The Signs of the Times, Vol. 13

1887

January 6, 1887

“The Ten Kingdoms in the Dark Ages” The Signs of the Times 13, 1, pp. 3, 4.

WE have now shown not only the rise of the ten kingdoms foretold in the prophecy, but we have traced directly to the great States of modern Western Europe, the seven of the ten nations which remained after the uprooting of the three to establish the Papacy. SITI January 6, 1887, page 3.1

To form of these kingdoms an empire such as that of Rome, ws the ambition of Charlemagne, and of others after him, “but the unity of the empire and the absolute power of the emperor were buried in his grave.” In his grandsons design of the mighty Charles was dissipated into a dream. It was this same ambition that led Otto the Great to Rome, to his compact with the Pope, and to the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire. But “the Imperial Crown was the most fatal gift that could have been offered them all things, it deprived them of nearly everything. And in doing this, it inflicted on many generations incalculable and needless suffering.” In theory, the Emperor was “the secular lord of the world,” but in fact, he was but the servant and the tool of the Papacy. The Imperial office was the symbol of united power, but the nations which were connected with the empire were, in fact, the most divided of all the European nations. This was true of the empire as long as it existed, and when it was destroyed by Napoleon in 1806, it was only that he might establish, in reality, a great European Empire, with himself as Cesar, Augustus, Constantine, Charlemagne, and Otto all in one. SITI January 6, 1887, page 3.2

“He picture to himself the creation of feudal States, believing that he could make them acceptable, and preserve them from the criticism which was beginning to assail ancient institutions, by establishing them on a scale so grand that, as our pride would be enlisted, our reason might be silenced. He believed that once again he could exhibit what history has already witnessed—the world subject to a ‘People-King;’ but that royalty was to be represented in his own person. A combination of Eastern and Roman institutions, bearing, also, some resemblance to the times of Charlemagne, was to transform the sovereigns of Europe into great feudatories of the French Empire.”—Memoirs of Madame de Remusat, chap. 12. SITI January 6, 1887, page 3.3

The English newspaper had said:— SITI January 6, 1887, page 3.4

“If Bonaparte succeeds in accomplishing his system of Federal Empire, France will become sovereign arbiter of almost the whole continent. He was delighted at this prediction, and resolutely strove to realize it.”—Id., chap. 20. SITI January 6, 1887, page 3.5

“The European phalanxes were gradually giving way before him, and he began to believe that he was destined to regulate the affairs of every continental kingdom.... He sometimes said: ‘It is my intention to reach such a point that the kings of Europe shall be forced, each one of them, to have a palace in Paris, and at the time of the coronation of an emperor of the French, they shall take up their residence in it, to be present at the ceremony, and render it more imposing by their homage.”—Id., chap. 16. SITI January 6, 1887, page 3.6

He had already, March 17, 1805, “laid the foundation-stone of this brain-built edifice,” by uniting the iron crown of Italy with his own as emperor of France. It was to obtain, of his own blood, an heir to such an empire, that he divorced Josephine and married Maria Louisa, the Archduchess of Austria. And when she bore a son, March 20, 1811, the title of King of Rome was bestowed upon him as the first step in the succession to so grandly pictured an empire, which neither he nor his father ever saw, and which should never more be seen. For God had declared that although they should “mingle themselves with the seed of men,” yet, “they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” Daniel 2:43. And thus they will remain till the end of the world, for says the word of God by the prophet: “In the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Daniel 2:44. SITI January 6, 1887, page 3.7

In fulfillment of the vision of the great image, seen by Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, we have seen the rise, the glory, and the fall, of Babylon, the head of gold; of Medo-Persia, the breast and arms of silver; of Grecia, the sides of brass; and of Rome, the legs of iron. We have seen the division of the iron kingdom of Rome into ten parts according to the number of toes of the image in the vision; we have seen the history of these divisions for more than fourteen hundred years; and we now live in the last days, not only of their history, but of all history. For when they fall it is at the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of God. Said the prophet, “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel 2:34, 35. The stone smiting the image upon his feet, is explained by the prophet to mean that “in the days of those kings [the kingdoms represented by the toes—the ten kingdoms] shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom.” Verse 44. SITI January 6, 1887, page 3.8

Notice, the stone smites the image, not upon his head, nor his breast, nor his sides, nor his legs, but upon his feet. The kingdom of God was not therefore, and was not to be, set up in the days of Babylon, nor of Medo-Persia, nor of Grecia, nor of Rome, but in the days of the kingdoms which should arise upon the ruin of Rome. These kingdoms did not arise till in the fifth century, therefore it is this side of the fifth century that this kingdom of God is to be set up. And when this kingdom is set up, all the others are broken to pieces and carried away as is chaff by the wind, and no place is found for them. Not one of these kingdoms remains when the kingdom of God comes, but it breaks in pieces and consumes them all, and then it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth, and stands forever. SITI January 6, 1887, page 4.1

The kingdom of God is to smite the nations that are now upon the earth. These are to be broken to pieces. In the days of these kingdoms it is that “the God of Heaven” shall set up this kingdom. Therefore in closing this sketch of the history foreshown in the prophecy by the great image, we can only use the words of the prophet of God as he stood before King Nebuchadnezzar in the pleasant palace of Babylon, two thousand four hundred and eighty-nine years ago; and we can use it with as much assurance as he, for it is the word of God. “Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” Daniel 2:45. J. SITI January 6, 1887, page 4.2