Captain Planet and the Planeteers

 Captain Planet and the Planeteers, commonly referred to as simply Captain Planet, is an American animated environmentalist superhero television series created by Barbara Pyle and Ted Turner[1] and developed by Pyle, Nicholas Boxer, Thom Beers, Andy Heyward, Robby London, Bob Forward, and Cassandra Schafausen. The series was produced by Turner Program Services and DIC Enterprises and broadcast on TBS and in syndication from September 15, 1990, to December 5, 1992.[2]

A sequel series, The New Adventures of Captain Planet, was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc., distributed by Turner Program Services and broadcast from September 11, 1993, to May 11, 1996.[3] The series was later rerun on Kids' WB!, Cartoon Network and Boomerang.[4] It is currently on the MeTV Toons schedule.[5] The series is a form of edutainment that advocates for environmentalism and is known for having several famous actors voice the villains.[6][7] It spawned a franchise consisting of eco-friendly toys, comic books, video games, and a public charity to further promote its work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Planet_and_the_Planeteers

"In the second prelude, for Chief- Gene ral read highest Leader, and for captain read leader. For the first Leader the Spanish Autograph has Captain General, and for the second (leader), caudillo ; the former title expressing, as Father Rothaan remarks, a Commander-in-Chief of lawful warfare, the latter designating rather the leader of a faction, and being often used in a bad sense, as of a captain of robbers or malefactors. In order to express in some measure this distinction, he has made use of the terms Dux Generalis (LeaderGeneral) and CAPUT (head) in his literal Version. The Common Version makes no distinction ; and hence, in order to render this Version with strict faithfulness, must read, both here and in the next two paragraphs, leader instead of captain, although (as the reader will already have perceived) this latter is the term which erceived) this latter is the term which corresponds the more nearly with the Spanish original. In all three places Father Rothaan has caput : in the third prelude he has again Dux instead of Imperator : see above. In the first point, in order to be strictly with the Common Version, readier?/ and smoky chair in stead of chair offire and smoke ; although this latter is what the Autograph has, a certain great chair of fire and smoke, " in which", observes Father Rothaan, there is no solidity, no true glory, but mere agitation and perpetual disturbance joined with thick darkness"; And this image", he adds, " exhibits the evil spirit such as he is, but not such as he offers himself to men's minds."
The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola
https://ia600303.us.archive.org/3/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

The Capetian dynasty (/kəˈpiːʃən/; French: Capétiens), also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, and a branch of the Robertians. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Capet, the founder of the dynasty, and his male-line descendants, who ruled in France without interruption from 987 to 1792, and again from 1814 to 1848. The senior line ruled in France as the House of Capet from the election of Hugh Capet in 987 until the death of Charles IV in 1328. That line was succeeded by cadet branches, the Houses of Valois and then Bourbon, which ruled without interruption until the French Revolution abolished the monarchy in 1792. The Bourbons were restored in 1814 in the aftermath of Napoleon's defeat, but had to vacate the throne again in 1830 in favor of the last Capetian monarch of France, Louis Philippe I, who belonged to the House of Orléans. Cadet branches of the Capetian House of Bourbon house are still ruling over Spain and Luxembourg."

Name origins and usage
The name of the dynasty derives from its founder, Hugh, who was known as "Hugh Capet".[4] The meaning of "Capet" (a nickname rather than a surname of the modern sort) is unknown. While folk etymology identifies it with "cape", other suggestions indicate it might be connected to the Latin word caput ("head"), and explain it as meaning "chief" or "head".[citation needed]

Historians in the 19th century (see House of France) came to apply the name "Capetian" to both the ruling house of France and to the wider-spread male-line descendants of Hugh Capet. It was not a contemporary practice. The name "Capet" has also been used as a surname for French royalty, particularly but not exclusively those of the House of Capet. One notable use was during the French Revolution, when the dethroned King Louis XVI (a member of the House of Bourbon and a direct male-line descendant of Hugh Capet) and Queen Marie Antoinette (a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine) were referred to as "Louis and Antoinette Capet" (the queen being addressed as "the Widow Capet" after the execution of her husband).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capetian_dynasty

St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome is considered the mother church of all the Catholic churches in the Western world; inscribed on the church facade for all to see are the Latin words “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et CAPUT,” meaning, “The mother and HEAD of all the churches of the city and of the world.”
https://www.simplycatholic.com/st-john-lateran-basilica/

"Head:
1. See Illness, mental
2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]"
page 463
The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
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"Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person."
TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709) CODE OF CANON LAW
https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

Revelation 13:18
New International Version
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666.

