1841 William Miller Evidence from Scripture & History - A2Z.org

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a d many of them suffered martyrdom, at that time, in
Conetantinople and Rome, where the bishops and Popee
began to exercise the power which soon aRer brnl~ght
into subjection the kin of the emth, and trampled on
the rights of the churcrof Christ And, for myself, 1
see no reason to reject this explsnation of the word
JPntipas in this text, as the history of those times are
~rfectly silent respecting such an individual as is
ere nauied Yet maay, who opposed the worship of
saints and pictures, and the infallibility of the bishop d
Rome, were exwmcnunicated, persecuted, and finally
driven oat from among men, and m the next age of the
church had to flee into the wilderness. All this happened
in the kingdom of Rome, "where Satan dwelleth"
But I have a few things against thee, because thou
bast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam,
who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the
children of Is&, to eat thi sacrificed unto idols,
and to commit fomication~yhe world have always
been endeavoring to draw the church of Christ into
fellowship with them, and to a mixed comml~nion of
idolatry as Balaam tau ht Balak to draw the children
of ~srah from their of and his commands, by mixing
with the Jews in deir worship, and, at the same time,
by degrees, introduce their priests, their altars and
idol worship into their camp. In Constantine's day this
mode of warfare was introduced with great success by
Tagan worshippers, so that in little more than two centunes
the greater part of the profeseed Christian church
became the image of the beast of which we are now
apeaking, viz, Pagan Rome. Here, then, we see the
rise of Papacy on the downfall of Pagan Rome. Whosoever
will take the pains of comparing the Pagan
manner of worship, forms, and cereliionies with Papacy,
cannot help being forcibly struck with the similarity of
the two. One deified their departed heroes and poets,
the other her departed saints and votaries. The one -
consulted her oracles and priests for laws and instructions,
the other her Popes and cardinals. The one
had her altam, imqeq and atatuee, the other her chep