rs, and absolved subjects from allegiance to their rightful
sovereigns. It has thrust its long arm into the affairs of nations, and
brought rulers to its feet in the most abject humility. But the prophet
beholds greater acts of presumption than these. He sees it endeavor to
do, what it was not able to do, but could only think to do; he sees it
attempt an act which no man, nor any combination of men, can ever
accomplish; and that is, to change the laws of the Most High. Bear this
in mind while we look at the testimony of another sacred writer on this
very point.

Paul speaks of the same power in 2 Thess. 2; and he describes it, in the
person of the pope, as the man of sin, and as sitting as God in the
temple of God (that is, the church), and as exalting himself above all
that is called God or that is worshiped. According to this, the pope
sets himself up as the one for all the church to look to for authority,
in the place of God. And now we ask the reader to ponder carefully the
question how he can exalt himself _above_ God. Search through the whole
range of human devices; go to the extent of human effort; by what plan,
by what move, by what claim, could this usurper exalt himself above God?
He might institute any number of ceremonies, he might prescribe any form
of worship, he might exhibit any degree of power; but so long as God had
requirements which the people felt bound to regard in preference to his
own, so long he would not be above God. He might enact a law and teach
the people that they were under as great obligations to that as to the
law of God. Then he would only make himself equal with God. But he is to
do more than this: he is to attempt to raise himself above him. Then he
must promulgate a law which _conflicts_ with the law of God, and demand
obedience to his own in preference to God's. There is no other possible
way in which he could place himself in the position assigned in the
prophecy. But this is simply to change the law of God; and if he can
cause this change to be adopted by the people in place of the original
enactment, then he, the law-changer, is above God, the law-maker. And
this is the very work that Daniel said he should think to do.

Such a work as this, then, the papacy must accomplish according to the
prophecy; and the prophecy cannot fail. And when this is done, what do
the people of the world have? They have two laws demanding from them
obedience: one, the law of God as originally enacted