"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding
great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land."
Verse 9.
12. What interpretation is given to this little horn?
"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the
full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand
up." Verse 23.
13. What did this little horn do to the people of God?
"And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the
host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." Verse 10.
14. In what literal language is this persecution of the people of God further
described?
"And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy
wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy
people." Verse 24.
15. How was this little horn to exalt itself against Christ and His mediatorial
work?
"Yea, it magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host, and it took away
from Him the continual burnt offering, and the place of His sanctuary was cast
down." Verse 11, R.V.
16. In the interpretation of the vision, how is this self-exaltation set forth?
"And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he
shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also
stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand."
Verse 25.
17. What similar language is used by the apostle Paul in describing the
"mystery of iniquity," or "man of sin"?
"That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of
sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that
is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God,
showing himself that he is God." 2 Thess. 2:3,4.
NOTE.-The last two scriptures evidently describe one and the same power,-a power which
while religious and professedly Christian, is anti-christian in spirit, and the very
"man of sin" himself. Possessed with the selfish ambition of Lucifer (Isa.
14:12-14; Eze. 28:17), he assumes to occupy the very seat and place of Deity in the temple
of God. Professing to be Christ's vicar, or personal representative on earth, he magnifies
himself against Christ, and "stands up," or reigns, in the place of, and
"against," the Prince of princes.
18. What was given into the hands of the power represented by the little horn?
"And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt
offering through transgression." Dan. 8:12, first clause, R.V.
19. What did this power do to the truth?
"And it cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and
prospered." Same verse, last clause, R.V.
NOTES.-The interpretation already given to this vision shows plainly that the power
represented by the little horn is the successor of Medo-Persia and Grecia. In the vision
of the seventh chapter of Daniel, which is closely related to this vision, the fourth
beast represented the fourth kingdom, or Rome, in its entirety, special attention,
however, being given to the "little horn" phase of its history. As shown by the
work attributed to it, this little horn, which arose among the ten kingdoms into which
Rome was divided, was to be a religio-political power, which was to change the times and
law of God, and persecute the people of God. In the vision of the eighth chapter the
ecclesiastical features of this fourth world power are especially noticed and emphasized,
and hence the only symbol there used to represent it is the "little horn" which
waxed "exceeding great."
The religion of all the four great monarchies mentioned in these prophecies was paganism;
but the paganism of ancient Babylon was re-produced in pagan Rome, and then adapted and
adopted by papal Rome. The little horn of the eighth chapter represents Rome, both pagan
and papal, in its ecclesiastical aspect, with its union of paganism, and later of apostate
Christianity, with the secular power; with its antichristian persecutions of the saints of
God; with its perversion of the priesthood of Christi and with its assertion of both
temporal and spiritual power over all the world. It is evident that pagan Rome is
introduced into this prophecy chiefly as a means of locating the place and work of papal
Rome, and the ecclesiastical features of pagan Rome as typical of the same features
accentuated in papal Rome, and that the emphasis is to be placed upon the fulfillment of
the prophecy in the work of papal Rome. A careful comparison of Dan. 7:21,25, with Dan.
8:10-12, R.V., and 2 Thess. 2:3,4, will amply justify this conclusion.
"The Romans could not forget-never did forget-that they had once been masters and
rulers of the world. Even after they had become wholly unfit to rule themselves, let alone
the ruling of others, they still retained the temper and used the language of masters. . .
. In the absence of an emperor in the West the popes rapidly gained influence and power,
and soon built up an ecclesiastical empire that in some respects took the place of the old
empire and carried on its civilizing work."-Myers's "Rome; Its Rise and
Fall," Boston, 1900, pages 398, 399, 442, 443.
The host and the stars of Dan. 8:10 are the same as the saints of the Most High of
Dan. 7:25; and the Prince of the host of Dan. 8:11 is the Prince of princes, or Christ.
When the same being appeared to Joshua. (Joshua 5:13-15, margin), He applies the same
expression to Himself.
In Dan. 8:11-13, in the Revised Version, the words "burnt offering" have been
supplied by the translators after the word "continual," but this rendering seems
to place too restricted a meaning upon the word "continual." The fact that no
word is connected with "continual" in the original text, although in the typical
service of the sanctuary it is used with "burnt offering" (Ex. 29:42), with
"incense" (Ex. 30:8, here rendered perpetual), and with "showbread"
(Num. 4:7), indicates that that which is continual represents the continual service or
mediation of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, in which an that was continual in the
typical service found its antitype and fulfillment. See Heb. 6:19,20; 7:1-3, 14-16, 23-25.
