From Sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday = Sabbath

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  7

Christ and the Sabbath

     (70) THOSE who oppose the Bible Sabbath center their attack on three points, claiming (1) that the Sabbath was not instituted at creation, and hence is not an original law for the whole human family; (2) that the Sabbath commandment is not a moral command as the other nine, but was a part of the Jewish ceremonial law; (3) that Christ or the apostles abolished the Sabbath, and gradually substituted the first day of the week in its place. We shall now test these propositions one by one.

THE SABBATH AN EDENIC INSTITUTION

     God the Father has always worked through His Son, both in creation and in redemption. (Genesis 1:26; Hebrews 1:1, 2, 8-10; John 3:16.)

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Heb 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 

Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds

Heb 1:8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 

Heb 1:9  Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 

Heb 1:10  And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

 Therefore it was Christ who created the world is six days and rested on the seventh day. "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made....He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." John 1:3, 10. (Compare Colossians 1:14-18.)

Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 

Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 

Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 

Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 

 It is a great comfort to a poor, weak sinner to know that our Saviour is "the Mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6) who spoke the worlds into existence (Psalm 33:6, 9), and who is "upholding all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3). His word has creative power, and if we receive it by faith, it will change our hearts and lives, and give us victory over sin. (John 1:12; Genesis 1:3; 2 Corinthians 4:5, 6; Matthew 5:16; Isaiah 60:1.)

Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name

Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

2Co 4:5  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

Isa 60:1  Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

     As the crowning act on the sixth day, the Lord made man in His own image, and then He "rested on the seventh day" from a "finished" work. (Genesis 1:27, 31; 2:1-3.)

Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 

Gen 2:1  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 

Gen 2:2  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 

Gen 2:3  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made

Thus the seventh days stood as a memorial and reminder of a finished work in Christ. And when man lost the image of God through sin, Christ came to restore in man that divine image by a new creation. (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24; 2:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17.)

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

On the cross He cried out: "It is finished." John 19:30.

Joh 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. 

 This was on Friday evening, and He rested the Sabbath day from a finished work of re-creation, just as He had originally rested on it from a finished work of creation. (Luke 23:52-56.)

Luk 23:52  This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. 

Luk 23:53  And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. 

Luk 23:54  And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 

Luk 23:55  And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 

Luk 23:56  And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. 

Thus the seventh-day Sabbath stands in the New Testament as a memorial of a "finished" work in Christ, just as it did in the Old Testament. The work of Christ, both in creation and redemption, was for the whole human race, not for the Jews only.

     (71) Christ says: "The Sabbath was made for man." Mark 2:27.

Mar 2:27  And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath

And therefore it was made when man was created. "So God created man in His own image,,,,And the evening and the morning were the sixth day....And He rested on the seventh day....And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." Genesis 1:27, 31; 2:2, 3. This was two thousand years before Abraham (the first Jew) was born, therefore the Sabbath could not be Jewish. But, as Christ says, it was "made for man," and the term "man" is not confined to any one race, but embraces all mankind.

     We are not alone in believing that the Sabbath was instituted at creation, as the following quotations from leading men in different denominations show:

     F. C. Cook, M. A., Cannon of Exeter, says:

     "'And God blessed the seventh day.' The natural interpretation of these words is that the blessing of the Sabbath was immediately consequent on the first creation of man, for whom the Sabbath was made (Mark 2:27). It has been urged from the silence concerning its observance by the patriarchs, that no Sabbatic ordinance was really given until the promulgation of the law, and that this passage in Genesis is not historical but anticipatory. There are several objections, which seem fatal to this theory." - "The Holy Bible, with an Explanatory and Critical Commentary by Bishops and Clergy of the Anglican Church," Vol. I, p. 37. New York: 1875.

     Thomas Hamilton, D. D., in his Five-Hundred-Dollar Prize Essay, meets this objection to the historicity of Genesis in the following forceful way:

     (72) "Palcy...says: 'The words [of Genesis 2:1-3] do not assert that God then blessed and sanctified the seventh day.'...But such an interpretation really amounts to an interpolation. It alters the passage....Once admit such a mode of dealing with Scripture, or of dealing with any other book, and we may bid farewell to certainty regarding any author's meaning....No history could stand if subjected to such treatment. The plainest and most unvarnished statements might be so twisted and distorted as to bear a meaning the exact contrary to that intended by its author....

     "It is not only said God 'rested,' but He 'blessed,' the day and 'sanctified' it....If all this do [sic.] not amount to the institution of a weekly Sabbath for man in all time coming,...we fail to see what intelligible meaning or purpose is to be extracted from the narrative." - "Our Rest Day." Pp. 10-15, New edition. Edinburgh: 1888.

     Dr. Martin Luther says on this text:

     "God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it to Himself. It is moreover to be remarked that God did this to no other creature. God did not sanctify to Himself the heaven nor the earth nor any other creature. But God did sanctify to Himself the seventh day. This was especially designed of God, to cause us to understand that the 'seventh day' is to be especially devoted to divine worship....

     "It follows therefore from this passage, that if Adam had stood in his innocence and had not fallen he would yet have observed the 'seventh day' as sanctified, holy and sacred....Nay, even after the fall he held the 'seventh day' sacred; that is, he taught on that day his own family. This is testified by the offerings made by his two sons, Cain and Abel. The Sabbath therefore has, from the beginning of the world, been set apart for the worship of God....For all these things are implied and signified in the expression 'sanctified.'

     "Although therefore man lost the knowledge of God by sin, yet God willed that this command concerning the sanctifying of the Sabbath should remain. He willed that on the seventh day both the word should be preached, and also those other parts of His worship performed which He Himself instituted." - "Commentary on Genesis," Vol. I, pp. 138-140, translation by Professor J. N. Lenker, D. D., Minneapolis: 1904; and also "Copious Explanation of Genesis," Vol. I, pp. 62, 63. Christiania: 1863.