Read full chapter
Footnotes
Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number"
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013

Throughout Zoroastrian history, shrines and temples have been the focus of worship and pilgrimage for adherents of the religion. Early Zoroastrians were recorded as worshiping in the 5th century BCE on mounds and hills where fires were lit below the open skies.[58] In the wake of Achaemenid expansion, shrines were constructed throughout the empire and particularly influenced the role of Mithra, Aredvi Sura Anahita, Verethragna and Tishtrya, alongside other traditional Yazata who all have hymns within the Avesta and also local deities and culture-heroes. Today, enclosed and covered fire temples tend to be the focus of community worship where fires of varying grades are maintained by the clergy assigned to the temples.[59]

The incorporation of cultural and local rituals is quite common and traditions have been passed down in historically Zoroastrian communities such as herbal healing practices, wedding ceremonies, and the like.[60][61][31] Traditionally, Zoroastrian rituals have also included shamanic elements involving mystical methods such as spirit travel to the invisible realm and involving the consumption of fortified wine, Haoma, mang, and other ritual aids.[62][33][63][64][65]

In Zoroastrianism, water (aban) and fire (atar) are agents of ritual purity, and the associated purification ceremonies are considered the basis of ritual life. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, water and fire are respectively the second and last primordial elements to have been created, and scripture considers fire to have its origin in the waters (re. which conception see Apam Napat). Both water and fire are considered life-sustaining, and both water and fire are represented within the precinct of a fire temple. Zoroastrians usually pray in the presence of some form of fire (which can be considered evident in any source of light), and the culminating rite of the principal act of worship constitutes a "strengthening of the waters". Fire is considered a medium through which spiritual insight and wisdom are gained, and water is considered the source of that wisdom. Both fire and water are also hypostasized as the Yazatas Atar and Anahita, with worship hymns and litanies dedicated to them.[citation needed]

A corpse is considered a host for decay, i.e., of druj. Consequently, scripture enjoins the safe disposal of the dead in a manner such that a corpse does not pollute the good creation. These injunctions are the doctrinal basis of the fast-fading traditional practice of ritual exposure, most commonly identified with the so-called Towers of Silence for which there is no standard technical term in either scripture or tradition. Ritual exposure is currently mainly practiced by Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent, in locations where it is not illegal and diclofenac poisoning has not led to the virtual extinction of scavenger birds. Other Zoroastrian communities either cremate their dead, or bury them in graves that are cased with lime mortar.[citation needed]

The central ritual of Zoroastrianism is the Yasna, which is a recitation of the eponymous book of the Avesta and sacrificial ritual ceremony involving Haoma.[67] Extensions to the Yasna ritual are possible through use of the Visperad and Vendidad, but such an extended ritual is rare in modern Zoroastrianism.[68][69] The Yasna itself descended from Indo-Iranian sacrificial ceremonies and animal sacrifice of varying degrees are mentioned in the Avesta and are still practiced in Zoroastrianism albeit through reduced forms such as the sacrifice of fat before meals.[70] High rituals such as the Yasna are considered to be the purview of the Mobads with a corpus of individual and communal rituals and prayers included in the Khordeh Avesta.[67][71]

A Zoroastrian is welcomed into the faith through the Navjote/Sedreh Pushi ceremony, which is traditionally conducted during the later childhood or pre-teen years of the aspirant, though there is no defined age limit for the ritual.[31][72] After the ceremony, Zoroastrians are encouraged to wear their sedreh (ritual shirt) and kusti (ritual girdle) daily as a spiritual reminder and for mystical protection, though reformist Zoroastrians tend to only wear them during festivals, ceremonies, and prayers.[73][31][72]

