ANOTHER important prophetic period upon which the Advent doctrine is based, is the 1335 days of Dan. 12, with which the 1290 days are so intimately connected. These two periods are introduced to us as follows:—
"And from the time that the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days," Dan. 12:11-13.
The questions at once arise, Can we tell what the events are, from which these periods are to be dated; and if so, can we tell when they took place? We first inquire, What is the "daily" (sacrifice) and the "abomination that maketh desolate"? It will be noticed that the word, sacrifice, is in italics, denoting that it is a supplied word. The same will be noticed in the other instances of its occurrence in the book of Daniel, viz., chap. 11:31 and 8:11-13. Let us briefly refer to this latter chapter. In verse 13 it will be observed that two desolations are brought to view; the daily (desolation), and the transgression of desolation. This fact is made plain by the following quotation from Eld. J. Litch:—
"'The daily sacrifice' is the present reading of the text; but no such thing as sacrifice is found in the original. This is acknowledged on all hands. It is a gloss or construction put upon it by the translators. The true reading is, 'the daily and the transgression of desolation;' daily and transgression being connected together by 'and;' the daily desolation and the transgression of desolation. They are two desolating powers which were to desolate the sanctuary and the host."
From this it is evident that the "daily," can have no reference to the Jewish worship to which it has been applied by the older and more prevalent opinion; and this is further evident from the consideration that if these periods, taken either literally or figuratively, be dated from any taking away of this worship, they do not bring us to any event whatever worthy of note.
The daily and the abomination then, are two desolating powers which were to oppress the church; can we ascertain what these powers are? We have only to adopt Wm. Miller's method of reasoning on this point which is the literal and true method to arrive at the same correct conclusion with him. He says:—
"I read on, and could find no other case in which it [the daily] was found but in Daniel. I then [by the aid of a concordance] took those words which stood in connection with it, 'take away:' he shall take away the daily; 'from the time that the daily shall be taken away;' etc. I read on and thought I should find no light on the text. Finally I came to 2 Thess. 2:7, 8, 'For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed,' etc. And when I had come to that text, O, how clear and glorious the truth appeared! There it is! That is 'the daily!' Well, now, what does Paul mean by 'he who now letteth or hindereth? By 'the man of sin,' and the 'wicked,' Popery is meant. Well, what is it which hinders Popery from being revealed? Why it is Paganism. Well, then, 'the daily' must mean Paganism."
We see from Dan. 8 that it is the little horn which succeeded the goat, or Grecian empire, that takes away the "daily;" and it is the only power brought to view after the division of Alexander's kingdom down to the time when the sanctuary should be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days. This little horn we have in its proper place showed to be Rome taken as a unit, corresponding with the fourth kingdom of Daniel's other visions. Now it is a fact that a change did take place in the Roman power from Paganism to Papacy. Paganism from the days of the Assyrian kings down to the time of its modification into Popery, had been the daily, or as Prof. Whiting renders it, "the continual" desolation, by which Satan had stood up against the cause of Jehovah. In its priests, its altars, and its sacrifices, it bore resemblance to the Levitical form of Jehovah's worship; but when the Levitical gave place to the Christian form of worship. Satan, in order to successfully oppose the work, must change also his form of opposition; hence the temples, altars, and statutes of Paganism are baptized into the blasphemies of Popery.403But the daily, Paganism, is said in the prophecy to have a sanctuary, and the place of its sanctuary was to be cast down. That a sanctuary is frequently connected with idolatry and heathenism, as the place of its devotion and worship, is evident from the following scriptures: Isa. 16:12; Amos 7:9, 13, margin. Eze. 28:18. Concerning the sanctuary of the daily of Dan. 8, we offer the following from Apollos Hale:—
"What can be meant by the 'sanctuary' of Paganism? Paganism, and error of every kind, have their sanctuaries, as well as truth. These are the temples or asylums consecrated to their service. Some particular and renowned temple of Paganism may, then, be supposed to be here spoken of. Which of its numerous distinguished temples may it be? One of the most magnificent specimens of classic architecture is called the Pantheon. Its name signifies the 'temple or asylum of all the gods.' The place of its location is Rome. The idols of the nations conquered by the Romans were sacredly deposited in some niche or department of this temple, and in many cases became objects of worship by the Romans themselves. Could we find a temple of Paganism that was more strikingly 'his sanctuary.'"
Having now ascertained that the daily is Paganism, and the transgression of desolation, or "the abomination that maketh desolate," is the Papacy, and that the especial sanctuary of Paganism was the Pantheon, and that the "place of its location was Rome, we inquire further.
1. Was Paganism "taken away" by the Roman civil power? The following statement of an important and well-known fact in the history of the church and world, we think answers to the prophecy. It refers to Constantine the first Christian emperor, and says:—
"His first act of government [after his professed conversion] was the dispatch of an edict throughout the empire, exhorting his subjects to embrace Christianity."
2. Was Rome the city or place of his sanctuary (the Pantheon), cast down by the authority of the State? The following extract answers:—
"The death of the last rival of Constantine had sealed the peace of the empire. Rome was once more the undisputed queen of nations. But, in that hour of elevation and splendor, she had been raised to the edge of a precipice. Her next step was to downward and irrecoverable. The change of the government to Constantinople still perplexes the historian. It was an act in direct repugnance to the whole course of the ancient and honorable prejudices of the Roman mind. It was the work of no luxurious Asiatic, devoted to the indulgences of eastern customs and climates, but an iron conqueror, born in the west, and contemptuous like all Romans, of the habits of the orientals; it was the work of a keen politician, yet it was impolitic in the most palpable degree. Yet Constantine abandoned Rome, the great citadel and throne of the Cæsars, for an obscure corner of Thrace, and expended the remainder of his vigorous and ambitious life in the double toil of raising a colony into the capital of his empire, and degrading the capital into the feeble honors and humiliated strength of a colony."
This record from the pen of the historian, is too plain to need comment. The place of his sanctuary was cast down, says the prophecy; and after a statement of facts like the above, the most fastidious in prophetic interpretation must be satisfied in regard to the application. U. S.