Papal Supremacy | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 6, 1864

Papal Supremacy.

WHEN DID IT COMMENCE?

In 538 A. D. we say. In 533 says the new-time theory. This point, it seems to us, can be settled without spending much time, or wasting many words.

What are the prophecies respecting the period of papal supremacy, or, which is the same thing, the 1260 years? We find the first in Dan. vii, 25. Speaking of the papal horn, the prophet says: "And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."

In the book of Revelation we find the same period several times brought to view. Twice it marks the time during which the woman, or the church, should dwell in the wilderness, and once it is given to denote the continuance of the seven-headed and ten-horned beast of Rev. xiii.

Now what facts of history have we from which any one can argue the commencement of this period of 1260 years? Answer. In 533 A. D. Justinian issued a decree constituting the pope the head of all the churches. In 538 he was enabled to remove the obstacles that stood in the way of the carrying out of that decree, and place the man of sin upon the pontifical throne. From which of these events shall we date the period in question? Shall we date it from the time when Justinian formed the purpose of making the bishop of Rome the head of the churches? or from the time when he was able to carry that purpose into execution? Which do the various prophecies we have quoted, demand? The language of Daniel is that the saints times and laws should be given into his hand for a certain time. When were they given into his hand? We can determine this point by one question; namely, Had Justinian never been able to put into execution his decree concerning the pope, would the saints have been given into his hand? Assuredly they would not. All must admit this. Then had the events never been accomplished which were accomplished in 538, Justinian might have decreed till the day of his death, and the saints would only have laughed at his abortive legislation, and bid defiance to the paper fulminations of the man of sin. It was the events, then, of 538, that gave the saints times and laws into the hands of the pope. But they were to be given into his hands for 1260 years. From what point then, are we to date this period? From 538 of course. There is no other point in the annals of time.

Try it again. The woman, or the church, was to go into the wilderness, and be nourished there for 1260 years. What was to cause the church thus to go into the wilderness? The elevation of the man of sin. But had the decree of Justinian never been accomplished, would the church have been obliged to flee into the wilderness? By no means. But her wilderness state was to continue 1260 years, and must beyond question, be dated from these events which drove her into that state; which were the events of 538.

And what event was to mark the termination of those days? This is clearly indicated in Rev. xiii, 10. Speaking of the blasphemous beast, the papacy, which was to "continue" forty-two months, John says, "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. He that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword." Was this accomplished in 1793, where the 1260 years would end if commenced in 533? We answer, No. But in 1798, which was 1260 years from 538, the pope was taken prisoner, he was literally led into captivity, and died in exile.

Should the present dispensation continue beyond the year 1868, and it thus become necessary for those who live on time, to fix another date, we venture to predict that the position here set forth, would, without much hesitation, be adopted, and essentially the same arguments be used to establish it; in other words that the time-ists would argue as strenuously for 538 as the commencement of the 1260 years, as they now do for 533.

But what is the object of dating from 533? Answer. That is the year from which if we commence the 1335 years, they will end in 1868; and, with the new-time theory, that is apparently enough. But suppose 533 marks the commencement of papal supremacy, what authority have we for dating the 1335 days from that point? What says the prophecy? Dan. xii, 11, 12: "And from the time that the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and sixty days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." We presume no one will deny that these two periods, thus introduced together, have the same starting point. And what is that starting point? The answer that is given us is, From the time that the daily shall be taken away. This daily has often been shown through the Review to be not a sacrifice but an abomination, referring to Paganism. And no Adventist will deny that the

abomination that maketh desolate, spoken of in connection with it, is the papacy. Now the margin reads, From the time that the daily shall be taken away, "to set up" the abomination that maketh desolate, &c. Hence from the time that paganism is taken away, in order to the setting up of the papacy, these periods are to date. And when was paganism taken away? In 508, thirty years before the papacy was set up. But granting that the papacy was set up in 533, there is not one particle of evidence for dating the 1335 days from that point. Indeed it is directly contrary to the prophecy so to do; for that declares that they are to date from another point. Thus this theory has not coherence enough to stand, though we grant one half of its assumed foundation.