he
provincial governors, but afterwards received the more ecclesiastical
appellation _Patriarchs_. The term Patriarch had been in use for a long
time in the church signifying merely a bishop, irrespective of the
dignity he possessed, but it was finally limited to this higher class of
the clergy, in which sense I now employ it. The cities that first
enjoyed this chief distinction were Alexandria, Rome, and Antioch. The
general council of Nice (A.D. 325) in its sixth canon recognized the
superior authority already possessed by these cities. See D'Aubigne's
Hist, of Reformation, Vol. I, p. 41. The general council of
Constantinople in its third canon placed the bishop of Constantinople in
the same rank with the other three Patriarchs; and the general council
of Calcedon exalted the See of Jerusalem to a similar dignity, doubtless
because of its ancient importance as the birthplace of Christianity.
Thus, Patriarchs were established in the five political capitals of the
Roman empire; and they were considered the "_heads of the church_,"
having spiritual authority over the whole empire. These were the only
Patriarchates of importance. Certain ecclesiastics of the Church of Rome
even at the present time bear the honorary title Patriarch; but, to
quote the words of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "In a strictly technical
sense, however, that church recognizes only five Patriarchates, those of
Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome." Art.
Patriarch. In the years 637 to 640 Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch
fell into the hands of the Saracen followers of Mohammed, which
terminated their importance, and later the Greek schism separated the
Patriarch of Constantinople from Rome; and thus the Patriarch of Rome
was left in undisputed possession of the field and was soon recognized
as universal head of the church. So under the symbol of this dread rider
on a pale horse is portrayed the great hierarchal system by which the
Papacy was fully developed in the West.

It is fitting that we notice particularly the agents of destruction
employed by this rider. He possesses a sword with which to kill--the
same instrument wielded by the rider of the red horse--but it is evident
that he uses it with more terrific energy, by reason of which he
receives the name Death, or The Destroyer. It is possible, also, that in
this case a sword, wielded by the hand of an ecclesiastical power, may
be used as a symbol of a spiritual cutting off