Historically, Zoroastrians are encouraged to pray the five daily Gāhs and to maintain and celebrate the various holy festivals of the Zoroastrian calendar, which can differ from community to community.[74][75] Zoroastrian prayers, called manthras, are conducted usually with hands outstretched in imitation of Zoroaster's prayer style described in the Gathas and are of a reflectionary and supplicant nature believed to be endowed with the ability to banish evil.[76][77][52] Devout Zoroastrians are known to cover their heads during prayer, either with traditional topi, scarves, other headwear, or even just their hands. However, full coverage and veiling which is traditional in Islamic practice is not a part of Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian women in Iran wear their head coverings displaying hair and their faces to defy mandates by the Islamic Republic of Iran.[78]

Late antiquity

As late as the Parthian period, a form of Zoroastrianism was without a doubt the dominant religion in the Armenian lands.[115] The Sassanids aggressively promoted the Zurvanite form of Zoroastrianism, often building fire temples in captured territories to promote the religion. During the period of their centuries-long suzerainty over the Caucasus, the Sassanids made attempts to promote Zoroastrianism there with considerable successes, and it was prominent in the pre-Christian Caucasus (especially modern-day Azerbaijan).[citation needed]

Due to its ties to the Christian Roman Empire, Persia's arch-rival since Parthian times, the Sassanids were suspicious of Roman Christianity, and after the reign of Constantine the Great, sometimes persecuted it.[116] In 451 CE, The Sassanid authority clashed with their Armenian subjects in the Battle of Avarayr, making them officially break with the Roman Church. But the Sassanids tolerated or even sometimes favored the Christianity of the Church of the East. The acceptance of Christianity in Georgia (Caucasian Iberia) saw the Zoroastrian religion there slowly but surely decline,[117] but as late the 5th century CE, it was still widely practised as something like a second established religion.[118][119]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

Thirteenth Rule. To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed."
The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing

Fourteenth Rule. Although there is much truth in the assertion that no one can save himself without being predestined and without having faith and grace; we must be very cautious in the manner of speaking and communicating with others about all these things.
The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing

Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[b] 17 December 1936) is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian pope Gregory III.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked for a time as a bouncer and a janitor as a young man before training to be a chemist and working as a technician in a food science laboratory. After recovering from a severe illness of pneumonia and cysts, he was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina. The administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He is credited with having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors, for instance choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who serves as the 31st and present superior general of the Society of Jesus. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation on 14 October 2016, succeeding Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

Early life and education
Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on 12 November 1948,[1] the son of Arturo Sosa, Sr. a prestigious businessman who served twice as finance minister in 1958 and 1982.[2] He entered the Society of Jesus in 1966 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977.[1] He earned a licentiate in philosophy from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in 1972, and a doctorate in political science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1990.[3][4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"
page 221
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
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PARTICULAR AND DAILY EXAMEN It contains in it three times, and two to examine oneself. The first time is in the morning, immediately on rising, when one ought to propose to guard himself with diligence against that particular sin or defect which he wants to correct and amend. The second time is after dinner, when one is to ask of God our Lord what one wants, namely, grace to remember how many times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect, and to amend himself in the future. Then let him make the first Examen, asking account of his soul of that particular thing proposed, which he wants to correct and amend. Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make in the first line of the G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make. The third time: After supper, the second Examen will be made, in the same way, hour by hour, commencing at the first Examen and continuing up to the present (second) one, and let him make in the second line of the same G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. FOUR ADDITIONS FOLLOW TO RID ONESELF SOONER OF THAT PARTICULAR SIN OR DEFECT First Addition. The first Addition is that each time one falls into that particular sin or defect, let him put his hand on his breast, grieving for having fallen: which can be done even in the presence of many, without their perceiving what he is doing. Second Addition. The second: As the first line of the G------- means the first Examen, and the second line the second Examen, let him look at night if there is amendment from the first line to the second, that is, from the first Examen to the second. Third Addition. The third: To compare the second day with the first; that is, the two Examens of the present day with the other two Examens of the previous day, and see if he has amended himself from one day to the other. Fourth Addition. The fourth Addition: To compare one week with another, and see if he has amended himself in the present week over the week past. Note. It is to be noted that the first (large) G------- which follows means the Sunday: the second (smaller), the Monday: the third, the Tuesday, and so on.
GGGGGG
"The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
TRANSLATED FROM
THE AUTOGRAPH
BY
FATHER ELDER MULLAN, S.J.
I.H.S.
NEW YORK
P.J. KENEDY & SONS
PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE
https://ia800303.us.archive.org/3/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

