The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

part of the Popes to a claim to change the allegiance of subjects, to authorize the removal of one king and theelection of another. Though Pepin avoided an open breach with the Emperor Constantine, he had, nevertheless,struck at the slender chain which united East and West. He had commenced the schism which his son shouldconsummate. And, to him, as to Charles, the way of doing so was suggested by the Papacy. Understand theforce of this: the year 1829 was remarkable for the fact that it looked as if the coming of Christ's kingdom wasnear at hand, and so it was at the time of Pepin in the corresponding year 754 when the Pope deposed one king,anointed another and had territory presented to him; it looked as if the anti-Christ kingdom was about to beestablished, as if it were near at hand; so we see the parallelism between these two dates.* In return Pepin accompanied the Pope across the Alps with an army and in this year subdued the Lombards,took certain territory from them and presented it to the Papacy. This territory is called the Papal States and wasthe first possession of land outside of Rome acquired by the church.Year of Great DisappointmentNow we come to the year 1844, the year of great disappointment, corresponding to the year 769 as the year ofgreat disappointment to the Papacy. From the year 754 onwards, Pepin strengthened his alliance 'with Pope andthe Pope was daily growing in hope that his kingdom would soon be established. Then in 768 Pepin died. Histwo sons Charles (afterward Charles the Great) and Carloman had the kingdom divided between them, and theresult was that they began to quarrel with each other. Naturally the Pope looked to these two sons to continuethe alliance, so he -was anxious when the two sons began to quarrel, and especially when, in 769, he had wordthat one of the brothers was trying to make an alliance with the Lombards, who were the bitter enemies of thePope. He also heard that this one, In order to seal the alliance and make it sure , was going to marry thedaughter of the king of the Lombards and to give his sister in marriage to the son of the king of the Lombards.The Pope realized that if this compact took place, if his great benefactor, the king of Franks, made an alliancewith the Lombards, it meant that Rome would be taken from him and all of his hopes would be blasted. Whatdid he do? In order to overcome and break this alliance, he wrote a letter to the brothers, as follows:"Do the brothers not know that all the children of the Lombards are lepers, that the race is outcast from thefamily of nations? St. Peter's anathema on the impious union and all who may be consenting to it. For these,there is neither part nor lot in the heavenly kingdom. May they broil with the devil and his angels in everlastingfire!"He wrote this letter for a great purpose-in order that the alliance might be broken, but judge of hisdisappointment when the alliance was made and the marriage did take place. So, in 1829, it looked as if theKingdom of Christ was about to take p ace, and in 1844 there was the great disappointment. Those whoremained true to their faith were made white but the others fell away. So in 754 the Pope degraded one king,anointed another and acquired great territory, and It then looked as if the kingdom was about to begin, but in769 came the great disappointment. Soon afterwards, Charles, having gained all he wanted and having comeacross another woman better to his taste, divorced the Princess of the Lombards. The result was that the king ofthe Lombards was indignant, and Charles waged war on the Lombards, defeating, and established himself astheir king.Once more he made an alliance with the Pope, and the Pope's hopes began to revive, just as after 1.844, thefaithful class once more took heart and began to look for the Kingdom of Christ.The 1335 Days