Imágenes de páginas
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to Byzantium, and honored it with his own name calling it Constantinople. After the death of Constantine, which happened A. D. 337, the Roman empire was divided between the three sons of Constantine. Constantius inherited the eastern division, and possessed his father's throne, in Constantinople. Constantine and Constans inherited the western empire. The Greek kingdom had again become an independent government under Constantius. But, A. D. 353, his two brothers both being dead, the whole empire came into his hands, and the Roman empire was again united. But, A. D. 356, the Huns, a barbarous nation, invaded the Roman empire and established themselves in Hungary. This event was followed by the establishment, between 356 and 483, of nine other independent kingdoms within the Roman empire. But, during all this time, the eastern or Greek empire, as it was called, remained entire and independent. This was not the first time of the Greek kingdom's independence after Alexander's death; nor the last ; but the latter. The first time was after the death of Alexander, until conquered by the Romans. The latter time, from the death of Constantine to the Ottoman conquest. The last time, partially, since the Greek revolution, but principally yet in the future, after the fall of the Ottoman power. It was this Greek empire which became the promoter of the Papal usurpations, from the days of Constantine, when he first removed the seat of empire to the east, until the days of Justinian, when, A. D. 534, he constituted the Bishop of Rome head of all the churches, and, 538, conquered Rome and established the pope in his see.

It was in this way the little Papal horn came out of the Greek empire, one of the four horns of the goat, in the LATTER time of their kingdom. The power of this Papal horn became "mighty, but not by his own power." 1. The greatness of the Pope, as an ecclesiastical power, was conferred on him by the Greek emperor, Justinian. 2. The same emperor conquered the Ostrogoths to make way for the Pope. 3. He defended him against his enemies after he possessed Rome. 4. Pepin, king of France, in 755, conquered the Exarchote of Ravenna and conferred it on the Pope in perpetual sovereignty; thus constituting him a temporal prince. Other acts of assistance might be brought forward to almost any extent; but the foregoing are deemed sufficient to prove and illustrate the point, that the Roman Pontiff did not become mighty by his own power, but by the power of others. "He waxed exceeding great, toward the east, toward the south, and toward the pleasant land." The crusades established the Papal power in all Syria, and part of Asia Minor, and even erected the banner of the cross on Mount Zion. And where has not the Papal power been felt?

"He magnified himself, even to the host of heaven," &c. He assumed to be the sole church of God. "He cast down some of the host, and of the stars, and stamped on them." He persecuted the saints, and trod them in the dust. "He magnified himself even to the Prince of the host." assumed to be the Vicegerent of Jesus Christ, and to possess and exercise the prerogatives of the Son of God.

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By him the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down."

"By him the daily;" the word sacrifice not being in the original. This term is of frequent occurrence in the book of Daniel, and it will be necessary to ascertain its true meaning. What then did the anti-christian or Papal abomination remove to make way for itself? What was it that let or hindered until he was taken out of the way? I answer, Paganism. For, although the empire was nominally Christian most of the time from the days of Constantine, yet Paganism continued to maintain itself in Rome, and Pagan sacrifices were offered there until the conversion of the Ostrogoths to Christianity, about A. D. 508, since which time we have no account of any public Pagan sacrifices being offered in the city of Rome. "The place of Paganism's sanctuary" was then cast down, and in its place a new system of idolatry was set up, viz., the worship of saints and images. So that these Pagan conquerors, when they embraced the Christian religion, only exchanged one system of idolatry for anoth er. But by the fall of Paganism, the way began to open for the establishment of the Papal pre

tensions.

"An host was given him against the daily sacrifice, by reason of transgression." The energies of the church were directed by the aspiring pontiffs against Pagan institutions, and to bring the Pagans over to the Christian faith.

"And it cast down truth to the ground, and it practised and prospered." The Papal power trampled on the word of God, corrupted all the doctrines of the gospel, imposed on men's con

sciences burdens, heavy and intolerable to be borne; persecuted and put to death all who would not submit to the yoke. Thus far the prophetic emblems. And from them we learn that the little horn in this vision is the same as in the for

mer, the Papal power. And from the 25th verse,

"He

we learn that he is to have the same end. shall stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." He shall be destroyed without human intervention, by Divine power. He shall be slain and given to the burning flame. He shall be destroyed by the brightness of the Lord's coming, &c.

THE TIME WHEN THE SANCTUARY SHALL BE

CLEANSED.

"Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto 2300 days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." It seems there were two great systems of abomination which were to afflict the church; "the daily, and the transgression of desolation :" Pagan worship, and Papal superstition and oppression. The inquiry arose, how long shall these oppressive influences be permitted to defile and afflict the church? For that the sanctuary means the church, is evident from Heb. viii. 1, 2. We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, a

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minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." The church, then, is the true sanctuary, of which Christ is the High Priest. In this sanctuary the tares and the wheat are to grow together until the harvest at the end of the world, and then be separated by the angels. Matt. xiii. The sanctuary will be cleansed, then, when the man of sin is destroyed, at "the day of the Lord," or when the little horn, Daniel 7th chapter, 66 is slain and given to the burning flame;" or when he is "broken without hand."

66

But the sanctuary is to be cleansed at the end of 2300 days, or evenings and mornings. When those days are to begin, and what is the length of a day, are the two points to be settled. On these two points the chapter affords no information. It must, therefore, be sought elsewhere. At the close of the vision, after the explanation of it by the angel, Daniel informs us, verse 27th, And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick certain days; afterwards I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." Here we have the testimony of the prophet that, although the vision had been explained, yet there were parts of it yet obscure. But all had been explained to him, except the two points under consideration: the nature of the time, and its commencement.

Accordingly, in the next chapter we have a key to these points. After the prayer of Daniel and his confession of sin, we are told, chapter ix. 20, " And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the

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