Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/louisnapoleondes01baxt [ Vtrballm from Latest English Edition. LOUIS NAPOLEON THE DESTINED MONARCH OF THE WORLD, AND jjitturc |)crs0iial Jlntirjmst, FORESHOWN IN PROPHECY TO CONFIRM A SEVEN YEARS’ COVENANT WITH THE JEWS ABOUT SEVEN YEARS BEFORE THE MILLENNIUM, AND (AFTER THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF THE WISE VIRGINS HAS TAKEN PLACE TWO YEARS AND FROM FOUR TO SIX WEEKS AFTER THE COVENANT) SUBSEQUENTLY TO BECOME COMPLETELY SUPREME OVER ENGLAND AND MOST OF AMERICA, AND ALL CHRISTENDOM, AND FIERCELY TO PERSECUTE CHRISTIANS DURING THE LATTER HALF OF THE SEVEN YEARS, UNTIL HE FINALLY PERISHES AT THE DESCENT OF CHRIST, AT THE END OF THE ABOUT OK SOON AFTER 18 73 . INCLUDING AN EXAMINATION OF THE VIEWS OF THE REVS, G. S, FABER, EDWARD IRVING, E. BICKERSTETH, T. BIRKS, C. MAITLAND, DR. SEIS3, DE BURGH, C. MOLYNEUX, J. KELLY, II. A. PURDON, D. M'CAUSLAND, J. II. FREUE, SIR E. DENNY, MAJOR PHILLIPS, JUDGE STRANGE, DR. TREGELLES, ETC. Mttjj diagrams antr ap. B Y t HE Be v. M. B A X T E R, AUTHOR OF “ THE COMING BATTLE,” ETC. ifollmune: A. J. SMITH, 3 0 SWA N S T ON STREET. 1 8 6 6 . THE YEAR-DAY FULFILMENT OF THE APOCALYPSE. The siege of Jericho by Joshua contains a concentrated or bird’s-eye view, or type, of rhe history developed in the Revelation. The character of successive periods of the Church is typified by the Seven Churches of Asia. The prophetic visions are seven. (This is very nearly a fac-simile of the diagram by the Revs. E. Bickersteth and T. Bilks.) EPISTLES TO THE CHURCHES, CHAPTERS I., II., III. GENERAL INTRODUCTION, CHAPTER IV. [1.] THE SEALS. [2.] THE TRUMPETS. THE KINGDOM OF PROVI- THE KINGDOM OF THE WORLD, ] CHRIST THE ANGEL OF THE < COVENANT. DENCE, CHRIST THE LAMB OF GOD. Introduction, ch. v. 4 to 14. Sealed Book t the Se¬ cret Councils of the "World's Redemption Seal I. vi. 1, 2. Victories of the Church Militant, 33 to 323-4. Ephesus Seal II. vi. 3. 324 Smyrna to 534. Discord of the Church. Sword sent,Mat. x. 34. Seal III. -vi. 5, 6. Spiritual famine of the Church, 534 to 1073 Pergamos Seal IV. vi. 7, 8. Spiritual Desolation of the Church, 1073 to 1438. Thyatira For tour first Seals, see Zech vi. 1,5. Seal V. vi. 9 to 11. Cry of the Martyrs, 1438. Sardis Seal VI. vi. 12 to viii. 1793-8. French Revolution. Pause before Judg- ... . . ment,1815,vii.lto3. ph > l! ! Chamber of Deputies in 1843, said : “ The world is at peace ; France is free, active, and happy. We can enjoy with security these blessings of peace, for it never was better secured and on December 26th, 1844, referring to his recent visit to England, he said : “ I have gathered, in the sentiments that have been expressed to me, additional guarantees for the long duration of that generous peace, which assures to our country abroad a dignified and strong position, and at home an eternally increasing prosperity.” He also expressed the assured belief, that “ if he lived a few years longer, a general war in Europe would become impossible.” Let these fallacious anticipations be contrasted with the far-sighted views expressed at that period by prophetic inves¬ tigators, such as the eminent Bickersteth, Faber, and Elliott. The Rev. E. Bickersteth, who showed from the prophetic dates that the Great Tribulation -would intervene between the first and second Translations, from about 1864 to 1868, said in his Guide to the Prophecies and Divine Warning, in 1844-6 : “The world seems now ripening by its sins for that fearful vintage of Divine wrath which is the subject of so many predictions of the word of God. It is a dangerous delusion for the Church to be anticipating peaceful triumphs, prosperous days of enlarging dominion and uninterrupted successes, when we may be on the verge of increasing trial and conflict, sorrow, and suffering. It is a time of universal peace. .... But we have no reason to expect that the present state of peace and prosperity will continue many years. It will rather, we have reason to think from God’s word, soon cease, and times of peculiar trial and conflict succeed. Many who have deeply studied the subject full)' believe, and I cannot but concur with them, that we are in the last period of the fourth great empire, just previous to the Lord’s return, as revealed to Daniel ; that six out of the seven seals of Revelation have been opened, six out of the seven trumpets have sounded, six out of the seven vials have been poured out. The Lord’s return is also, as many of us believe, nearly connected with the seventh seal, the seventh trum¬ pet, and the seventh vial. We believe also that the chief prophetical dates that were to intervene have either run their course, or are nearly closing.” The Rev. E. B, a 2 4 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Elliott, in his celebrated work, IIora? Apocalyptical (first pub¬ lished in 1844), having demonstrated the period 1865 to 1869 to be the time of the second Advent, said : “ The tlioirght of the nearness of the consummation is of itself unspeakably- awakening and solemn j and the rather when we consider further that there is to be expected antecedently a time of sifting and trial such as, perhaps, has never yet been ex¬ perienced. For our Christian poet Cowper’s exquisite language does by no means adequately express the probable severity of the coming crisis. Ere the sabbatism of the saints begins, something much more is to be looked for than the mere gusty, closing blasts of a long tempest or billowy heavings of the sea before a calm, as ‘ it works itself to rest.’ The final conflict between Christ’s true Church and Antichrist, and their respec¬ tive chiefs and supporters, both visible and invisible, seems set forth in prophecy as most severe.” The Rev. G. S. Faber,* who showed the time of the End to begin in 1864, spoke thus in his Secessions to Popery, in 1846: “ The Ottoman empire totters to its fall: and the three spirits of Hellish Infidelity, Despotism, springing out of Anarchy, and Jesuitical Popery, are already engaged in their allied predicted vocation (Rev. xvi.). The peace of Europe and of the world apparently rests upon the life of a single wise old man (Louis Phillippe). When the obstacle presented by this modern Sobrino shall have been removed, the demons of discord, now scarcely re¬ pressed, will be let loose. Revolution will elevate the successful soldier, the revived Bonaparte of the day, to the imperial throne of military despotism. Then will follow that fearful material Universal War which is foretold by all the prophets as occurring at the Time of the End , and synchronically with the Restoration of Israel. And then Popery, budding as * His Revival of the French Emperorship , written in 1853, and re¬ published at Appletons’, in New York, America, under the title of Napoleon III. the Man of Prophecy (37 cents), demonstrates most convincingly that Louis Napoleon is the Eighth Head of the Beast and Infidel Antichrist. He, as well as Frere and Gauntlett, showed pre¬ vious to 1820 that a second French Emperor, exactly like Napoleon I., would arise some few years before 1864-7, and would be the last great Antichrist. More than twenty other writers have (up to 1861) shown Napoleon III. to be the eighth head or future personal Antichrist. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 5 it has ever done into Lawlessness and Infidelity- through the loathliness of its own corruptions, and allied with the great God-denying Antichrist; the False Romish Prophet, associated with the Apostatic Secular Empire under its last governing Head, will by some extra¬ ordinary process of violence come to its end, none helping it.” Many other extracts similar to the foregoing might be quoted from writings that have been published during the last seventy years. In the Appendix to this work a list is given of more than fifty writers, such as the Honourable Gerard Noel, Rev. Drs. J. Cummiug, J. Seiss, G. S. Faber, S. H. Tying, G. Duffield, Bickersteth, &c., all of whom have de¬ monstrated the Coming of Christ to be about the period from 1864 to 1869. And some of these writers, as for instance, Frere, Verner, Purdon, Scott Phillips, Shimeall, &c., firmly maintain the view that Louis Napoleon is the Antichrist and Eighth Head of the Beast. Among other expositors who have written more upon the general outlines than the chronology of prophecy, there may be mentioned the Earl of Carlisle, the Duke of Manchester, the late Bishops of Durham and Norwich, Lord Congleton, Sir E. Denny, &c., according to whose views the End of this Dispensation is close at hand. The two last- named writers have specially shown in their works that Christ will come to take away the Wise Virgins before Antichrist’s three and a half years’ persecution, and will remain in the pavilion-cloud during its continuance, and then descend at its termination upon Mt. Olivet at the Battle of Armageddon. But although there is almost an unanimous belief among those who have honestly and laboriously investigated the prophecies, that desolating judgments are now about to descend upon the world, in connection with Christ’s com¬ ing, yet among the majority * of professing Christians. * This is not so much the case in England, where the study of Prophecy is increasingly pursued, as throughout America, in which country the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation very rarely form the subject of a pulpit discourse, except in the churches of the Second Advent sect, which are only few in number. In consequence of Pro¬ phecy being thus universally neglected and ignored, there exists such a general ignorance and disbelief of it that it is exceedingly difficult to get persons even to listen to the subject. The author having given c INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. there is no such belief, owing to their utter ignorance and disregard of prophetic truth. As very few were watching for Christ’s first Advent, although his appearance, as the Messiah, was distinctly foretold to take place 69 weeks or 483 years after the seventh year of Artaxerxes ; so scarcely any are really watching for his second Advent, although it is ex¬ plicitly predicted to occur during the five years preceding the end of the 6600, 2520, 2500, 2300, and 1335 years, and under the seventh year-day vial, trumpet, and seal, and at the time of the eighth Head of the Beast. The text, “ 0/ that 'day and that hour knoweth no man, no, . . . not the Son” (Mark xiii. 32), which is continually quoted by scoffers, in support of the idea that the time of Christ’s Advent can never be discov¬ ered, evidently was only spoken in the present tense to the then existing generation, and cannot be true at the present period, for the Son of Man must now be fully aware of the day and hour of his aproaching Advent; and, moreover, since those words were uttered, our knowledge of the future has been much increased by the gift of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, and the bestowment of the Book of Revelation, “ to show the things which shall be hereafter.” Under any circum¬ stances, the concealment of the day and hour could not neces¬ sarily prevent the discovery of the month, or even the week, of Christ’s Advent. A leading event, in connection with our Saviour’s return, is the manifestation of Antichrist, or the Man of Sin, as foretold in 2 Thess. ii. 3 : “ That day (the day of Christ) shall not come except there come THE(Gr). falling away first, and that Man of Sin he revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himselj that he is God .... whom the Lord shall consume ivith the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with, the brightness of his lectures upon this subject in upwards of a hundred different localities in America, including Washington, Philadelphia, Kew York, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, &c., can testify to the contempt and hostility which in most cases these views have to encounter. A better hearing is given to the subject in the Protestant part of Canada than anywhere else, owing probably to the absence of Spiritualism, Universalism, and Unitarianism. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. coming; also in I John ii. 18, 22 : “ As ye have heard that the (Gr.) Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Anti¬ christs, whereby we know that it is the last time. . . . lie is the (Gr.) Antichrist that denietli the Father and. the Son.'" From these and other passages, it has long been concluded that although many Antichrists have arisen, such as the Pope and Mahomet, yet there is a particular and individual Anti¬ christ to arise, just before Christ’s Advent, who is generally called the Personal or Infidel Antichrist, and who is to be worshipped as God in the temple of Jerusalem, and is utterly to deny the existence of Jehovah and of Christ. His exploits are fully described in Daniel xi. and Revelation xvii., and also in the literal-day fulfilment of Daniel vii., viii., xii., and Revelation ix., xi., xiii., although the year-day fulfilment of these chapters relates to Popery and Mahometanism. This great Personal Antichrist is distinctly foreshown to be none other than Louis Napoleon, who is consequently very soon to acquire supreme ascendency over the whole of Christendom, and for three and a half years is ruthlessly to slay nearly every one who will not acknowledge him to be God. Christendom will then become a slaughter-house or shambles, in which tens of thousands of Christ’s sheep will be butchered, and scarcely any one will escape the awful ordeal of being put to the test, whether they will confess Christ and be killed, perhaps with dreadful tortures ; or whether they will acknow¬ ledge Napoleon to be God, and thus purchase temporary safety at the cost of eternal damnation. Those who choose the latter alternative will be branded in their forehead or hand with Napoleon’s name, or the number G6G, or some particular mark, just as cattle have stamped upon them the name of their owner (Rev. xiii.). This exterminating persecu¬ tion is the leading feature in the three and a half years’ Great Tribulation ; there will, however, be superadded unparalleled wars, earthquakes, pestilences, and famines. Such is “ the temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon earth!' Its uni¬ versal prevalence, at least throughout Christendom, is declared in the most emphatic terms. The Personal Anti¬ christ is to obtain “ power over all kindreds, and tongues , and nations;" “ to make war with the saints, and to overcome them," 8 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. (Rev. xiii.) ; “ to make war with the saints and prevail, against them until the Ancient of Days comes ” (Dan. vii. 21) ; “ to he worshipped by all that dwell upon the earth,” except the saints ; “to make the world a wilderness (Isaiah xiv. 17). It would evidently be impossible for him “ to overcome the saints,” unless his persecution extended to every place where they could be found ; nor would the company of saints, that is to be specially hid in the wilderness, be particularly mentioned, unless to show that they alone are to be exempted from the persecution. In view of the nearness of these overwhelmingly crushing judgments, how criminal is the conduct of those whose duty it is to admonish persons of approaching calamities, but who are giving no real attention to Prophecy, and even smiting those of their fellow-servants who do proclaim these truths. How many there are in the excitement and agitation of having to choose between worshipping Antichrist or being put to death, will .choose the former, and receive the fatal mark ; whereas, had they been forewarned of the great trial coming upon them, they would have prepared to witness a bold confession, even unto death. A terrible day of reckoning is close at hand, when the treacherous and blind leaders of the blind, who make a mock at Prophecy and prophetic expositors, will be confronted by the bitter reproaches of those whom they have lulled into false security, by crying peace and safety, when sudden destruc¬ tion is about to descend with the fury of an avalanche. The mistaken idea that if we are born again and pre¬ pared for death, we are also prepared for the Second Ad¬ vent, leads many to neglect prophecy ; for they naturally think that the study of it is not at all necessary to salva¬ tion. But although salvation from hell-fire may be obtained by the new birth and true faith in Christ’s atonement, yet salvation from the shame and misery of being left on the earth at Christ’s coming can only be obtained by real belief * The expression “ upon the earth” (tm t/is ytjs) can not, in its lit¬ eral fulfilment, he merely limited to Europe, for the very same Greek words are used in the Lord’s prayer in the sentence, 7 hy will be done upon the earth as it is in heaven (Matt. vi. 10, Luke xi. 2). Al¬ though inaccurately translated in earth in Matthew and Luke, yet the Greek words are precisely the same as in Rev. xiii. S. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 9 in the immediate nearness of his Advent, and by faithful con¬ fession of that belief. The distinction drawn between the wise and foolish virgins, and between the faithful and evil servant, who is cut off (Gy.) and left to endure the Great Tribulation (Matt. xxiv. 45-51), as well as other Scripture statements, such as in Heb. ix. 28, 2 Tim. iv. 8, Rev. xvi. 15, &c., plainly shows that many who are true children of God, but unbelievers in the nearness of the Advent, and in a back¬ sliding and lukewarm state, will not be caught up to meet Christ (Rev. xiv. 1-5) at his coming in the air, before the 31 years’ Great Tribulation ; but will be left to endure the awful woe of the Tribulation, and if they survive, will be caught up in the Second Translation, after the 34 years (Matt, xxiv. 31). It is a painful but undeniable fact, that a great many pious persons are exceedingly prejudiced and hostile against the • view of Christ’s Advent being close at hand; they assert that it is sufficient if we prepare for death, and that death is the Coming of Christ; but they will soon discover to their sorrow that the prophecies can not be neglected with impunity, and that readiness for death is NOT NECESSARILY READINESS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT. The subject of this treatise may be divided into four chapters: I. Ten Proofs that Louis Napoleon will be the Antichrist and the Monarch of the World, and Eighth or Last Head of the Roman Empire. II. Twenty Coming Events, that are foreshown to occur during the final seven years and 2£ months of this Gentile Dispensation. III. Evidence that the Antichrist (Napoleon) is to make a seven-years’ Covenant with the Jews, seven years and months before the End of the Dispensation, as shown by above thirty writers. IV. Ten Reasons proving that the Advent of Christ in the air, and the resurrection of the righteous, and ascension of the Wise Virgins, precedes the final 3J- years’ Great Tribulation or Napoleonic persecution, and is about five years before the End. n no represented tne in apoieon dynasty—the seventh governing Head of the seven-headed and ten-horned Wild Beast. (Dan. vii. 7; Rev. xiii., xvii.) IT ■a$ ® CD . P"» pi 3 I'SaS 0 * 3 ^ 3 IK 1815 to 1852.—The Roman Empire Headless. 1852 to 1871-73.