     (73) The following words from a distinguished Hebrew scholar are worthy of note here:

     "'Finished.' To finish a work, in Hebrew conception, is to cease from it, to have done with it. On the seventh day. The seventh day is distinguished from all the preceding days by being itself the subject of the narrative. In the absence of any work on this day, the Eternal is occupied with the day itself, and does four things in reference to it. First, He ceased from His work which He had made. Secondly, He rested....Thirdly, He blessed the seventh day....In the fourth place, He hallowed it or set it apart to a holy rest....

    "The present record is a sufficient proof that the original institution was never forgotten by man....

    "Incidental traces of the keeping of the Sabbath are found in the record of the Deluge, when the sacred writer has occasion to notice short intervals of time. The measurement of time by weeks then appears (Genesis 8:10, 12). The same division of time again comes up in the history of Jacob (Genesis 29:27, 28). This unit of measure is traceable to nothing but the institution of the seventh-day rest." - "A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Genesis with a New Translation," J. G. Murphy, D. D., T. C. D. (Professor of Hebrew, Belfast), pp. 70, 71. Andover: 1866.

     Dr. J. P. Lange says: "The expression, He hallowed it, must be for man, for all men who were to be on the earth.

     "If we had no other passage than this of Genesis 2:3 there would be no difficulty in deducing from it a precept for the universal observance of a Sabbath, or the seventh day, to be devoted to God, as holy time, by all of that race for whom the earth and its nature were especially prepared. The first man must have known it. The words 'He hallowed it,' can have no meaning otherwise. They would be a blank unless in reference to some who were required to keep it holy." - Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, John Peter Lange, D. D., Vol. I, pp. 196, 197. New York: 1884.

     (74) Dr. M. W. Jacobus, Professor George Bush, and C. O. Rosenius, and others forcefully emphasize the same facts. The preceding statements taken from leading men in different denominations need no comment. They state the plain facts of the Bible narrative in their most natural setting.

     Another remarkable thing in this connection is the fact that the heathen nations for centuries after the days of Noah retained the seventh-day Sabbath. The learned Dr. John Kitto says:

     "We find from time immemorial the knowledge of a week of seven days among all nations - Egyptians, Arabians, Indians - in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of this week of seven days, for which it is difficult to account without admitting that this knowledge was derived from the common ancestors of the human race." - Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature, Vol. II, art. "Sabbath," p. 655.

     Professor A. H. Sayce declares:

     "The Sabbath-rest was a Babylonian, as well as a Hebrew, institution. Its origin went back to pre-Semitic days....In the cuneiform tablets the Sabattu is described as 'a day of rest for the soul,'...it was derived by the Assyrian scribes from two Sumerian or pre-Semitic words, sa and bat, which meant respectively 'heart' and 'ceasing,.'...The rest enjoined on the Sabbath was thus as complete as it was among the Jews." - "Higher Criticism and the Monuments," pp. 74, 75.

     During their servitude in Egypt, the majority of the Jews evidently worked on the Sabbath, just as the rank and file of the Jews do today, but the knowledge of it was retained then as now, and it was kept holy by a faithful few. Besides other evidences, we see this from the fact that, thirty days after they left Egypt, and more than two weeks before the law was given on Sinai, God tested the people on Sabbath-keeping (Exodus 16:4, 27, 28), which He certainly could not have done, if the Sabbath had not been known among them till the law was given on Sinai. Then, too, God speaks of it as a familiar institution. (Compare Exodus 16:28 with Genesis 26:5 and 2:3.)

Exo 16:28  And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? 

Gen 26:5  Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. 

Gen 2:3  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 

The fourth commandment itself points back to creation and commands us to "remember the Sabbath day" on which He rested at the close of creation week. (Exodus 20:8, 11.) No human logic can therefore explain away the historical facts that the Sabbath was set apart for man at creation.

THE SABBATH MORAL OR TYPICAL?

     (75) Some claim that the Sabbath commandment does not enforce the observance of the seventh day of the week, but only the seventh part of our time, the particular day being left to our choice. But nothing could be more contradictory to the plain wording of the commandment. If God's commands and promises are to be so construed as to mean the very opposite of what they state, then we may bid farewell to all certainty and comfort derived from the Scripture. God commands us to keep, not a seventh, but the seventh day, on which He rested, the day He blessed and sanctified. (Exodus 20:10, 11.) The Sabbath rests on a historical event that cannot be changed to another day, any more than our birthday can be changed.

     In regard to the claim that the Sabbath commandment is not moral as the other nine, but ceremonial, it needs only to be said that there is no statement to that effect in the whole Bible, and it would involve its advocates in the most serious difficulty. All through the Bible a clear distinction is maintained between the two laws, the moral and the ceremonial. God spoke the Ten Commandments to the people directly, "and He added no more" (Deuteronomy 5:22); He engraved them on two tables of stone (Exodus 32:16; Deuteronomy 9:10); and had them laid "in the ark" (Deuteronomy 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9).

 But the ceremonial law of ordinances was spoken to the people by Moses, was written by him "in a book," and laid beside the ark. (Exodus 21:1; 24:3, 4, 7; Deuteronomy 31:24-26.  -- The English and American Revised Versions, the Jewish, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish versions render Deuteronomy 31:26, by the side of the ark." Others render it at the side of the ark," and beside the ark.") Now we respectfully ask: Would any one claim that God did not understand the difference between moral and ceremonial laws, and hence wrote a ceremonial command into the very bosom of His moral law, the Decalogue? Such an accusation of God would be preposterous, and yet, this is what the above claim necessarily implies! We must therefore conclude that all the Ten Commandments are moral, which practically all the leading religious denominations teach in their confessions of faith.

DID CHRIST CHANGE THE SABBATH?

     (76) Christ came to lift people out of the degradation of sin, not to leave them in sin. He received the name "JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21. And "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. The law here referred to is the moral law of the Ten Commandments. (Romans 7:7, 12; James 2:10, 11.) Christ firmly refuted the idea that He was to abolish any part of God's law. He says: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law……. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." Matthew 5:17, 18. Christ was to "magnify the law, and make it honorable." Isaiah 42:21. And this He did, for He freed it from all the traditions and additions of men. (Matthew 15:3, 6, 9, 13.) The Pharisees had burdened down the Sabbath with hundreds of man-made regulations. All these Jesus swept away, and restored it to its original purpose, that it should be a blessing, a sacred "delight" to God's people. (Isaiah 58:13.) But He never made any change in the day. He kept it Himself, and taught His followers to do the same. (Luke 4:16, 31; Matthew 24:20; 12:11, 12.)

