A SIGNIFICANT FACT

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 26, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 42.

A SIGNIFICANT FACT.

A CURIOUS condition of things exists in the city of Rome, Italy, brought about by the antagonism between church and state. Both the pope and the king claim the exclusive right of sovereignty in the city of Rome. One class recognizes the claims of the king, while the other considers him a usurper there, and declares the "Eternal City" the "sole property of the pope." The regular representatives of the powers are accredited to the court of the king, but many of these same powers have representatives also accredited to the court of the Vatican, and these two classes of representatives hold no communication with each other. Should the reigning government be overthrown by the Papacy, the powers would still be represented at the court of the ruler without any further appointment. There is significance in this fact when considered in the light of the prophecy of Rev. 17:12, 13. The power and strength of the nations are one day to be given to the papal power ruling at Rome, the seven-hilled city mentioned in the ninth verse of Revelation 17, that great "city which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Verse 18. Of no other power than that of the papal see could that be said. Rome alone claims jurisdiction over the kings of the earth; she alone claims the right to rule the subjects of other kingdoms. But her absolute authority will be short—one hour, prophetic time—and her end sudden and terrible. The willingness of the powers to recognize the claims of the pope by appointing representatives at his court shows that it is no impossible thing that, at a certain time, they should give to that power their strength and authority, reigning with it for a time.

A late despatch from the Rome correspondent of the London Times contains an item of news which is in direct accord with the foregoing. It says: "Emperor William has conceived, and is attempting to execute, a master stroke of policy by bringing into the orbit of the Dreibund (or Triple Alliance) the Vatican, hitherto its most persistent foe, thus bringing within measurable distance the realization of the emperor's life-long dream of a revival of the Holy Roman Empire—in fact, if not in name, under Hohenzollern leadership." To bring the Vatican into the Triple Alliance would give to the pope greater prestige and influence than he has ever had among the nations of earth, and clearly open the way for the fulfilment of the prophecy above referred to. The very agitation of such questions is adding to the weight of the pope's prestige among the nations of earth, and this is leading directly up to the accomplishment of that event which the prophet has foretold.