The World's Prophetic History

PROPHECY is peculiar to the Christian Scriptures. The Vedas of India, the most ancient of the so called sacred books of the world, aside from the Bible, the Shasters and Puranas of the Hindus, the Tripitaka of the Buddhists, the Law book of Matiu, the Tao-Te-King of the Taoists of China, the Lun-Yu of Confucius, the Kojiki and Nihonki of the Shintos of Japan, the Zend-Avesta of the Parsees, and the Koran of the Mohammedans,—none of these presume to unroll the future of human events, to call coming conquerors by name centuries before their birth, to foretell the rise and fall of kingdoms in consecutive order, to give the extent of their territory, describe their character, enumerate some of their wonderful achievements, number the years of their continuance, and make known their fate. All this the Bible does. But only the hand of Omniscience can lift the vail that hides such scenes from mortal view. And when predictions of this kind are given, and then are fulfilled in time and place and character, with all the promptness and accuracy that mark the movements of the heavenly bodies in their glorious orbits, divinity shines through the event, and skepticism rages in vain around the demonstration.

But not only are the prophecies peculiar to the Bible, there is a remarkable peculiarity about the prophecies themselves which none should fail to notice; and that is that the farther the prophet goes into the future from his own time, the more definite and specific his predictions become. This is exactly the reverse of human speculations and efforts to read the future. These are more minute and specific in reference to events the nearest at hand, and rapidly grow general and indefinite as they proceed to the distant future.

Of the above named peculiarity of prophecy we have a beautiful illustration in the case before us. In the vision of Daniel 7, the prophet, beginning with his own time, 555 B. C., takes us down through Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome, to the establishment of the papacy in the year 538 A.D., or 1093 years from his own time, and then proceeds to state respecting the papacy what he gives respecting no other preceding power, namely, the exact number of years during which it should enjoy supreme authority.

In Dan. 7:25, having spoken of the efforts of the papal power against God, his people, and his laws, the prophet says: "And they [the saints, times, and laws] shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." From this the conclusion follows that when this period should end, a change would take place in the position of the papacy, and its dominion be taken away. In the inquiry whether this has been fulfilled or not, the first point to be ascertained is, how long a period the words "time and times and the dividing of time" signify.

To the ordinary reader the expression seems at first sight to be quite unintelligible; but an easily ascertained fact furnishes a key to its explanation. That fact is that the Bible uses the word "time" to signify a year. It was told king Nebuchadnezzar that he should be driven from his kingdom till "seven times" passed over him (Dan. 4:28), and Josephus ("Jewish Antiquities") informs us that he was driven from his kingdom "seven years." According to this, a "time" signifies a "year." The Chaldaic word here translated "time" is (iddan), which Gesenius, in his Hebrew lexicon, defines thus: "time. —spec. in prophetic language for a year. Dan. 7:25."

Now the ordinary Bible year consists of 12 months of 30 days each, or 360 days. Reduced to days, a "time" would therefore be 360 days; "times" (that is two times, the least that can be expressed by the, plural number) would , be 720 days; and the "dividing of time," or as it could more properly be rendered "half a time" (see Gesenius), would make 180 days more. These all added together give us 1260 days for the expression "time and times and the dividing of time." That this is the correct interpretation is further proved by the prophecy of Revelation 12 and 13 where the same period (Rev: 12:14) is called in verse 6 "a thousand two hundred and threescore [1260] days," and the same papal power (Rev. 13:5) is predicted to continue 42 months. At 30 days to the month (see Gen. 7:11; 8:4 compared with 7:24) this gives us again 1260 days.

The nature of the time is next to be considered. The Bible computes time in two ways, according to the nature of the subject under consideration: First, in its ordinary, literal sense; secondly, in a symbolic, or prophetic sense. The prophecy before us is a symbolic prophecy; the time connected with it must therefore be used in its symbolic sense; and where so used the Bible gives us a rule showing how much it is by literal measurement. The rule is that a prophetic day, stands for, or is a symbol of, a literal year. Eze. 4:6, Num. 14:34. The 1260 symbolic days of papal supremacy are, therefore, 1260 literal years. The papacy, as we have seen, was established in A.D. 538. To this we add 1260, and find ourselves directed to the year 1798 as the date of its overthrow. As that year was approaching, we behold all Europe in a political ferment. A thunderbolt is launched against the papal states. Acting under the french director, Berthier (Ber-t-ea), at the head of the French army, knocks at the gates of Rome. The city surrenders; the pope (Pius VI) becomes a prisoner; the chair of St. Peter is overturned; and a decent secular republic is erected on the spot so long nursed by an overshadowing spiritual tyranny.

We glance at the prophetic calendar. Twelve hundred and sixty years before, in the month of March, A.D. 538, the shattered legions of the Goths, who stood in the way of papal supremacy, were driven in confusion by Belisarius, the general of the armies of Justinian, from their camp around the walls of Rome, and the spiritual usurper mounted that throne which the prophecy had allotted to him for, 1260 years. Those years expire, almost the very month is reached, when on Feb, 10, 1798, a more determined and powerful foe approached the doomed city and pulled the false shepherd from his lofty seat. The pope was carried in exile to Valence; France, where, still a prisoner, he died the following year. Another pope was elected and the papacy partially restored in 1800; but it has never, says Croly in his work on the Apocalypse, enjoyed the power it previously possessed. A plainer fulfillment of prophecy could hardly be given. If any skeptic thinks it a light matter, let him try his hand at predicting some unknown movement; even six months in the future, and give the exact time of its continuance. Furthermore, this little horn that had eyes and a mouth speaking great things, was to think to change "times and laws." The Hebrew reads, "the law," pointing plainly to the law of God, just as the saints which this horn weard out are the saints of God, and the name which it blasphemes is the name of God. According to the view here maintained, that this little horn is a symbol of the papacy, we must look for some attempt on the part of the papacy to change God's law. By God's law, according to the general consent of Christendom for cerituries past, we understand the decalogue, or ten commandments, spoken and written as no other laws have been, by Jehovah himself. All agree in regard to the first three and last six commandments of the decalogue. But over the fourth all Christendom is in a ferment. Why ?—Because the Scriptures declare, or rather record what God has declared, that the seventh day is the Sabbath, but some one has tried to make a change, and has induced the greater portion of all denominations to keep the first day of the week. Who has made this change? Not Christ. He said not one word about it. Nor the apostles. They teach not a syllable of it. But the Catholics step forth and claim that their church has made the change, admitting that it has no sanction in the Scriptures, but rests on the authority of their Church alone. See quotations given on the last page of this paper. See Catholic catechisms and controversial works in general. Ask any Catholic priest how this is, and he will make the same answer. A powerful movement is now on foot to lead men back to the word of God in this matter. Hence the agitation.

Finally, Daniel says (7:11) that this little horn uttered great words, and as a consequence was almost immediately thereafter given to the burning flame. Those greate words the present generation has heard. In the year 1870, in the great Ecumenical Council, by a vote of 538 against 2, the blasphemous dogma of "infallibility" was adopted as the deliberate voice of the whole Catholic world. This was already sixteen years ago. Next comes destruction in the burning flame. How is the papacy to be destroyed?—By the spirit of Christ's mouth and the brightness of his glory, when he appears at his second coming! 2Thess. 2:8. How far away, then, can that coming be? Reader, where are we? Babylon has given place to Persia, Persia to Grecia, Grecia to Rome, Rome to the barbarians; the papacy has arisen filled its 1260 years, done its terrible work, spoken its great words. All this is past, fulfilled to the very letter. The burning flame, the coming of Christ, the end of all earthly things, come next, and must be at our very doors.