FROM the time that the daily 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 five and thirty days. With the facts before us that the daily is Paganism, that the abomination that maketh desolate is the Papacy, that there was a change from the former to the latter in the Roman power, and by the authority of State, we have but to inquire further when this took place in a manner to fulfill the prophecy; for if we can ascertain this, we have the starting point from which the prophetic periods in the text before us are to be dated. Therefore,
3. When did the event referred to in the prophecy take place? Let it be observed, the question here is not, when were the saints given into the hands of the Papacy, but when had the change of religion from Paganism to Papacy been so far effected as to make the latter the undisputed national religion, and place it in a condition to start upon its career. This, like all other great revolutions, was not the work of a moment. Its incipient workings were manifest long before. Paul said that even in his day the mystery of iniquity, the "abomination that maketh desolate," which was to develop the Man of Sin was already at work. And it is in the light of this scripture that we must understand our Lord’s words in Matt. 24:15, concerning the abomination of desolation, where he makes evident reference to Dan. 9:27. For although Paganism had not given place to the Papacy in the year 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, we do understand that the power which then appeared modified somewhat in name and form, was the very power that should, as the abomination of desolation, wear out the saints and desolate the church of the Most High.
Up to the time of the conversion of Clovis, king of France, which took place in 496, the French and other nations of Western Rome were pagan; but subsequent to that event the efforts to convert idolaters to Christ were crowned with great success. It is said that the conversion of Clovis gave rise to the custom of addressing the French monarch with 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 Arporici,' the 'Roman garrisons in the west,' Brittany, the Burgundians and the Visigoths, were brought into subjection."
"Paganism in the Western Roman Empire, though it doubtless retarded the progress of the Christian faith, especially in those nations which were molested, as in the case of England, by the inroads of the barbarous clans, who continued idolaters, henceforth had not the power, if it had the disposition, to suppress the Catholic faith, or to hinder the encroachments of the Roman Pontiff. From that time, the papal abomination was triumphant, so far as Paganism was concerned. Its future contests were with the other Christian sects, who were always treated as heretics; and with princes who were always treated as rebels or dividers of the body of Christ. The prominent powers of Europe gave up their attachment to Paganism only to perpetuate its abominations in another form; for Paganism needed only to be baptized to become Christian in the Catholic sense; and when the interests or vengeance of its presiding minister made the demand, their possessions and thrones—perhaps their lives—must be laid on the altar."
In England, Arthur, the first Christian king, founded the Christian worship on the ruins of the Pagan. Rapin, who claims to be more exact in the chronology of events in his history, states that he was elected monarch of Britain in 508. Book ii, p. 129.
What was the condition of the See of Rome at this time? "Symmachus was Pope from 498 or 9 to 514. His pontificate was distinguished by these remarkable circumstances and events:—
"1. He 'left Paganism' when he entered the 'church of Rome.'
"2. He found his way to the papal chair by striving with his competitor even unto blood. Du Pin.
"3. By the adulation paid to him as the successor of St. Peter.
"4. By the excommunication of the Emperor Anastasius."
"How much," says Mosheim, "the opinions of some were favorable to the lordly demands of the Roman Pontiffs, may be easily imagined from an expression of Ennodius, that infamous and extravagant flatterer of Symmachus, who was a prelate of ambiguous fame. This parasitical panegyrist, among other impertinent assertions maintained that the Pontiff was constituted judge in the place of God, which he filled as the Vicegerent of the Most High."
By the strength secured to the Catholic cause in the West, by these successes, and the agency of the vicars, and other agents of the See of Rome, the papal party in Constantinople were "placed" in a position to justify open hostilities in behalf of their master at Rome. "In 508 the whirlwind of fanaticism and civil war swept in fire and blood through the streets of the eastern capital."
Gibbon, under the years 508–514, speaking of the commotions in Constantinople, says: "The statues of the emperor were broken, and his person was concealed in a suburb, till, at the end of three days, he dared to implore the mercy of his subjects. [Popery is triumphant]. Without his diadem, and in the posture of a suppliant, Anastasius appeared on the throne of the circus. The Catholics, before his face, rehearsed the genuine Trisagion; they exulted in the offer which he proclaimed by the voice of a herald, of abdicating the purple; they listened to the admonition, that, since all could not reign, they should previously agree in the choice of a sovereign; and they accepted the blood of two unpopular ministers, whom their master, without hesitation, condemned to the lions. These furious but transient seditions were encouraged by the success of Vitalian, who with his army of Huns and Bulgarians, for the most part idolaters, declared himself the champion of the Catholic faith. In this pious rebellion he depopulated Thrace, besieged Constantinople, exterminated sixty-five thousand of his fellow Christians, till he obtained the recall of the bishops, the satisfaction of the Pope, and the establishment of the council of Chalcedon, an orthodox treaty, reluctantly signed by the dying Anastasius and more faithfully performed by the uncle of Justinian. And such was the event of the first of the religious wars which have been waged in the name, and by the disciples, of the God of Peace."
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 for 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 service,' and to fancy themselves the exclusive favorites of Heaven, while becoming an easier and richer prey for the damnation of hell."
We have the date. The "daily" was taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up in 508. Dating from this point the 1290 days or years terminate in 1798 where, as has already been shown, the civil power was stricken from the Pope by the arms of the French. The 1335 days bring us 45 full years this side of that event, to the great Advent movement of 1843.