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PROPOSITION SECOND.

At the termination of the twelve hundred and sixty years, the Ancient of Days comes, and the judgment is to sit to take away the dominion of the little horn, to consume and destroy it unto the end. When the judgment begins to sit, then the twelve hundred and sixty years are ended.

Till the French revolution, the papal power, notwithstanding the partial resistance which it experienced from some of the sovereigns of Europe, continued throughout all the central territories of the Roman empire of the west to hold the saints in subjection. Neither in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, or Savoy, were the protestants tolerated; and the only part of what may be considered a central part of the western empire, where toleration existed, was in some of the cantons of Switzerland. Previously to the French revolution, therefore, it is plain that the judgment had not begun to sit, to consume and take away the dominion of the papacy. Europe appeared to slumber in perfect security; the protestant faith had lost much ground since the period of the reformation, nor did there appear any prospect of its regaining what was lost. Indeed, England was the only kingdom of the ancient Roman empire which had wholly embraced the reformation, and destroyed the papal authority within its dominions.

But at the fall of the French monarchy in 1792, a series of events began, which have, in the short space of twenty-five years, shaken to its foundation the spiritual power of the papacy throughout the greatest part of the western empire. The monastic orders have been annihilated, the property of the

church confiscated; the tithes have been abolished; many spiritual principalities have been secularized; and in France, the Netherlands, and every part of Germany, the protestants have, by the new constitutions of these kingdoms, obtained not only a complete toleration, but an equal admission to offices of public trust with their catholic fellow subjects.*

* It is well known, that by the constitutional charter of France toleration is granted to the Protestants; yet in one of the departments, that of the Gard, and particularly in the city of Nismes, they appear to have suffered grievous persecution. But this one instance of persecution, which is perhaps connected with local animosities, and is also disowned by the government of France, seems not to be sufficient to overthrow reasoning which is founded upon facts of a more general

nature.

That the progress of the principles of religious liberty throughout Europe, and consequently the decline of the spiritual power of the pope, have been very great since the French revolution, may be gathered from the following facts which I have gleaned from the public papers.

Times, Dec. 2, 1814.-" CONGRESS OF VIENNA. Among the few "principles which seem perfectly agreed upon, is one which must "afford satisfaction to all candid and considerate minds. We allude "to the perfect equality which is to be established in Germany, "between the three great religious persuasions, the Roman, the "Lutheran, and the Calvinistic."

The same paper, Dec. 9, 1815.-" Vienna, Nov. 21. Our court "does not at present appear to stand very well with that of Rome, "the Austrian government seeking to guarantee its subjects against “the influence of the holy see. The court of Rome has published "several notes and memorials, wherein little respect is shewn for "Austria, who is accused of unjustly retaining Romish provinces. "With these accusations religious opinions are mingled. The Austrian government has renewed all the ordinances passed since the time of Joseph II."

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London Courier, Sept. 27, 1815.—“ Paris, Sept. 24. A church "has been opened for the protestants at Venice. The Austrian 66 government has granted them the free exercise of their religion in "the kingdom of Italy, in the same manner as they have long

These events seem to afford decisive evidence that the judgment, to consume and destroy the dominion of the papacy, began to sit at the fall of the French monarchy in 1792, and consequently that the twelve hundred and sixty years then elapsed: for, as the protestants are now tolerated in the central countries of the western empire, the period during which the saints, and times, and laws of the church, were to be delivered into the hand of the papacy, is evidently past; and from what was said before, it follows that it could only have elapsed at the time of the French revolution.

It is also agreeable to the analogy of the divine government to suppose, that wicked men should be made use of as instruments for the demolition of the power of the papacy; and this has been the case in a very remarkable manner in the present period. The persons who successively were invested with the supreme power in France from the fall of the monarchy, till the recent restoration of the Bourbons, and particularly the remarkable individual who lately reigned in that country, may be considered in the light of public executioners, to whom a work of wrath was committed. They have most awfully fulfilled their commission. But the judgment is still sitting, and we must patiently wait to see the end. The period in which we live is pregnant with events of the most stupendous nature; and if we may judge of the future by what is past, the astonishing

"enjoyed that privilege in Austria. It is believed that this inno"vation in the Italian states has been made under an understanding "with the holy see."

celerity with which events have succeeded each other, seems to show that the utter end of the papal dominion is not distant.

It is indeed true, that the course of things since the overthrow of Bonaparte, seems at first view to indicate, that the power of the pope is recovering its ascendancy. The whole authority and influence of the sovereigns of the house of Bourbon, is thrown into the scale of the Romish church. In Spain, Ferdinand has re-established the Inquisition. In France every effort is used by the royal family, to restore animation to the expiring cause of Rome, The order of the Jesuits has been re-established by a papal bull. The pope has recovered his temporal possessions. But still, all these efforts made to prop up a falling edifice, may be fitly compared to the labours of children to give solidity to houses built with cards or sand. The spirit of the times opposes an obstacle to the partisans of the Romish church, too powerful to be overcome by those restored dynasties, which themselves bear all the marks of the decrepitude of age.*

Moreover, though the late change, which is so glorious in the eyes of worldly politicians, as having been the means of restoring the ascendancy of ancient principles, has apparently tended to prolong the empire of popery, yet let not the Christian over

* Extract from The Times Newspaper, Dec. 22, 1814.-" Parma, "Nov. 26. In the greatest part of the states of Italy where the plan 66 had been formed to re-establish the convents, so much opposition "has been met with from the cidevant monks, that it has been 66 necessary to desist from the measure. It is not yet known what part the pope will take, or whether he will revoke the ecclesiastical "pensions."

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look in it, the marks of the merciful interposition of God, to procure a respite to the nations of Europe from the final and overwhelming calamities of the third woe, to afford new scope for the circulation of the sacred volume by those societies which have been created or invigorated in consequence of the restoration of peace, and thus to hold out to the nations the message of reconciliation as a celestial balm to heal the wounds of a bleeding world.*

It is evident that the interval of peace, has already been improved for these purposes by the church of Christ, with quite as much diligence, as it has been used by the advocates of the papacy, for strengthening the kingdom of darkness.+ Even therefore, if popery should attempt a new struggle, it will probably be analogous to the convulsive

* In the year which immediately succeeded the pacification of Europe, Bible Societies were formed in the following states and cities:-1. The Netherlands; 2. Grand Duchy of Berg; 3. Hanover; 4. Prussia; 5. Saxony; 6. Sweden; 7. Denmark; 8. Lubeck; 9. Hamburg; 10. Dantzik; 11. Erfurt. In the same year the Russian Society, whose rapid progress augurs so happily for the spiritual interests of that vast empire, was consolidated. Had the power of Bonaparte continued unbroken, the means of forming these societies would not have existed, or, to say the least, their operations would necessarily have been circumscribed within very narrow limits. It may therefore be safely affirmed, that all this incalculable mass of spiritual good has, as far as second causes are concerned, arisen out of the triumph of the allied monarchs, and the consequent restoration of peace to Europe. If then popery has gained somewhat in France, Spain, and Italy, from the restoration of the old dynasties, that evil is far more than overbalanced by the triumphs of Christianity in the north of Europe.

There is another circumstance which ought not to escape the attention of those who are carefully watching the signs of the times. I allude to the extensive co-operation of pious and liberal Roman Catholics, not even excepting the dignitaries of the church, in forming Bible Societies, particularly in Germany, Holland, and Russia.

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