Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
By Uriah Smith
Verse 31. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. The power of the empire was committed to the carrying on of the work before mentioned. And they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, or Rome. If this applies to the barbarians, it was literally fulfilled; for Rome was sacked by the Goths, Huns, and Vandals, and the imperial power of the West ceased through the conquest of Rome by Odoacer. Or if it refers to those rulers of the empire who were working in behalf of the papacy against the pagan and all other opposing religions, it would signify the removal of the seat of the empire from Rome to Constantinople; which contributed more than anything else to the downfall of Rome. The passage would then be parallel to Dan. 8:11, and Rev. 13:2. "And they shall take away the daily sacrifice." It was shown in Dan. 8:13, that "sacrifice" is a word erroneously supplied; that it should be desolation; and that the expression denotes a desolating power of which the abomination of desolation is but the counterpart, and to which it succeeds in point of time. The daily desolation was paganism, the abomination of desolation is the papacy. But it may be asked how this can be the papacy; since Christ spoke of it in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem. And the answer is, Christ evidently referred to the ninth of Daniel, which is a prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, and not to this verse of the eleventh, which does not refer to that event. Daniel, in the ninth chapter, speaks of desolations, and abominations, plural. More than one abomination, therefore, treads down the church; that is, so far as the church is concerned, both paganism and the papacy are abominations. But as distinguished from each other, the language is restricted, and one is the daily desolation and the other is pre-eminently the transgression or abomination of desolation. How was the daily, or paganism, taken away? As this is spoken of in connection with the placing or setting up of the abomination of desolation, or the papacy, it must denote, not merely the nominal change of the religion of the empire from paganism to Christianity, as on the conversion, so-called, of Constantine, but such an eradication of paganism from all the elements of the empire, that the way would be all open for the papal abomination to arise and assert its arrogant claims. Such a revolution as this, plainly defined, was accomplished; but not for nearly two hundred years after the death of Constantine. As we approach the year A. D. 508, we behold a grand crisis ripening between Catholicism and the pagan influences still existing in the empire. Up to the time of the conversion of Clovis, king of France, A. D. 496, the French and other nations of Western Rome were pagan; but subsequent to that event, the efforts to convert idolators to Christ were crowned with great success. The conversion of Clovis is said to have been the occasion of bestowing upon the French monarch the titles of "Most Christian Majesty," and "Eldest Son of the Church." Between that time and A. D. 508, by alliances, capitulations, and conquests, the Arborici, the Roman garrisons in the West, Brittany, the Burgundians, and the Visigoths, were brought into subjection. From the time when these successes were fully accomplished, namely, 508, the papacy was triumphant so far as paganism was concerned; for though the latter doubtless retarded the progress of the Catholic faith, yet it had not the power, if it had the disposition, to suppress that faith, and hinder the encroachments of the Roman pontiff. When the prominent powers of Europe gave up their attachment to paganism, it was only to perpetuate its abominations in another form; for Christianity, in the Catholic sense, was only paganism baptized. In England, Arthur, the first Christian king, founded the Christian worship on the ruin of the pagan. Rapin, who claims to be exact in the chronology of events, states that he was elected monarch of Britain in 508. Book ii, p. 124. The condition of the see of Rome was also peculiar at this time. In 498, Symmachus ascended the pontifical throne as a recent convert from paganism. He reigned to A. D. 514. He found his way to the papal chair, says Du Pin, by striving with his competitor even unto blood. He received adulation as the successor of St. Peter, and struck the key note of papal assumption, by presuming to excommunicate the emperor Anastasius. The most servile flatterers of the pope now began to maintain that he was constituted judge in the place of God, and that he was the vicegerent of the Most High. Such was the direction in which events were tending in the West. What posture did affairs at the same time assume in the East? A strong papal party now existed in all parts of the empire. The adherents of this cause in Constantinople, encouraged by the success of their brethren in the West, deemed it safe to commence open hostilities in behalf of their master at Rome. In 508, their partisan zeal culminated in a whirlwind of fanaticism and civil war, which swept in fire and blood through the streets of the eastern capital.—Gibbon’s Dec. and Fall, vol. iv, p. 526. Let it be marked that in this year, 508, paganism had so far declined, and Catholicism had so far relatively increased in strength, that the Catholic church for the first time waged a successful war against both the civil authority of the empire and the church of the East, which had for the most part embraced the Monophysite doctrine. The extermination of 65,000 heretics was the result. With the following extract from Apollos Hale, we close the testimony on this point:— "We now invite our modern Gamaliels to take a position with us in the place of the sanctuary of paganism (since claimed as the 'patrimony of St Peter') in 508. We look a few years into the past, and the rude paganism of the northern barbarians is pouring down upon the nominally Christian empire of Western Rome—triumphing everywhere—and its triumphs everywhere distinguished by the most savage cruelty.
"The empire falls, and is broken into fragments. One by one the lords and rulers of these fragments abandon their paganism and profess the Christian faith. In religion, the conquerors are yielding to the conquered. But still paganism is triumphant. Among its supporters there is one stern and successful conqueror. (Clovis.) But soon he also bows before the power of the new faith, and becomes its champion. He is still triumphant, but, as a hero and conqueror, reaches the zenith at the point we occupy, A. D. 508.
"In or near the same year, the last important subdivision of the fallen empire is publicly, and by the coronation of its triumphant monarch, Christianized.
"The pontiff on the period on which we stand is a recently converted pagan. The bloody contest which placed him in the chair was decided by the interposition of an Arian king. He is bowed to and saluted as filling 'the place of God on earth.' The senate is so far under his power, that on suspicion that the interests of the see of Rome demand it, they excommunicate the emperor. . . . In 508, the mine is sprung beneath the throne of the Eastern Empire. The result of the confusion and strife it occasions is the humiliation of its rightful lord. Now the question is, At what time was paganism so far suppressed, as to make room for its substitute and successor, the papal abomination? When was this abomination placed in a position to start on its career of blasphemy and blood? Is there any other date for its being 'placed' or 'set up' in the room of paganism, but 508? If the mysterious enchantress has not now brought all her victims within her power, she has taken her position, and some have yielded to the fascination. The others are at length subdued, 'and kings, and peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues,' are brought under the spell which prepares them, even while 'drunken with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,' to 'think they are doing God's service,' and fancy themselves the exclusive favorites of Heaven, while becoming an easier and richer prey for the damnation of hell."—Ad. Manual, pp. 79-81.