t as aliens. These Gentiles, then, were to constitute the one great
(so-called) universal church--the Church of Rome.

Forty and two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days, are symbolic
time, signifying twelve hundred and sixty years, during which time the
power of apostasy was to reign supreme over the minds of men. The same
period is also referred to frequently in subsequent chapters. It is
necessary, then, for us to ascertain at what period of time the church
was given over to a profane multitude that was not the true people of
God. Some have supposed that this must refer to the time when Popery
became fully established. Such, however, could not be the case (although
the time-period includes that important event); for the power of
apostasy was greatly developed centuries before the final supremacy of
the Popes was established, and was necessary in order to prepare the way
for their exaltation. The Popes obtained their authority by degrees. In
A.D. 606 the emperor Phocas conferred the title "Universal Bishop" upon
the Pope of Rome. In A.D. 756 the Pope became a temporal sovereign. Yet
the power of Papal usurpation did not reach the summit until the reign
of the impious Hildebrand, who succeeded to the Popedom in A.D. 1073,
under the title of Gregory VII. But according to the symbols before us,
we must look for a period not so much when the Popes were enabled to
definitely enforce their arrogant claims, as when the ministry became
corrupted and when the inhabitants of the city, or the devotees of the
visible church, became a profane multitude entirely estranged from the
covenant of promise. The usurpations of the ministry that accompanied
this great change in the external church have been considered already
under the symbols of chapter VI. This mighty transformation to a church
containing nothing but uncircumcised Gentiles was fully accomplished
during the latter half of the third century, from which date we must
look for the true disciples of the Lord as entirely separate from the
hierarchy. A few quotations from standard and ecclesiastical histories
will show this important epoch in the rise of the Papacy that plunged
the world into almost universal apostasy.

"The living church retiring gradually within the lonely sanctuary of a
few solitary hearts, an external church was substituted in its place,
and all its forms were declared to be of divine appointment. Salvation
no longer flowing from the Word, which was henc