SATAN'S HATRED OF THE SABBATH

     The Lord gave His Sabbath to man as a weekly reminder of Christ's sanctifying and keeping power, because man needed this reminder. (Ezekiel 20:12.) But Satan has always tried to blot out all memory of the true God from the earth, and to draw man's allegiance and worship to himself through idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:20.) He has therefore made relentless efforts to pull down God's Sabbatic flag, and to trample it in the mire. We have seen that for a long time after the descendants of Noah had dispersed over the earth retained the knowledge of the Sabbath. This was true even after they went into idolatry. Egypt was the first among the heathen nations to turn from honoring the seventh-day Sabbath, and to lead other nations to regard the first day as the weekly holiday of their sun-god. Truels Lund gives a detailed story of this change, tracing it back to 1400 B.C. We quote the following from his extensive work:

     (77) "According to the Assyrian-Babylonian conception, the particular stress lay necessarily upon the number seven....The whole week pointed prominently towards the seventh day, the feast day, the rest day, in this day it collected, in this it also consummated. 'Sabbath' is derived from both 'rest' and 'seven.' With the Egyptians it was the reverse....For them on the contrary the sun-god was the beginning and origin of all things. The day of the Sun, Sunday, therefore, became necessarily for them the feast day....The holiday was transferred from the last to the first day of the week." - "Daglige Liv I Norden," Vol. XIII, pp. 54, 55.

     "The seven planetary names of the days were at the close of the second century A.D., prevailing everywhere in the Roman Empire....This astrology originated in Egypt, where Alexandria now so loudly proclaimed it to all....'The day of the Sun' was the Lord's day, the chiefest and first of the week. The evil and fatal Saturn's day was the last of the week, on which none could celebrate a feast....

    "From Rome, through the Roman legionaires, the seven planetary days pressed farther north to Gaul, Britain, and Germany. Everywhere...people yielded respectfully to the astrology in its popular form: the doctrine concerning the Sun-day with its fortune, the Mood-day with its alternative play, and the filthy, unlucky Saturday....As a concentrated troop the planetary appellations and names of heathen deities stood on guard, when later Christianity reached Europe, and attempted to displace them....

     (78) "For the Christians the lost was cast by the reception of the...day of the sun.  Not till they themselves had later gained power were they awakened to doubt....And the heathen names of the days seemed at variance with Christian faith." - Id., pp. 91, 92, 110.

     The London Anglican rector, T. H. Morer, says of Sunday:

     "It is not to be denied but we borrow the name of this day from the ancient Greeks and Romans, and we allow that the old Egyptians worshiped the sun, and as a standing memorial of their veneration, dedicated this day to him. And we find by the influence of their example, other nations, and among them the Jews themselves, doing him homage." - "Six Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p. 22. London: 1701.

     Thus we see how Satan, through heathenism, tried to stigmatize the Sabbath of Jehovah and to elevate Sunday as a joyful day. The Egyptians worshiped their sun-god under the name of Osiris, and the Apis bull (the golden calf made at Horeb) was a representation of him. This worship was conducted by turning to the rising sun. (Ezekiel 8:16.) Therefore the Lord ordered the tabernacle always to be pitched with the front toward the east, so that the people, worshiping before it, had to turn their backs upon sun worship. (Numbers 3:23. See also Exodus 26:22; 36:27, 32 in American Revised Version, and Jeremiah 32:33.) Talbot W. Chambers, D. D., says that sun worship was "the oldest, the most widespread, and the most enduring of all forms of idolatry known to man."

     "The universality of this form of idolatry is something remarkable. It seems to have prevailed everywhere. The chief object of worship among the Syrians was Baal - the sun....In Egypt the sun was the kernel of the state religion." - "The Old Testament Student," pp. 193, 194. January, 1886.

     (79) In Babylon the sun-god was called Bel, in Phoenicia and Palestine, Baal, and Sun-day was "the wild solar holiday of all pagan times." - "North British Review," Vol. XVIII, p. 409.

     Rev. W. H. Poole says:

     "The first and principal idol was the sun - the glorious luminary of the day....Baal was the great sun-god of all the East. With our Israelitish ancestors the sun-god came west. His day is our Sunday. Every time you name our Sabbath-day Sunday you are reminded of our great, great, great grandfathers' principal deity." - "Anglo-Israel in Nine Lectures," pp. 389, 390. Detroit, Mich.: 1889.

     The Encyclopedia Britannica says of the worship of Baal:

     "As the sun-god he is conceived as the male principle of life and reproduction in nature, and thus in some forms of his worship is the patron of the grossest sensuality, and even of systematic prostitution. An example of this is found in the worship of Baal-Peor (Numbers 25)." - Vol. III, (New American ed., Werner Co.), art. "Baal," p. 175.

     This sun worship was the greatest of all abominations to God (Ezekiel 8:13-16), and the warnings to Israel have great significance to us today: "I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat Me, saith the Lord." Hosea 2:13. (See also 1 Corinthians 10:11.)

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 

     When we remember that it was Christ who took Israel out of Egypt (Hebrews 11:26, 27; 1 Corinthians 10:4),

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 

Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 

1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 

1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 

1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 

and who labored so earnestly to turn them away from sun worship and Sunday-keeping, and that it was Satan who always led them into this idolatry, we ask with all candor: Could any one suppose that Christ, in the New Testament, has exchanged places with Satan, so that He is now leading people to keep Sunday, while the devil is leading them to keep the Sabbath of Jehovah? Every thoughtful person must say with the Apostle Paul: "God forbid." Rom. 3:31.

(((GOD FORBID!!!!!!!))))

Identifying Marks - Through History.

