. 1880. It will be
necessary to adduce strong reasons for thus applying it. In the first
place, the time-prophecies of the Bible are by no means confined to the
year-day manner of interpretation. Many times in the Old Testament the
expression occurs, "And it shall come to pass _in that day_," which
expression is admitted by all to have reference to the gospel day, or
the entire gospel dispensation. When the church of Philadelphia was
promised deliverance from the _hour_ of temptation which was to come
upon all the world (chap. 3:10), no one supposes that a short period of
only one week is specified. The rulers of the ten kingdoms were to
"receive power as kings _one hour_ with the beast" (chap. 17:12), which
expression will be shown later to really cover many years. We might
point out many such exceptions were it necessary.

Again, it was the beast that came up at the expiration of the twelve
hundred and sixty years, or Protestantism, that slaughtered the
witnesses, and we could not expect their resurrection during the reign
of Protestantism, which every one will admit was longer than three and
one-half years, according to the year-day application. The events as
they have developed prove that it was just three and one-half centuries
before Protestantism was entirely ignored and the Spirit and Word
recognized as the sole Governors in the church of God. Besides, the
general trend of events following the formation of Protestantism
naturally divide the succeeding centuries into separate periods. The
first (sixteenth) was a fierce conflict for the establishment of
Protestantism; the second (seventeenth) was a violent reaction, wherein
the church of Rome nearly triumphed over her hated opposers; while the
third (eighteenth) is specially noted in history as the period of
infidelity or reason. This division of time was so noticable that
D'Aubigne, who wrote about A.D. 1835, in his famous History of the
Reformation, refers to it in the following remarkable language: "It has
been said that the three last centuries, the sixteenth, the seventeenth,
and the eighteenth, may be conceived as an immense battle of _three
days'_ duration. We willingly adopt this beautiful comparison.... The
first day was the battle of God, the second the battle of the priest,
the third the battle of Reason. What will be the fourth? [1830-1930] In
our opinion, the confused strife, the deadly contest of all these powers
together, TO END IN THE VICTORY OF HI