great power suddenly, but grew up by degrees.  It was at first “a little horn,” but finally his “look was more stout than his fellows.”  Paul says that the “mystery of iniquity”—­the seed of apostasy—­was already working in his day and that later “that Wicked” should be revealed in all its terrible features (see 2 Thess. 2:3-8).  We therefore have to deal with a sliding-scale, a gradual decline on the part of the true church, and a constant increase of that false, apostate power which finally culminated in the full-grown papacy.

Bearing in mind that the 1,260-year period measures both phases, we are obliged to select for our beginning a time about half way between both extremes, a time when, we might say, the “falling away” from the pure apostolic truth and standard was about half completed and when the papacy was about half developed.  While the woman was secluded in the wilderness, the beast-power occupied the public view; and this was exactly the reverse of apostolic times, when the woman was exalted above all and before all, “clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”  In other words, the extreme of darkest night succeeded the light of glorious day.

The period of the first apostles was the period of the church’s purity and triumph.  In their hands the cause was safe and the pure truth shown forth in beauty and power.  But with the close of the apostolic era, the apostasy came on at a rapid rate, as the extant writings of the early church fathers show.

By the middle of the fifth century the light of the gospel was eclipsed in the darkness of Romanism.  During this century the papacy secured political recognition of its claims to direct jurisdiction over all churches.  This occurred during the pontificate of Leo I, who, because of his success in furthering the interests of the popedom, shares alone with Pope Gregory the title of “the Great.”  To quote from the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Leo “entered upon a pontificate which was to be epoch-making for the centralization of the government of the church.”  Political causes combined to advance the claims of the papacy to universal recognition.  Attila, with his fierce barbarians, invaded Italy and laid waste many of her fairest provinces and then advanced boldly on Rome, whereupon Pope Leo went out to the camp of the invaders and secured the evacuation of Italy.  The pope obtained the full support of Valentinian III.  In 445 Leo enforced authority in the distant patriarchate of Alexandria.  In 444-446 he was in conflict with the Illyrian bishops.  During this time in a letter addressed to them he laid down the principle that St. Peter had received the primacy and oversight of the whole church and that hence all important matters must be referred to and decided by Rome.  He also proceeded to extend his authority over Gaul.  In this effort he obtained from Valentinian III the famous decree of June 6, 445, which “recognized the primacy of the Pope of Rome based on the merits of Peter, the dignity of the city, and the decrees of Nice (in their interpolated form); ordained that any opposition to this rulings, which were to have the force of law, should be treated as treason; and provided for the forcible extradition by provincial governors of any one who refused to answer a summons to Rome.”