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  6

Other Marks of Identity

"HE SHALL SPEAK GREAT WORDS"

(61) The little horn was to "speak great words against the Most High." Daniel 7:25. We shall now quote a few extracts from authentic Roman Catholic sources showing the fulfillment of this prophetic utterance: Pope Leo XIII in his "Great Encyclical Letters" says: "We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." - P. 304. In this encyclical the pope has capitalized all pronouns referring to himself and to God.

     In a large, authentic work by F. Luccii Ferraris, called "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica Juridica Moralis Theologica," printed at Rome, 1890, and sanctioned by the Catholic Encyclopedia (Vol. VI, p. 48), we find the following statements regarding the power of the pope:

     "The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God....

     "Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions....

     "So that if it were possible that the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope....

     "The Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief king of kings, having plenitude of power, to whom has been entrusted by the omnipotent God direction not only of the earthly but also of the heavenly kingdom." - Quoted in "Source Book," (Revised Edition) pp. 409, 410. Washington, D.C.: 1927.

     The Catholic Encyclopedia says of the pope:

     "The sentences which he gives are to be forthwith ratified in heaven." - Vol. XII, art. "Pope," p. 265.

     (62) Pope Leo XIII says:

     "But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself." - "The Great Encyclical Letters," p. 193.

     We leave it with the reader to decide whether or not these are "great words." St. Alphonsus de Liguori, a sainted doctor of the Roman church, claims the same power for the Roman priests. He says:

     "The priest has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering sinners from hell, of making them worthy of paradise, and of changing them from the slaves of Satan into children of God. And God himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of his priests....The Sovereign Master of the universe only follows the servant by confirming in heaven all that the latter decides upon earth." - "Dignity and Duties of the Priest," pp. 27, 28. New York: Benziger Brothers., Printers to the Holy Apostolic See, 1888.

     "Innocent III has written: 'Indeed, it is not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their offices the priest are so many gods.'" - Id., p. 36.

    These must truly be called "great words"!

A PERSECUTING POWER

     The little horn was also to "wear out the saints of the Most High." Daniel 7:25. That is, it was to persecute them till they were literally worn out. Has the Papacy fulfilled this part of the prophecy? In order to do Roman Catholics no injustice, we shall quote from unquestioned authorities among them. And, since they persecute people for "heresy," we must first let them define what they mean by "heresy." In the New Catholic Dictionary, published by the Universal Knowledge Foundation, a Roman Catholic institution, New York, 1929, we read:

     "Heresy (Gr., hairesis, choice), deciding for oneself what one shall believe and practise." - "Heresy," p. 440.

     (63) According to this definition any one who will not blindly submit to papal authority, but will read the Bible, deciding for himself what he shall believe, is a "heretic." What official stand has the Catholic Church taken in regard to such heretics? This we find stated in the Catholic Encyclopedia in the following words;

     "In the Bull 'Ad exstirpanda' (1252) Innocent IV says: 'When those adjudged guilty of heresy have been given up to the civil power by the bishop or his representative, or the Inquisition, the podesta or chief magistrate of the city shall take them at once, and shall, within five days at the most, execute the laws made against them.'...Nor could any doubt remain as to what civil regulations were meant, for the passages which ordered the burning of impenitent heretics were inserted in the papal decretals from the imperial constitutions 'Commissis nobis' and 'Inconsutibilem tunicam.' The aforesaid Bull 'Ad exstirpanda' remained thenceforth a fundamental document of the Inquisition, renewed or reinforced by several popes, Alexander IV (1254-61), Clement IV (1265-68), Nicolas IV (1288-92), Boniface VIII (1294-1303), and others. The civil authorities, therefore, were enjoined by the popes, under pain of excommunication to execute the legal sentences that condemned impenitent heretics to the stake. It is to be noted that excommunication itself was no trifle, for, if the person excommunicated did not free himself from excommunication within a year, he was held by the legislation of that period to be a heretic, and incurred all the penalties that affected heresy." - Vol. VIII, p. 34. (See also "Dictionary of the Inquisition," in "Illustrations of Popery," J. P. Challender, pp. 377-386, New York, 1838; and "History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages." H. C. Lea, Vol. I, pp. 337, 338, New York. 1888.)

     This Encyclopedia was printed in 1910, and bears the sanction of the Catholic authorities, and of their "censor," so that here is up-to-date authority showing that the Roman church sanctions persecution. The Roman church here acknowledges, that, when she was in power, she forced the civil government to burn those whom she termed heretics, and the government officials who failed to execute her laws, became heretics by that neglect, and suffered the punishment of heretics. Professor Alfred Baudrillart, a Roman Catholic scholar in France, who is now a Catholic Cardinal, says:

     (64) "The Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of liberty....She has, and she loudly proclaims that she has, a 'horror of blood.' Nevertheless when confronted by heresy she does not content herself with persuasion; arguments of an intellectual and moral order appear to her insufficient, and she has recourse to force, to corporal punishment, to torture. She creates tribunals like those of the Inquisition, she calls the laws of the State to her aid, if necessary she encourages a crusade, or a religious war and all her 'horror of blood' practically culminates into urging the secular power to shed it, which proceeding is almost more odious - for it is less frank - than shedding it herself. Especially did she act thus in the sixteenth century with regard to Protestants. Not content to reform morally, to preach by example, to convert people by eloquent and holy missionaries, she lit in Italy, in the Low Countries, and above all in Spain the funerals piles of the Inquisition. In France under Francis I and Henry II, in England under Mary Tudor, she tortured the heretics, whilst both in France and Germany during the second half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century if she did not actually begin, at any rate she encouraged and actively aided, the religious wars. No one will deny that we have here a great scandal to our contemporaries....

     "Indeed, even among our friends and our brothers we find those who dare not look this problem in the face. They ask permission from the Church to ignore or even deny all those acts and institutions in the past which have made orthodoxy compulsory." (This explains why some Catholic authors deny that their church ever persecuted.) - "The Catholic Church, the Renaissance, and Protestantism," pp. 182-184. London: 1908. This book bears the sanction of the Roman Catholic authorities, and of their "censor."