THE FOURTH, or iron, kingdom symbolised the great EMPIRE OF ROME, which was to exist in two different stages : the first united with a strength like that of iron, which would devour the whole earth and break it in pieces ; the second divided into ten, the iron sharing the weakness of clay. The first or unbroken stage covers a period of about six centuries, from the conquests of Scipio, Sylla, and Pompey to the fall of the last emperor of Rome, Romulus Augustulus, A.D. 476. Jerome at the beginning of the fifth century clearly perceived, not only the fulfilment of the first part of the pre diction, but the commencement of the second, which was observable even in his day, though abundantly more clear afterwards. He says : " But the fourth kingdom, which clearly relates to the Ro-mans, is iron, which breaks in pieces and subdues all things. But its feet and toes are in part iron and in part clay ; which is proved very plainly at this time (A.D. 400). For as in the beginning nothing was harder and stronger than the Roman empire, so in the end of things nothing is weaker." Marvellous was the announcement in the days when it was given, betore even Greece had risen into notice, and when Italy was the home of only a few feeble and constantly warring tribes, that an empire born among those barbarians was to extend its sway over the East, and be endued with a firmness of which oriental monarchs knew nothing. So little known was Rome even two hundred years later that Herodotus, in describing the earth with all its towns and cities, rivers and mountains, etc., never once mentions either the city of Rome or the Tiber on which it stands. For five centuries from its foundation there was very little indication that the Roman power would ever become a great one. Even when the empire of Alexander was falling into decay, Rome was nearly brought to destruction by the Punic wars ; and not till just before the end of the Macedonian monarchy were the Romans sufficiently free from domestic enemies to enter on a career of conquest. But then indeed it fulfilled to the letter the remarkable predictions in the prophecy, carried its victorious arms throughout the world by conquest, and by its singular power of governing subdued all nations and attained dimensions that had never before been equalled, and a degree of power which has never been paralleled since. When the victories of Trajan carried the power of Rome to its height, all nations were merely vassals to the mistress of the world. Gibbon s description of the might and majesty of the Roman empire should be read in the light of the pro phecy in order to a real appreciation of the wonderful fulfil ment of the latter. After reviewing in detail the different countries subjected to its sway, he says : " This long enumeration of provinces, whose broken frag-ments have formed so many powerful kingdoms, might almost induce us to forgive the vanity or ignorance of the ancients. Dazzled with the extensive sway, the irresistible strength, and the real or affected moderation of the emperors, they permitted themselves to despise, and sometimes to forget, the outlying countries which had been left in the enjoyment of a barbarous independence ; and they gradually usurped the licence of confounding the Roman monarchy with the globe of the earth. . . . That empire was above two thousand miles in breadth, from the wall of Antoninus and the nor thern limits of Dacia to Mount Atlas, and the Tropic of Cancer. It extended, in length, more than three thousand miles from the Western Ocean to the Euphrates. It was supposed to contain above sixteen hundred thousand square miles, for the most part of fertile and well-cultivated land. The arms of the republic, sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the ocean ; and the images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to repre sent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome. " The empire of the Romans filled the world ; and when that empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies. The slave of imperial despotism, whether condemned to drag his gilded chain in Rome and the senate, or to wear out a life of exile on the barren rock of Seriphus, or the frozen banks of the Danube, expected his fate in silent despair. To resist was fatal, and it was impossible to fly. On every side he was encompassed with a vast extent of sea and land, which he could never hope to traverse without being discovered, seized, and restored to his irritated master. Beyond the frontiers his anxious view could discover nothing except the ocean, inhospitable deserts, and hostile tribes of barbarians of fierce manners and unknown language, or dependent who would gladly purchase the Emperor s protection by the sacrifice of an obnoxious fugitive." l We have seen that Daniel s fourfold image and the vision of the four beasts both represent the Roman power as con tinuing in existence up to the time of the second advent, and as being destroyed and succeeded only by it. They represent the fourth, or Roman empire, as rising on the fall of the Grecian, and as occupying the whole interval between that date and the close of the times of the