—The Roman Empire under Napoleon III,, Who represents the Napoleon dynasty—the seventh revived, oreighth Head of tiie Wild Beast healed of tire deadly wound it received at Waterloo in 1815. Ho is comprehensively termed the Wild Beast itself, and is also called the Assyrian (Is. x., xiv., xxx.), the Little Horn (Dan. vii., viii.), the Wilful King (Dan. xi. 21-45), the Antichrist (1 Jn. ii. 22), the Man of Sin, destined to perish at the personal descent of Christ (2 Thess. ii. 3 ,8). And I saw one of his heads, as it had been wounded to death, andhis deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the Wild Boast, and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations (Rev. xiii.). CHAPTER I. Ten Reasons in support of the view that Louis Napoleon is the individual who is shortly to be REVEALED AS THE PERSONAL ANTICHRIST (THAT IS, THE Antichrist) who is foreshown in Scripture to obtain ALMOST A UNIVERSAL EMPIRE, AND FOR 31 YEARS TO HAVE HIMSELF WORSHIPPED AS GOD, AND THEN TO PERISH AT THE DESCENT OF CHRIST AT THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON, ABOUT OR SOON AFTER 1872-3. Before adducing the evidence in support of this view, it may be well to glance briefly at the past history of this remarkable person. Louis Napoleon (or Napoleon III.) was born on April 24th, 1808, at the Tuileries ; and his birth, like that of Bonaparte’s only son, the King of Rome, was announced by the firing of cannon, a mark of honour only conferred upon those who were of the Imperial family. His father, Louis, brother to Napoleon I., was formerly King of Holland ; and his mother, Hortense Beauharnais, was the daughter of the Empress Josephine. Napoleon Bonaparte is reported to have been much attached to him, and on more than one occasion to have expressed a presentiment that he would be the ultimate representative of the Napoleon dynasty. At the age of twenty he united for a short time with his brother in an Italian rebellion agaiust the Pope. His conduct in the dangers to which he was thus exposed was marked by great self-possession and courage. From an early period in life he was profoundly impressed with the conviction that he had a great mission and destiny to fulfil in relation to France. In accordance with this belief he landed at Strasbourg on December 17th, 183G, with a few associates, and endeavoured to excite the garrison and inhabitants of that city to revolt against the government of Louis Phillippe. A portion of the military forces stationed there ranged themselves under his banner, but from a want of compliance on the part of other regiments, the attempt proved abortive, and he was apprehended, and upon trial 12 PAST HISTORY OF NAPOLEON III. banished to the United States, where he did not remain more than two or three months. A second expedition for the same purpose, and with a like result, was undertaken by him on August 6th, 1840. Embarking from the English coast in company with a band of devoted adherents, he landed at Boulogne, and marched with his followers into the town, hoping to cause an uprising of the people in favour of his movement. They failed, however, to respond as he had anticipated, and upon his consequent arrest and trial he was sentenced to incarceration for the term of his natural life in the fortress of Ham. He effected his escape from this place of confinement on May 25th, 1846. Assuming the disguise of a workman with a plank upon his shoulder, he contrived to pass all the sentinels who guarded the gates of the castle. In order to gain time before his flight was discovered, as it was the duty of the commandant of the forces to see him every few hours, his physician reported him to be ill, and placing a stuffed figure in his bed, by this stratagem succeeded in allaying all suspicion as to his absence, until it was too late to recapture him. The Kevolution in France in 1848 opened the way for his return to his native land, and on the 8th of June he was chosen Deputy of one of the provinces, and ad¬ mitted to his seat in tl}e National Assembly. On December 30th, in the same year, he was elected by more than five million votes of the people to be their President for three years. When the three years of his Presidency were drawing to a close, in 1851, he dissolved the National Assembly, be¬ cause of its refusal to listen to proposals for the extension of his term of office ; and on December 4th he consummated the famous coup d’etat , arresting in the dead of night all the principal men in military and political circles who stood in the way of his being permanently invested with the supreme power. At a Court ball given by him on this eventful even¬ ing, he displayed his characteristic imperturbability and self- possession, by appearing to enter heartily into the enjoy¬ ment of the festivities of the hour, although the blow was at that moment being struck which was to decide whether he was to overcome or be supplanted by his political rivals. The plot of the coup detat was contrived with con¬ summate skill and secresy ; all those whom he feared NAPOLEON III. THE INCIPIENT EIGHTH HEAD. 13 were seized and either imprisoned or sent into exile Having thus fairly settled himself in the seat of supreme authority, he submitted a proposal to the French people that he should be re-elected President of the Republic for ten years; and partly through the influence of the Catholic priests, who were strongly enlisted on his side, he obtained on December 24th seven millions of votes in ratification of this measure. His ambition, however, had always aimed at the acquirement of the Imperial dignity, and the re-establishment of the Napoleon dynasty ; consequently, on December 2nd, 1852, the anniversary of the Battle of Austcrlitz, and also of the coronation of Napoleon I., lie assumed the title of Empe¬ ror, giving utterance at the same time to his famous declara¬ tion : “The Empire is peace.” In this manner the French Emperorship became resuscitated in 1852, after an extinction of 37 years'since a.d. 1815. During that 37 years’ interval the Bourbon family had reigned over France in the persons, successively, of Louis XVIII., Charles X., and Louis Philippe. The following are the ten reasons advanced in proof of Napoleon III. being the individual who is soon to be fully manifested as the Personal or Infidel Antichrist (that is, the Antichrist, in contradistinction to the Papal and Mahomedan Antichrist). I. Because he is the Beast’s Seventh revived or Eighth Head, which is predicted in Rev. xiii., xvii., and xix. to wage an exterminating war against the saints for 3’- years, and to be almost universally worshipped by the ungodly, and then with his ten kings to perish at Christ’s descent at Armageddon. This is the main and principal argument by which it is demonstrated with mathematical certainty that Louis Napo¬ leon will be Antichrist. First, in proof of the fact that the last great Antichrist is identical with the Eighth Head of the Beast, it is only necessary to compare the various passages in which he is described. The following are some of the different names given to him :— 1 John ii. 18, 22. The Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. 2 Thess. ii. 3. The Man of Sin or Son of Perdition. Dan. vii, A Little Horn (in relation to the Gentiles). 14 FIRST PROOF. Dan. viii. A Little Horn or King of fierce countenance. Dan. ix. 26. The Prince that shall come. Dan. xi. 25. A vile person or King who shall do according to his own will (the Wilful King). Rev. xiii., xvii., &c. The Beast, or Eighth Head of the Beast, or Beast whose deadly wound was healed. The subjoined comparison of the passages in which these names occur shows the resemblance between them :— 1 John ii. 18, 22. Ye have heard that the (Gr.) Antichrist shall come. . . . He is the (Gr.) Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4, 9. The day of Christ. . . shall not come except there come the apos¬ tasy (>; airotr'raaia) first, and that Man of sin be revealed the son of perdition , who opposeth and exalt- eth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God . . . whose coming is after the power of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders. Dan. vii. 25. And he (the little horn) shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Dan. vii. 24, 25. He (the king of fierce counte¬ nance) shall destroy the mighty and the holy people ... he shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes, but he shall be broken without hand. Dan. xi. 36, 37. And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak mar¬ vellous things against the God of gods.. . . Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women (the Seed of the woman, Christ), nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above all. Eev. xvii. 11, 14. The Beast, that was and is not, even he is of the Eighth and is of the seven, andgoeth into perdition . . . And shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. Rev. xiii. 6, 7. And he (the Beast) opened his mouth in blasphemy against God. . . . And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations ; and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (except the right¬ eous). Rev. xix. 19. I saw the Beast and the king of the earth gathered together, to make war against him (Christ) that sat on the horse, and the Beast was taken. It is evident from the above passages (see also Chapter NAFOLKON III. THE EIGHTH HEAD. 15 I., Event XIII.) that the Antichrist will be an avowed and barefaced infidel, totally rejecting the Christian religion, and not, like the Pope, professedly upholding it. The atheism of France in 1792-6 somewhat resembled Antichrist’s approaching apostacy, and Spiritualism, which denies the car¬ dinal doctrines of Christianity, is its incipient manifestation. A considerable part of Daniel and Revelation, having had a year-day typical precursive fulfilment in the apostacy of Popery, has led many persons mistakenly to suppose that the Pope is the Man of Sin and the Antichrist. But although he has had great power for 1260 years, as the mystical Man of Sin and the Papal Antichrist, there is yet to arise at the time of Christ’s Advent a Personal Man of Sin and Infidel Antichrist who will have great power for 1260 days, and will literally sit in the temple of God, which is expressly shown in lit.-day Rev. xi. 1 to be the rebuilt Jewish temple. Secondly, the Eighth Head being unquestionably identical with the Antichrist, it has to be shown that Louis Napoleon is the Eighth or Seventh revived Head. This is proved from Rev. xiii. and xvii. 10, 11, where the Seven Heads of the Beast, which represents the Roman Empire, were explained by the interpreting angel in these words : “ There are seven Icings; five are fallen, undone is, and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh he must continue a short space. And the Beast that was and is not, even he is the Eighth and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” It has been the generally received interpretation, among Protestant commentators, that the term seven kings'"' signifies seven successive inodes of political administration, or forms of government, over the Roman Empire. Dr. H. More and R. ! Fleming, about the year 1710, spoke of this interpretation as generally pre¬ valent in their day; and the latter said : “ Seeing that five of the forms of the Roman government were fallen in John’s time (when the angel spoke to him), namely : Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, and Military Tribunes, and * The word kings bears in prophecy three slightly different mean¬ ings. In Dan. vii. 17 it signifies kingdom (see Dan. vii. 23) ; in Rev. xvii. 10, lines or classes of rulers, or forms of governments ; in Rev. xvii. 12, kingdoms or the individual kings that govern them.. 16 FIRST FROOF. seeing the Imperial form of government (the Roman Em¬ perorship) was that which was in being then, we have no reason to quit so plain and exact an interpretation, until more be said against it than has ever yet been produced to the world.” Livy, Tacitus (Annal., lib. i., sect. 2), Cassio- dorus, Panvicinus, &c., also mention these as the first six forms of the Roman government. Moreover, the plain statement of the angel, that the sixth Head was the Head then (in A.D. 9G) in actual existence, coupled with the fact that the Roman Emperorship was the then-existing Head, conclusively proves that the Roman Emperorship was the sixth Head. The seventh Head would, of course, not arise until the fall of the sixth Head, which took place in 1806, as is shown by the following brief outline of history. The Roman Emperorship had an unbroken series of repre¬ sentatives at Rome until A.D. 476, when Augustulus, Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed by the barbarian Odoacer. But in accordance with the Roman laws, which allowed several Roman Emperors to exist at the same time in different parts of the Roman Empire, there was another Roman Emperor, named Zeno, reigning in Constan¬ tinople, in 476, over the Eastern Roman Empire.. To him, therefore, the Senate at Rome sent deputies, acknowledging him to be the sole remaining Emperor, and recognising his authority as now extending over the Western as well as the Eastern part of the Empire (Gibbon’s “ Rome,” chap, xxxvi.). After this, the Roman Emperorship had a continued succession of representatives at Constantinople until the taking of Con¬ stantinople by the Turks, in 1453. It had, however, obtained another representative in the Western Roman Empire in A.D. 800, in the person of Charlemagne, who was crowned by the Pope Emperor of the Romans, and whose successors kept up the title until, in A.D. 962, it vested in the Emperor of Germany, whose chief title became Emperor of the Romans, and who was considered the official successor of Augustus Caesar. Germany, with its feudatory Italian appendages, was also thenceforth designated the Holy Roman Empire. Thus, when the line of Roman Emperors in Con¬ stantinople came to an end in 1453, the Roman Emperorship still had a representative in the Emperor of Germany. In NAPOLEON III. THE EIGHTH HEAD. 17 1806 a number of German Princes transferred their allegiance from Francis, Emperor of Germany, to Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, under whose protection they united themselves into the Confederation of the Rhine. This, iu conjunction with his defeat at Austerlitz, induced the German Emperor to adopt the sole title of “ Emperor of Austria,” and to renounce the title of “ Emperor of Germany and of the Holy Roman Empire,”* in these words : “ Considering the bonds which unite us to the Empire as dissolved by the Con¬ federation of the Rhine, we renounce the Imperial Crown,” &c. Thus ended the sixth Head or Roman Emperorship ; and the title of “ Emperor of the Romans,” which from b.c. 28 to a.d. 1806 had never failed to have some representative within the Roman Empire, now at last became altogether ex¬ tinct. The seventh Head, which must immediately succeed the sixth Head, was foreshown in Rev. xiii. and xvii. to be distin¬ guished by five leading marks. (1) It would be the dynasty of that Sovereign who, at the fall of the sixth Head, should be Master of Rome and of a considerable part of the Roman Empire. (2) Although possessing much of the same power as the preceding six Heads, yet it must be distinguished from them by a different official title. (3) It must only continue a short space, and (4) must be violently slain, instead of being voluntarily resigned. (5) It must be healed and re-exist some * Sir A. Allison, in his History of Europe, Chapter xlii., gives this extract at full length, and states that in 1806 theEmperorof Germany thus ceased to be the representative of the Empire of the Caesars. Historians generally take the same view, as may be seen in C. Butler’s Revolutions of Germany, p. 208 ; Baroniuss’ Annal. Eccles. in a.d. 800 ; Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 171; Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. xxx., in Golden Bull in 1356 ; Sir G. Mackenzie’s work on Precedency, &c. Although historians show so clearly that the Roman Emperorship continued till 1806, yet not a few expositors have fallen into the glaring error of supposing that it terminated in 476, when its seat was transferred to Constantinople. The idea that it fell in 313, because its representative was converted from Paganism to Christianity, is also utterly groundless. It is lamentable to see that certain writers have not the candour to relinquish such obviously erroneous inter¬ pretations, when the interpretation of Fabre, Frere, Gauntlett, &c., which is here given, has been proved by its fulfilment to be correct. B 18 FJRST PROOF. few years before tlie Advent of Christ.—These five character¬ istics are all found in the Napoleon dynasty or French Emperorship, as existing under Napoleon Bonaparte from 180G to 1815. (1) Bonaparte was the actual Sovereign of Rome, and virtually the supreme Head of most of the European monarchs when the sixth Head fell. The Emperor of Austria, the Kings of Wirtemberg, Westphalia, Bavaria Saxony, Naples, Spain, and Prussia were all more or less subject to him ; even Egypt and Palestine had been previously invaded by his victorious armies. He had been crowned Em¬ peror of France by the Pope, in Paris, on Dec. 2, 1804 ; and was again crowned King of Italy and Rome, with the iron crown of Charlemagne, at Milan, on May 26, 1805, at which time the Roman States were formally annexed to France, and Rome was made the second city in his dominions, the title of King of Rome being given to his heir-apparent. (2) His dynasty was an entirely new Head of the Beast, being altogether different from any of the six preceding Pleads, in respect of its official title, for though in reality he occupied the position of Emperor of the Roman Empire, yet he did not, like the former German Emperors, adopt that title, but was crowned only as Emperor of France ami King of Italy. If, for example, the King of Spain, instead of Bonaparte, had been supreme over Rome and a great part of the Roman Empire, when the sixth Head fell, then the Kingship of Spain would have become the 7 th Head. (3) The seventh Head was expressly predicted only to continue a short space (Rev. xvii. 10), and accordingly the Napoleon dynasty, after existing for nine years as the seventh Head, came to an end at Bonaparte’s overthrow at Waterloo, in 1815. (4) The Napoleon dynasty did not fall like the preceding six Heads, or, as it were, die a natural death, but it was politically slain by the sword of military violence at Waterloo. This accorded with the statement in Rev. xiii. and xvii., that the seventh Head should be wounded to death by the sword. NAPOLEON III. THE EIGHTH HEAD. H> Rev. viii. 3, 14. And I saw one of his heads that had been (Gr.), as it were, woun¬ ded to death ; and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the Beast . . . the Beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. Rev. xvii. 10, 11. Five are fallen (a.d. 96), and one is, and the other is not yet come ; and when he cometh he must continue a short space. And the Beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdi¬ tion. As the first six Heads fell or Were voluntarily abdicated, therefore it must be the seventh Head that was wounded to death by a sword, and which was afterwards to revive and to appear as an eighth Head, although in reality only the seventh Head, raised to life again. On this account the Beast is pic¬ tured with only seven Heads, and yet is spoken of as having an Eighth Head. (5) The Beast or Roman Empire remained headless from 1815 to 1852, as there was not among its various monarchs any great leader or political chief, who was in possession of Rome and acknowledged to be the Supreme Head pre-eminent over the rest, like the German Emperors or Bonaparte, who had towered so majestically over Europe. But its recovery from its non-existent headless state was effected in 1852 by Louis Napoleon assuming the title of French Emperor, and thus restoring the seventh Head or Napoleon dynasty. It appears that the complete restoration of this Head to the same position that it held in Bonaparte’s days will probably be effected by Louis Napoleon being crowned a short time before the 3A years’ Tribulation. Thus the Napoleon dynasty is clearly shown to be the seventh Head from 1800 to 1815, and also the seventh revived or Eighth Head re-existent since 1852. In the universal amazement excited by its re-appearance, we see the fulfilment of the prophecy : They that diuelt on the earth shall wonder when they behold the Beast that was and is not and yet is (Rev. xvii. 8). It was until it received its deadly wound under Napoleon I., in 1815; it is not from 1815 to 1852, under Napoleon II., who never reigned and died prematurely; and it yet is since 1852, under Napoleon III. The Napoleon dynasty is thus a resurrection dynasty, for it has passed n 2 20 SECOND PROOF. through the three stages of life, death, and resurrection— existence, non-existence, and re-existence. The fatal ac¬ curacy 'with which Louis Napoleon fulfils this prophecy is strikingly shown in his determination to be called Napoleon III., although Napoleon II. never reigned. Almost the very words used in Rev. xvii. 8 have been unwittingly applied to him by the French people. On an arch erected in his honour this expression was inscribed : “ The Uncle that was : the Nephew that is.” It is noticeable that Eng¬ land, ftussia, Prussia, and Austria, which have all recognized Louis Napoleon as French Emperor, were the four allied Powers which, at the Vienna Congress, in November, 1814, agreed that no member of Napoleon Bonaparte’s family should ever be permitted to hold sovereign power in France. It might perhaps be thought that although the Personal Anti¬ christ must be a representative of the Napoleon dynasty, yet that he might be another French Emperor standing in the place of Louis Napoleon, if the latter were to die. But this cannot be the case, because as the seventh Head was a personal dynasty, summed up and comprehended in the life of a single individual, Napoleon I., so also the Eighth Head, which is ex¬ actly to resemble the seventh Head, must be a personal dynasty, entirely comprehended in the life of a single individual, Napoleon III. The seventh Head had altogether only one representative, therefore the Eighth Head has only one repre¬ sentative. Moreover, as the person who represents the Eighth Head is to centre in himself all the power of the Roman Empire, therefore he is comprehensively called the Beast itself—a term which thus is used in Rev. xiii. and xvii. as a synonym for Louis Napoleon. II. Because he answers to the description of the Anti¬ christ in Rev. xiii. in respect of his warlike prowess, insatiable ambition, great military and naval strength, and growing “ power over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” In Rev. xiii. 3, 4, as soon as the Beast’s wounded head is healed, all the world is described as being filled with unspeak¬ able amazement, and giving utterance to their astonishment in the exclamation : “ Who is like unto the Beast l who is able to make war with him?' Louis Napoleon has been clearly NAPOLEON III. A MIGHTY MAN OF WAR. 21 demonstrated to be the person by whom the wounded head was healed, inasmuch as the French Emperorship, which had been extinguished in 1815, was revived by him in 1852. It is in reference to him, therefore, that the above exclamation is predicted to be made; and when we consider the unrivalled boldness, matchless skill, and unscrupulous determination with which he has carved his way to his present commanding position, and moreover, the tact, astuteness, and subtle policy with which he mantains and strengthens that po¬ sition, we recognize the appropriateness of the interrogation : “Who is like unto him?” Nor is there less fitness in the application to Louis Napoleon of the inquiry : “ Who is able to make war with him ?” The great increase in the numbers and effectiveness of the French army since his accession to power is too well known to require comment. Notwithstand¬ ing his reiterated assertions that “ the Empire is peace,” the