which belongs only to God. They profess to open and shut heaven, which belongs only to God. They profess to be higher than all the kings of the earth, which belongs only to God. And they go beyond God, in pretending to loose whole nations from their oath of allegiance to their kings, when such kings do not please them; and they go against God, when they give indulgences for sin." This they have done, and is the worst of all blasphemies. The dreaded councils at Rome, under the sole direction of the numerous Popes since they became antichristian, have endeavour ed to wear out the saints," by wars, crusades, massacres, inquisitions and persecutions of all kinds. What, in this way, have they not done against all those who have protested against their innovations, and refused to submit to their idolatrous worship. Witness the exter→ minating crusades published against the Waldenses and Abbigenses. Witness John Huys, and Jerom of Prague. Witness the Smithfield fires in England. Witness God and man against this bloody, persecuting, ruthless and impure church." They have also thought" to change times and laws, by appointing fasts and feasts; canonizing persons whom they choose to call saints; granting pardons and indulgences for sins; institutiug new modes of worship utterly unknown to the Christian church; new articles of faith; new rules of practice; and reversing, at pleasure, the laws both of God and man."-Dodd.

This, then, is the beast foreseen by Daniel the prophet, into whose hands the saints were to be given a *ime, times and a half time, which term is, by all com

But to me it appears saints shall be released monster, a day sooner

mentators, allowed to signify 1260 years, reckoning 360 days to the year. A time is computed at one year, or 360 days-times at two years, or 720 days-a half time at a half a year, or 180 days. These days added, give 1260, which are each a symbol of one year. Ì260 years is, consequently, the time the saints were to be given into the hand of this beast, or little horn, which arose from among the ten other horns; but at what period of time is it judicious to fix upon as the time when the saints were given to this horn? This appears to be the grand difficulty, and as many periods as writers upon this subject have been hit upon, and claim to be the true time. perfectly in vain to expect the from the grasp of this papal than the time when the sanctuary, which is the visible church on the earth, is to be cleansed, perfectly cleansed, from all things that can offend. This sentiment is drawn from Dan. 7, 26. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. Unto what end? I answer, to the end of the 1260 years from the time they were given into his hand. But it is also clear, from the same verse, that the consumption of this saint-holding power shall be somewhat, gradual, and from time to time shall be shaken. This, in one instance, has already been done. "In 1798, the French republican army, under General Berthier, took possession of the city of Rome, and entirely superseded the whole papal power. This was a deadly wound, though at present

it appears to be healed: but it is but merely skimmed over, and a dreadful cicatrice remains."

7

But there will surely come a time, probably several years this side the Millennium, when this beast must be not only shaken, but utterly destroyed at the place where he now has his seat and throne in Italy. See Daniel 7, 11. 1 beheld because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body given to the burning flame. This statement of Daniel is wonderfully corroborated by St. John. See Rev. 18, 8. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her, i. e. the little horn, seen by Daniel among the ten, or the woman sitting on many waters, seen by St. John; for it is both one-the papal power. But when Italy, the seat of this beast, shall come to be thus destroyed, and suddenly sunk into the sea, other Catholic countries will not so much lay it to heart, as immediately to repent, but will consider it only one of those convulsions in nature, to which the earth is always subject, and consequently will remain in their ignorance and bigotry, mourning over the sad fate of the seat of the beast; for who but its friends will mourn over the destruction of the great engine of the devil to persecute the saints. St. John, by the spirit of prophecy, has minutely pointed out this circumstance, where he represents those who survive the destruction of Italy, as saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with T*

gold, and precious stones, and pearls: for in one hour so great riches is come to nought. Chap. 18, 16, 17.

From these circumstances, it appears that the church of God will continue under the power of this same papal horn, in some sense more or less, till the final destruction of all kinds of sinners takes place, as before argued, just before the resurrection of the righteous dead, which circumstance shall be the great door of entrance into the Millennial state. To this view agrees the fact of history, concerning the time when the saints were first given into the hands of that mighty horn, the papal power. It is well known, that all along from the martyrdom of Stephen, whoni Saul of Tarsus, afterwards St. Paul, aided in putting to death, there was, till the time of Constantine, a continued persecution of the Christians, except a little space after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the Roman emperor. This persecution was carried on by Jews, mostly, till they were disabled to do so by the Romans; but thereafter by the Roman pagan powers, which at that time involved the world nearly in their sway. The blood of Christians flowed freely, beginning with Stephen the first martyr, which, like a small spring commencing a river, but in its progress enlarges as it passes through various regions of country, receiving tributary streams and springs till it becomes immense: so the blood of Christian martyrs accumulated in depth and in width, as the course of time carried them along succeeding ages, till great and horrible was the river of blood shed in support of the sacred cause. But when, by the immediate and supernatural

interposition of a wise providence, Constantine became changed from a supporter of the old heathen dragon worship to a supporter of the Christian, a stop to the effusion of Christian blood was immediately effected. It is well known that the emperor Constantine was changed in his views of the Christian cause, by the appearance of a bright and luminous cross in the sky, a little after noon day, with an inscription on it in the Greek language, BY THIS CONQUER. See Clark on Dan. who has quoted this fact from Euseb. De Vit. Const. lib. 1, chap. 28, and states that it was done while that emperor was in Gaul, A. D. 312, and that the prediction of the cross in the skies was fulfilled A. D. 331, when he terminated the reign of idolatry by an edict ordering the destruction of all heathen temples, when Christianity became the religion of his whole empire.

But very soon thereafter, the grand though fatal design of fixing Christianity on a more permanent basis was conceived, which was to have its support recognized in the constitution of the laws of the empire, instead of its being supported by the simple yet best of means, the conversion of sinners to God from the error of their ways. But this seed of ecclesiastical power having thus been planted, it soon vegetated beneath the hot beams of the rising sun of riches, power, and earthly glory in prospect, which soon began to appear quite above the horizon, and to glitter gloriously in the view of the church in those days. Hence the holy zeal which formerly, like a robe, covered the ecclesiastics of the Christian church, became paralyzed by the