134 THE FIRST PAPAL KING WHO AND WHEN.

Greece, Macedon, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Carthage, Spain, France, (then denominated Gaul,) and Great Britain. Over all these, which then included almost, if not all the civilized nations of the earth, the Roman Cesars once had dominion. Among them the "little horn," came up gradually, by slow degrees, into civil power.

Soon after the reign of Constantine, when the Christian religion was the popular religion of the whole Roman Empire, the metropolitan bishops of Rome began to aspire after anti-Christian pre-eminence in the visible church. After various struggles that point was gained, when the Emperor Phocas constituted Boniface III., the Pope of Rome, with supreme, uncontrolled ecclesiastical power over the whole Christian Church on earth, which was done A.D. 606. But the aspiring Popes of Rome attained not to kingly power, until 150 years after that period. Hence, the origin of the Papal power as a kingdom, among the ten subordinate kingdoms of the Roman Empire, was evidently the period, when, by the aid of the powerful Pepin, king of France, the Pope of Rome conquered Aistulphus, king of the Lombards, the last contending secular power against the aspiring supremacy of the Popes of Rome; forced him to sign stipulated articles of a treaty which required him to resign all the territories, keys of cities, and civil power of the kingdom of Lombardy into the hand and power of the Pope, and his successors in the see of Rome, forever.

Thus did Pope Stephen II., in A.D. 756, attain to the full possession of the long-sought sovereignty of an earthly kingdom, and was crowned, and honored, among the royal princes of the noted ten kingdoms of the vast Roman Empire. This we consider as the fulfilment of the divine explanation of Daniel's vision

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in relation to the circumstantial origin of the "little horn." The kingdom predicted, was, evidently, the Papal secular power. And when the Pope of Rome attained to that predicted royalty, the prophecy was fulfilled on the first specification of the prophetic vision as it was explained to the prophet by his celestial instructor. Thus, among the ten horns of the great beast, “There came up another little horn," which was divinely explained to be a kingdom.

Of this kingdom of the little horn, it was predicted, "That it should be diverse from the first." The Papal kingdom agrees with this description. The other kingdoms had no connection nor jurisdiction over the church; but the Pope of Rome, the royal sovereign of the Papal secular kingdom, was also the sovereign head of the church, uncontrolled by none, and from whose authority, there was no appeal.

The next symbolical specification of the little horn was, that by it "Three of the horns of the great beast were plucked up by the roots." The explanation of this emblem to the prophet was, " And he shall subdue three kings;" i. e. the kingdom of the little horn, would subdue three of the ten kingdoms of the fourth great kingdom. Evidently, the kingdom of Papal Rome has done this. The populous kingdoms of Italy, France, and Spain, have been plucked up by the roots, by being subdued, and converted over to the faith and practice of all the anti-Christian mummeries of Popery, to say nothing of the extensive Papal influence over other nations of the earth.

Another prophetical specification is, "He shall speak great words against the Most High." This the Popes, the Papal kings, of the Papal kingdom of Rome, have arrogantly done. The title of "HIS HOLINESS," is an assumption of Popes, which belongs to God only.

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BLASPHEMOUS PAPAL ASSUMPTIONS.

Thus "Holiness belongeth to the Lord." "God sitteth upon the throne of HIS HOLINESS." "The Lord hath sworn by HIS HOLINESS." The Pope also claims Infallibility. God, only, of all beings in the universe, is Infallible. The Pope claims the power, not only to forgive sin; but, to grant indulgence to commit sin, with the stipulated pardon, paid for, in money, beforehand. These are great words,—high claims, arrogant assumptions, indeed, against the.Most High!!

Another prophetical mark of the kingdom of the little horn, is, "He shall wear out the saints of the Most High." No tyrannical power on earth, has exceeded Popery, in the persecution of orthodox Bible Christians. All such have been pronounced heretics by the Popes of Rome: and many of the most pious saints of God have been doomed, by pontifical authority, to horrid curses, imprisonments, tortures of the most horrific nature, and death in the most cruel form. Thus, millions of devoted Christians have been worn out in life, till death, by torture, liberated their souls from the prison of worn-out bodies, to be carried by angels to the realms of peace.

Another explanatory description of the kingdom of the little horn, is, "He shall think to change times and laws." This, the Popes of Rome also have done. They have blasphemously assumed the power to change God's laws, and substitute Papal decretals to be observed in their stead. They have changed times, by multiplying holy days to be kept in the observance of Papal ceremonies, which God ordained to be devoted to labor; and they have authorized licentious diversions on the Lord's own holy day, "thus, making times holy, or unholy, contrary to the word of God."*

* Dr. Scott.

SAINTS IN THE HANDS OF A PAPAL KING. 137

They have commanded to abstain from meats on periodical weekly fast days, which God never commanded. They have prohibited marriage to all ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, contrary to the express ordinance of God. And many other such like things they "have done."

Again it is said in the divine explanation of Daniel's vision, "And they (the saints) shall be given into his hand, until a time, times, and the dividing of time." This clause of the prediction shows the duration, both of the saints' trials under the oppressive hand of Popery; and, also, the duration of the Papal kingdom, from its commencement to its termination. The saints, comprising the whole visible church of God, were given into the hand of King Stephen, monarch of the Papal kingdom, on the day of his elevation to the sovereignty of a royal prince in the rank of other kings of nations. And this gift of all the saints of God into his royal hand, was made by his Papal self, his own holiness, Pope Stephen II., who, up to the day when he was made king of the Papal kingdom, was nothing only, Pope Stephen II. of Rome; vested with absolute, and uncontrolled ecclesiastical authority over all the saints of God on earth, to bind their consciences; to tyrannize over them at his pleasure; and enforce unconditional submission to the dictation of his infallible will.

But, on the day in A.D. 756, when Pepin, king of France, exalted Pope Stephen II. to the royal throne of the Papal kingdom, and made him King Stephen, as well as Pope Stephen, then, there was a queer transfer of all the saints from the hand of his holiness Pope Stephen, to the hand of his royal majesty King Stephen; yes, from the hand of his own Papal self, to the hand of his own majestic self; from his own

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AUTHORITY FOR DAYS OF YEARS.

ecclesiastical tyranny, to his own secular, kingly domination, were all the saints given, to be under the subjection, and despotic government of his royal majesty and his successors, during the period of " a time, times, and the dividing of time," which has been explained to signify the duration of 1260 years.

The Scripture authority for the ancient computation of years, by the number of days in a year, may be found in Numbers xiv. 34. God said to Moses, "After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, ye shall bear your iniquity, even forty years." Also the same computation was made in a divine requirement to the Prophet Ezekiel, as a sign to both houses of Israel and Judah. Thus God commanded him, "Lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, 390 days; so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed thee each day for a year. [Vid. Ezek. iv. 4-6.]

In accordance with this ancient divine computation of time we may understand that the saints (God's witnesses) will be in the hand, and to a greater or less degree, under the domination of Papal power, prophesying in sackcloth 1260 years, the number of days in "time, times, and a half," or the dividing of time, equal to the days in three and an half years, or forty-two months of thirty days to a month, or "one thousand two hundred and sixty days," all which designations in Scripture signify the same amount of 1260 years,