apprehensions of neighbouring countries are naturally excited by the continuous augmentation of his military forces, and the active preparations that are unceasingly carried forward in the French dockyards and arsenals. He does not fail to secure for his troops the advantage of every modem improvement in the construction of warlike implements, and thus they are rendered unapproachably formidable, not only by their mas¬ terly skill in the management of their weapons, but by the inconceivably deadly nature of their engines of destruction. At the head of nearly 750,000 admirably trained and discip¬ lined soldiers, furnished with Minie rifles and cannon of unprecedented efficiency, and with a fleet of war steamers not even inferior to that of Great Britain, Louis Napoleon stands forth as one of whom it may well be asked : “ Who is able to make war with him ?” The surprising skill in generalship he displayed on the plains of Lombardy during the war waged by the Austrians against the French and Sardinians in 1859, has demonstrated his military talents and strategical ability in the disposition and manoeuvring of troops upon the battle¬ field to be of the highest order. The singular expedient he adopted in that campaign of sending up a man in a balloon to ascertain the precise position of the Austrian forces marks a mind peculiarly inventive and fertile in resources. He seems to be convinced that the bullet is not yet cast which can be the messenger of death to him ; for with regard to his fearless- 22 THIRD PROOF. ness under the hot fire of the enemy, at the battle of Solfe- riuo, it was stated that “ the Emperor’s courage amounted to the verge of rashness, electrifying the soldiers by the coolness he always displayed, engaged in the thick of the contest, and merely walking his horse when he shifted his position, in the midst of a shower of balls and bullets.” There will soon bo stronger reason than ever for the question to be raised : “ Who is able to make war with him ?” The inquiry implies that his power will reach such a point of culmination that the whole world will be challenged in vain to produce any one capable of staying his victorious progress or successfully withstanding him in the battle-field. In the fact that all the world is represented as raising this inquiry, we discover how universal will be the acknowledgment of the power, which he is to possess as a mighty conqueror, in the exercise of which he is further stated, in Rev. xiii. 7, to bring into subjection “ all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” His policy and actions hitherto plainly indicate that he is hasten¬ ing to fulfil this his appointed destiny. He pants for a universal empire, and is inflamed with the ardent ambition of eclipsing the victorious achievements of Caesar, Alexander, and Napoleon Bonaparte. There will doubtless be a period in his career when he will very nearly approximate to the possession of the sovereignty of the whole earth. Some have considered that the Roman earth alone will be the scene of his victorious exploits, but it is at least not unlikely' that some French troops may soon be landed' on the American continent, in consequence of the war of which it is unhappily the scene. Some of the extreme Southern States—Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, were once French possessions, as was likewise the greater part of St. Domingo ; and it is not improbable that Napoleon’s restless ambition would lead him to make any practicable endeavour to restore them to their former position, French colonies. The annexation of part of Lower Canada to France is also not unlikely' to be attempted in event of war between France and England. There is a growing disaffection of the French Canadians to the British Government, and it is believed that a friendly understanding has been established by their leaders between them and Napoleon. This Man of War is extending his conquests in Europe, Asia, and Africa, three of the four great continents of the earth, and he cannot long be NAPOLEON' III. THE POSSESSOR OE ROME. 23 expected to leave the fourth, the American continent, unvi¬ sited. * III. Because he has obtained actual possession of Rome. The seven Heads are explained in Rev. xvii. 9, 10, to be a double type : first, of the Seven Hills of Rome, and secondly, of the Seven Dynasties which have successively ruled over the Roman Empire. On this account, as well as because Rome was the ancient Capital of the Roman Empire, it is essential to the character of each of the Seven Heads or Forms of Government, that during at least some period of its con¬ tinuance its representative should have possession of the City of Rome. If Louis Napoleon were lacking in this grand pre¬ requisite, he could not be the Personal Antichrist, or septimo- octave Head of the Beast. But ever since 1849 lie has main tained military occupation of Rome ; and although this is not essential to a character of a Head of the Beast for more than part of its existence, yet it is not likely that he will relinquish that city (except perhaps temporarily), as it seems to be in¬ dicated in Prophecy to be possessed by the last Antichrist until it is destroyed by a volcanic eruption. There is scarcely any circumstance in Louis Napoleon’s career more remarkable than that events should so have fallen out as to enable him to make Rome virtually an appendage of the French Empire at the very period at which it was demanded by the necessity of prophecy. It was held by some of the Fathers that the Roman Empire, after remaining torpid for some centuries, would be revived at the end of the world, in all its laws and forms. Hippolytus (a.d. 200) said: — “The system of Augustus Caesar, who was founder of the Roman Empire, shall be adopted and established by him (Antichrist) in order to his own aggrandisement and glory.” In accordance with this view, Rome will doubtless be possessed by Napoleon as one of his principal cities during his 3£ years’ reign as Antichrist, although it .appears that Jerusalem will be his ecclesiastical * Since the above was printed, in July, 1861, Napoleon landed some forces in Mexico, in Dec., 1861, and is rapidly progressing towards its complete conquest. He will, doubtless, soon form an alliance with the Southern States, and not long afterwards invade and overcome the Northern States, and, eventually, also Canada. - (4th Edition, Nov., 1863.) 24 FOURTH PROOF. metropolis, and in its temple divine worship will be ofFered to him (2 Thess. ii. 4), and to his image, which is the abomina¬ tion of desolation (Matt. xxiv. 15, Mark xiii. 14, Dan. ix. 27, xi. 31, xii. 11). As the Pope is foreshown to cause Louis Napoleon’s image to be worshipped (Rev. xiii. 11-18), and as the image is particularly to be set up in the Jewish temple at the beginning of the 34 years (Dan. xii. 11), therefore it is highly probable that the Pope will then be at Jerusalem, especially as he is to be the almost inseparable companion of Napoleon, exercising all his power in his presence. He is also foreshown in Rev. xix. 20, xvi. 1-6, to be destroyed at Armageddon, near Jerusalem, shortly after the end of the 3’- years ; but whether he will at any time permanently transfer the Pontifical seat from Rome to Jerusalem does not clearly appear. It seems that the Burning of Rome (Is. xxxiv., Rev. xviii., xix. 3) will not occur until the overthrow of Napoleon and the Roman Pontiff at Armageddon; and then the full restoration of the Jews will take place, as Kimchi in 1660 expressed it: “This is the hope of the nation—when Rome shall be desolated, then there shall be the redemption of Israel.”* IV. Because i-je apparently protects and supports the Pope, but yet suffers him to be plundered, and gradually stripped of his temporal power. (Rev. xvii.) It was distinctly foretold in Rev. xvii. that the Eighth Head of the Beast should for a time sustain the Papacy, and then, in conjunction with his ten vassal kings, consummate its ruin. The ten-horned Beast is represented in that chapter as carrying upon its shoulders the scarlet-clad unchaste woman, who symbolizes the Romish Church. The exact period in the history of the Beast to which this representation applies is clearly stated by the interpreting angel in verse 8 : “ The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall (is just about to) * The partial restoration of the Jews, when Antichrist makes the covenant with them, and which occurs about seveD years before their complete restoration at the commencement of themillennium, was ap¬ parently referred to by Isaac Peyreyra, in 1643, in his “ Recall of the Jews,” where he said : “ This recall and establishment of the Jews in land that is promised them shall be effected by a temporal prince. . . This temporal king shall be the universal king foretold by the holy prophets, and to whom all the rest of the kings of the earth shall do homage. And this king will be a king of Prance.” NAPOLEON ni. AND THE POPE. 25 ascend out of the abyss, and go into perdition.” The point of time, then, at which the Beast was seen carrying the woman, was precisely at the peiod when it could be said of it, “ It was, and is not; ” that is, during its headless, non¬ existent state from 1815 to 1852, and also just before it ascended out of the abyss to go into perdition—in other words, just previous to its emergence in 1852 from that head¬ less, non-existent state. Turning to the page of history, we find that this hieroglyphical picture exactly corresponds with the position of the secular beast in 1849, when Napoleon, as President of France, sent French troops to support the Pope in Rome ; thus, in accordance with the vision exhibited by the angel in Rev. xvii., the Beast recommenced carrying the woman just before its ascent out of the abyss of political non-existence. This ascent was effected on the 2nd Decem¬ ber, 1852, when Louis Napoleon assumed the old Roman title of Emperor, restoring the Empire and Monarchy as in the time of Bonaparte. But although Napoleon has maintained the Pope in the Vatican of Rome eversince JulylSth, 1849, hehas remorselessly permitted him to be despoiled of his most valuable temporali¬ ties. In 1859-60, Victor Emmanuel, the present King of United Italy, reduced the Pope’s Italian provinces to one quarter of their former dimensions. Whereas there were pre¬ viously two millions inhabitants in the Papal dominions, there are now left only half a million, since the three provinces of the Marshes, Umbrpa, and Viterbo, were annexed to Victor Emmanuel’s kingdom. In a protest addressed from the Vatican on September 18th, 1860, to the members of the diplomatic corps in Rome, the Pope complains that he has seen nearly all the States, which are the patrimony of the Church, torn away from him bit by bit. The papal bull, which as a last resort was fulminated against Victor Emmanuel, was utterly disregarded by the object of its anathemas, and has only served to demonstrate more clearly the unpopularity and impotence of the Pope. The inter¬ ference of Napoleon to stay the victorious progress of Gari¬ baldi was anxiously desired by the Romish Church, but “ the eldest son of the Pope” complied no further than by pre¬ serving the city of Rome itself from actual invasion. In this his selfish indifference to the interests of the Pope, and concern 26 FOURTH PROOF. only for his own aggrandizement, are apparent, as it is believed that he chiefly continues the occupation of Home because lie deems its possession, as the capital of the old Roman Empire, to be indispensable to his intended position of King over the subordinate kings of the Roman earth. Had Napoleon been a real defender of the Pope, he would have opposed the onward march of Garibaldi, who has publicly avowed his hatred of Popery in such terms as these : “ I tell you that your chief enemy is the Pope. The Pope is no Christian ; he denies the very principle of Christianity.” It is evident, however, that the general spoliation of the Papal Hierarchy, foretold in Rev. xvii. to take place under the eighth Head, has already begun, and will progress until the Pope and Romish priests, denuded of their wealth and power, will become pliant tools in the hand of Napoleon to cause the idolatrous worship of him to be universally instituted. It was declared in Rev. xvii. that under the eighth Head, the ten Horn kingdoms should “ hate the harlot and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” This general confiscation of the wealth and temporalities of the Papal Church will take place at the time of the establishment of Napcleon’s 3 \ years’ infidel apostacy, which will arise Phoenix-like out of the smoking ruins of fallen Babylon. The Papal Hierarchy will then fall. From being a professedly Christian Church, it will become a system of downright in¬ fidelity, commanding men to worship Napoleon and his image. In this new form it will attain almost universal predominance. Bigoted Papists will then boast of the universal supremacy of their Church, but in reality the Roman Catholic Church null then no longer exist, for its priests will have become converted to a new religion—a system of pagan heathenism, having for its chief object of worship not God or Christ, but a man-— even Napoleon, the Man of Sin. Thus a brief but terrible period of 31 years will succeed the fall of Babylon, during which Napoleon will install himself in the place of Deity itself, and will claim and receive the adoration of a great portion of mankind.* All (the ungodly) that dwell * A suspicion of this appalling fact is beginning to find expression in many quarters. In the London Christian World of November, 1860, in an article on the Papacy, it is said: “ A dark fcloud hanga over Europe; we cannot conceal the settled conviction that the fall of NAPOLEON III. AND THE PAPACY. 27 upon the earth (at least nearly all Christendom and some parts of Heathendom) shall worship him (Rev. xiii. 8), either by worshipping his image or by having stamped upon their foreheads or right hands his mark or name, or G66, the number of his name (Rev. xiii. 11-18). Hundreds of thousands of persons will be martyred by flame and by the sword (Dan. xi. 33, Rev. vi. 9, xv. 2, xx. 4), for refusing thus to worship him, and scenes similar to those witnessed at the setting up of Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image (Dan. iii.) will again be en¬ acted. Those who do thus worship* him, in order to escape being put to death, will be hereafter eternally damned in hellfire (Rev. xiv. 9-12). In several instances lately, the French Emperor, in his pre¬ dicted character of a Wild Beast rending and devouring the Papal harlot, has begun to show his teeth and to un¬ sheath his claws. He is reported to have declared to the Popery is the signal for the appearance of somethingimmcasurablymore terrible than itself. That the continuance of the tremendous visita¬ tion will be brief, it is consolatory to believe; but during its short period of existence, its work in the world will be very awful. Nordo we say that Louis Napoleon is the Personal Antichrist, so distinctly set before us by the prophets of both Testaments ; but everything in his history — his connection with France, the resurrection of the Empire by his skill, his nominal protection of the Pope, while he allows his temporal authority to pass from his hands, his extraordinary reserve, and his insatiable ambition to become the greatest monarch in the world—fixes our thoughts upon him, as possibly the Pope Emperor, whose character, career, and destiny are stated with such terrible fidelity in the book of truth.” * While literal-day futurist expositors have always held the image of the Beast to be the literal image of the Personal Antichrist, year- day expositors for the most part have supposed it to be the image- worship of the Papists. They might, however, consistently admit that there would yet be a more complete and literal accomplishment of it; for it is clear that the Romish priests have never, even in a single recorded instance, caused any man to have the number G66 marked on his forehead or right hand (Rev. xiii. 17). The fulfilment that the prophecies have undergone on the year-day scale, with regard to Popery and Mahometlanism, is only a typical, accommodated, and precursive one. The image of the Beast (Rev. xvi. 2) could not have been set up before 1852, for it is made to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live (Rev. xiii. 14), that is, subsequent to 1852, when the Beast’s wounded seventh Head was healed. Bengelius and Smucker are year-day expositors who believe it to be a literal image, not yet set up. 28 FIFTH PROOF. Bishop of Versailles, that the temporal power of the Pope was incompatible with the advance of civilization, and must be put down. A pamphlet called “ The Pope and the Emperor,” which is suspected to shadow forth Napoleon’s intentions, has also appeared recently in Paris, and gravely proposes that the Emperor shall himself become Pope, and unite the political and religious sovereignties in his own person. A serious disagreement has* likewise arisen, between the Roman Pontiff and Napoleon, owing to the refusal of the former to appoint some nominees of Napoleon to the vacant bishoprics; the Pope’s objection to them arising from their not being upholders of the ultramontane policy of the Vatican. The opposition, however, of the Pope and Oardiuals cannot avail to shake the foundations of Napoleon’s throne, aud perhaps will not last long, as the present Pope is old and feeble, and another may soon succeed him, whom the Emperor may find more compliant and manageable. V. Because the whole extent of the original Roman Empire is becoming subordinated to his control, and is evidently approaching its final division into ten kingdoms, whose ten kings, united in a European Congress, are to give their power and strength to the Eighth Head of the Wild Beast during the closing 3£ years. (Rev. xvii. 13. See also ch. ii., events xi., xii.) The Lion, the Bear, the Leopard, and the nondescript ten¬ horned Beast, mentioned in Dan. vii., are universally allowed to symbolise the four successive Gentile Monarchies—the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman—to which kingly power has been temporarily transferred from the Jews (in consequence of the unfaithfulness of the latter) for 2520 years (seven times, Dan. iv. 16), from 651 b.O. to 1869-70 a.d. The ten horns on the fourth Beast, in common with the ten toes of the Metallic Image (Dan. ii. 41), are foreshown (Rev. xvii. 12) to be ten kings, among whom the whole Roman Empire is, during the existence of its Eighth Head, to be subdivided for one hour (which always in year-day Revelation means 31 years; Rev. iii. 10; xi. 11, 13). This is further represented in literal-day (Rev. xiii.), where Satan having been cast to the earth (Rev. xii. 17), persecutes the Church by causing the Roman Wild Beast under its Eighth Head—Napoleon—to arise with its ten horns crowneq NAPOLEON III. KING OF THE TEN KINGS. 29 (showing that the ten kings have now received power for one hour); and the Antichristian career of the Beast in this form, with its ten kings crowned (Rev. xiii.), is limited to 42 months, or years, being the same period as the one hour of Rev. xvii. 12. It thus appears that Napoleon’s ten vassal kings will not be elected and crowned over the ten Horn-kingdoms of the Roman earth until just before the final 31 years, at the end of 31 years after the Jewish covenant. Most of the present sovereigns in Europe will be displaced or deposed by that time. As Napoleon I. made his brothers Jerome, Louis, and Joseph (to whom the crown of Mexico was afterwards offered) respectively the kings of Westphalia, Hol¬ land, and Spain, and his brother-in-law, Murat, king of Naples: so Napoleon III., the modern “Augustus, nephew, and heir of Caesar,” as the Paris Constitutionnel has termed him, will doubt¬ less cause some, if not all, of his ten vassal kings to be mem¬ bers of the Bonaparte family; and it seems that one of them will be King or Viceroy over France, while Napoleon will act exclusively as King over the ten Kings, and Supreme Head of the European Congress. It is nearly certain that the ten Toe or Horn kingdoms will in the main be Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Tripoli (with contiguous territory annexed to them), together with the four Macedonian Horn-kingdoms, namely : Greece, Egypt, Syria, and the rest of Turkey. Louis Napoleon is in¬ creasingly shown to be the Eighth Head or last Antichrist by the fact that the Roman Empire is gradually being moulded into this decemregal form, and he is rapidly progressing in the acquirement of greater ascendancy over these countries, so that the time when ten kings shall be elected over these ten kingdoms, and shall manifestly give their power and strength to him (Rev. xvii. 12), is manifestly not far distant. Although at the outset of his reign he was regarded as a -parvenu and an upstart by the European governments, which at the Congress of the Holy Alliance in 1815 had decreed that no Bonaparte should ever sit upon the throne of France, yet he now has nearly all the European nations at his nod, and soon they will be compelled to bow in yet more complete submission to his will. The Crimean war in 1855 served to display the efficiency and strength of the French army, and contributed in no slight degree to make France increasingly feared and respected. 