     Andrew Steinmetz says:

     "Catholics easily account for their devotion to the Holy See, in spite of its historical abominations, which, however, very few of them are aware of - their accredited histories in common use, 'with permission of authority,' veiling the subject with painful dexterity." - "History of the Jesuits," Vol. I, p. 13. London: 1848.

     (65) Dr. C. H. Lea says:

     "In view of the unvarying policy of the Church during the three centuries under consideration, and for a century and a half later, there is a typical instance of the manner in which history is written to order, in the quiet assertion of the latest Catholic historian of the Inquisition that 'the Church took no part in the corporal punishment of heretics.'" - "History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages," Vol. I, p. 540. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1888.

     Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241) made the following decree for the destruction of all heretics, which is binding on civil rulers:

     "Temporal princes shall be reminded and exhorted, and if needs be, compelled by spiritual censures, to discharge every one of their functions: and that, as they desire to be reckoned and held faithful, so, for the defence of the faith, let them publicly make oath that they will endeavor, bona fide with all their might, to extirpate from their territories all heretics marked by the Church; so that when anyone is about to assume any authority, whether spiritual or temporal, he shall be held bound to confirm his title by this oath. And if a temporal prince, being required and admonished by the Church, shall neglect to purge his kingdom from this heretical pravity, the metropolitan and other provincial bishops shall bind him in fetters of excommunication; and if he obstinately refuse to make satisfaction this shall be notified within a year to the Supreme Pontiff, that then he may declare his subjects absolved from their allegiance, and leave their lands to be occupied by Catholics, who, the heretics being exterminated, may possess them unchallenged, and preserve them in the purity of the faith." - "Decretalium Gregorii Papae Noni Compilatio," Liber V, Titulus VII, Capitulum XIII, (A Collection of the Decretals of Gregory IX, Book 5, Title 7, Chapter 13), dated April 20, 1619.

     (66) The sainted Catholic doctor, Thomas Aquinas, says:

     "If counterfeiters of money or other criminals are justly delivered over to death forthwith by the secular authorities, much more can heretics, after they are convicted of heresy, be not only forthwith excommunicated, but as surely put to death." - "Summa Theologica," 2a, 2ae, qu. xi, art. iii.

     That this principle is sanctioned by modern Catholic priests, we can see from the following statement:

     "The church has persecuted. Only a tyro in church history will deny that....Protestants were persecuted in France and Spain with the full approval of the church authorities. We have always defended the persecution of the Huguenots, and the Spanish Inquisition." - "Western Watchman," official organ of Father Phelan. St. Louis, Mo." Dec. 24, 1908.

     We have now seen from the "decretals" of popes, from sainted doctors of the Roman church, and from authentic Catholic books, that they sanction and defend persecution, and history amply bears out the fact. Dr. J. Dowling says:

     "From the birth of Popery in 606, to the present time, it is estimated by careful and credible historians, that more than fifty millions of the human family, have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by popish persecutors, an average of more than forty thousand religious murders for every year of the existence of Popery." - "History of Romanism," pp. 541, 542. New York: 1871.

     W. E. H. Lecky says:

     "That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history. The memorials, indeed, of many of her persecutions are now so scanty, that it is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that no power of imagination can adequately realize their sufferings." - "History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe," Vol. II, p. 32. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1910.

     (67) John Lothrop Motley, speaking of papal persecution in the Netherlands says:

     "Upon February 16, 1568, a sentence of the Holy Office [the Inquisition] condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics....A proclamation of the king, ten days later, confirmed this decree of the Inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant execution....This is probably the most concise death warrant that was ever framed. Three millions of people, men, women, and children, were sentenced to the scaffold in three lines." - "The Rise of the Dutch Republic," (2-vol. Ed.) Vol. I, p. 626. New York.

     Many Roman Catholic authors today have tried to prove that their church does not sanction persecution, but facts of history are too plain to be denied. Eternity alone will reveal what God's dear children suffered during the Dark Ages. Accordingly as the Papacy attained to power, the common people became more oppressed, until "the noon of the Papacy was the midnight of the world." - "History of Protestantism," J. A. Wylie, LL.D., Vol. I, p. 16. London.

"THINK TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS"

     But Daniel 7:25 has still another prediction concerning the "little horn"; namely, that it should "think to change times and laws," or as the Revised Version has it: "times and the law." James Moffatt's translation reads: "He shall plan to alter the sacred seasons and the law." Now, as the two preceding statements in this verse depict what the Papacy should do against the Most High, we must conclude that it is also the "times and the law" of the Most High which the Papacy should attempt to change. This could not refer to the ceremonial laws of the Jews, which were abolished at the cross (Ephesians 2:15; Hebrews 9:9, 10), but to the Ten Commandments, which are binding in the Christian era, to which dispensation this prophecy applies. (Matthew 5:17-19; 19:16-19; Luke 16:17; Romans 3:31; 7:7, 12, 14; James 2:10, 11.) From the prophecy of Daniel 7:25 it is therefore evident that the Papacy would attempt to make some changes in the moral law.

(((PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THESE VERSES- Copied here for those who may not have access to God's Holy Word for some reason, but have stumbled across this study--

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 

Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 

Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 

Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 

Mat 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 

Mat 5:19  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 19:16  And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 

Mat 19:18  He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 

Mat 19:19  Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

Luk 16:17  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. 

Rom 3:31  Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Rom 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 

Rom 7:12  Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 

Jas 2:10  For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 

Jas 2:11  For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 

Dan 7:25  And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. ))))

     (68) After the worship of images had crept into the church during the fourth to the sixth centuries, its leaders finally removed the second commandment from their doctrinal books, because it forbids us to bow down to images

 (Exodus 20:4, 5), (((Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 

Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me))))

and they divided the tenth, so as to retain ten in number. Thus the Catholic Church has two commandments against coveting, while Paul six times speaks of it as only one "commandment." (Romans 7:7-13.)

(((Rom 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 

Rom 7:8  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 

Rom 7:9  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 

Rom 7:10  And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 

Rom 7:11  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. 

