Romanism And The Reformation

In these symbolic prophecies the history of twelve or thirteen centuries is written in advance. Compare them with anything else in the entire circle of liter-ature, and you will realize that they stand apart as a thing unique, like a living man in a gallery of statues. The miracle of the existence of these prophecies in the book, and of their fulfillment in the facts of history, is so great that few minds can grasp it. That not only twelve or thirteen, but twenty-five centuries of history should have fallen out, exactly as it was foretold in the days of Daniel that they would, is a marvel that nothing but the Incarnation itself can exceed. It evinces more markedly the finger of God than any mere physical sign, however great, could. It challenges the recognition not of the senses, but of the conscience. It sets a seal of supernatural wisdom on the entire Bible. None but God could have delineated beforehand the Papal power. That a power claiming to act for God, to be "as God," and enthroned in the temple of God, or of the Christian Church, should yet be His most determined enemy, the opposer of His truth, the destroyer of His saints, the great agent of Satan in the earth; that it should, by fraud and corruption and false pretense, rule the world for ages from the very same seven-hilled central city whence it had already been ruled for other ages by military force; and that Roman rule should, in its Anti-Christian stage, shed more saintly blood than in its Pagan stage – all this could have been only foretold by God. It is a demonstration, which candor cannot resist of the divine inspiration of this Holy Book.