pagan Rome.
So when the dragon hirst appears
it 1s as imperial pagan Rome,
This dentificauon 1s conhrmed
when we note the subsequent history
of the dragon in the thirteenth chap-
ter. Here another symbol 1s intro-
duced called “the beast.” Like the
dragon, this beast also has
heads and ten horns” (Revelation
15:1), sugeesting that the mantle of
moperial Rome was to fall upon it.
It is specifically stated that to this
beast “the dragon” gave “his power,
andl his seat, and great authority.”
Verse 2.
From other details of the vision,
this beast 1s clearly identified as the
papal Europe of the Middle Ages
which did ake the place of imnerial
Rome when that power was dispos-
sessed by the barbarian invasions.
Without anv question. then. the
“dracon.” as ane of the acencies of
satanic power and influence, was im-
perial pasan Rome.
Now, as the prophecy states, and
as history confirms, when the dragon
vacated the seat it had occupied in
Rome for many centuries gt did not
disappear completely from the scene.
It went elsewhere. So we must en-
devour to strike its trail
child as soon as
she broughr torth a
who was to nde adl nae
won; und her
a svinbolic dese rip
and out
“caught up’ av His
seven
Where Did the Dragon Go?
The vacating of the
me Lady becan as Tay back as the das
of the Trperor Diocletian, wha gn
order, as he thought, to supervise
more adequately the Tar flung empire,
imperial seat
decided to have two capitals — one
mn the West ar Rome, and another
mm the ast at Nuomedia on the
Asiatic sule of the Sea of
in Asia Minor.
He appointed Maximus associite
Marmora
DECEMBER, 194+09
sell estab
“Augustus” and placed him mn the
western capital, while Diocletian hime
ished his court in the castern
capital.
The establishment of the senior
CAugists me the Fast nuuraliy bee
oA al ones Wo detract from
toe of the western capa,
the press
while the
new seat of the dracon steadily ane
creased Inounportance,
When Moavinmitanus and Diocletian
simultanconsy abwlicated sn an, 205,
six rival emperors strove lor supren-
acy. Nineteen vears later Constantine
the Great emerged as the undisputed
ruler of the empire, and following
the example set hy Diocletian he pro-
ceeded to build Tumsell a new perms
anent capital in the Fase His choice
settled upon the existing city of Bye
cntinm on the Furapean side ob the
Basporus, which he enlarged,
strencthened and beautthied as the
new seat of poperial government,
The “New Rome”
“To perpetnate the fame of its
founder,” says the Encyclopaedia
Dyiteninica, it was stvled Constante
nople.” while “to mdicate its politi-
cal dignity, it was named New Rome.”
— Vol. 7. po. 3 (Eleventh Editon).
This name has actually come down
through all the centuries to our ume,
for the ID neyelopaedia Britomiica coes
on to sav: “I'he chief patriarch of “the
Greek church sull signs himself “arch:
bishop of Consumtinople, New
Rome." ” — hid. In harther contrast
to the old civ of Rome in Italy, Con:
stantinople was also designated in the
By
W. L. Emme
rson
literature of the period the "Second
Rome” Thus moa letter broom Alcan
ol York to Charles, king ol the Franks,
in oan, 700 when that Kime had poace
tically wil the nauons of the Wess
within lus power, he was told by the
learned monk:
“There hive heen vant! now three
persons who were hichest mothe world,
That se the Aposiolic Sat
which rules us vicar the seat of
Peter, Prince of the Apostles,
Another is the Lmperial Digniny, the
[ArT ETE Dorey ir} Pie Severed foisrie, Co.
The thaed is the Kimmel
which the dispensation of Our Tord
Jesus Clhist has placed you as ruler
ob the Christian people
dhs letter as particu dy
for ow purpose
bal SLY
Dies
valuable
Decatse it estabbishes
fw very pportant facts
Foobhe Tmperial Digniee had va
cated the ancient scat of Rome in
Italy and was now pernumently es
tablished mm the New
Constantinople
Another power was
no the id Rome upon
Sto Peter”
That the “seat ob St. Peter” was
also, to all ments and purposes, the
seat of the dracon is induated by thi
foot that oo vewr turer, in aa. SO, the
Vicar ol Ron ne conferred the oflive of
Fonperor of the Holy Roman Empoe
Charles by his coronation in
or Second Rome,
enthroned
“the scat ot
[RE PIRIN
Rome,
Thus the prophecy that the drag
O11’ seat wold be occupied hy another
power which would exercise its author
ity within its dommmns was exactly
fullilled.
Vicissitudes of the “Second Rome”
Because the history of Europe from
the filth century onward was domi:
nated by the new nations of the West
and their competition with the de-
veloping Papacy lor supreme power,
the continuing story of the dragon
Dower in irs remote eastern seat mn
the New or Second Rome has tended
to be foreotten, and only in compar:
atively recent vears has its chequered
story been recovered for us by his
torians. The fact 1s. however, that
while the “beast” was consolidating
its power in Western Furope, the
dracon lived and reigned contem-
por: ancously im the Fast for a thou-
sand vears after the [all of Romulus
Augustulus, the last western Roman
crperar, in An. 76.
\ detailed recital of the vicissitudes
of the Second Rome from the fourth
century to the hifteenth is unnecessary
to our present purpose. and it will
suffice to mention that throuzhout
this period the eastern emperors were
hemmed mn on all sides by enemies
whose encroachments they were come
stantly seeking to hold back.
On the west the popes were mciting
the Catholic kings to hring the Fast
under then rule, and incidentally
ender the rule of the popes. To the
novi the baie Were a constant
mensee, and mothe Fast the new Sas-
sanidd Ioapive mo Persin was an ever
dancerous vival, Dut by far the most
serious menace came rom the south-
east and south, through the morensing
presse alte Moslem Arabs and
1 avks.
The Modem Tide
Since Mohammed united the desert
Arabi my the seventh cons
tury and Lomched them upon an ae
credible coreer of conquest, the Mos-
fem armies had overran Trak, Svria,
Vso Minor, Fovptoa i Novih Alriea,
and had pencorated bo Furope both
dovoss the ta and
across the Bosporus tito the Balkans,
( Please turn to page 17)
)
prone of
L
straits of
13