Rom 7:12  Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 

Rom 7:13  Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. ))))

 Then, too, the Lord has purposely reversed the order of the supposed ninth and tenth commandments in Deuteronomy 5:21 to what they are in Exodus 20:17, have it as part of their tenth commandment, and their ninth command is: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house." Thus we see how people get themselves into trouble when they attempt to change the law of God.

     The Papacy was also to change times. But the only commandment of the ten that has to do with time is the fourth, which commands us to keep holy the seventh day, on which God rested at creation. (Exodus 20:10, 11; Genesis 2:1-3.)

(((Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

Gen 2:1  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 

Gen 2:2  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 

Gen 2:3  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. ))))

It is a remarkable fact that Christ, His apostles, and their followers kept the seventh day in common with the Jews (Mark 6:2, 3; Luke 4:16, 31; 23:52-56; Acts 13:42, 44; 16:12, 13; 17:2; 18:1-4),

Mar 6:2  And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 

Mar 6:3  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 

Luk 4:31  And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. 

Luk 23:52  This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. 

Luk 23:53  And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. 

Luk 23:54  And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 

Luk 23:55  And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 

Luk 23:56  And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. 

Act 13:42  And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. 

Act 13:44  And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. 

Act 16:12  And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days. 

Act 16:13  And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. 

Act 17:2  And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures

Act 18:1  After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; 

Act 18:2  And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. 

Act 18:3  And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. 

Act 18:4  And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. ))))

and that the New Testament is entirely silent in regard to any change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. This would be natural enough if the original Sabbath, which they were then keeping, should continue. But if a new day was to take place in the Christian church, its Founder would certainly have given explicit directions for its observance. Yet not a word was spoken by Christ or His apostles, either before or after His resurrection, as to such a change.

     It is another remarkable fact that Sunday is never called by any sacred title in the New Testament, but always referred to as a weekday, never as a holy day. It is classed as one of the weekdays, being called "the first day of the week."

     (69) And yet we find the Christian world generally keeping it. Who made this change, when it is not recorded in the Bible? When, how, and why was it made? Who dared to lay hands on Jehovah's law, and change His Holy Sabbath, without any warrant of Scripture?

     All Protestant denominations disclaim any part in this crime. But the Roman Catholic Church boasts of having made this change, and even points to it as an evidence of its authority to act in Christ's stead upon earth. We shall therefore ask her two pointed questions: 1. When did you change the Sabbath? 2. Why did you do it? Here are her answers:

     "The first proposition needs little proof. The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her Divine mission changed the day from Saturday to Sunday." - "The Christian Sabbath," p. 29. Baltimore, Md.: "Catholic Mirror," Sept. 23, 1893.

     "Ques. - Which is the Sabbath day? Ans. - Saturday is the Sabbath day.

     "Ques. - Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

     "Ans. - We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday....

     "The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her." - "The Convert's Catechism of Christian Doctrine," Rev. Peter Geiermann, C. SS. R., p. 50. St. Louis, Mo.: 1934. (This work received the "apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X, Jan. 25, 1910.)

     "The Church...took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday....And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus." - "Catholic World," (New York), March, 1894, p. 809.

     We shall enter into this subject more thoroughly in the following chapters.

Facts, History, Prophecy.

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  5

"A Time, and Times, and Half a Time"

     (52) The little horn of Daniel 7:8, 25, was to reign for "a time and times and the dividing of time." This same "time, and times, and half a time" is also mentioned in Revelation 12:14, and in the sixth verse it is said to be "a thousand two hundred and threescore days." In prophecy a day always stands for a year. (Ezekiel 4:6) This prophetic period is therefore 1260 literal years. We shall now show that these 1260 years began in 538 A.D., and invite the reader to notice the four great changes that took place that year:

     1. We have already seen that the little horn symbolized the Papacy, and three Arian kingdoms, which stood in its way, were plucked up by the roots, and that the last of these received its deathblow in 538 A.D. through the efforts of Justinian, the faithful son of the church of Rome.

     2. History states that the work of Justin and Justinian in elevating the Papacy to power brought on a new era, introducing the Middle Ages:

     "Accordingly, the religious and political tendencies of the Empire now took so different a direction as to positively constitute the dawn of an new era....Thus at last Rome had triumphed, after fighting so long with unflinching vigour and without yielding a single point." - "The Barbarian Invasion of Italy," P. Villari, Vol. I, pp. 177, 178.

     "The reign of Justinian is more remarkable as a portion of the history of mankind, than as a chapter in the annals of the Roman Empire or of the Greek nation. The changes of centuries pass in rapid succession before the eyes of one generation....

     "With the conquest of Rome by Belisarius, the history of the ancient city may be considered as terminating; and with his defence against Witigis [A.D. 538], commences the history of the Middle Ages." - "Greece Under the Romans," George Finlay, pp. 198, 240, Dent edition, revised by author, 1877.

     (53) 3. Even the Papacy itself changed, so there was a new order of popes after 538 A.D. History relates:

"Down to the sixth century all popes are declared saints in the martyrologies. Vigillius (537-555) is the first of a series of popes who no longer bear this title, which is henceforth sparingly conferred. From this time on the popes, more and more enveloped in worldly events, no longer belong solely to the church; they are men of the state, and then rulers of the state.' - "Medieval Europe," Belmont and Monod (revised by George Burton Adams), p. 120. New York: H. Holt & Co., 1902.

     In the foregoing quotation the date of Vigillius should be 538 instead of 537 for the following reason:

     "Vigililius having been thus ordained in the year 537,...and the death of Silverius having been certainly not earlier than 20 June, A.D. 538, it is evident that for a least seven months his position was that of an unlawful anti-pope, his predecessor never having been canonically deposed." - Dictionary of Christian Biography, Drs. Smith and Wace, Vol. IV, art. "Vigillius," p. 1144. London: 1887.

     For this reason A. Bower says:

     "From the death of Silverius the Roman Catholic writers date the Episcopacy of Vigillius, reckoning him thenceforth among the lawful popes." - "History of the Popes," Vol. II, p. 488, under the year "538." Dublin: 1751.

