"WHAT IS THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE?"
By Editor
IN a partial answer to this question given in these columns last week, we stated that that which we call the Third Angel's Message is simply the third of a series of warnings, or more properly speaking, is a part of a threefold warning which is to prepare those who will heed it, for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the glorious change which awaits the righteous when he appears. This series of messages is found in Revelation 14: 6-11, which reads as follows:— "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because he made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image; and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." The first warns the world of the second coming of Christ, for while they are not identical, the coming of the Lord and the hour of God's Judgment are so closely connected that they cannot be dissociated. The second declares the sad spiritual state of those who refuse the warning; while the third contains the most dreadful threatenings against those, who instead of giving glory to God, as the first message commands, worship the beast or his image and receive his mark in their foreheads or in their hands. It is this warning which we call the Third Angel's Message, and in which we believe the present generation is especially interested. We therefore invite the reader to go with us while we trace down one or two lines of prophecy which point to this message and give us a clue to the time when it is due to the world. Referring first to Dan. 2: 31-40 and Dan. 7: 1-7, we find four kingdoms represented by symbols, namely, Babylon (Dan. 2: 37, 38), Medo-Persia (Dan. 5: 28), Grecia (Dan. 8: 20, 21), Rome (Luke 2: 1). In these texts the several kingdoms are mentioned by name with the exception of Rome. But while Luke 2: 1 does not mention Rome by name, it does bring to view the emperor of Rome having dominion over all the world. In Dan. 2 and 7 four universal kingdoms are presented as covering the whole period of earth's history to the end of time, and in the book of Daniel we have the first three named. But since there are but four, and three are named, it is evident that when another universal kingdom is mentioned, it must be the fourth. The text in question brings to view such a kingdom, ruled by Caesar Augustus. So we know that his empire—Rome—is the fourth kingdom that should bear rule over the whole earth. On this point there is the most perfect agreement between sacred and profane history.520 Babylon, the first of these kingdoms, continued until B. C. 538, and was succeeded by Medo-Persia, which continued until B. C. 331; this kingdom was followed by Grecia, which as a unit and afterwards as divided into four parts (which division was represented by the four heads of the leopard), bore rule over all the earth until B. C. 168, when it yielded its supremacy to Rome, which continued as a unit until A. D. 351, when the first of the ten kingdoms was established in Roman territory. The fourth beast of Daniel 7 was represented as having ten horns (verse 8) which, we are told in verse 24, represented ten kings or kingdoms which should arise out of that empire; and after them there was to arise another power represented by another horn. The prophet says: "I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots." Of this horn it is said that he should be diverse from the first, and that he should subdue three kings, and further, that he should speak great words against the Most High, and wear out the saints of the Most High, and should think to change times and laws, and they should be given into his hands until a time and times and the dividing of time. By comparing this text with Rev. 12: 14, 6, we learn that this time was a thousand two hundred and threescore days, which, we understand to be symbolical of a longer period, namely (judging from Eze. 4: 4-6, a day for a year), twelve hundred and sixty years. We have already seen that the little horn which came up among the ten horns was to pluck up or destroy three of the ten. On this point Dowling, "History of Romanism," book 3, chap. 6, sec. 60, says:— "In the seventh chapter of Daniel, verse 8, &c., the papal power is represented as a "little horn," or kingdom coming up among the other ten horns or kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was divided. Before this little horn, coming up after the other ten, and "diverse from the first," three of the others are plucked up by the roots, which signifies that the papal government should eventually triumph over three of the states, or governments, out of the ten into which the ancient Roman empire was divided." These were the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths. The first of these powers fell about A. D. 483, the second in 534 and the third in 538. These were all Arian kingdoms, and the power at whose behest they were overthrown was what is now known as the Papacy. Prior to A. D. 476, as indicated by the prophecy, and as before stated, Rome had been divided into ten kingdoms, seven of which acknowledged the bishop of Rome as head of the universal church. The three powers named, refused to acknowledge his supremacy and were overthrown in his interests, hence from the overthrow of the last of these kingdoms we date the twelve hundred and sixty years during which time the saints, times, and laws of God were given into his hands. Until the last of those three kingdoms was overthrown, the Papacy did not have that power indicated in Dan. 7: 25. It is true that prior to this time the bishop of Rome had claimed supremacy, and in 533 the emperor Justinian wrote to the Pope, saying: "Therefore we have made no delay in subjecting and uniting to your holiness all the priests of the whole east." "We cannot suffer that anything which relates to the state of the church, however manifest or unquestionable, should be moved without the knowledge of your holiness, who are the head of all the holy churches." And again the same year in a letter to Epiphanius, Justinian refers to his letter to the bishop of Rome, and, "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.'" "In the same month of the following year, the Pope returned an answer repeating the language of the emperor, applauding his homage to the see, and adopting the titles of the imperial mandate. He observes that among the titles of Justinian, one shines as a star, his reverence for the apostolic chair, to which he has subjected and united all the churches, it being truly the head of all; as was testified by the rules of the fathers, the laws of princes, and the declarations of the emperors piety." But this decree of Justinian was for the most part inoperative until the Ostrogoths, the last of the three Arian powers, were driven from Italy five years later, namely, in A. D. 538; from which time forward for 1,260 years, the Papacy had, with only slight interruption, all the power indicated in the prophecy and in the emperor's letter, so far as it was possible for man to confer power. Counting 1,260 years from A. D. 538 brings us to A. D. 1798, the close of the 1,260 years, at which time the Papacy was temporarily overthrown by the French under General Berthier. The facts of this temporary overthrow are thus briefly related by the historian:— "Bonaparte now invaded the papal territories and rapidly overran them. He had orders from the directory to destroy the papal government but, on his own responsibility, he disregarded these instructions, and concluded with the helpless Pontiff the peace of Talentino on the 19th of February, 1797. 'Upon the return of Bonaparte from Italy, General Berthier was ordered by the directory to carry out its instructions respecting the papal government, which Bonaparte had declined to execute. The people of the papal States were thoroughly discontented. Berthier marched to Rome and was received as a deliverer. He proclaimed the restoration of the Roman republic; made Pope Pius VI. a prisoner, and stripped him of all his property . . . and removed him to France, where he was detained in captivity.'—Pictorial History of the World, p. 756." In this was fulfilled the prophecy found in Revelation 13. "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death. . . . He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword." Verses 3 and 10. That this prophecy relates to the same power as that brought to view in Daniel, namely, the Papacy, will be clearly shown by comparing Daniel 7: 4-8 with Revelation 13: 1, 2, and Daniel 7: 8, 25 with Revelation 13: 5-7. But this deadly wound was not to be the total end of the Papacy. Says the prophecy (Rev. 13: 3): "And I saw one of its heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast." As already stated, this deadly wound was given in 1798 when Pope Pius VI. was taken prisoner, and the Papacy was temporarily abolished by the French. But a further consideration of this question must be left for another paper.
C. P. B.