Gentiles. There is no break or gap in the image, and the fourth beast it is distinctly said continues //// the establishment of the kingdom of the Son of man and of the saints.2 Now the old empire of Rome ended in the fifth century ; has any other form of power exercised from Rome arisen, and is it now in existence, and has this revived power of Rome been exercised over a commonwealth of ten king doms ? This is evidently an exceedingly interesting and most important part of our inquiry into the fulfilment of this Daniel programme, because if history has realized this part of the foreview as exactly as the former portion, the fulfil ment must embrace our own times, since the tenfold condition of the Roman world is to continue to the end of the age. Now it is one thing to read of a fulfilment in the past, and another to see it with our own eyes in the present. The Canon of Ptolemy and Gibbon s history of the Decline and Fall are doubtless good and trustworthy evidence ; but, after all, "seeing is believing," and there is nothing like experience for producing conviction. Present phenomena must needs impress the mind more than past ; hence the importance of the inquiry, Was the Roman world divided into ten kingdoms on the fall of the empire ? Has this division continued from that day to this clearly traceable ? Is it evident even now ? What were the ten kingdoms at first ? What have they been ever since ? and what are they at present ? The answer to these inquiries is profoundly interesting, because among other reasons it must needs afford an indication of our pre sent position in the stream of time with regard to the second advent. That indication may be to some extent indefinite, but it must be there, and it is the clearest information on the all-important subject which is attainable. The programme presents five episodes the four empires and the tenfold commonwealth and then follows the second advent. The four empires are past. When we have examined history on the subject of the tenfold commonwealth, we shall see how much of that is also past, and be able to judge to some extent how much remains ; and this, though not the main object of our investigation, is a deeply interesting incidental result. To trace the fulfilment of the prophecy as an evi dence of the inspiration of Scripture is our object ; but who can fail to welcome any light on the subject of our Lord s return ? The first question that arises for consideration is, In what sphere are we to look for the ten kingdoms ? Shall we seek for them in the whole extent of the Roman empire at the time of its widest dominion ? or in that part of its territory which was properly Roman as distinguished from the countries belonging to previous empires subjugated by Rome ? A very little consideration will show that prophecy regards the four empires as being as distinct in territory as in time ; as distinct in geographical boundaries as in chronological limits. They rise in a definite sequence; the supreme dominion of one does not in point of time overlap the supreme dominion of the following one, nor is the territory of a former "beast" or empire ever regarded as belonging to a later one, though it may have been actually conquered. Each has its own proper theatre or body, and the bodies continue to exist after the dominion is taken away. This is distinctly stated, both in connection with the fourfold image and with the four beasts. In the first case the stone falls upon the clay and iron feet only, but the iron legs, the brazen body, the silver breast, and the golden head, are all by it " broken to pieces togetJier" Now the empires repre sented by these have long since passed away. They cannot therefore be " broken to pieces " by the second advent. But the territory once occupied by them is still existing and still populous, and exposed to the judgments of the day of Christ just as much as Rome itself. Similarly we read that the three earlier beasts did not cease to exist when the fourth arose. " Their dominion was taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time." 1 That is to say, the first three empires are re garded as co-existing with the fourth after their dominion has ended. This proves that they are regarded as distinct in place as well as in time. They continue to be recognised as territorial divisions of the earth after the disappearance of their political supremacy. Now the eastern empire of Rome which it acquired by conquest occupied precisely the same territory as the Grecian empire had done, and its conquests in Asia occupied the territories which originally formed the Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires. None of this territory belongs to " the legs of iron." It constitutes the golden, silver, and brazen portions of the image. It can not be regarded as forming any part of the empire proper and peculiar to Rome. The ten horns or kingdoms of the fourth empire must none of them be sought in the realms of the third, second, or first, but exclusively in the realm of the fourth, or in the territory PECULIAR to ROME, and which had never formed part either of the Grecian, Medo-Persian, or Babylonian empires. Sir