30 FIFTH PROOF. It greatly advanced her influence both with the Turkish Sultan and the Czar of Russia, and is believed to : have resulted in the conclusion of a secret treaty on the part of France with the latter. In this treaty an understanding was doubtless established between Napoleon and the Czar for the future promotion of their mutual interests by seizing possession of the Turkish dominions. Another proof of the commanding position which he has attained in Europe was exhibited in his interposition in 1859 in the war between Austria and Sardinia, which humbled the power of Austria, and greatly strengthened the alliance between France and Italy. The subsequent annexation of Savoy and Nice to France in 1860, although viewed with jealousy and suspicion by the other powers, was an act to which none of them dare offer any effectual opposition. This event, as well as the separation of Belgium from Holland on Nov. 2, 1830, and of Hanover from England in 1837, and the severance from Turkey of Greece in 1822, of Algiers in 1830, of Egypt in 1840, and of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1857, and also the fusion of the different Italian States into one United Kingdom, under- Victor Emmanuel, in 1860, are preparatory steps towards the moulding of the original Roman earth into exactly ten kingdoms, which shall own Napoleon as their Supreme Head. He now possesses almost paramount influence over Spain and Italy, and appears to be succeeding in the effort to persuade the sovereigns of Prussia and Russia that it is for their interest to act in the strictest concert and union with him. His energy in extending his power in Algiers and elsewhere on the northern coast of Africa, and his evident determination to obtain possession of Palestine/' additionally indicate his design to become supreme over the Roman earth. * The restoration of the Jews to Palestine was meditated by- Napoleon I. He convoked a great sanhedrim of Jewish Rabbins at Paris in 1807, who requested of him the admission of their nation to a free participation in civil and religious rights. Madame D’Abrantes (ch. 18) remarks upon this : “ The Emperor knew that in Poland, Russia, Hungary, and Bohemia, troops of this race were congregated whose hearts, oppressed by persecution and misfortune, would open with ecstaoy to an honorable futurity, and would salute with the name of Messiah the man who would offer it to them.” Bicheno, who wrote in 1790, and predicted the coming of Christ to occur about 1864, said : “If the French should get possession of Syria, nothing NAPOLEON III. KING OVER ENGLAND’S KING. 31 The power of Great Britain offers the principal impediment to Napoleon’s attainment of uncontrolled dominion over the Roman world, but prophecy most clearly shows that England is soon to give its power and strength to him, and to be in¬ cluded among the ten Horn-kingdoms that are to agree and give their kingdom to him (Rev. xvii. 12-17). These ten kingdoms are to be formed out of the whole Roman earth, which will thus undergo a tenfold division (Dan. ii. 41, vii. 24). England was undeniably part of the Roman Empire, .being occupied by a Roman garrison for about 400 years at the beginning of the Christian era; there is therefore NOT THE SLIGHTEST DOUBT but that it will be comprehended among Napoleon’s ten vassal kingdoms. Although it separated from the Papal kingdoms at the Reformation, and being made whole, like the tenth leper, turned back and with a loud voice of Antipapal protestation glorified God,yet it only thereby severed its connection with the territory of Babylon, which is to be burnt with fire (Rev. xviii.). And this cannot in the least alter the naked historical fact of its being part of the Roman earth,* is more probable than that they will invite the Jews to join them,[and to take possession of their own country.” There are now about five million Jews, if not more, estimated to be scattered throughout the world, and 11,000 of them in Palestine, of whom 7000 are settled in Jerusalem (at the date of the third edition of this book in 1862). Perhaps Louis Napoleon will convoke a general assembly of the leading Jews, like that of 1807, when he makes the covenant with them. * Sismondi, in his “Pall of the Roman Empire” (ch. i.), says: “ From the time of Augustus to that of Constantine the world of Rome was bounded by nearly the same frontiers. . . On the North, the Empire was bounded by the wall of the Caledonians or Piets, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Black Sea (Dacia, north of the Danube, was also included for 150 years). The Piets’ wall, which transected Scotland at its narrowest point, left the Romans in possession of the Lowlands of that country and of the whole of England.” Tacitus, in his “Life of Agricola,” translated by Murphy, gives a detailed account of the subjugation of England partially by Plautius and then fully by Agricola; he says (sec. xiv.): “ Under the auspices of Aulus Plautius and Ostorius Scapula the southern part of Britain took the form of a Roman province (a. u.c. 799 and a.d. 48, in the reign of the Emperor Claudius).” Gibbon, in his “Decline and Fall of Rome” (ch. i.), also narrates how Agricola (who lived from a.d. 40 to 93) completed the conquest of all Britain as far as the Friths of Scotland. David Hume, in' his “History of England” (ch. i.), writes : “The general who finally established the dominion of the Romans in this island (Britain) was Julius Agricola, who governed it in the reigns of FIFTH PROOF. which from the Euphrates to the Atlantic, and from northern Africa to the Clyde, the Rhine, and Upper Danube, is to fall under the power of Louis Napoleon, the Eighth Head (Rev. xvii. 13). Either by internal revolution, or diplomancy, or foreign invasion, or all three influences combined, the sovereign of England will be induced to become the vassal of Napoleon within about 3 or 3J years after the date of the Jewish cove¬ nant : and tens of thousands of persons in Great Britain will be slain for refusing to worship Napoleon’s image during the subsequent 3^ years’ infidel persecution. Ireland will doubt¬ less be the scene of the same persecution of Christians ; and if it never was part of the old Roman Empire, it will within the next 5 or G years secede from England and be placed under a separate government.* It is not unlikely that Great Britain is one of the three among the ten horns that are to be violently subdued by Napoleon (literal-day Dan. vii. 24, after them, is literally ottiws, behind them); the other two being probably Syria and Egypt (Dan. xi. 40). England’s naval ' superiority, which prevented Napoleon I. successfully invading her, now no longer exists. It cannot now be said that Britannia rules the waves : for her wooden walls are rendered useless by the recent invention of iron-clad men-of-war, with which France is as well, if not better, supplied than Great Britain. The French army is also much larger than the British army, for it is stated by the London Times to have 21- times more infantry and ten times more cavalry ■ and to cost annually for its maintenance twenty-four million pounds sterling (one hundred and twenty million dollars). Although it is more than questionable whether Christians are justified in resisting evil by taking up arms, yet there is at least real ground for the apprehensions which have led England to vote ten million Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian (a.d. 70 to 85). Thus, also, Lingard, And John Wade, in his “British History” (at Bohn’s, London), dates the Roman rule over England from a.d. 49 to 428. * Nearly one-third of the 220,000 British soldiers are Irish Roman¬ ists, who Sepoy-like will be led by the Jesuits to help Napoleon to revolutionize Ireland, and overmaster the British Empire. Well- nigh half of the 220,000 are now garrisoning distant colonies, leaving England, even with her 200,000 volunteers, but feebly armed against 650,000 French soldiers. That all the Roman Empire, including England, will become subject to the last Antichrist, is distinctly held by Sir E. Denny, Dr. Tregelles, B. W. Newton, Kelsall, Taunton, &o. NAPOLEON III. SURE TO OVERCOME ENGLAND. 33 pounds sterling for additional fortifications, and to arm and equip two hundred thousand volunteers. It is a significant fact that Napoleon on his trial after the Boulogne expedition said to his judges: “ I represent before you a principle, a cause, and a defeat. The principle is the sovereignty of the people : the cause is that of the Empire: the defeat is that of Waterloo. The principle—you have recognized it; the cause—you have served in it; the defeat you would avenge it.” He also addressed his army after the “ coup d’etat ” in 1851 : “ Soldiers, I have given you now two revenges, one for 1830 and one for 1840. The third I now promise you is for Waterloo.” He is likewise reported to have said during his residence in England : “I shall be Emperor of France one of these days, and I shall then invade England. I like you very well as ' a people, but T must wipe out Waterloo and St. Helena.”* It is foretold in year-day (Rev. xvi. 14) that all nations will be gathered to the Armageddon War by the Spirits of Spiritualism and Popery. This War will be at its height during a year and a month (literal-day Rev. ix. 15), beginning 5 years after the Jewish Covenant, and will consist in Crusades of all the nations of Christendom under Napoleon’s leadership against countless hosts from Asia that will invade Palestine. The next few years will therefore witness a wide diffusion of the influence of these spirits, preparing men to submit to Napoleon as their Supreme ‘Prophecy distinctly shows that all the ten kingdoms in the Roman earth will have become republican before the final 3$ years; in short, England, Spain, Austria, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Tripoli, will have elected their kings by universal suffrage (seech, ii. event xii.) The “ Last \ ials” for August, 185S, gives extracts from pamphlets published in France foreshadowing Napoleon’s designs against Eng¬ land. One called “ Cherbourg aud England” says:— “ Let the English upper classes reflect on what support they would obtain from° th e English people, when a French General should present himself with universal suffrage in one hand and the Code Napoleon in the other.” “ From the present day, amidst all Ins misery, the English workman will keep his eyes fixed upon Cherbourg and seek to discover the approach of the fleet of deliverance.” It is easy to foresee that amid coming troubles a strong Chartist party will be formed in England that will hail Napoleon’s advent to their shores, as the great champion of universal suffrage and the people’s rights. Thus will England “ give (spontaneously yield) its power and strength” to Napoleon. (Rev. xvii. 13.) c 34 SIXTH PROOF. Head, indeed Spiritualism has already gone forth to the kings of the earth, for several of them practice it, and it is rapidly spreading throughout Europe. Although no such idea seems hitherto to have occurred to Spiritualists, yet it is certain that the miracle-working spirits will soon instruct them to accept Napoleon as their political and ecclesiastical Head, and ultimately to worship him as their god (2 Thess. ii.). During the same 3£ years’ worship of Napoleon, the Roman Pontiff will be “ the constituted vice-president of the inquisitorial tribunals of this Antichristian Reign of Terror over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and the ecclesiastical vicegerent of that undivided sovereignty in Church and State which the Septimo-octave Head will assume as the pro-Christ and long promised Regenerator of a fallen world.” VI. Because in respect of his name he fulfils the prophecy, that the name of the Eighth Head or Antichrist should be in the Greek tongue Apollgon (or Apoleon) and should numerically be equal to 6G6, which is the number of his name in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.—Rev. ix.. xiii. As Josiah’s name was foretold 300 years before he was born (1 Kings xiii. 2, 2 Kings xxiii. 1C), and Cyrus’s name 150 years prior to his birth (Is. xliv. 28, Ez. i. 2), so the very name of Napoleon the Antichrist has been foretold 1750 years before his existence, for we read in Rev. ix. 11, They (that is, the locusts, unless the men whom they torment are spoken of) had a king over them which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollgon. The majority of expositors have understood this to be a description of the human deputy and chief envoy of Satan ; and it is generally in¬ terpreted in the year-day fulfilment to refer to Mahomed, who typified the Antichrist ; but in the principal and literal-day fulfilment it signifies that Antichrist’s name in Greek must literally be Apollgon. Every sensible per¬ son can see that Napoleon and Apollgon are substantially the same words and resemble each other quite as much as Hezekiah and Ezekias (Matt. i. 10), or Uzziah (2 Kings xv. 32) and Ozias (Matt. 1. 9), which are instances XAI'OLEON III. IDENTICAL WITH APOLLYON. 35 of the dissimilar ways in which the same name is spelt in different portions of Scripture. Apollyon in the original Greek is A-oXAvwv, the present participle of the verb mroWvp.v, / destroy; but another form in which this Greek verb is sometimes written is cr.7roA.ea) (as in lexicon to Bohn’s Greek Testament), with its participle aToAeujv which in English is Apoleon —a word precisely identical with Napoleon, excepting the first letter N, nor can this trival difference (as is the opinion of the Ilev. Dr. Croley, who maintains the identity of the two words) be deemed of the slightest importance. Bengel and other expositors who hold Apollyon to be identical with Antichrist, have remarked that as the word Antichrist is exactly the reverse of Christ, so Apollyon, signifying a Destroyer, is precisely the opposite of Jesus, which means a Saviour (Matt. i. 21). Thus Louis Napoleon’s predestined name (NJapollyon the Antichrist is diametrically antagonistic in its signification to our Lord’s name, Jesus the Christ. The one comes to destroy men’s lives, the other to save them (Luke ix. 56). Apollyon is likewise called the. angel of the bottomless pit, which is clearly parallel with the prediction that Antichrist or the Eighth Head ascends out of the bottomless pit (Rev. xvii. 8, xi. 7). Heugstenberg, who speaks of the striking resemblance between the words Napoleon and ApoUyon justly remarks that Satan cannot be denoted by Apollyon, for although he is spoken of as having his angels (Matt. xxv. 41, Rev. xii. 9), yet he is never himself called an angel. The circumstance of Louis Napoleon determining to be designated by his present name, remarkably shows the overruling hand of Providence, because if out of his original name of Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte he had selected the words Charles Bonaparte to be his usual designation he would not so completely have fulfilled the prophecy. We also read in Rev. xiii. 18 : “ Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast (Ogpiov, properly the Wild-Beast), for it is the number of a man ; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” The Wild-Beast here referred to is evidently fi-om the context the Wild-Beast, which had the wound by a sword and did live, (verse 14), and whose deadly wound was healed (verse 12), c 2 SIXTn PKOOF. 36 that is the Wild-Beast since 1852 under Napoleon III.,* its seventh-revived or resurrected Head, the career of which is specially directed in Rev. xiii. Although the Wild-Beast primarily signifies the Roman Empire, yet Louis Napoleon, its Eighth Head, as its personal representative, is himself com¬ prehensively denominated the Wild-Beast; and in Rev. xiii., it is stated that during his 31 years’ persecution of the saints (verse 5), a second Wild-Beast, the Roman Pontiff, will cause people to make an idol or image (cikwv, as in Rom. i. 23) to him and worship it, and have imprinted on their right hands or foreheads his mark or his name (one of the words Louis Napoleon), or 666, the number of his name (Rev. iii. 17, xv. 2). This will be a revival of the custom that formerly obtained among the Romans, of putting upon their hands or foreheads the hieroglyphic name or mark of the heathen deity they worshipped. In the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, the letters of the alphabet were used as numericals instead of the Arabic figures, and therefore when Antichrist’s name is translated into those languages, the letters composing it will necessarily amount to a cer¬ tain number, which is called the number of his name. Louis is essentially a word of Latin origin, and becomes in Latin Ludovicus; thus the Roman Catholic priests, in their Latin prayers for Napoleon, say Far, salvum Ludo- vicum. This word was long since thought of by many expositors as likely to be the name of the Antichrist or Wild-Beast, because of the exactness with which it con- *Even secular writers use the prophetic imagery in describing the resurrection in 1852 of the Napoleon dynasty that was and is not and yetis. Mr. St. John, in his Biography of Napoleon III., p.273, says: “They elected him as one of their representatives in that Legislative Babel, the National Assembly. From that moment the fate of the Republic was sealed. The skeleton of Napoleon, already brought from St. Helena, rose from its grave to crush the fragile form of Liberty to death. The old man stood in the young one, whom he had invested with artificial interest, and enabled him to stifle the voice of freedom.” Napoleon III. is, moreover, better prepared than his uncle for the position of universal monarch, from having resided in the United States, England, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, etc., and being in fact a cosmopolite or citizen of the world. He may almost be regarded as a naturalized Englishman, having lived so long in England, and even acted as special constable to suppress appre¬ hended riots in London in April, 1848. napoleon’s name equal to 66G. 37 tains the number 6G6. The Rev. J. Brooks, in his “ Elements of Pro])hecy,” in 1S3(5, said : “Seebachius was, 1 believe, the first that fixed upon Ludovicus as the name of the Beast, on account of France being considered the principal of the kingdoms of the Beast ; but many others have adopted the name.” The Rev. David Simpson and the Rev. Joseph Sutcliffe, in their writings more than half a century since, and Bengel, a German writer, more than a century ago, in his “ Gnomon,” also considered it to be the most probable word foresignified, as containing 666. In the Latin tongue only seven letters of the alphabet possess any numerical value: 1=1, V (or U)=o, X=10, L=50, C=100, D=500, M=1000; the remaining letters are ciphers. Ludovicus , when reduced to figures according to the respective values of these Roman letters, amounts pre¬ cisely to 666 : as is shown thus: L 50 + IT 5 + D 500 + O 0 + V5 + I1 + C 100 + U 5 ft S 0=666. In the Greek lan¬ guage every letter represents a numeral, according to the following scale: a=l, ,6=2, y=3, 6=4, «=5, s (sigma)= 6 , £=7, 77 = 8 , 61=9, i=10, k=20, A=30, /x= 40, r=50, £=60, o=70, 7 t= 80, (koppa)=90, p=100, rr=200, t= 300, ^=400, <£=500, y=600, <£=700, / Xartvrj fiaoiXet.a, the Latin kingdom. As the number 7 is a symbol of the most perfect excellence, so the number G is a symbol of the most complete depravity ; and 8 is a resurrection number ; the Greek letters of the name of Jesus (frycrons), who is the first- fruits of the Resurrection, numerically amount to 888 ; also the 8th Head of the Roman Empire is, as it were, a resurrec¬ tion man, who has raised the Napoleon dynasty from its grave, and who will leave this earth without himself undergoing death (Rev. xix. 20). VII. Because his Grecian extraction, his sphinx-like impenetrability of countenance, his addiction to the practice of Spiritualism, and his deceptive professions of a pacific policy, identify him with the description given of the Personal Antichrist in Dan. viii. In the prophetic vision recorded in Dan. viii., a two¬ horned ram, representing the Medo-Persian kingdom, was exhibited as being assaulted and trampled under foot by a goat, symbolizing the Grecian kingdom. Between the goat’s eyes was a notable horn, which was explained NAPOLEON III. THE GRECIAN LITTLE HORN. 30 to signify Alexander the Great (verse 21). When by Alexander’s death the notable horn was broken, four great horns came up in its place, denoting Egypt, Greece, Thrace, and Syria, the four kingdoms respectively of Ptolemy, Cas- sauder, Lysitnackus, and Seleueus, Alexander’s generals, among whom the Grecian kingdom thus became subdivided. Out of one of these four horns or kingdoms there afterwards came forth a little horn which waxed exceedingly great toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land (verse 9). This little horn, which is typically the Mahomedan Anti¬ christ, but antitypically the Personal Antichrist, Louis Napoleon, is further described in verses 23, 24, 25 : — “When the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences (of obdurate coun¬ tenance and penetrating with mysterious craft — Wiutle translation), shall stand up. 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. 