wise there was given the beast of Rev. xiii. 5, "a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies."

4. Power was given the little horn of Dan. vii. 25, "until a time, times, and the dividing of a time." To the beast also, (Rev. xiii. 6,) "power was given to continue forty-two months."

5. The dominion of the little horn (Dan. vii. 26) was to be taken away at the termination of that specified period. The beast of Rev. xiii. 10, who led into captivity and put to death with the sword so many of the saints, was himself to "be led into captivity and be killed with the sword," at the end of the forty-two months.

With these points of similarity in the two emblems, the little horn and beast, who can doubt their identity?

THE DATE OF THE FORTY-TWO MONTHS OF THE BEAST'S POWER.

The date of the twelve hundred and sixty years of the pope's reign, is a matter of a good deal of doubt and uncertainty in many minds. But why should it be so? No argument was ever more clearly made out, than the argument on the time of the little horn's reign, from 538 to 1798, as already given. But I will here give another argument, based on the thirteenth chapter of Revelation.

1. The beginning or origin of his power. Verse 2: "And the dragon gave him his power, his seat, and great authority."

The power of the dragon was transferred. The dragon, the imperial government, from the

days of Constantine to the time of Justinian, had been supreme head of the church. The councils and bishops had been under their control. The Greek or eastern emperors had the supremacy in the eastern third or division of the empire; so that the tail of the dragon drew a third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them unto the earth. What, then, I ask, did Justinian, the Greek emperor, do, but give his power to the beast, and cast the third part of the stars to the earth, when, in 533, he “hastened to SUBJECT and UNITE to [his] holiness all the priests of the WHOLE EAST." And also when he determined not to "suffer anything which belonged to the state of the church, however manifest and UNDOUBTED, that [was] agitated, to pass without the knowledge of [his] holiness, [whom he declared] the head of all the holy churches?" Also, when in his letter to the Bishop of Constantinople, he declared that the pope of Rome "is the head of all bishops," and that by decisions and right judgment of his venerable see, heretics are corrected." Likewise, when he decreed that "the most blessed bishop of the elder Rome is the first of all the priesthood."-[See Justinian's Letters and Decree, pp. 86-7.]

It is all vain, after such a plenitude of power as was here given to the pope by the dragon or imperial power, to talk of the grant of Phocas, 606, of the title of "universal bishop," as the beginning of his supremacy. What was that grant compared with this? Just nothing. Mr. Croley, speaking on the subject, says:

Page 117: "The highest authorities among the civilians and analists of Rome spurn the idea

that Phocas was the founder of the supremacy of Rome; they ascend to Justinian, as the only legitimate source, and rightly date the title from the memorable year 533. (Gothopredus Corpus Jur. Civ., &c.)"

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Page 9: The entire transaction was of the most authentic and regular kind, and suitable to the importance of the transfer. The grant of Phocas was found to be a confused and imperfect transaction, scarcely noticed by the early writers, and, even in its fullest sense, amounting to nothing beyond a confirmation of the grant of Justinian."

The SEAT of the DRAGON was transferred to the beast.

"EXTINCTION of the western empire, A. D. 476, or A. D. 479. Royalty was familiar to the barbarians, and the submissive people of Italy were prepared to obey without a murmur the authority which he should condescend to exercise as the vicegerent of the emperor of the West. But Odoacer resolved to ABOLISH that useless and expensive office; and such is the weight of antique prejudice, that it required some boldness and penetration to discover the extreme facility of the enterprise. The unfortunate Augustulus was made the instrument of his own disgrace; and he signified his resignation to the SENATE; and that assembly, in their last act of obedience to a Roman prince, still affected the spirit of freedom and the forms of the constitution. An epistle was addressed, by their unanimous decree, to the emperor Zeno, the son-in-law and successor of Len, who had lately been restored, after a short rebellion, to the Byzantine throne. They solemnly

disclaim the necessity, or even the wish of continuing any longer the imperial succession in Italy; since in their opinion the majesty of a sole monarch is sufficient to pervade and to protect, at the same time, both the east and the west. In their own name, and in the name of the people, they consent that the seat of universal empire shall be transferred from Rome to Constantinople; and they basely renounce the right of choosing their master, the only vestige which yet remained of the only authority which had given laws to the world. The republic (they repeat that name without a blush) might safely confide in the civil and military virtues of Odoacer; and they humbly request that the emperor would invest him with the title of patrician, and the administration of the diocese of Italy.-The deputies of the senate were received at Constantinople with some marks of displeasure and indignation; and when they were admitted to the audience of Zeno, he strongly reproached them with their treatment of the two emperors, Anthemius and Nepos, whom the East had successively granted to the prayers of Italy. The first,' continued he, you have murdered; the second you have expelled, but the second is still alive, and, while he lives, is lawful sovereign.' But the prudent Zeno soon deserted the hopeless cause of his abdicated colleague. His vanity was gratified by the title of sole emperor, and by the statues erected to his honor in the several quarters of Rome; he entertained a friendly but ambiguous correspondence with the patrician Odoacer; and he gratefully accepted the imperial ensign, the sacred ornaments of the throne and palace, which the barbarian was not

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unwilling to remove from the sight of the people."*

By this proceeding, Rome passed into the hands of the barbarians, and the imperial power was legally transferred by emperor, senate and people, to the east. Thus it continued until, in 536, the emperor of the east sent against Rome his general, Belisarius, who took the city from the Ostrogothic king, and after a defence of the city for two years, was left, March, 538, by the Ostrogoths, in full possession of that ancient seat of power. Thus the west and east were again united, and the imperial authority again existed in Rome.

The objection frequently arises, why not date the supremacy of the pope in 533, when Justinian gave him supremacy in the church? The plain answer is, the dragon was to give his seat, as well as his power. But while the Goths held Rome, the emperor could not give it to the pope. But in 538, when the city came again under the power of the emperor, the power was in his hands to give his ancient seat to the beast. And he did it. For after the retreat of the Goths from the walls of Rome, and the complete conquest of the city by Belisarius, Justinian called home that general and his army; leaving the pope and Rome to protect themselves. From 538, therefore, the supremacy of the pope in Rome, the seat of the dragon, properly commences.

But it is again objected, that "the Goths again returned, after the recall of Belisarius, and retook the city." True, but this only presents another evi

Gibbon's History, Vol. VI., pp. 226–228.