Isaac Newton says on this point : " Seeing body of the third beast is confined to the nations on this side the Euphrates, and the body of the fourth beast is con fined to the nations on this side of Greece, we are to look for all the four heads of the third beast among the nations on this side the Euphrates, and for all the eleven horns of the fourth beast among the nations on this side of Greece. Therefore we do not reckon the Greek empire seated at Constantinople among the horns of the fourth beast, because it belonged to the body of the third." Our question then becomes more definite and takes this form Was the territory peculiar to Route, the territory which is sometimes spoken of as the Western Empire, and of which Rome itself was the capital, divided on the fall of the old empire into ten kingdoms? It is notorious that such was the case. From the rise of the Roman empire to its fall in the fifth century it was one and undivided ; since its decline and fall as an empire, the territory peculiar to Rome has been broken up into many independent sovereignties, bound to gether into the one family of Latin Christendom by a common submission to the popes of Rome. The number of distinct kingdoms has always been about ten at times exactly ten, sinking at intervals to eight or nine, rising occasionally to twelve or thirteen, but averaging on the whole ten. The prophecy distinctly predicted that the number would not be constantly or invariably ten. It represents a little horn springing up among the ten, then there must have been eleven. It represents that three of the horns were plucked up before this little horn, then there could have been for a time ei^ht o only. Fresh horns must however have taken the place of the uprooted ones, for at the close of the beast s history the number is represented as still ten. Hence the number of the kingdoms was to be generally, but not rigidly or unvaryingly, ten ; there would as a rule throughout the whole period be ten kingdoms, occupying the sphere of the western empire of Rome ; but the number would be elastic, sometimes less, sometimes more, but always about ten, so that no other number of horns would as correctly represent the facts of the case. Alexander s empire was re presented by one notable horn, the dynasties that arose amidst its broken fragments by four horns ; but Rome was to break up into a larger number, and ten different kingdoms would appear upon the scene, and occupy even till the end, the territory belonging to the fourth beast, still having Rome as in some sort their centre and bond of union, for they were to be horns of the Roman beast. Such are the symbols, and they are the more remarkable because they foretell a state of things which had never existed in the world at the time when the prophecy was given, and which never did exist till a thousand years after wards. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome in its first phase, all sought and obtained unii crsal dominion, and could brook no rival power. The prophecy foretold that in the distant future another state of things should arise, and that co-exist ing side by side, a family of ten kingdoms should divide the heritage of Rome, and while no longer in subjection to it as provinces, should yet, as independent kingdoms, continue to have a common connection with Rome. The fact that the portion of the prophecy devoted to the detailed history of these horns is two or three times as long as that devoted to the history of the undivided empire, suggests that their actual history might probably extend over a much longer period than that of the undivided empire ; and there is no question that they continue in existence until the coming of Christ, and the establishment of His millennial kingdom. They rise on the fall of tlie empire, for there is no gap in the image, and no break in the continuity of the history of the fourth beast, no indication whatever that any interval is to exist between the united and the dismembered con ditions of the Roman world. The iron legs run right on the ten toes, and the story of the beast is continued without a break in the story of the ten horns. What now have been the facts of history ? Was the Roman empire on its fall divided into a number of separate kingdoms, and has it continued to be so ever since ? Has the number of such kingdoms averaged ten ? Have they retained a common connection with Rome ? And how many such kingdoms now occupy the scene ? The ten kingdoms must first of course be sought among the Gothic dynasties of the fifth and sixth centuries by which the empire of the West was overthrown ; and then at intervals ever since. Should we find that Europe has for ages been united under one monarch, or should we on the other hand find that it has been divided as a rule into thirty or forty kingdoms, we shall be driven to conclude that the prophecy has failed of fulfilment. But should we on the contrary find that amid incessant changes the number of the kingdoms of the European commonwealth has, as a rule, averaged ten, we must surely admit tuat this portion of the prophecy is as much fulfilled as the earlier portion of the four undivided empires. What further evidence of fulfilment can be desired, than that the thing predicted has come to pass ? As it would be impossible to note the exact number o f kingdoms for each year of the thirteen or fourteen centuries which have since elapsed, we must content ourselves with taking a census each century. The historian Machiavel, without the slightest reference to t/iis prophecy, gives the following list of the nations whid* occupied the territory of the Western Empire at the timf. of the fall of Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of Rome. The Lombards, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Ostro goths, the Visigoths, the Vandals, the Heruli, the Sueves, the Huns, and the Saxons ; ten in all.
