in 1800, and the papacy was restored,
but only to a partial possession of its former privileges.
Let the reader look carefully at this event. It furnishes a complete
fulfillment of the prophecy; and it is the only event in all Roman
history which does this; for though the first six heads were each, in
turn; exterminated, or gave place to a succeeding head, of no one of
them could it be said that it received a deadly wound, and was afterward
healed. And as this overthrow of the papacy by the French military must
be the wounding of the head mentioned in Rev. 13:3, so, likewise, must
it be the going into captivity, and the killing with the sword,
mentioned in verse 10; for it is an event of the right nature to fulfill
the prophecy, and one which occurred at the right time; namely, at the
end of the time, times, and a half, the forty-two months, or the 1260
years; and no other event can be found answering to the record in these
respects. We are not left, therefore, with any discretionary power in
the application of this prophecy; for God, by his providence, has
marked the era of its accomplishment in as plain a manner as if he had
proclaimed with an audible voice, Behold here the accomplishment of my
prophetic word!
Thus clearly is the exact time indicated in the prophecy when we are to
look far the rise of the two-horned beast; for John, as soon as he
beholds the captivity of the first or leopard beast, says: "And I beheld
another beast coming up." And his use of the present participle,
"coming" up, clearly connects this view with the preceding verse, and
shows it to be an event transpiring simultaneously with the going into
captivity of the previous beast. If he had said, "And I had seen another
beast coming up," it would prove that when he saw it, it was coming up,
but that the time when he beheld it was indefinitely in the past. If he
had said, "And I beheld another beast which had come up," it would prove
that although his attention was called to it at the time when the first
beast went into captivity, yet its rise was still indefinitely in the
past. But when he says, "I beheld another beast _coming up_" it proves
that when he turned his eyes from the captivity of the first beast, he
saw another power right then in the process of rapid development among
the nations of the earth. So, then, about the year 1798, the star of
that power which is symbolized by the two-horned beast must be seen
rising to the zenith of its
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