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, lmt he shall be broken without hand.” Louis Napoleon has come forth out of Greece, one of the four-horn kingdoms, because he derives his origin and is lineally descended from a Grecian family of high rank. One of his ancestors, David II., Emperor of Trebizonde, was the rightful heir to the throne of Constantinople, but was put to death by Mahomed II.; his only surviving son, George Nicephor Comnene, fled to Mania in Peloponesus in 147G, and was made Protogeras over the community that was settled there. This official dignity was held by ten members of the Comnene family in succession, until 1675, when Constantine Comnene, the tenth protogeras, was induced, from fear of being subjugated by the Turks, to emigrate from Mania to Italy with 3000 of his fellow-countrymen. Arriving in Genoa on January 1, 167G, he obtained from the Genoese Senate a grant of some tracts of land in Corsica, which were thenceforth colonized by him and his descendants. One of his sons, Calomeros Com- none, subsequently settled in Florence in Tuscany, and as the Greek word Calomeros (k aAos /xepos) signifies in Italian buona parte, lie therefore adopted the name of Buonaparte. In 1719 40 SEVENTH PROOF. Antonio Buonaparte, a member of this Buonaparte branch of the Comnene family, emigrated from Tuscany to Corsica ; and Napoleon Buonaparte, who was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on August 15, 1769, was his grandson. Corsica was ceded by the Genoese to France in 1768. The descent of the Com¬ nene family from David II., last Emperor of Trebizonde, was attested by letters patent of Louis XVI., issued on September 1, 1783. This account of Napoleon’s family is given in the Memoirs of the Duchess D’Abrantes, published at Paris in 1835. The characteristics of the little horn of Dan. viii. also apply to Louis Napoleon in respect of his being a king of fierce coun¬ tenance , taking this Hebrew phrase to signify (as in Deut. viii. 50) the possession of iron strength and indomitable determi¬ nation. Or if we translate the adjective fierce from the Greek of the Septuagint, where it is rendered amiS^s, it will signify a brazen-faced, imperturbable, immovable, unreadable visage. Napoleon’s countenance has long been noticed to be of this character; it expresses no emotion either of joy or grief, of affection or hatred, of exultation or disappointment. Being thus no index whatever to his mind, it assists him in concealing his dark schemes, and cloaking his deep de¬ signs.* The expression understanding dark sentences indicates in a general sense Napoleon’s sagacity and great intelligence, but seems to refer more specially to his skill in the practice of that dark and mysterious development of Satanic power—Spiritual¬ ism. One of the most noted American mediums, named Hume, has frequently practised his magic art in the presence of the Emperor: the spirits of deceased persons are supposed to enter into and possess these mediums, whose faculties of articulation * ‘“Another peculiarity in his character is his unequalled power of ■unfolding himself according to ths circumstances of the case. In this respect he bears a formidable resemblance- to the typical enemy of mankind—the serpent. He lay for years coiled together in a lethargy until, aroused by the occasion, he displayed his fangs, un¬ coiled his folds, and shot forth his icy frame just far enough to seize his prey, but no further. With impenetrable secrecy he forms his plans, and carries them out when formed with invincible determina¬ tion. But he never wastes a word and seldom an action. He thinks more than he says, and says less than he does.”— Purdon’s Last Vials. NAPOLEON nr. A CONFIRMED SPIRITUALIST. 41 they then make use of to speak to their earthly acquaintances : the spirit of Napoleon I. is reported to have often communi¬ cated in this manner with his Imperial nephew ; and it was probably in direct allusion to this that Louis Napoleon once said to the French Senate : “ What most affects my heart is the thought that the spirit of the Emperor is with me, that his mind guides me, and his shade protects me.” It is evident that the spirits which speak through mediums, and which claim to be the spirits of deceased persons, are in reality demons possessing great powers of impersonation. They enable the medium to imitate the voice, accent, gestures, and handwriting of the deceased with such accuracy, as completely to deceive those who have not learned from Scripture that this is entirely the work of the Devil. Spirit¬ ualism is the most Antichristian system that has ever yet arisen, and its most ardent followers do not disguise their desire- to see Christianity and all its institutions, such as marriage and the observance of the Sabbath, swept out of existence. It is by the supernatural art of Spiritualism that the False Prophet will make fire come down out of heaven on the earth to induce men to worship Napoleon’s image (Rev. xiii.). Gigantic prodigies will be wrought very soon by this latter-day manifestation of necromancy and witchcraft ; and those will be entrapped who have not learned from Prophecy that the infidel man of sin is to arise accredited by such miracles. Already there are speaking, writing, painting, music-performing, healing, and physical manifestation mediums, by whose diabolical sorceries more than two million persons in America have become more or less confirmed in infidelity. Those who deride the marvels of spiritualism, and regard them only as displays of legerdemain or sleight-of-hand, manifest exceeding blindness and ignorance. Its miraculous operations were plainly predicted to characterise the period immediately preceding the Second Advent (2 Thess. ii. 9-12, Rev. xvi. 13, 14). The statement respecting this king of fierce countenance, “ his poiver shall be mighty, but not by his own povjer,” is explained by his being the delegated representative of Satan : “ The Dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority ” (Rev. xiii. 2). Also the prediction, “ He shall 42 SEVENTH PROOF. destroy wonderfully refers to his approaching persecution of the saints previous to 1873. We are further told that “by peace lie shall destroy many;” this has been remarkably fulfilled by his assertion from the moment of ascending the Imperial throne, “ The Empire is peace but in the face of this assur¬ ance his actions make it plain that his policy is a warlike and aggressive one, so that whenever he now speaks of peace, apprehensions are excited that he meditates fresh conquests. Never was there a monarch that professed greater anxiety to avoid war, and yet made greater preparations for engaging in it. He shall stand up against the Prince of Princes, but shall be broken without hand; his heaven-defying audacity shall reach such a height, that he will determine to fight neither with small nor great, save only with the King of Israel, and will thus gather his forces to contend with Christ in the valley of Megiddo (Rev. xix. 19), but he shall be destroyed without human interposition by the personal descent of Christ, “ the stone cut out without hands” (Dan. ii. 15). The subjoined descriptions of Louis Napoleon by literary writers strikingly illustrate his identity with the king of in¬ scrutable countenance, and understanding dark sentences (that is, of exceeding wisdom and subtlety). C. Phillips, in his “ Life of Napoleon III.,” says : “ I was introduced to the present Emperor by his uncle Joseph, the ex-King of Naples and of Spain. With such an introduction opportunities were not wanting for studying the character of Louis Napoleon, a species of study to which much of my time has been neces¬ sarily devoted. The problem was difficult, and for a long time its solution seemed impossible. Frigidly affable and repulsively polite, he avoided either offence or familiarity, but seemed instinctively to coil up his nature from observa¬ tion. In phrase and demeanour all that became his birth, still the man was perfectly inaccessible. It was scarcely to be wondered at. Even from his boyhood beset by espi¬ onage, reserve became an armour. Scarcely at home in the household of his uncle, the object of homage as much as of respect, he stood isolated and original. None presumed to interrupt his reveries, and to few, if indeed to any, did he accord his confidence. Yet even through that NAPOLEON III. THE PROPHETIC KING OF DAN. VIII. 43 habitual reserve there would at times gleam forth indications of a character replete with kindness, and of a disposition generous and noble. There was much of peculiarity, much of contrast, abstracted yet vigilant; inquisitive in everything, but studiously uncommunicative; diligent in acquiring all men’s knowledge, retentive of his own ; cold and impassive, but full of latent energy ; cautious in decision, but, having decided, prompt, rapid, and impetuous. Almost intuitive in grasping opportunity, or detecting weakness ; improved by study, steeled by adversity, disciplined for every vicissitude of fortune, he has inestimable qualifications for his own position. Nor in private life is he deficient in commanding respect, or captivating sympathy : of the most winning manners when minded to assume them ; perfectly munificent by nature and by habit ; chivalrous, sincere, constant: of him it will never be said that he forgot a kindness or abandoned a friend. Marvellous as his character appears at present, it in my judgment is as yet very partially developed. The reserve, however, in which he habitually shrouds himself may not now be violated, though that very reserve has made him the victim of the grossest misconception. Few can sec in the taciturn recluse the talents, attainments, and accomplishments which he undoubtedly possesses. They are only revealed by some unlooked-for accident.” The editor of one of the Paris journals thus sketches his character :—“ Louis Napoleon is a superior man, but with that superiority which conceals itself under a doubtful exterior. His life is altogether internal; his words do not indicate his inspiration ; his gesture does not show his audacity; his glance does not intimate his ardour ; his demeanour does not reveal his resolutions. All his moral nature is in a certain manner kept under by his physical nature. He thinks and does not discuss ; he decides and does not deliberate ; he acts and does not make much movement; lie pronounces and does not as¬ sign his reasons. His best friends do not know him: he commands confidence and never seeks it. Every day he pre¬ sides in silence at his council of Ministers ; he listens to every¬ thing that is said, speaks but little, and never yields ; with a phrase brief and clear as an order of the day, he decides the most disputed questions. But with that inflexibility of will there is nothing abrupt or absolute in the form. Queen 44 SEVENTH PROOF. Hortense used to call him mildly obstinate, and that judgment of the matter is completely true. The somewhat English stiffness of his person, manners, and even language, disappears under an affability, which with him is only the grace of senti¬ ment. Many are deceived by that appearence, and take his goodness for weakness and his affability for insincerity. At bottom he is completely master of himself : and his kindest movements enter into his actions only according to the exact measure he has determined on. Easily roused, he cannot soon be led away; he calculates everything, even his enthusiasm and acts of audacity ; his heart is only the vassal of his head.” Another portraiture of Napoleon III. is given by Mr. Madden, in his “ Life of Lady Blessington,” Vol. I., p. 470, from which the above extract is taken :—“ This man-mystery, the depths of whose duplicity no (Edipus has yet sounded, is a problem even to those who surround him. I watched bis pale, corpse-like, imperturbable features, not many months since, for a period of three hours. 1 saw 80,000 men in arms pass before him, and I never observed a change in his counte¬ nance or an expression in his look, which would enable the bystander to say whether he was pleased or otherwise at the stirring scene that was passing before him, on the very spot where Louis XVI. was put to death. He did not speak to- those around him except at very long intervals, and then with an air of nonchalance, of ennui, and of eternal occupation with self. He rarely spoke a syllable to his uncle Jerome Bonaparte, who was on horseback somewhat behind him. It was the same with his brilliant staff. All orders came from him. All seemed centered in him. He gave me the idea of a man who had a perfect reliance on himself, and a feeling of complete control over those around him. I should be disposed to regard him as a man originally well-intentioned and well disposed, of good qualities wrongly directed in his studies, strongly imbued with feelings of veneration for his Imperial uncle, taught to conceal them in the times of the reverses of his family; in his tender years trained to dissimulation, who had grown up to manhood accustomed to silence, secresy, and self-communion; an ambitious, moody young man, with a dash of genius in the composition of his mind, and a tinge of superstition in his credence in the NAPOLEON III. OK INSCRUTABLE COUNTENANCE. 45 connection of Lis fortune with the dispensations of Divine Providence, that give a permanent colour of fatalism to his opinions, in keeping with the impulses of an immoderate ambition which may have perturbed to some extent his imagination. “ A man whose life is all interior (not spiritually so, but wholly worldly-minded), who lives for himself, in himself, and by himself, whether in a State prison or on a throne, cannot long remain in a state of mind either safe for himself or the confidence that others may place in his stability of purpose, policy, or promises. He is a man of considerable talent, of measureless ambition, and of no moral principles; of one fixed idea, a belief in the destiny of his elevation to supreme power, and the sufficiency of his own abilities to maintain it; a fatalist working out a destiny that is desired by him ; a projector on a grand scale of plans for the promotion of selfish objects; wrapt up in the traditions of the Empire and its glory; without sympathies with other men, without confidence in any man; a speculator on the meanness, the imbecility, and sordid dispositions of all around him; silent, self-sufficient, self-confident, self-opinionated, self-willed; in the words to me of one of the deepest thinkers and closest observers of France, ‘ a man of no convictions of good or evil, all wrapt up in self.’” VIII. Because his sudden rise from obscurity to great power, his obvious determination to seize Palestine, and also his acquisition of extensive dominions and of valuable gold¬ fields in the north of Africa, are in accordance with the pro¬ phecies in Dan. xi. regarding the Personal Antichrist. Dan. xi. 2! : “ And in his estate (on his own basis) shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. . . . 41 : He shall enter also into the glorious land. ... 43 : But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.”—(See Chap. II. Event IV.) It is generally admitted by the most indiscriminating ex¬ positors, that in the literal-day fulfilment of Dan xi. 21 to the end of Dan. xii., we have a continuous narrative of the 46 EIGHTH I'EOOF. actings of tlic vile person, or Man of Sin, who is plainly contem¬ porary with the time of the Resurrection of the righteous (Dan xii. 2).* The first two verses of Dan. xi. refer to the four Persian kings, Cambyses, Smerclis (called Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, Ez. iv. 6, 7), Darius, and Xerxes, who followed in succession after Cyrus’s death ; then Alexander the Great (verses 3, 4), having conquered Xerxes, ultimately left his vast kingdom to be divided among his four generals, Lysimachus, Cassander, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. The two latter, ruling over Egypt and Syria, are called the kings of the South and the North, because Egypt is south, aud Syria north of the Holy Land. Expositors generally understand verses 5 to 20 to contain the history of the Ptolemies aud Seleucidse, who subse¬ quently governed Egypt and Syria. Between verses 20 and 21 there is a break and a transition to the time of the Personal Antichrist. Louis Napoleon was originally regarded as a vile person (verse 21), that is, an ignoble, obscure, despised, and unin- fluential person. Before he became French Kmperor, the most opprobrious epithets and terms of contempt used to be heaped upon him by various public journals ; he was nick¬ named “ Napoleon the Little his Strasbourg aud Boulogne expeditions were referred to as indicating an utter lack of understanding; and scarcely any one gave him credit for the possession of those extraordinary powers of mind W'hich he has since displayed. It was from the lowest depths of adver¬ sity that he was elevated to the dizzy heights of absolute power. As Joseph in olden time was transferred from the dungeon to the seat of chief ruler over Egypt, so Na¬ poleon passed almost instantly from being a prisoner in the fortress of Ham to be an absolute monarch upon the throne of France. He also came in peaceably, dissembling his ambitious schemes, and professing to desire the uninterrupted mainte¬ nance of peace. At first the French would not give him the * It is noticeable that Dan. xii. 2, if correctly translated, reads thus : “ And many of them which sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake : these to everlasting life; hut those (the rest of the sleepers) to shame and everlasting contempt.” The resurrection of the last- named wicked does take place until 1000 years after the resurrection of the righteous. (Rev. xx. 5). NAPOLEON III. THE WILFUL KING OF DAN. XI. 47 honour of the kingdom by permitting him to assume the Imperial dignity, but only made him President for three years, yet he obtained the kingdom by flatteries: he gradually contrived by his subtle policy, and by the coup d’etat in 1851, to become permanently invested with supreme authority as Emperor. It is remarkable that in the days of his comparative obscurity, he had the fullest confidence in the greatness of his future destiny. Alison the historian, vol. v., says : “The idea of a destiny and his having a mission to perform was throughout a fixed one in Louis Napoleon’s mind. No disasters shook his confidence in his star or the belief in the ultimate fulfilment of his destiny. This is well known to all who were intimate with him in this country after he returned from America in 1837. Among other noble houses, the hospitality of which he shared, was that of the Duke of Montrose, at Buchanan, near Lochlomond, and the Duke of Hamilton, at Broderick Castle, in the Island of Arran. His manner in both was in general grave and taciturn ; he was wrapt in the contemplation of the future, and indifferent to the present. In 1839, the present Earl of W-, then Lord B-, came to visit the author after having been some days at Buchanan House. One of the first things he said was: ‘Only think of that young man, Louis Napoleon, uothing can persuade him that he is not to be Emperor of Prance; the Strasbourg affair has not in the least shaken him ; he is constantly thinking of what he is to do when on the throne.’ The Duke of N—— also said to the author in 1854 : ‘Several years ago, before the Revolu¬ tion of 1848, 1 met Louis Napoleon often at Broderick Castle, in Arran. We frequently went out to shoot to¬ gether ; neither cared much for the sport, and we soon sat down upon a heathery brow of Goatfell and began to speak seriously. He always opened these conferences by discoursing of what he would do when he was Em¬ peror of France. Amongst other things he said he would obtain a grant from the Chambers to drain the marshes of the Bries, which, you know, once fully cultivated, be¬ came flooded, when the inhabitants, who were chiefly Protes¬ tants, left the countiy on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes ; and what is very curious, I see by the newspapers of 48 EIGHTH PROOF. the day, that he has got a grant of two millions of francs from the Chambers to begin the drainage of these very marshes.’ (Alison’s Europe, vol. v.) The last twenty-four verses of Dan. xi. will be fulfilled by Louis Napoleon during the 7 years and 2' months between the confirmation of his seven-years’ Covenant or league with the Jews (verses 22, 23, Dan. ix. 27) and his final overthrow. They show that he will come in peaceably, and by his subtle manoeuvres obtain supreme power over Palestine and gradually get the fortified places, probably such as Gaza, Jaffa, and Acre, into his possession. His three expeditions against Egypt (verses 25, 29, 40) take place before his image'"' is set up in the Jewish Temple in the midst of the 7 years (verse 31, Dan. ix. 27) ; for the narrative is retrogressive at verse 40, and the time of the end is clearly the period of about 5 years between the first Translation and the descent of Christ upon Mount Olivet. It is observable that Napoleon’s military occupation of Palestine during part of the years 1860 and 1861, and the reluctance with which he with¬ drew his forces from it, plainly evince his determination ultimately to enter upon the possession of that glorious holy * The willingness of Napoleon III. to receive divine honours is fore¬ shadowed by his reception of addresses in his journeys through the French provinces, styling him “ their Saviour, E-egenerator, the Elect of God, the Messiah of the French nation,” and in parody of the Lord’s Prayer : “ Our prince who art in power, thy kingdom come, thy will be done at home as it is abroad,” &c. He is reported to have rewarded with a gold snuff-box a preacher who described him as equal to if not greater than Christ himself. In like manner Napoleon I., intoxicated with breathing the incense of constant adulation, desired to be addressed by the title of “ Votre Provi¬ dence” (Frere on Prophecy); also in March, 1S07, when he convoked the Jew's at Paris, he was styled by them the Lords anointed Cyrus, the living image of the Divinity, &c., and the ciphers of his name and that of Josephine’s were blended with the name of God and inscribed over the ark of the Covenant, which was further surmounted with the Imperial eagle. A prefect addressing him once said : “ God created Bonaparte and rested from his, labours.” On another occasion Bonaparte asked one of his courtiers what people thought of him ; the reply was : “ Some think you an angel, Sire ; some a devil; but all agree you are more than a man.” This kind of flattery naturally leads great conquerorsto aspire after divine honours, as was the case with Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, Romulus, Au¬ gustus Csesar, Herod, Antiochus, &c. NAPOLEON III. THE WILFUL KING OF DAN. XI. 49 land (verses 41, 45). Nor should it be forgotten that in 1852-3 he took the title of “ Defender of the Faith and Pro¬ tector of the Holy Places,” and constituted himself the special guardian of the interests of the Roman Catholics in Palestine. The recent extension of his power in Algiers and elsewhere in Africa is evidently preparing the way for the fulfilment of the prophecy that the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. Also the statement in regard to his connection with Africa, that he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver (verse 43), seems from the following facts to be already receiving an incipient fulfilment. According to the Neiv \ork Herald of September 29, 1860, it. appears that a Mr. R. A. Parrish, of Philadelphia, has applied to the United States Government to assist him in recovering three million dollars, to which he claims to be entitled under a contract with the French Emperor. In 1853, having discovered from geological researches the existence of a valuable gold-mine in Senegal, Africa, he communicated information respecting it to Napo¬ leon, and was promised a share in the proceeds, which in con¬ sequence of the abundant yield has amounted to the above sum. In December, 1853, the Emperor sent out thirteen ships and upwards of three thousand men to work this mine, and has ever since been obtaining from it, principally by slave- labour, enormous supplies of the auriferous metal. So rich and inexhaustible is this gold field, that Mr. Parrish states that the only fear is that the value of the metal will soon be depreciated by the vast amount brought into circulation. According to the official statements of the amount of gold coined by the three leading nations in 1855 and the two follow¬ ing years, we learn that the amount coined in France was about sixty-one million pounds sterling ($306,000,000), in England twenty million pounds sterling ($100,000,000), and in the United States twenty-nine and a half million pounds sterling ($148,000,000); thus the coinage of France considerably exceeded the conjoint amounts of both England and the United States, and possibly the published statistics rather understated its real sum. The mines of Senegal seem in fact to have yielded more than both California and Australia added together. It was probably this that caused the Bank of France to remain unshaken in the commercial crisis of 1857, and that has enabled Napoleon to bear the otherwise D 50 NINTH PROOF. ruinous expense of maintaining a standing army of nearly three quarters of a million of men, of providing them with the most costly munitions of war, and also of fitting out a steam navy not inferior in strength to that of England.* IX. Because the rise of a French Emperor a few years before 1864-8, who should revive the Napoleon dynasty, and become the Personal Antichrist, was predicted by prophetic writers as early as thirty-five years before Louis Napoleon’s accession to the throne of France. The following seven writers, Faber, Frere, Gauntlett, Jackson, Irving, Jones, and auother, may be mentioned as having all distinctly predicted from the same prophetic interpretation of the seven Heads of the Roman Wild- Beast, that a second French Emperor, like the first Napo¬ leon, would arise a few years before 1864-8, and then at this last-named period would perish at Armageddon antece¬ dently to the commencement of the Millennium.t * The following paragraph from the Bankers’ Reporter (1861) addi¬ tionally testifies to the existence of some mysterious source from which Napoleon obtains “ treasures of gold and silver :■—” “ It has been a great mystery to English bankers and to the directors of the Bank of England how the bullion of the Bank of France could be so greatly increased within the last three years, while the institution has been constantly sending gold to England, to Germany, and to America. Not long since the Bank of France drew some fifteen million francs in silver from the Bank of England, which it paid for in gold bars with the French mint stamp on them. At its last report it showed a balance of one hundred and seventeen million francs in gold, while the amount one year ago was under eighty million—nearly one-third increase. It is whispered that this abundance of gold is the result of a scientific discovery, which the Emperor Napoleon has secured the monopoly of. Gold is at the present moment manufactured at Paris in a secret manner. Though it is not known how extensively the precious metal is produced, yet several hundred-weight of the material are taken to a certain place on the first of each month. Everything' is conducted with the utmost secrecy. None of the workmen are allowed to leave, and nothing definite can be known; but the fact that gold is produced is beyond peradventure. How long Napoleon III. will be able to keep this wonderful secret remains to be seen ." fit is sometimes said that the restoration of the N apoleon dynasty might easily have been anticipated. The real fact, however, is, that scarcely any one ever expected such an event. In the “Napoleon ADVENT OK NAPOLEON III. PROPHESIED. Si In 1818 the Rev. G. S. Faber, Prebendary of Salisbury, and an expositor of great celebrity, showed in his Supplemental Third Volume to a Dissertation on the Prophecies that the French Emperorship or Napoleon dynasty from 180G to 1815 was the seventh Head of the Roman Empire, and that although “wounded to death” at Waterloo in 1815, it must according to Rev. xiii. and xvii. be revived a few years before 1864-6 : and shortly after that date its representative having become manifested as the Antichrist, would perish at Armageddon, in Palestine. The same statement was reiterated by him in 1828 in his Sacred Calendar of Prophecy ; and in 1852 he issued a. little work called Revival of the French Emperorship (repub¬ lished at Appletons’, New York, and entitled Napoleon II f. the Man of Prophecy) directing attention to the fact that his forestatement in 1818 had been verified by Louis Napoleon’s investiture with the Imperial dignity in 1852. He also ex¬ pressed his increased conviction that the French Emperor would perish soon after 1861 in the Armageddon War intro- ductorily to the inauguration of the Millennium. In 1815 J. H. Frere published his Combined View of the Prophecies, in which he advanced the same prediction as to the Napoleon dynasty being revived some few years before 1867, which he considered to be the probable period of Christ’s descent at Armageddon to destroy this seventh-revived or eighth Head of the Roman Empire. He also expressed himself to this effect: “ There will be a resemblance between Napoleon I., the seventh Head, and the yet future eightli Head, short only of actual identity.” Another able expositor, the Rev. II. Gauntlett, who held that Antichrist would be destroyed at Armageddon about 1866, likewise predicted that the Napoleon dynasty would be revived a few years before that period. He said: “It appears that within the first twenty years of the nineteenth century the si,.rth and seventh heads of the Apocalyptic Beast (the Roman Em Dynasty” (Sheldon, New York) it is truly remarked: “ More than half a century had swept by since the brilliant vision of Napoleon’s star burst upon tbe world. Men had nearly forgotten that a Napoleon dynasty ever existed. That it would ever be restored, few believed even in moments of inspired hope.” The same writer says: “The further the scholar extends his researches, the more he will be inclined to concede an originally Greek origin to the Bonaparte family.” 52 NINTH PROOF. perorship and the French Emperorship) have fallen. Plain facts demonstrate the fulfilment of this part of the prophecy. Let a head of the secular Roman Empire now (1820) be sought, and it can nowhere be found. But not a day can be men¬ tioned for more than 752 years before the birth of Christ, to the 18th of June, 1815, on which a head of the Roman Empire did not exist under one of the forms symbolized by the seven¬ headed Apocalyptic Beast described in this chapter. . . The Apostle asserts that he saw one of the heads of the beast ‘ as it were wounded unto death, and his deadly wound was healed : ’ and he afterwards speaks of the ‘ beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.’ It is evident, therefore, that the head which he saw thus wounded, was not the sixth, but the seventh head of the Roman beast. Historical facts will demonstrate this position ; for it is certain that the sixth head did not receive a mortal wound by the stroke of a sword, but rather a kind of natural death, by the Austrian Emperor abdi¬ cating the title of Emperor of the Romans. The head, there¬ fore, that was wounded unto death by the stroke of the sword, was the seventh, and the deadly blow was given it on the field of Waterloo. This point, therefore, is rendered certain by a plain matter of fact. It seems equally certain that the revival of the beast, under his eighth head or form of government, which was to be the same as one of the preceding seven, can be no other than a revival or restoration of the seventh head. In the hieroglyphical emblem which was exhibited to St. John, the wild beast appeared to revive in consequence of his deadly wound being healed. The identical wound, there¬ fore, which occasioned the death of the beast, was again healed. But the wound which the Apostle saw thus healed, was inflicted on the short-lived seventh head. This head has been shown to be the Francic Emperorship. Therefore the Francic Emperorship is the head whose deadly wound is destined to be healed. It is evident, therefore, that the head which was slain by the sword is to be the revived eighth head, which will nevertheless be one of the seven. In fact, it will be the seventh healed and restored.” An anonymous Exposition of the Apocalypse was published in 1829, predicting from the same interpretation of the seven heads that a French Emperor like the first Napoleon would arise a few years before 1867, and would perish at Christ’s PREDICTIONS CONCERNING NAPOLEON III. 53 Advent at the Battle of Armageddon, and that during his career he would most assuredly gain supremacy over Great Britain* (ch. xvii.). The Wild Beast’s seven Heads were similarly explained by the Rev. J. S. Jackson in his Millennial Church, in 1831. He said : “ The sixth Head (the Roman Emperorship) con¬ tinued till the subversion of the Germanic empire in the year 1806 ; and the seventh Head which was only to ‘ continue a short space’ (Rev. xvii. 10), arose immediately in the Franco-Italian Emperorship founded by Napoleon Bonaparte. It ‘ was,’ from 1806 to the Battle of Waterloo in June, 1815. And it then received a deadly wound, and now ‘ is not’ (a.d. 1831); but ‘yet is,’ or more properly ‘yet shall be’ (Rev. xvii. 8); it shall again spring up in the revival of the seventh Head of the Roman Beast, in its eighth form, which ‘ is of the seven and goeth into perdition’ (Rev. xvii. 11). Nor can * This writer’s expectation that the seventh-revived or eighth Head would be Bonaparte’s son has virtually been fulfilled, inasmuch as Louis Napoleon is the lineal heir of Napoleon I. He thus expressed his expectation : “ Who is tliis liery flying serpent that is to bring such destruction upon the nations ? Doubtless the same mystery as that contained in the text, the beast that ‘ was and is not, and yet is the eighth head of the beast, though of the seven,’ who is to lead up the confederation of the kings of the earth, to make war with the Lamb, and whom 1 Christ will destroy with the breath of his mouth, and consume with the brightness of his coming.’ Does the reader ask— When are we to look for a development of this new character who is thus predicted to appear in such fearful terms, who is ‘ to ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition;’ and at whose sudden re¬ appearance, ‘ they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life ?’ We answer : Await a few short years, and thou shalt be at no pains in answering the ques¬ tion. God will reveal him in his own time; but in the interval, we will throw out for thy meditation that Napoleon left a son, who was ushered into being with the ominous title of King of Home.” This writer correctly designates the Personal Antichrist as “the fiery flying serpent” (Is. xvi. 29); for whereas Isaiah (xiv. 8-27) tpyi- cally alludes to the overthrow of the literal Babylon, which oppressed Israel; yet it also predicts the future rise of a fiery flying serpent— the Antichrist, the mystical King of Babylon, or Assyrian—who shall more greviously afflict Palestine (verse 31), and to whom the description in Isaiah (xiv. 8-27) antitypically applies. Some have also typically applied it to Napoleon I.; its ultimate application, however, undoubtedly relates to Napoleon III., the last great Antichrist. The destruction of the Napoleons I., II., III. — the uncle, “son, and ne¬ phew,” seems to be referred to in verse 22. NINTH [’ROOF. 64 there be any reasonable doubt but that the seventh Head re¬ vived is the mystic Assyrian (Is. xxx., xxxi., Micah v. 5), and corresponds with the wilful king of Daniel ‘ who shall come to his end and none shall help him’ (Dan. xi. 45): uo less also than with ‘ that wicked whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming’ (2 Thess. ii. 8). A few short years may now suffice to prove who this portentous being, the re¬ vived seventh Head of the Roman Empire, shall be. The career of Napoleon Bonaparte, the seventh Head of the Homan Beast, was a kind of type or representation of the time of greater shaking and more intense convulsions, which await a guilty and suffering world under the despotism of the seventh revived Head and last form of the infidel power.” This writer also showed that the coming of Christ would be before or about 1868. The Rev. Edward Irving, in Ins published discourses upon Revelation (Part V.), delivered about 1825-30, speaks as fol¬ lows regarding the future appearance of a French Emperor who should be the seventh-eighth, or last Head of the Beast ; he also held that 18G7-8, as the end of the 1335 years (Dan. xii.), is the time of Christ’s descent on the earth to destroy Antichrist. “ To the seven sovereignties of Rome, Livy, Tacitus, and the other classical historians do help us in the enumera¬ tion of the first five, as is well proved in the Synopsis Prophetica of Henry More : Kings, Consuls, Consular Tribunes, Decemviri, Dictators. After these, for the sixth form of sovereignty we have Emperors. . . . Five ore fallen —these are the five enumerated from the Latin historians; one is —that is, the Head of Emperors, then in being and which continued in being until our times ; the other is not yet come, and when he eometh he must continue a short space. This seventh hath come in the late Emperor of the French, who having deposed the Emperor of Germany from the sovereignty of Rome, took that city into the bounds of the French Empire, and ruled over it and in it, as the Emperor of France, making it the second city of his dominions. So that with what truth the King of Great Britain is sovereign over the capital of Scotland or Ireland, with that same truth was Napoleon sovereign in Rome. And he abode a short time compared with the others; for lo, he is already gone, and Rome is actually at present (1829) without a temporal head— irving’s prophecy OF NAPOLEON III. for the prophet doth never contemplate the Pope as such. The Pope is but as an assessor to the Imperial head. Home, since the abdication of Napoleon, hath therefore been without a head : but is not long so to continue, for it is said £ the beast that was, and is not, he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition (Rev. xvii.). Here, for the first time, mention is made of an eighth head upon the Beast; but to account for the novelty, it is added it is of the seven —appa¬ rently an eighth, yet in some way included in the seven. . . Now if it should be the purpose of the Eternal and Almighty Governor of the universe to bring Napoleon Bonaparte’s son* forth in the footsteps of his father, so that in the revolution that is impending he should start into being as the sovereign of Rome, the prophecy would have its exact fulfilment; for while he was the eighth head, he would also be of the seven, . . . . both together constituting the personal Antichrist of the last days, who is to bring the judgments upon the Papacy to an end, and then to pass into perdition. His second title, ‘ that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit and goeth into per¬ dition,’ denotes the brief stay he is to be permitted to make upon this earth. We have already seen that he is to appear in the person of some one who is destined to exercise sway and authority in Rome, and to become the eighth Head, while he is also of the seven. And to his standard all the kingdoms of the Papacy are to join themselves ; and while at the head of this confederacy he is to execute signal vengeance upon Babylon.” * This has been completely fulfilled by Bonaparte’s nephew, Napo¬ leon III., whose continued occupation of Home is the stepping-stone to his elevation over all the Roman empire. Auberlen, on Daniel, p. 221, justly says : “ The Germanic empire knew no greater honour than to be a Holy Roman Empire of German nationality. And even before it was dissolved, Bonaparte had taken up the idea of the Roman Empire. His universal monarchy was essentially' and avowedly Roman ; his son was called King of Rome ; his nephew (Napoleon HI.), in order to found his power, distributed among the French army Roman eagles. The Roman Empire is the ideal which exerts fascinating power on the rulers of the world, which they are ever striving to realise, and will doubtless succeed in realising. Of all phenomena of history none bears more essential resemblance to Anti¬ christ than this demoniac Napoleonism, which from the outset iden¬ tified itself with the idea of the Roman Empire.” 56 TENTH PROOF A seventh expositor, the Rev. T. Jones, of Creaton, in 1836 gave the same explanation of the Wild Beast’s seven heads, in his treatise, “ The Interpretei',” and considered that the seventh revived or eighth head would be destroyed at Armageddon about or soon after 1866. He said : “ The woman (Rev. xvii. 3) is the Church of Rome, and the beast on which she rides is the Roman empire. The seven heads are seven mountains, and signify also seven forms of government. Five heads of the beast had fallen when John had the vision. The sixth head also fell at the time that the Austrian Emperor relinquished the title of Emperor of the Romans (in 1806). The seventh head is evidently Napoleon Bonaparte, ‘ who continued but a short time, and received the deadly wound by the sword ;’ and now (1836) ‘lie is not.’ The Roman empire has no head at present, but his ‘ deadly wound shall be healed’ in the eighth head, which is yet to come. This will be ‘ of the seven’—pro¬ bably of the seventh, that is of the same form of government with that of Bonaparte’s.” Another author, M. Habershon, in his Dissertation on the Prophetic Scriptures in 1840, likewise predicted on the same grounds the resuscitation of the Napoleon dynasty, or septimo octavo Head, although he did not distinctly, like the others, refer to 1864-7 as the time of the end. X. Because the End of this Dispensation is shown by ten dates and four septenaries to be about, or soon after 1872-3 ; and as the Antichrist is to be revealed seven years previously by making a covenant with the Jews, therefore he will soon have arrived at the time of his manifes¬ tation ; and no living person corresponds with his predicted character except Louis Napoleon. Not only has a man arisen who exactly answers to the description of the Personal Antichrist, but also the time has come when the rise of that Antichrist must necessarily be looked for. The Scriptures haVe foretold not less the circum¬ stances than the time of Antichrist’s, as well as of Christ’s presentation to Israel. It was prophesied of Christ that he should be born of a virgin (Is. vii. 14), of the family of Jesse (Is. xi. 1), at Bethlehem (Micah v. 2), and should temporarily reside in Egypt and Galilee (Matt. ii. 15, iv. 15), and should be a man of sorrows (Is. liii.), and that the time of his pre- NAPOLEON III. THE FOREORDAINED ANTICHRIST. 