After a time the Huns disappeared, but other powers arose and obtained a home in the domains of old Rome. The changes were incessant, as horde after horde of barbarian invaders pressed in on every side to share the spoils ; but still the number of established kingdoms was again and again ten. It never rose to twenty or thirty, it never fell to two or three. Charlemagne in his day reduced it for a time, and attempted, like Napoleon in a later age, to restore unity; both utterly failed, and after a very few years the normal ten kingdoms reappeared. The following list gives the contemporary kingdoms ex isting in Western Europe at intervals of a hundred years apart, from the Qth to the iQth centuries. It is extracted from a much longer series in " The Four Prophetic Empires," by the Rev. T. R. Birks, and is introduced by the remark that a measure of uncertainty must exist as to whether some of the States should be included, as " it is sometimes doubt ful whether a kingdom can claim an independent sovereignty on account of the complex and varying nature of its political relations." But as exactly as it can be estimated from the records of history, the following lists present the members of the family of kingdoms as they appeared from century to century. Where a note of interrogation follows a name, it implies that there are some elements of doubt as to whether it should be included or not. A.D. 860. Italy, Provence, Lorraine, East France, West France, Exarchate, Venice, Navarre, England, Scotland. Total, 10. A.D. 950. Germany, Burgundy, Lombardy, Exarchate, Venice, France, England, Scotland, Navarre, Leon. Total, 10. A.D. 1050. Germany, Exarchate, Venice, Norman Italy, France, England, Scot land, Arragon, Castile, Normandy (?), Hungary (?). Total, 9 to 11.
A.D. 1150. Germany, Naples, Venice, France, England, Scotland, Arragon, Cas tile, Portugal, Hungary, Lombardy (?). Total, 10, or perhaps n. A.D. 1250. Germany and Naples, Venice, Lombardy, France, England, Scotland, Arragon, Castile, Portugal, Hungary. Total, 10. A.D. 1350. Germany, Naples, Venice, Switzerland (?), Milan (?), Tuscany (?), France, England and Scotland, Arragon, Castile, Portugal, Hungary. Total, 9 to 12. A.D. 1453. Austria, Naples, Venice, France, England, Scotland, Arragon, Cas tile, Portugal, Hungary, Switzerland (?), Savoy (?), Milan (?), Tus cany (?). Total, 1 1 to 14. A.D. 1552. Austria, Venice, France, England, Scotland, Spain, Naples, Portugal, Hungary, Switzerland (?), Lombardy (?). Total, 9 to 11. A.D. 1648. Austria, Venice, France, Britain (?), Spain and Naples, Portugal,. Hungary, Switzerland (?), Savoy, Tuscany, Holland. Total, 8 to 11. A.D. 1750. Austria and Hungary, France, Savoy and Sardinia, Venice, Tuscany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland (?), Naples (?), Britain (?), Holland. Total, 8 to ii. A.D. 1816. Austria, Bavaria, Wurtemburg (?), Naples, Tuscany, Sardinia, Lom bardy (?), France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Britain (?), Switzer land (?). Total, 9 to 13.
An examination of this list reveals the surprising fact, which would only become more apparent were the list lengthened ten times, so as to present a census of each de cade instead of each century, that, amidst unceasing and al most countless fluctuations, the kingdoms of modern Europe have from their birth to the present day averaged ten in number. They have never since the break-up of old Rome been united into one single empire; they have never formed one ivhole even like the United States. No scheme of proud ambition seeking- to reunite the broken fragments has ever succeeded ; when such have arisen, they have been invariably dashed to pieces. Witness the legions of Napoleon buried beneath the snows of Russia, the armadas of Spain wrecked by Atlantic storms, and all the futile royal marriage arrange ments by which monarchs vainly sought to create a revived empire. In spite of all human effort, in defiance of every attempt at reunion, the European commonwealth for thirteen or fourteen centuries lias numbered on an average ten king doms. And the division is as apparent now as ever ! Plainly and palpably inscribed on the map of Europe this day, it confronts the sceptic with its silent but conclusive testimony to the fulfilment of this great prophecy. Who can alter or add to this tenfold list of the kingdoms now occupying the sphere ol old Rome ? ITALY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, ENGLAND, HOLLAND, BELGIUM, SPAIN, and