THE PAPACY IN PROPHECY by Abdiel

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 10, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 39.

THE PAPACY IN PROPHECY

By Abdiel

By ABDIEL.

MACAULAY, the great Englishman, has truly said:

"There is not, and there never was, on this earth, a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church."—Von Ranke, par. 3.

This is true from its history, its greatness, its influence, its principles.

Surely an organization, an institution which has survived the vicissitudes and ravages of time from the days of Constantine to the present, stronger to-day in many respects than ever before in its history, an institution which brings within its control and influence so many millions of souls in the civilized countries of earth, an institution which has had so much influence—an influence now awaking and extending with more than pristine vigor—in moulding the affairs of nations and governments, an institution that assumes to be the mouthpiece of God for the world, without whose pale lies at the best but little hope, such an institution is worthy of examination.

More than this: It is worthy of examination in the light of the great Book of Christian Revelation and Principle—the Bible. Only in the light of the Bible can it be rightly examined. Only by comparing its principles and history with that "more sure Word" can we rightly understand the meaning and power and character of the Papacy.

"But what has the Bible to do with all these?" one asks. Simply this: In that Book God has traced with the unerring pen of Inspiration the rise and fall of all the great powers of earth which have to any extent had a moulding moral influence upon the world.

In the face of the great facts that God is our Father, that the Bible is His Revelation to us, that our welfare is seriously affected either for good or ill by such a mighty power as the Papacy, making the high claim it does, it is demanded either that God shall exhort us to flee to its fold to find refuge, or to warn us against its principles and influence.

Surely when God has foretold the career and fate of cities so comparatively insignificant as Damascus, Bozrah, Tyre, Sidon, Capernaum, Bethsaida, and a score of others greater and lesser, He must tell us of a power sweepingly world-wide in extent and influence over the consciences of men and the policies of nations.

We believe that the Papacy is a subject of divine prophecy; that it is there set forth as regards its principles, its influence, its power, its work, its end.

In this series of articles I wish to examine it in the sure light of that Word, calmly, dispassionately, kindly. The writer has naught against one single Roman Catholic in this world from Pope Pius X. to the last convert to that church in New Guinea. He believes there are honest, faithful, devoted souls in its communion, noble men and noble women who are sacrificing much, laboring faithfully for God and humanity. He does not believe that its priests are all lecherous scoundrels or its sisters of charity and nuns all harlots. To no such examination as this does he invite his readers.

Rather, our examination is respecting the Papacy rather than the Roman Catholic Church, the great controlling system rather than the mere ecclesiastical body.

I begin our study, therefore, by asking my readers to go with me to a prophet indorsed by our Lord Himself as recorded in Matt. 24:15, and be assured from his own Word that it is also now, as then, the privilege of "him that readeth" to "understand."

The seventh chapter of Daniel is a divine prophecy of great world-powers which have exercised, or may exercise, a dominating influence in church-and-state affairs from the days of the prophet unto the end.

The vision was given two years before Babylon reached the close of her career. The first year of Belshazzar was B.C. 540.

Under the symbols of a winged lion, a cruel bear, and a four-headed, winged leopard, the empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Grecia are depicted. There are no differences of opinion as regards this application of the prophecy, so far as the writer is aware, by those who profess to believe the prophecy. The beasts of the prophecy, the angel declares, are symbols of kingdoms, to be superseded by the everlasting kingdom of God. Verses 17, 18. Other scriptures liken Babylon to a lion, a figure often seen upon her monuments. Jer. 4:7; 5:6. The bear is parallel to the two-horned ram of chapter 8:3, 4, 20; and the leopard to the rough goat of chapter 8:5-8, 21, 22.

Babylon was near her end. Her lion heart had departed. Medo-Persia was already entering the dominion of Chaldea as a conqueror. Grecia, starting as a single monarchy, was to be divided into just four. And all the definite specifications were met in history.

Following Grecia came Rome, a world-power to a greater extent than any that preceded her, symbolized by "a fourth beast, terrible and powerful, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns."

This symbol can apply to none other than Grecia’s successor in world-empire, namely Rome.

"Rome, an empire far renowned, Tramples on a thousand states."

Gibbon tells us that when Rome ruled, the world became a safe and dreary prison; one could not fly, and it was impossible to escape. The ten horns denote ten kings, or kingdoms (the words are used interchangeably). Dan. 7:24.

How literally was this fulfilled! Between the years of A.D. 351 and 476 Rome was divided into just ten kingdoms, as follows: Alemanni, Franks, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Suevi, Burgundians, Heruli, Lombards, Anglo-Saxons. The prophecy is specific. Rome should be divided into ten kingdoms, no more, no less. History records that between the years A.D. 351 to 476, Rome was thus divided. The "ten kingdoms" have been a stock expression in history ever since.

Among these horns arose another, a little horn. The work and character of this horn is specifically outlined. There are not less than twelve specifications in the prophecy concerning that horn, ten of which have already been fulfilled. These will be given in the next paper.