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Notes on the Apocalypse by David Steele
page 131 of 332 (39%)
multitude treacherously departed from him. The Lord Christ promises to
sustain them in the midst of all their tribulations. The duration of
their special work is the very same as that of the treading of the holy
city, "a thousand two hundred and three score days,"--1260 years. In
attempting to fix the beginning of this period, Daniel and John must be
compared; both treat of the same events and dates, and this gives
definiteness to the interpretation. Daniel fixes these events to the
fourth monarchy _after_ it had been _broken in pieces_, and the ten
horns had arisen: (ch. vii. 23-25;) so that we have both the geography
and chronology determined by the prophets themselves. Hence it follows
that we must date the beginning of the 1260 years after the first four
trumpets; for by these the western Roman empire was dismembered or
broken, that the ten horns might appear. Then the "little horn" of
Daniel arose after and among them, (ch. vii. 20, 24.) All reliable
expositors agree that the "little horn" is the papacy or the Romish
church. This little horn is the special enemy of the "saints of the Most
High," and they are to be "given into his hand." (Dan. vii. 25.) The
first four trumpets subverted the Roman empire in the west in the latter
part of the sixth century. This event made way for the bishop of Rome,
in process of time, to acquire a great accession of ecclesiastical
power. The civil and ecclesiastical rulers, equally unscrupulous and
aspiring, were at this period on terms of comparative intimacy, and
occasionally disposed to reciprocate good offices. Phocas, having waded
through the blood of the citizens to supreme civil power, in order to
secure his position, declared Boniface III., bishop of Rome, head of the
universal church. This impious public act took place in the year 606.
The pope became also a temporal prince in 756. Now we cannot know _with
certainty_ which of these events, nor indeed whether _either_ of them,
marks the period in time when the 1260 years _began_. Hence we must
remain at uncertainty as to the exact time when this most interesting
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