PORTUGAL. Ten, and no more ; ten, and no less ! The Franco-Prus sian war and the unification of Italy have once more developed distinctly the normal number of the kingdoms of Europe. Nor is this all. The most marked feature of this prophecy is neither the four beasts nor the ten horns of the fourth, but the little horn with eyes and mouth that came up amongthem ; it is neither the four empires nor the ten kingdoms, but the one supremely influential and singularly wicked dynasty that rises with, and rules over, the latter ; exalts itself, blasphemes God, wears out His saints, and ultimately brings down Divine judgment on the beast and all his horns, itself included ; i.e., on apostate Latin Christendom, and its centre ROME. What was this little horn ? To answer this question we ask another. What was the central ruling power in the European commonwealth of nations throughout the thousand years of the dark ages from the sixth to the sixteenth cen turies ? It was a power that ruled from Rome as did the Caesars. It was the succession of Roman pontiffs, the line of tiara-crowned monarchs who for more than twelve cen turies governed papal Rome; who ranked as temporal sove reigns as well as high priests in the Church, and who united under their sway the separate kingdoms of Latin Christen dom. Every feature of the prophecy was fulfilled in their dynasty, and in no other. Those features are six in number. The prophecy lays its finger on the place where we are to. find the great enemy Rome ; on the point of time in the course of history at which we may expect to see him rise the fall of the empire and the division of the Roman territory into a commonwealth of kingdoms ; it specifies the nature of the power politico-ecclesiastical, a horn, and yet an over seer or bishop ; its character blasphemously self-exalting, lawless, and persecuting; it measures its duration 1 a time, and times, and the dividing of time " (or 1,260 years) ; and it specifies its doojii to have its dominion gradually consumed and taken away, and then be suddenly destroyed for ever by the glorious epiphany of Christ and the introduction of the kingdom of God on earth. The proof that the Papacy is the power intended is strictly cumulative. If it answered to one of these indications, there would be a slight presumption against it ; if to several, a strong one ; if to the majority, an overwhelming one ; while if it answer to all, then the proof that it is the power in tended becomes irresistible. There is not a single clause in the prophecy that cannot be proved to fit the Roman Papacy exactly, except the last, which is not yet fulfilled. Rome, which in her pagan phase defiled and destroyed the literal temple of God at Jerusalem, in her papal days defiled and destroyed the anti-typical spiritual temple of God the Christian Church. Was it not worthy of God to warn that Church beforehand of the coming of this dreadful anti-Chris-tian power, and to cheer her in all the sufferings she would have to endure from its tyranny by a knowledge of the issue of the great and terrible drama ? Was it. not right that the Roman power, pagan and papal, should occupy as paramount a place on the page of Scripture as it has actually done on the page of history ? The eighteen Christian centuries lay open before the eye of the omniscient God, and no figure stood out so prominently in all their long course as that of the great antichrist. The pen of inspiration sketched him in a few bold, masterly strokes; and there is no mistaking the por trait. The prophecy identifies the greatest power of evil that has ever arisen in the earth, and unmasks the most treacherous and deceptive foe which the Church has ever had to meet ; for if the ten horns be the kingdoms of modern Europe, there can be no question as to what the little horn is. Throughout Wes tern Europe and throughout the dark ages all men reverenced, served, and obeyed the popes of Rome, whose dominion was exceeding evil, and whose pretension was the blasphemous one to be quasi Dens as God on earth. The idolatry of ancient Babylon was revived under this modern Babylon in another form, and the judgment that descended on the former will ere long descend on the latter according to this prophecy. We must, however, refer to another work for the full expo sition of the subject, as space forbids our going further into it here. 1
The Divine Programme of The World's History
H. Grattan Guinness
https://neohistoricism.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/1892-the-divine-programme-of-the-worlds-history-h-gratton-guinness.pdf

[529] C. 1The entire purport of this fourth vow of obedience to the pope was and is with regard to missions; 2and this is how the bulls should be understood where they speak of this obedience in all that the sovereign pontiff may command and wherever he may send one, and so on."
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

"Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus: a ROMAN work of the entire Society, 304 §2"
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms
https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf