The greatest objection to giving this part of the vision such a literal interpretation is, that it fails to bring out its symbolic character. To what, then, does it refer? We have, as before, a horseman, indicating that the agent is one of the same general character, differing mainly in his features and mission. This horse was of a livid, cadaverous hue, denoting an agent of ghastly, terrible nature. The living rider bore the awful name of "Death," or as in the original, "The Death," by way of emphasis. Death literally was not the agent--it is not so stated--but the rider was termed The Death, or The Destroyer, because of his terrible mission; and Hell followed with him. Applying the laws of symbolic language as heretofore, it is evident that this symbol represents a great persecuting ecclesiastical power. And with this thought before us, we can scarcely fail to recognize it as a true description of _the Papacy_. The great apostasy, described under the preceding seal, prepared the way for the final and complete establishment of the "man of sin"; but during the period there brought to view the ministers of religion, power-seeking and apostate as they were, were unable to enforce their claims by the power of persecution. Under the present seal, however, is represented a later stage of their corruption, when a great hierarchal system, sustained and upheld by the arm of civil power, was able to bear tyrannical rule over a great portion of the earth. During this period clerical ambition and usurpation reached its greatest height. After speaking of the power possessed by the metropolitans, Mosheim says: "The universal church had now the appearance of one vast republic, formed by a combination of a great number of little states. This occasioned the creation of a new order of ecclesiastics, who were appointed in different parts of the world, as _heads_ of the church, and whose office it was to preserve the consistence and union of that immense body, whose members were so widely dispersed throughout the nations. Such was the nature and office of the Patriarchs." Church History, Cent. II, part 2.