Closing Messages.—No. 22.
By R. F. Cottrell
The beast, against the worship of which the message warns, is described in Rev. 13: 1–10. He is the successor to the dragon of the previous chapter, receiving his power, and seat, and authority, from him; and, having the same number of heads and horns, is doubtless but another phase of the same great power so noted in prophecy—the Roman. The beast comes up out of the sea, the same as the four beasts of Dan. 7, and is evidently the fourth of that series in its second phase, i. e., under the rule of the little horn. The four beasts of Daniel's prophecy are admitted by all expositors to represent the four successive empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The ten horns represent the ten kingdoms into which Rome was divided; and the little horn which arose among the ten, Protestants believe represents the Roman papacy or popedom. The rise of the little horn, as shown to Daniel, indicates the same change in the Roman government which in Revelation is described in the act of the dragon in giving his power, his seat, and authority, to the beast. Before the change, paganism was the ruling religion of the empire; after this, popery bore rule under the guise of Christianity. Any one who will compare the description given of the little horn of Dan. 7, with that of the beast of Rev. 13: 1–10, will find abundant evidence that they both apply to the same power. We give the points of identity as arranged by another in “Thoughts on Revelation,” pp. 213, 214, as follows: “1. The little horn was a blasphemous power: ‘He shall speak great words against the Most High.’ Dan. 7: 25. The leopard beast of Rev. 13: 6, does the same: ‘He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God.’” “2. The little horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them. Dan. 7: 21. This beast also, Rev. 13: 7, makes war with the saints and overcomes them.” “3. The little horn had a mouth speaking great things. Dan. 7: 8, 20. And of this beast we read, Rev. 13: 5, ‘And there was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.’” “4. The little horn rose on the cessation of the pagan form of the Roman Empire. This beast does the same, for the dragon, Pagan Rome, gives him his power, his seat, and great authority.” “5. Power was given to the little horn to continue for a time, times, and the dividing of time, or 1260 years. Dan. 7: 25. To this beast also power was given for forty-two months, or 1260 years. Rev. 13: 5.” “6. At the end of that specified period, the dominion of the little horn was to be taken away. Dan. 7: 26. At the end of the same period the leopard beast was himself to be ‘led into captivity,’ Rev. 13: 10. Both were fulfilled in the capture of the pope in 1798.” In fulfillment of these prophecies, the papacy arose among the ten pagan kingdoms of the old Roman Empire, a power, “diverse,” or different, from the others, from the fact that it held a different religion, professing to be the head of the church of the Prince of Peace, whose “kingdom is not of this world.” We date the reign of the papacy from the plucking up of the third of the three horns—the Ostrogoths—who were opposed to that power. They were subdued by the power of the Emperor Justinian, in A. D. 538. Then it was that the dragon (pagan Rome) gave to the beast (papal Rome) “his power, and seat, and great authority.” Then the decree made by the emperor three years before, that the bishop of Rome should be the supreme head of the church, was ratified by force, the last obstacle being removed. The “time, times, and a half,” the “forty-two months,” the “one thousand two hundred and three score days” (1260 years), beginning in A. D. 538, would terminate in A. D. 1798, at which point the French subdued the pope, and he was “carried into captivity;” the “deadly wound” was inflicted which was afterward healed. Here was fulfilled the prediction, “They shall take away his dominion,” not by destroying the power at once, but “to consume and to destroy it unto the end.” Dan. 7: 26. Since 1798 the superannuated “Man of Sin” has been in a consumption, but he will not die till “the end,” when he will be destroyed by the glory attending the second advent of Christ, when he shall be “revealed from Heaven in flaming fire.” Says Paul,29“Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2: 8. We come to this conclusion: The beast of Revelation which we are forbidden to worship, is identical with Daniel’s little horn, and Paul’s Man of Sin; so that whatever is affirmed of one is true of the others. But are Protestants in danger of being found, at the close of probation, following the dictates of the papacy? We shall be prepared to answer when we learn what the papacy has done. R. F. COTTRELL.