     "His [Silverius'] death happened on the 20th of June...538." - Id., p. 488.

     Dr. Philip Schaff says:

     "Vigillius, a pliant creature of Theodora, ascended the papal chair under the military protection of Belisarius (538-555)." - "History of the Christian Church" (7-vol. Ed.), Vol. III, p. 327. New York: Scribner's, 1893. See also "General History of the Catholic Church," M. l'Abbe J. E. Darras, Vol. II, pp. 146, 147 (New York: 1866), and "The Official Catholic Directory" for 1933, "List of Roman Pontiffs" on page 7.

     (54) 4. Dr. Summerbell gives still another reason why we should date the beginning of the papal supremacy from 538. He says:

     "Justinian...enriched himself with the property of all 'heretics' - that is non-Catholics, and gave all their churches to the Catholics; published edicts in 538 compelling all to join the Catholic Church in ninety days or leave the empire, and confiscated all their goods." - "History of the Christian Church," pp. 310, 311. Cincinnati: 1873. The same is stated by Samuel Chandler in "History of Persecution," pp. 142, 143; and by Edward Gibbon, in "Decline and Fall," chap. 47, par. 24.

THE STATE RELIGION

     Thus we see that Roman Catholicism was made the state religion in 538, and all other religions were forbidden. What gave special significance to these edicts of Justinian was the fact that he had already in 533 declared the bishop of Rome to be the head of the universal church, and had subjected all the priests even of the East under the see of Rome. This fact he wrote to Pope John II on March 15, 533, in the following language:

     "With honor to the Apostolic See,...We hasten to bring to the knowledge of Your Holiness everything relating to the condition of the Church, as we have always had great desire to preserve the unity of your Apostolic See, and the condition of the Holy Churches of God, as they exist at the present time, that they may remain without disturbance or opposition. Therefore, We have exerted Ourselves to unite all the priests of the East and subject them to the See of Your Holiness....For we do not suffer anything which has reference to the state of the Church, even though what causes the difficulty may be clear and free from doubt, to be discussed without being brought to the notice of Your Holiness, because you are the head of all Holy Churches, for we shall exert Ourselves in every way (as has already been stated), to increase the honor and authority of your see....

     "Therefore we request your paternal affection, that you, by your letters, inform Us and the Most Holy Bishop of this Fair City, and your brother the Patriarch, who himself has written by the same messengers to Your Holiness, eager in all things to follow the Apostolic See of your Blessedness, in order that you may make it clear to Us that Your Holiness acknowledges all the matters which have been set forth above." - "The Civil Law of Justinian," translated by S. P. Scott, A. M. (in 17 volumes), Book 12, pp. 11-13.

     (55) To this letter Pope John II answered:

     "John, Bishop of the City of Rome, to him most Illustrious and Merciful Son Justinian.

     "Among the conspicuous reasons for praising your wisdom and gentleness, Most Christian of Emperors, and one which radiates light as a star, is the fact that through love of the Faith, and actuated by zeal for charity, you, learned in ecclesiastical discipline, have preserved reverence for the See of Rome, and have subjected all things to his authority, and have given it unity....

     "This See is indeed the head of all Churches, as the rules of the Fathers and the decrees of Emperors assert, and the words of your most reverent piety testify....

     "We have received with all due respect the evidences of your serenity, through Hypatius and Demetrius, most holy men, my brothers and fellow bishops, from whose statements we have learned that you have promulgated an Edict addressed to your faithful people, and dictated by your love of the faith, for the purpose of overthrowing the designs of heretics, which is in accordance with the evangelical tenets, and which we have confirmed by our authority with the consent of our brethren and fellow bishops, for the reason that it is in conformity with the apostolic doctrine....

     "Therefore, it is opportune to cry out with a prophetic voice, 'Heaven will rejoice with You, and pour out its blessing upon You, and the mountains will rejoice, and the hills be glad with exceeding joy.'...

     "The favor of Our Lord...remain forever with you, Most Pious Son, Amen....

     (56) Given at Rome, on the eighth of the Kalends of April, during the Consulate of Emperor Justinian, Consul for the fourth time." - Id., pp. 10-15.

     Both of these letters appear in the "Code of Justinian," as well as the following law:

     "Concerning the Precedence of Patriarchs:

     "Hence, in accordance with the provisions of those Councils, we order that the Most Holy Pope of Ancient Rome shall hold the first rank of all the Pontiffs, but the Most Blessed Archbishop of Constantinople, or New Rome, shall occupy the second place after the Holy Apostolic See of Ancient Rome, which shall take precedence over all other sees." - Id., Vol. XVII, p. 125. ("Constitutions of Justinian," Vol. XVII, 9th Collection, Title 14, chapter 2.)

     Under date of March 25, 533, Justinian, writing to Epiphanius, Patriarch of Constantinople, stating that he had written the above letter to the pope, "repeats his decision, that all affairs touching the Church shall be referred to the Pope, 'Head of all bishops, and the true and effective corrector of heretics.'" - "The Apocalypse of St. John," George Croly, A. M., p. 170, second edition. London: 1828.

     "The epistle which was addressed to the Pope, and another to the Patriarch of Constantinople, were inserted in the volume of the civil law; thus the sentiments contained in them obtained the sanction of the supreme legislative authority of the empire....

     "The answer of the Pope to the imperial epistle was also published with the other documents; and it is equally important, inasmuch as it shows that he understood the reference that had been made to him, as being a formal recognition of the supremacy of the see of Rome.""- "" Dissertation on the Seals and Trumpets of the Apocalypse," William Cuninghame, pp. 185, 186. London: 1843; cited in "Source Book," pp. 383, 384, ed. Of 1922.

     "The recognition of the Roman see as the highest ecclesiastical authority (cf. Novelloe, cxxxi) remained the cornerstone of his [Justinian's] policy in relation to the West." - New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, Vol. VI, art. "Justinian," p. 286.

     (57) Thus we see that the way had been prepared in 533, in anticipation of the three final acts which were to occur in 538, when the Arian powers were destroyed, Catholicism made the state religion, and the Papacy placed under the protection of the state, which gave rise to the long struggle between church and state as to which should be supreme.