The action which made the Pope the vicar of God and the high priest of the apostasy,
really took away from Christ, as far as human intent and power were concerned, his place
and work as the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5), and this took away from
Him, as far as man could take it away, the continual mediation, according to the
prediction in this prophecy.
The prophecies of Daniel are cumulative and widening in their view, each carrying
matters farther than the preceding one, and bringing out more explicitly and more in
detail important features down the stream of time. In Daniel 2, under the fourth universal
kingdom, the Papacy is not represented under any direct symbol or figure at all,-simply
Rome in its united and divided state; In Daniel 7 Rome is symbolized by the "little
horn" coming up among the ten horns representing the divided state of Rome; while in
Daniel 8 the only figure used to represent the fourth world power is the "little
horn" which waxed "exceeding great."
In each of these last two chapters the little horn is introduced to tell especially of the
workings of the same terrible power-Rome papal. Both chapters deal with the same great
apostasy. In the seventh chapter, the little horn takes away the law of God. In the
eighth chapter, it takes away the gospel. Had it taken away only the law, this
would have vitiated the gospel; for, with the law of God gone, even the true gospel
could not save, because the law is needed to convict and give a knowledge of sin. And had
the Papacy taken away only the gospel, and left the law, salvation through such a system
would still have been impossible, for there is no salvation for sinners through even the
law of God itself apart from Christ and the gospel. But to make apostasy doubly sure, this
power changes, vitiates, and takes away both the law and the gospel.
In changing the Sabbath, the Papacy struck directly at the very heart and seal of the
law of God, just as in substituting its own mediatorial system for that of Christ's it
struck directly at the heavenly sanctuary and its service, which, in his epistle to the
Hebrews, Paul shows to be the very heart and essence of the gospel.
20. What question was asked in the hearing of the prophet?
"Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint
which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the
transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden
underfoot?" Dan. 8:13.
21. What answer was addressed to Daniel?
"And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the
sanctuary be cleansed." Verse 14.
NOTE.-In verse 13, R.V., the vision is clearly defined. It is "the vision
concerning the continual burnt offering [or continual mediation], and the transgression
that maketh desolate," which results in giving both the sanctuary and the people of
God to be trodden underfoot. The time when the vision was to have its special application
is stated in verse 17 to be "at the time of the end," or in the last days. This
is additional proof that this prophecy was to find its complete fulfillment in papal Rome
only, as pagan Rome passed away many centuries ago. The sanctuary and the
twenty-three-hundred-day period here referred to are considered at length in succeeding
readings. See Chapter 53 and 54 of this book.
22. What prophetic period begins at the time when the continual mediation of Christ
was taken away by the Papacy?
"And from the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away, and the
abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and
ninety days." Dan. 12:11, R.V.
NOTES.-lnasmuch as the taking away of the continual mediation of Christ is made the
beginning of a prophetic period, there must be some definite act at some definite time
which, in form and intent, takes from Christ His priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary.
This act was the official decree of an ecclesiastical council held at Rome in 503 A.D., by
which it was declared "that the Pope was judge as God's vicar, and could himself be
judged by no one." See Hardouins "Councils," Vol. II, page 983; Labbe and
Cossart's "Councils," Vol. IV, col. 1364; and Bower's "History of the
Popes" (three-volume edition), Vol. I, pages 304, 305. The work of Clovis king of the
Franks, who earned for himself the title of "the eldest son of the church" by
his campaigns to subdue the kingdoms hostile to the Papacy, contributed much toward
putting into practical effect this claim of the Papacy, which finally resulted in
establishing the Pope as the head of the Roman priesthood which has usurped the priestly
work of Christ, and has established another system of mediation in its place. This work of
Clovis came to its climax in the period 503-508, and this period therefore becomes the
natural one from which to date the 1290 years of Dan. 12:11, which would accordingly end
in the period 1793-98, at the same time as the 1260 years of Dan. 7:25.
"With Rome would have fallen her bishop, had he not, as if by anticipation of the
crisis, reserved till this hour the master-stroke of his policy, He now boldly cast
himself upon an element of much greater strength than that of which the political
convulsions of the time had deprived him; namely, that the bishop of Rome is the successor
of Peter, the prince of the apostles, and, in virtue of being so, is Christ's vicar on
earth. In making this claim, the Roman pontiffs vaulted at once over the throne of kings
to the seat of gods: Rome became once more the mistress of the world, and her popes the
rulers of the earth."-" The Papacy," by J. A. Wylie, page 34.