CLOSE OF THE 1260 YEARS

     Having now seen that the 1260 years of papal supremacy began in 538 A.D., it is an easy matter to find their close. Adding the 1260 years to 538 brings us to the year 1798. And if we have given the right application to this prophecy, history must record an event in 1798 that would appear like a death stroke to the Papacy. Turning to history we find just such an event recorded:

     The official Swedish newspaper, Stockholms Posttidning, for March 29, 1798, has the following news item:

     "Rome, the 21st of Feb. [1798], Pope Pius VI, has occupied the papal chair for all of twenty-eight years, but the 15th inst. His government in the Papal States was abolished, and five days later, guarded by one hundred French soldiers, he was taken away from his palace and his capital....

     "His...property was sold by the French, and among it were seven hundred head of cattle, one hundred fifty horses, and eight hundred cords of wood....

     "Poor Pius! He must have felt very sad as he left Rome to go into captivity. When he departed his tear-filled eyes were turned heavenward."

     Rev. E. B. Elliott, A. M., says of these events:

     "In the years 1796, 1797, French dominion being established by Bonaparte's victories in Northern Italy,...the French armies [urged] their march onward to the Papal Capital....The aged Pope himself, now left mere nominal master of some few remaining shreds of the Patrimony of Peter, experienced soon after in person the bitterness of the prevailing anti-papal spirit....

     (58) "On pretence of an insult to the French Ambassador there, a French corps d'armee under Berthier, having in February, 1798, crossed the Apennines from Ancona, and entered Rome, the tricolour flag was displayed from the Capitol, amidst the shouts of the populace, the Pope's temporal reign declared at an end, and the Roman Republic proclaimed, in strict alliance fraternization with the French. Then, in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, the ante-hall to which has a fresco painted by Papal order commemorative of the Protestant massacre on St. Bartholomew's day, (might not the scene have served as a memento of God's retributive justice?) there, while seated on his throne, and receiving the gratulations of his cardinals on the anniversary of his election to the Popedom, he was arrested by the French military, the ring of his marriage with the Church Catholic torn from his finger, his palace rifled, and himself carried prisoner into France, only to die there in exile shortly after." - "Horoe Apocalypticoe," Rev. E. B. Elliott, A. M., Vol. III, pp. 400, 401. London: 1862.

     Arthur R. Pennington, M. A., F. R. Hist. Soc., says of this event:

     "One day the Pope was sitting on his throne in a chapel of the Vatican, surrounded by his cardinals who had assembled for the purpose of offering him their congratulations on his elevation to his high dignity. On a sudden, the shouts of an angry multitude penetrated to the conclave, intermingled with the strokes of axes and hammers on the doors. Very soon a band of soldiers burst into the hall, who tore away from his finger his pontifical ring, and hurried him off, a prisoner, through a hall, the walls of which were adorned with a fresco, representing the armed satellites of the Papacy, on St. Bartholomew's day, as bathing their swords in the blood of unoffending women and helpless children. Thus it might seem as if he were to be reminded that the same God who visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation, had made him the victim of His retributive justice for a deed of atrocity which had been long crying aloud to Him for vengeance." - "Epochs of the Papacy," pp. 449, 450. London: 1881.

     (59) Rev. Joseph Rickaby, an English Jesuit, writes:

     "When, in 1797, Pope Pius VI fell grievously ill, Napoleon gave orders that in the event of his death no successor should be elected to his office, and that the Papacy should be discontinued.

     "But the Pope recovered. The peace was soon broken; Berthier entered Rome on the 10th February, 1798, and proclaimed a republic. The aged Pontiff refused to violate his oath by recognizing it, and was hurried from prison to prison in France....No wonder that half Europe thought Napoleon's veto would be obeyed, and that with the Pope the Papacy was dead." - "The Modern Papacy," p. 1. London: Catholic Truth Society.

     Rev. George Trevor, Canon of York, writes of this eventful year:

     "The object of the French Directory was the destruction of the pontifical government, as the irreconcilable enemy of the republic....The aged pope was summoned to surrender the temporal government; on his refusal, he was dragged from the altar....His rings were torn from his fingers, and finally, after declaring the temporal power abolished, the victors carried the pope prisoner into Tuscany, whence he never returned (1798).

     "The Papal States, converted into the Roman Republic, were declared to be in perpetual alliance with France, but the French general was the real master of Rome....The territorial possessions of the clergy and monks were declared national property, and their former owners cast into prison. The Papacy was extinct: not a vestige of its existence remained; and among all the Roman Catholic powers not a finger was stirred in its defence. The Eternal City had no longer prince or pontiff; its bishop was a dying captive in foreign lands; and the decree was already announced that no successor would be allowed in his place." - "Rome, From the Fall of the Western Empire," pp. 439, 440. London: 1868.

     An English secular writer, John Adolphus, says of 1798:

     (60) "The downfall of the papal government, by whatever means effected, excited perhaps less sympathy than that of any other in Europe: the errors, the oppressions, the tyranny of Rome over the whole Christian world, were remembered with bitterness; many rejoiced, through religious antipathy, in the overthrow of a church which they considered as idolatrous, though attended with the immediate triumph of infidelity; and many saw in these events the accomplishment of prophecies, and the exhibition of signs promised in the most mystical parts of the Holy Scriptures." - "History of France from 1790-1802," Vol. II, p. 379. London: 1803.

     God's prophetic clock had set the year 1798 as the end of the papal supremacy, and when that hour struck, the mighty ruler on the Tiber, before whose anathemas the kings and emperors of Europe had so long trembled, went "into captivity" (Revelation 13:10), and his government in the Papal States was abolished. Thus the historical events fit exactly into the mold of prophecy, and establish the fact that "we have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn." 2 Peter 1:19. But prophecy foretells that this "deadly wound" would be healed, and that the world once more, for a brief moment, would follow the papal power. (Revelation 13:3.) In the following chapter we shall consider the other specifications of this remarkable prophecy.