57 sentation to the Jews should be G9 weeks, or 483 years after the 7tb year of Artaxerxes (Dan. ix. 25). It is predicted concerning Antichrist, that he shall be the Eighth Head of the Roman Empire, have 66G contained in his name, possess Rome, be a mighty man of war, support the Papacy, become supreme over the Roman earth (Rev. xiii., xvii.), destroy many by peace, emerge from opprobrium to great fame (Dan. viii., xi.), and also make a seven-years’ Covenant with the Jews, seven years before the Consummation (Dan. ix. 27). Thus as Jesus could be recognised as the Christ, by Anna and Simeon (Luke ii.) and others who took heed to the sure, words of Prophecy, so Napoleon III. can be recognised as the Personal Antichrist, by those who vigilantly watch and discern the signs of the times. The fact of the End or Consummation being about or soon after 1872-73, re¬ quires Antichrist to make the Jewish Covenant about or soon after 1865, and Louis Napoleon is the only prophetic character in existence by whom such Covenant could properly be made. The ten dates,”' which combine in showing the End to *The following is a brief explanation of the dates: (1) The (>000 years from the Creation end about a.d. 1873. The computations of those who have most thoroughly studied the chronology of this date, such as Fynes Clinton, Sylvester Bliss, Revs. J. Scott, R. C. Shimeall, B. Saville, C. Bowen, all terminate it between 1862 and 1881. The Nativity of Christ was about the year 4128, anno mundi, which, added to 1872, makes up the 6000 years. Usher, according to whose chronology the Nativity was in 4004, omitted to reckon nearly 130 years in the time of the Judges, on which account his chronology is fundamentally erroneous. It was a general belief among the .lews and the Fathers that the millennium would commence with the per¬ sonal coming of Christ, 6000 years after the creation. (2) The 2520 years is the “ seven times" mentioned in Dan. iv. 16, and Lev. xvi. 18, during which the Jews were to have the pride of their power broken and be chastised for their unfaithfulness, and have their kingly power transferred to the four Gentile monarchies. A time means a Jewish year of 360 days, which by taking a day for a year, as in Numb. xiv. 34, Ezek. iv. 6, represent 360 years. The 2520 years commencing in 647-8 n.c., at the captivity 7 under Manasseh, and at the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s birth, will terminate in 1872-3, as the period of the full restoration to Palestine of the Jews that are spared at Christ’s Advent. (3) The 2500 years is a period of 50 times 50 years, ending with a Jubilee of Jubilees. It commences about 627-S B.C., at the time of the great passover in Josiah’s 18th year (2Chron. 58 TENTH PROOF. be .about 1872-3, .are the 6000, 2520 (seven times, Dan. iv.), 2500, 2300 (Dan. viii. 11), and 1335 years (Dan. xii. 12), which all terminate in 1872-3 : also the 1200, 1260 (Dan. 12), 666, 390, and 360 years (Rev. xiii., ix. 15. x 6), which ending respectively in 1821-8, 1791-8, 1868, 1814, and 1873, form additional links in the chronolo¬ gical chain of evidence. As regards the four septenaries— the 7 Heads of the Beast, the 7 Beals, 7 Trumpets, and 7 Vials—we are living under the seventh-revived or last Head of the Beast, and just before the fulfilment of the year-day 7th Seal, 7th Trumpet, and 7th Vial, which will last for about 5 years, from 1867-8 to 1872-73. At the time of their com¬ mencement, (Rev. vi. xi., 18, xvi. 15), the first stage in Christ’s Advent, His Coming in the air to translate the 111,000 Wise xxxv.), when the last Jubilee seems to have been kept, and ends in 1872-3 when, the next Jubilee will be celebrated at Christ’s Coming. (4) The 2300 years in Dan. viii. 13, 14, commence primarily in 456-7 B.C., at Ezra’s restoration of the sacrifices (Ez. vii.), and secondarily in 427-S B.C., at Nehemiah’s completed renewal of the sacrifices (Nek. xiii.), and thus brings us to 1843-4 as the commencement, and to 1872-3, as the completion of the cleansing of the sanctuary of the Holy Land by the destruction of Mahomedanism and the full restora¬ tion of Israel. (5), (6), and (7) The 1335, 1290, and 1260 year’s in Dan. xii. 7, 11, 12, have a common commencement in a. u. 533-8, when the temporal power of Popery was first established by Justi¬ nian’s Code. They end respectively in 1793-S, 1823-8, and 1873. The temporal power of the Pope was broken at the Erench Revolution, 1794-7 ; in 1824-7 the Mystic Euphrates or Turkish Empire began to dry up under the 6th Vial, precursory to Babylon’s overthrow ; and in 1872-3, the time of millennial blessedness will arrive. There is also a secondary fulfilment of the 1260 years from 606-12 to 1866-72. (8) The 666 years in Rev. xiii. 18, taken as a date and commencing 534-2 end in 1202 a.d., when the papal power reached its height. Carried on again from 1202, it ends in I860, the beginning of the 31 years’ Tribulation. (9) The 390 years in Rev. ix. 15, carried on twice from 1063, measures the duration of the Turkish Woe, and ends in 1843-4. (10) The 360 years in Rev. x. 6 is denoted by the phrase a time, which literally means a Jewish year, or 360 days, but prophetically 360 years. There shall be a time no longer, means “ There shall be 360 years no longer," from the Reformation m 1517, which Rev. x. describes, until the End. The dates and septenaries are also explained in diagrams I. and III., and more fully in the Author’s work : “ The Coming Battle.” It should be remembered that the year 1872, according to Jewish reckoning, ends about April or September, in 1873. THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 59 Virgins, takes place at the distance of about two years, and five or six weeks after the date of the seven-years’ Covenant (see Chap. II., Event 5). During the succeeding five years, the seals, trumpets, vials, and nearly all the dates in Daniel and Revelation, have their future recapitulated literal-day fulfilment. Their last-year-day fulfilment has been interpreted by more than a hundred expositors to show that the coming of Christ and end of this Dispensation would occur between 1864 and 1869-73. It is at this last-named year probably that the second translation and descent of Christ upon Mt. Olivet, at the Battle of Armageddon, will take j)lace, and Antichrist and his followers being slain, the Millennium will be fully inaugurated. From all these considerations it appears that whereas Napoleon Bonaparte slew his thousands, Louis Napoleon will slay his hundreds of thousands ; the former scourged men with whips, but the latter will chastise them with scorpions. The one only required homage to be offered to him as a King, but the other will demand worship to be rendered him as a god. The Uncle made Europe the principal theatre of his desolations ; but the Nephew will fill the four Continents of Europe, Africa, Asia, and America, with destruction and slaughter. The former unsuccessfully meditated, but the latter will triumphantly achieve, the humiliation and conquest of England, Russia, and Turkey. Satan was but experiment¬ ing when he raised up the first Napoleon as a Great Destroyer, but he has taxed his powers to the utmost to produce his most finished masterpiece, the Third Na 2 Joleon, who will be unapproachably the Greatest of all Destroyers. This chapter may be suitably concluded by the follow¬ ing practical address to the unconverted from M‘Clieyne’s sermons (published at Carter’s, New York ; and in Edinburgh). “ There is a great day coming, often spoken of in the Bible —the Day of Judgment—the Day when God shall judge the secrets of men’s hearts by Christ Jesus. The Christless will not be able to stand in that day. The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. At present, sinners have much bold¬ ness ; their neck is an iron sinew, and their brow brass. Many of them cannot blush when they are caught in sin. Is 60 THE COMING DAY OF JUDGMENT. it not amazing how bold sinners are in forsaking ordinances ? With what a brazen face will some men swear ! But it will not be so in a little while. When Christ shall appear—the holy Jesus, in all his glory—then brazen-faced sinners will begin to blush. Those that never prayed will begin to wail. Sinners, whose limbs carried them stoutly to sin and to the Lord’s Table, will find their knees knocking against one another. Who shall abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appears 1 When the books are opened— the one the book of God’s remembrance, the other the Bible— then the dead will be judged out of those things written in the books. Then the heart of the ungodly will die within them ; then will begin ‘ their shame and everlasting con¬ tempt.’ Mari}' wicked persons comfort themselves with this, that their sin is not known, and no eye sees them ; but in that day the most secret sins will be all brought out to the light. ‘ Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the Day of Judgment.’ How would you tremble and blush, oh wicked man, if the secret sins you have committed during your past life were known to your acquaintances ; all your secret fraud and cheating ; your secret uncleanness | your secret malice and envy ; how you would blush and be confounded ! How much more in that day, when the secrets of your whole life shall be made manifest before an assembled world ! What eternal confusion will sink down your soul in that day ! You will be quite chop- fallen ; all your pride and blustering will be gone. “ From the day you were born you who are unconverted have gone astray from the path of God’s commandments. Every year, month, week, day, hour, minute,^ias been filled up with sin. Every day has seen you go further from holi¬ ness, further from God, nearer to hell. You are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. Oh ! what a treasure ; heaping up fuel to burn you through eternity. If any of you live in drinking or swearing, or any one sin, you are heaping up fuel for your eternal hell. You are getting further on in your sin. You are wreathing your chains more and more round you. By a law of human nature, every time you sin, the habit becomes stronger, so that you are every day becoming more completely like the devil. It is every day more hard to turn. Experience shows that most people DANGER OF THE UNCONVERTED. 61 are converted when young. ‘ They that seek me early shall find me.’ “ The natural man is ignorant of God from the very womb. God is a stranger to him, so that he does not know Him. He has no true discovery of God’s infinite purity, of His immutable justice, and of the strictness of His law. He does not know the love of God, nor how freely he has provided a Saviour. He is mainly ignorant of God. (Psalm x. 4). ‘God is not in all his thoughts.’ Either he does not turn his mind upon God at all, or else he thinks Him altogether such an one as himself. ‘There is none that understandeth’ (Psalm xiv. 2). “ A new born child will naturally feel after its mother’s breast : it naturally sucks the breast. But it does not in the same maimer seek after God. ‘ There is none that seeketh after God.’ From the very first we dislike God. A child soon comes to relish the presence of its earthly parents, and of other children. But it does not relish the presence of God.* The natural tendency of the heart is to go away from God, and to remain out of His sight. A natural man does not like the presence of a very eminent saint. If he has full liberty, he will leave the room, and seek other company more suited to his taste. This is the very way he treats God. God is too holy for him ; Pie is too pure, and, there¬ fore, he does all he can to leave His company. This is the reason you cannot get unconverted men to pray in secret. They would rather spend half an hour in the tread-mill every morning than go to meet God. This is the state of all who are unconverted. Prom the time you were in the womb, till now, your wliple head and heart have been turned away from God. Gen. viii. 21. ‘ The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth,’ &c. Job xiv. 4. ‘Who can bring a clean * The importance of engaging much in secret prayer and medita¬ tion upon the Scriptures, is remarkably illustrated by many incidents in the thrillingly interesting.biography of George Muller, of Ashley- down Orphan Houses, Bristol, who, by contributions received in answer to faith and prayer, is maintaining more than 1000 orphans, besides carrying on a great work in Home and Foreign Missions, and has altogether expended £250,000. See The Lord's dealings with George Miiller, 604 p.p. — 3s. Cd. at Nisbet’s, London ; republished by Gould and Lincoln, Boston, U. S., as The Life of Trust. 62 THE BURNING LAKE AWAITING THE WICKED. thing out of an unclean, not one V Your tvhole nature is totally depraved. You are accustomed to think that you have some parts good ; that a great part of your life has been innocent. You admit that some pages of your life are stained with crimson and scarlet sins ; some pages you blush to look back upon ; but surely you have some fair leaves also. Learn that you are ‘ estranged from the womb.’ Every moment you have spent without God, and turning away from God ; every page has got this written at the top of it, This day God was not in all his thoughts, he did not like to retain God in his knowledge. Genesis vi. 5. ‘ Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.’ “ The place in hell is quite ready for every unconverted soul. When Judas died, the Scriptures say, ‘ he went to his own place.’ It was his own place before he went there, being quite prepared and ready for him. As when a man retires at night to his sleeping room, it is said he is gone to his own room, so a place in hell is quite ready for every Christless person. It is his own place. When the rich man died and was buried, he was immediately in his own place. He found everything ready. He lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torments. So hell is quite ready for eve^ Christless person. It was prepared, long ago, for the devil and his angels. The fires are all quite ready, aud fully lighted and burn¬ ing. “ All ! should Christless souls, then make mirth ! A malefactor might, perhaps, say that he would be merry as long as the scaffold was not erected on which he was to die. But if he were told that the scaffold was quite ready, that the sword was sharpened, and the executioners standing ready, oh ! would it not be madnfcss to make mirth ] Alas 1 this is your madness, poor Christless soul. You are not only condemned, but the sword is sharpened and ready, that is to smite your soul ; and yet you can be happy, and dream away your days and nights in pleasures that perish in the using. The disease is ready, the arrow is on the string, the grave is ready, yea, hell itself is ready, your own place is made ready ; and yet you can make mirth ! You can play games and enjoy company. How truly is your laughter like the crackling of thorns under a pot : a flashy blaze and then the blackness of darkness for ever ! HELL-TORMENTS OF ALL THE FINALLY LOST. 63 “ You are not only condemned, and not only is the sword ready, but it may fall on you at any one moment. Your head is, as it were, on the block. Your neck is bared before God, and the whetted sword is held over you ; and yet can you make mirth 1 Can you take up your mind with business and worldly things, and getting rich, building and planting, and this night your soul may be required of you ! Can you fill up your time with games and amusements, and foolish books and entertaining companions 1 Can you fill up your hours after work with loose talk and wanton behaviour, adding sin to sin, treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, when you know not what hour the wrath of God may come upon you to the uttermost ? Can you go prayerless to your bed at night, your mind filled with dark and horrid imaginations not fit to be named, and yet you may be in hell before the morning l “ When the day of grage is done, when the sinner sinks into hell, the Spirit will strive no more. There will be no family worship in hell, no Bible read, no Psalms sung. There will be no Sabbath in hell, no preached gospel, no watchman to warn you of your sin and danger. The voice of the watchman will be silent, the danger has come, your doom will be past, and no room for repentance. There will be no more convictions by the Spirit. Conscience will condemn, but it will not restrain. Your hearts will then break out. All your hatred to God, the fountains of contempt and blasphemy in your heart will be all broken up. You will blaspheme the God of Heaven. All your lusts and impurities that have been pent up and repressed by restraining grace and the fear of man, will burst forth with amazing impetuosity. You will be wicked and blasphemous as the devils around you. Oh the misery of this ! it is an evil thing and bitter. The way of transgressors is hard. Ah ! sinners, you will yet find sin the hardest of all masters : you will yet find your grovelling lusts to be worse than the worm that never dies. ‘ He that is unjust let him be unjust still.’ Rev. xxii. 11 . “ When the day of grace is past, all holy creatures will cast you away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, for the Lord hath rejected them. The angels will no longer take an interest in you. They will know that it is not fit they should pity you any more. Y ou will be tormented in the presence of 64 FUTURE MISERY OF THE DAMNED. the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb (Rev. xiv. 10). The redeemed will no longer pray for you, nor shed another tear for you. They will see you condemned in the judgment, and not put in one word for you. They will see you depart into everlasting fire and yet not pray for you. They will see the smoke of your torments going up for ever and ever, and yet cry, Allelujah ! Ministers will no more desire your salvation. It will no more be their work. The number of the saved will be complete without you; the table will be full. Ministers will bear witness against you in that day. Even devils will cast you off. As long as you remain on earth the devil keeps you in his train ; he flatters you, and gives you many tokens of his friendship and esteem ; but soon he will cast you off. You will be no longer pleasant to him ; you will be a part of his torment ; and he will hate you and torment you, because you deceived him, and he deceived you. “ At present, unconverted men are often very self-compla¬ cent. They love to employ their faculties ; the wheels of their life go smoothly ; their affections are pleasant. Memory has many pleasant green spots to look back upon. How different when the day of grace is done ! 1. The understanding will be clear and able to apprehend the real nature of your misery. Your mind will then see the holiness jof God, his almighti- ness, his majesty. You will see your own condemned condi¬ tion, and the depth of your hell. 2. The will in you will be all contrary to God’s will, even though you see it add to your hell; yet you will hate all that God loves, and love all that God hates. 3. Tour conscience is God’s vicegerent in the soul. It will accuse you of all your sins. It will set them in order and condemn you. 4. Your affections will still love your kindred (Luke xvi. 28). Earthly fathers who are evil know how to give good gifts to their children. Even in hell you will love your own kindred ; but oh ! what misery it will cost you, when you hear them sentenced along with you. 5. Your memory will be very clear. You will remember all your mis-spent Sabbaths, your sermons heard, as if you did not hear; your place in the house of God, your minister’s face and voice, the bell : through millions of ages after this, you will remember these, as if yesterday. 6. Your anticipations. Everlasting despair. Oh, how you will wish THE SUFFERINGS UNDERGONE IN HELL-FIRE. G5 that you had never been ! How you will wish to tear out of your memory these tender affections, this accusing conscience ! You will seek death, and it will flee from you. This, this it is, to be lost! This is everlasting destruction ! “ Oh do not keep away from Christ now. Now lie says, Come ; soon, soon he will say, Depart. Oh do not resist the Holy Spirit now. Now he strives, but he will not always strive with you. Soon, soon he will leave you. Oh do not despise the word of ministers and godly friends. Now they plead with you, weep for you, pray for you. Soon they will be silent as the grave, or sing hallelujah to see you lost. Oh do not be proud and self-admiring. Soon you will loathe the very sight of yourself, and wish you had never been. “ When a poor sinner cleaves to Jesus, and finds the for¬ giving love of God, he cannot but love God back again. When the prodigal returned home and felt his father’s arras around his neck, then did he feel the gushings of affection towards his father. When the summer sun shines full down upon the sea, it draws the vapours upward to the sky. So when the sun¬ beams of the Son of Righteousness fall upon the soul, they draw forth the constant risings of love to Him in return. “ If you love an absent person you will love their picture. What is that the sailor’s wife keeps so closely wrapped in a napkin, laid up in her best drawer, among sweet smelling flowers ? She takes it out morning and evening, raid gazes at it through her tears. It is the picture of her absent hus¬ band. She loves it because it is like him. It has many imperfections, but still it is like. Believers are the pictures of God in this world. The spirit of Christ dwells in them. They walk as he walked. True, they are full of imperfections ; still they are real copies. If you love him, you will love them. You will make them your bosom friends. “ Learn the amazing love of Christ. He was the only one that knew the wickedness of the beings for whom he died. He that searches the hearts of sinners died for them. His eye alone had searched their hearts; aye, was searching at the time he came. He knew what was in men; yet he did not abhor them on that account—he died for them. It was not for any goodness in man that he died for man. He saw none. It was not that he saw little sin in the heart of man, that he pitied him and died for him. He is the only being E 66 THE LOVE OF CHRIST TO SINNERS. in the universe that saw all the sin that is in the unfathomable heart of man. He saw to the bottom of the volcano, and yet he came and died for man. Herein is love! When publicans and sinners came to him on earth, he knew what was in their hearts. His eye had rested on their bosoms all their life, he had seen all the lusts and passions that had ever rankled there ; yet in no wise did he cast them out. So with you. His eye hath seen all your sins ; the vilest, darkest, blackest hours you have lived, his pure eye was resting on you; yet he died for such, and invites you to come to him, and will in no wise cast you out. ‘ God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ (John iii.) “ Look to the cross. Behold the amazing gift of love. Salvation is promised to a look. Sit down like Mary, and gaze upon a crucified Jesus. So will the world become a dim and dying thing. When you gaze upon the sun, it makes every thing else dark ; when you taste honey, it makes every thing else tasteless : so when your soul feeds on Jesus, it takes away the sweetness of all earthly things 3 praise, pleasure, fleshly lusts, all lose their sweetness. Keep a continued gaze. Bun, looking unto Jesus. Look, till the way of salvation by Jesus fills up the whole horizon, so glorious and peace-speak¬ ing. So will the world be crucified to you, and you unto the world.’ N.B.—The above-mentioned periods of 2300,1835, 1290,1260, and 360 days have a double fulfilment—both ycar-dav and literal-day—in common with the greater part of Daniel and Revelation. And although fulfilled typically as years accord¬ ing to the precedent in Numbers xiv. 31. Ezek. iv. 6, yet their chief fulfilment is as literal days during the final 7 years following the Covenant—Dan. ix. 27. The chronological position of twenty leading events of tho final 7 years and 24 months of the Christian Dispensation, which commence with Louis Napoleon’s Covenant with the Jews, and end with his destruction. J Eirst Event.—Confirmation of a seven-years Covenant between Napoleon and the Jews, exactly 7 years and 2J months before the End—Dan. ix. 27. In prophetic calculations, a year is always reckoned as containing 360 days, or 12 months of 30 days each. In this diagram, Daniel and Revelation, unless otherwise stated, are taken only in their literal-day fulfilment, wherever they have any. Second Event.—Renewal of the Jewish sacrifices at Jerusalem, 9 months, or nine months and 25 days after the Covenant—Dan. viii. 14. Xbird Event.—The complete overthrow of the Turk ish Empire, at some period during the first two of the seven years—Year-day. Rev. xvi. 12. fourth Si vent.—The three expe¬ ditions of Napoleon against Egypt will occur during the first 3 years— probably the first in the 1st or 2d year, and the second and third in the 2d or 3d year—Dan. xi. 25 to 42. fifth Event.—The coming of Christ in the air. resurrection of the Sixth Event.—Great revival of religion Saints and translation among the foolish virgins of the 144,000 Wise Yir- and tho unconverted that gins about the 5th or are left on the earth— 6th week of 3rd year. Rev. vi. 2 and xiv. 6. Rev. xiv. 1-5 and xii. 5. S 10 fc. I]] Il2 112 7 8 9 | 0 | Seventh Kvent.—The first 4 trumpets in this and next 8 months. Eighth Event,—War in Heaven & casting down of Satan, Rv.xii. 9. IVintik Event.—Flight of many saints into the wilderness, Rv. xii. 14. Xentli Event.—Fall of Babylon, or change of Popery (as well as spiritualism) into Napoleonism—Rev. xiii.-xvii. 11th Event.—Napoleon supreme over England and part of America. Xwelftlk Event.—The ten kingdoms submit to Napoleon—Rv. xvii. Xlairteentli and Eifteentli Event.—The 1st Woe of supernatural locusts, for twice five mos. from the 12th day of month 10 of year 4— Rev. ix. .[Fourteenth Events.- Tliese both begin with the 7th month of the 4th year, in the midst of the seven years. The 18th is the institu¬ tion and continu¬ ance for 3£ years of the worship of Napoleon, after he has assaulted Jeru¬ salem, and had his image placed in the temple—Rev. xiii. The 14th event is the 31 yrs. testimony of the 2 Witnesses, and their slaughter and resurrection -Rev. xi. The 1290 and 1835 days begin with these events. Seventeenth Event.—Conversion of millions of persons, chiefly among the heathen between the two translations, and especially from the 3rd month of the 7th year until the end—Rev. x. Sixteenth Event.—The 2nd Woe, or conflicts of the horsemen, for twice a year and month from the 19th day of month 12 of year 5—Rev. xi.—This mainly constitutes the .Armageddon War. O gV O © © © jgl e mi 30® cj sJ ° © ^ » p. ^ P g o Pi b‘© & SJ tflOQ P°P O ££*+■ © © (JQ © © £ ipfS CD 2.0 •-* CO CJ £_• ~“oq tr p z a® *^.'p &es ~(JQ P £ P H X O a m s > -3 CQ “ m c r kj 2 a, S CO <*< P: © *—s» io ro i*o X Z 3-go S? o' «o !:S p C5 2 End of the 31 y ears of Napoleon’s universal power .! IlStli Event.—Total darkness and literal fulfilment of 7 Vials begins. |j.9tli Event.—Second translation, 4 days before the end (1335th day) 20t!i Event.—Third Woe—Battle of Armageddon, & descent of Christ TWENTY COMING EVENTS. 69 CHAPTER II. The arrangement in consecutive order of twenty LEADING EVENTS THAT MAY BE EXPECTED TO OCCUR DURING THE CLOSING SEVEN YEARS AND 2J- MONTHS OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. The seven years’ Covenant, which is to be made between Louis Napoleon and the Jews, exactly seven years and 2 A months before the end of this Dispensation, constitutes the starting-point for these twenty events. During the first 3|- years of the seven years, twelve out of these twenty events occur; and during the second 3| years of the seven years, together with the additional 2£ months (Dan. xii. 12), the remaining eight of the twenty events take place. A list of them, enumerated seriatim, is given in the preliminary table of contents. If the Covenant is made before October, in 1865, then the seven years and 2£ months will of course extend from 1865 to 1872, and the first 3| years, including the twelve events, will be from 1865 to 1868-9 ; and the second 3 A years, with the 2-1- months, including the remaining eight events, will be from 1868-9 to 1872. But if the Covenant should be made between October 16, 1865, and October 16, 1866, then the seven years and 24 months would extend from 1865-6 to 1872-73. The fact of 1S71-2 seeming, from the prophetic dates, to be the End of this Dispensation, makes it exceedingly probable that the Covenant will be made in 1864-5; but still, if it is made a year or two later, the difference will be com¬ paratively small. The evidence of the prophetic dates, as well as the circumstance that Louis Napoleon will be 64 years old in 1872, shows that the destruction of Antichrist at the End of this Dispensation cannot be much later than 1872, and consequently the Covenant cannot be made much later than 1864-5. As it is absolutely certain, beyond all possibility of doubt, that Antichrist will be destroyed by the descent of Christ at Armageddon, exactly seven years and 21- months after the date of the Covenant, we only have to wait until the 70 CONFIRMATION OF THE COVENANT. date of the Covenant is ascertained, and shall then know almost to a day the precise time of the Consummation. Event I.— The Confirmation of a seven years’ Cove¬ nant between Napoleon and the Jews (Dan. ix. 27). It is universally admitted that 69 of Daniel’s 70 weeks (Dan. ix. 25, 26) terminated just before Christ began his public ministry, and that they signified 69 weeks of years, or 483 years, which commenced about 4-57 B.c. The remaining 70th week, or seven years, is considered by many expositors to be unfulfilled until the closing period of the Gentile economy, when lie (the Antichrist) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (7 years), and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and . . . shall make it desolate, even until the consummation (Dan. ix. 27). The conclusion of a seven years’ league between the Jews and some earthly potentate, which shall speedily lead to the restoration of their sacrifices at Jerusalem, will therefore be a clearly defined landmark, showing that in seven years’ time the epoch of the consummation will be reached. An addi¬ tional 75 days (1335-1260, or 2’- months, is mentioned in Dan. xii. 12, which makes 7 years and 2.1 months to be the exact interval between the date of the Covenant and the time of blessedness, when Christ will commence the millennium by descending on Mount Olivet. Daniel’s 70th week is explained at greater length in Chapter III. of this treatise. The recent French expedition to Syria shows Napoleon’s intention to obtain possession of Jerusalem; and in taking this step he is only carrying out the plans of the first Napo¬ leon, who convened an assembly of the Jews at Paris, and meditated their restoration to Palestine under bis protector¬ ship. It is natural to suppose, that in case of the Jews being guaranteed secure possession of the Holy Land, the other European Powers would be consenting parties to the compact as well as France; but the exclusive mention of Antichrist as the maker of the Covenant implies that he will be the prime mover in the transaction, and he alone is specified, as all the other European Powers will soon be subordinate to him. As soon as the seven-years’ compact between Napoleon and the Jews is made, there will be a great stir and move- CONFIRMATION OF THE COVENANT. 71 ment among those Christians whe arc “ discerning the signs of the times,” and “giving heed to the sure word of Prophecy.” They will accept it as a positive proof and un¬ mistakable signal that, in two or three years’ time, Christ will come into the air, to take away from the earth the 144,000 wise virgins ; and they will forthwith proceed to raise a loud and continuous proclamation of these heart-thrilling and momentous truths. When the midnight cry, “ Behold the Bridegroom cometh,” is thus made, all the virgins, foolish as well as wise, will awake ; and those that are foolish will begin too late to endeavour to obtain the oil of prophetic knowledge, and will find themselves incapable of acquiring sufficient understanding of the prophecies to enable them fully to confess Christ’s impending Advent, so as to be included among the Wise Virgins. Many professing Christians, and even some who are truly converted, will undoubted!}' join with the ungodly world in bitterly opposing and persecuting those who boldly testify to these truths. So strong and deeply rooted is the general prejudice against the Second Advent, that it is not likely that any fulfilment of prophecy, however startling and extraordinary, will really convince the generality of nominal Christians, although it may make them less unwilling to listen to these views than heretofore. Nothing less than the disappearance of the Wise Virgins, and the terrors of the subsequent 31- years’ great tribulation, will pro¬ duce a general belief in Churches that the Day of Judgment has indeed commenced. Ministers who at the present time will venture to disturb the false peace of them hearers, by faithfully and emphatically declaring these things, must inevitably expect to see a considerable part of their congrega¬ tion, especially the wealthier members, withdraw to some other church, where the preacher will “ speak smooth things, and prophesy deceits.” It is morally impossible that those whose hearts are fixed upon the treasures of this world will submit to be continually told that, in two or three years’ time, Christ will personally come to remove his waiting people, and to pour out desolating judgments over the whole earth; they will rather prefer, like the ostrich, to bury their head in the sand of temporary forgetfulness of such an alarming prospect, and to continue, like the ante¬ diluvians, immersed in the business and pleasures of this life, 72 RENEWAL OF THE JEWISH SACRIFICES. until the Wise Virgins are caught up into the ark of the Heavenly Jerusalem, and the flood of the 3.1 years’ great tribulation sweeps away the unrepentant into perdition. It must be expected that many ministers of eminence, and even of piety, will come forward with an imposing array of arguments to prove that, notwithstanding all the startling signs of the times, the Advent of Christ is yet many years distant. Great divisions w'ill arise in churches, and probably not a few preachers will be ejected from their pulpits, for daring to confess these truths; but the “wise virgins, who understand,” will possess the sustaining assurance, in the midst of opposition, that in about two years and from four to six weeks from the date of the Covenant (as shown in diagram 4, by the position of the Manchild’s rapture) Christ will take them up from among unbelieving scoffers, to meet him in the air; and “ when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for ive shall see him as he is.” Event II. Renewal op the Jewish sacrifices and temple-worship at Jerusalem 9 months, or 9 months and 25 days after the Covenant (Dan. viii. 13, 14). One of the first objects to which the Jews, who are induced by the seven-years’ treaty to migrate to Jerusalem, and those who are already settled there, will naturally turn their attention, will be the re-establishment of their temple-worship and the restoration of the ceremonies of the Mosaic ritual. In Dan. viii. 13, this is foretold to happen 2300 days before the sanctuary is cleansed (by Antichrist’s destruction at Armageddon), and as the last-mentioned event takes place exactly 7 years and 24 months after the date of the Covenant, it results that the sacrifices will be commenced just 295 days, or 9 months and 25 days, after the date of the Covenant, and at the distance of 2300 days before the end of the 7 years and 24 months (or 2595 days). The passage in Dan. viii. 13, 14, reads thus: “ 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 under foot 2 ” that is to say: How long will the period be during which the sacri¬ fices will first be restored, and then after their removal the desolation of the sanctuary will continue ? The answer is, Unto 2300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. It is RENEWAL OF THE JEWISH SACRIFICES. 73 manifest that the sacrifices beginning 9 months and 25 days after the Covenant will only continue for 965 days, or 2 years 8 months and 5 days, until the end of the first 3|- years, because in the midst of the week of 7 years Antichrist will cause the sacrifice to cease . . . and make it desolate until the consum¬ mation (Dan. ix. 27). The period of the subsequent desola¬ tion of the temple, by the setting up of Napoleon’s image there, extends over the latter 31- years of the 7 years and the supplementary 21 months (Dan. xii. 7-12, liev. xi. 2, lit. ful.). Thus 965 of the 2300 days constitute the period of the daily sacrifice, and the remaining 1335 of the 2300 days constitute the period of the desolation of the sanctuary by the substitu¬ tion of the worship of Napoleon’s image, instead of the sacrifices. The analogy of the year-day fulfilment of the 2300 days shows that there will probably be a partial renewal of the sacrifices 9 months after the Covenant, and a partial cleansing of the sanctuary 25 days before the Consummation. It is said that the Jews consider Mount Moriah, upon which the Mahommedan Mosque of Omar is now standing, to be the only proper place for the offering of their sacri¬ fices, in virtue of its having been the consecrated site of Solomon’s Temple; and the fact of its being in the hands of the uncircumcised, constitutes the main impediment to the re¬ institution of their sacrificial rites. Louis Napoleon’s approaching Covenant with them will probably permit the conversion of this Mosque of Omar into a Jewish temple. It will then be appropriately fitted up with altars and sacrificial tables and vessels; and the daily temple-services will be strictly observed, accompanied with the burning of incense, and the slaying of oxen and lambs (Isaiah lxvi. 3). It is within their temple that Napoleon is to be wor¬ shipped as God (2. Thess. ii.), 31 years after the date of the Covenant. The great amelioration in the condition of the Jews throughout the world, and the improvement in the aspect of Jerusalem itself during the last few years, unequivocally indicate the partial restoration of Israel under the Antichrist to be close at hand. A resident, comparing Jerusalem with what it was seventeen years ago, says : “ The city was poor and miserable in its appearance, the houses mean and dirty 74 DRYING-UP OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. the streets narrow and crooked. Now the streets are wide and straight, and alive with the busy hum of traffic. Many handsome dwellings have been erected, with beautiful gardens attached, in which flourish all the luscious fruits of this favoured clime. Fine churches, synagogues, hospitals, dis¬ pensaries, hotels, and stores are everywhere met with; and rich men from Constantinople, Babylon, Bagdad, Damascus, Egypt, England, France, and other places, have contributed to improve and beautify Jerusalem. The British Consul at Jerusalem, in an official communication in 1861, stated that ever since 1844 many Jews have returned to Palestine, and the ill-treatment they formerly met with from Mahomedans has to a great extent ceased. A most noticeable symptom of their preparing for some concerted movement is the formation in Paris in 1860 of a “ Universal Israelite Alliance,” to facili¬ tate communication among themselves in every quarter of the globe. Event III. The complete drying-up of the Turkish Em¬ pire, consisting partly of the separation of Syria from Turkey, within two or three years after the Covenant. There is no sign of the times that testifies more clearly to the nearness of Christ’s coming than the decay of the Turkish power. Several hundred expositors who have written during the last 300 years agree that the drying-up of the River Euphrates in its year-day fulfilment must denote the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire, as we read in Rev. xvi. 12 : “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the 'water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the East (the Jews) might be prepared. . Behold, I come as a thief.” The Advent of Christ is here stated to happen immediately after the drying-up of the Turkish Empire, and therefore cannot take place until the Empire is dissolved. As long as the integrity of Turkey is maintained, Christ will delay his coming; but almost directly it is overthrown, the Saviour’s Advent will occur. The prophecy is as plain as if these very words had been written in the Bible : AS SOON AS THE TURKISH EMPIRE IS DISSOLVED, THE SECOND ADVENT WILL TAKE PLACE. It is evident from Dan. viii. 9, 23, that the four kingdoms DRYING UP OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 75 of Greece, Egypt, Syria, and what is now nearly all the rest of Turkey, are distinctly to reappear just before Christ’s Advent, and this constitutes another remarkable sign of the times, in¬ asmuch as both Greece and Egypt have been dissevered from Turkey since 1822, and it only remains for Syria to be divided off from Turkey, and then the four kingdoms will re-exist. These will be four of the ten kingdoms that are to be ranged under the military feoffship of Napoleon during his 3£ years’ reign as Antichrist, and therefore there is no ground for the appre¬ hension that they will ever be permanently absorbed into Russian territory. It is, however, a question whether the Czar might not assume the title of king over one of them, and thus become one of Napoleon’s ten vassal kings. But it seems rather to be intimated that Russia may soon assist to break up the Turkish Empire, and perhaps even seize Constanti¬ nople, and then be driven back by Napoleon and the other European powers. The seizure of Constantinople and over¬ throw of the Turkish government will probably constitute the complete drying-up of the mystic Euphrates. Event IV. The Successful Invasion of Egypt by Napo¬ leon within 2 or 3 years after the Covenant. In Dan. xi. 21 to 31* (where “ the vile person or “king * 21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peace¬ ably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken ; yea, also the prince of the covenant. 23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully :. for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army ; but he shall not stand : for they shall forecast devices against him. 2G Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain. 28 Then shall he return into his land with great riches, and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land. 29 At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south ; but it shall mot be as the former, or as the latter. 30 For the ships of Ohittim shall come against him : therefore he 76 NAPOLEON’S INVASION OF EGYPT. that shall do according to his will ” (verse 36), is generally admitted to mean the Antichrist, and the kings of the North and the South to signify the sovereigns of Syria and Egypt) it is clearly predicted that after the Antichrist has made the seven- years’ league with the Jews, he will successfully invade Egypt, and defeat the army of the Sovereign of Egypt with great slaughter, and then return to his own land with exceedingly valuable spoil. The time of this event is distinctly mentioned as being between the making of the Covenant (ver. 23) and the setting up of the Abomination 3-1- years subsequently (ver. 31), and is most probably from 6 months to 2 years after the date of the Covenant, in which case it will take place before the Translation of the Wise Virgins. But still it may possibly occur just after the First Translation. The.Antichrist is further represented as remaining for an interval in his own land, and then again returning toward Egypt (about 2 or 3 years after the Covenant), but is opposed by the “ships of Chittim,” which most probably mean the English navy, since there is no other fleet that would be likely to offer any effectual resistance to his progress. Being caused by this opposition to return back to his land, he determines in his indignation to break the Covenant which he had entered into with the Jews. To this end he returns for the third time toward Egypt and Palestine, and holds communication with some apostate Jews in Jerusalem who are willing to have the provisions in the Covenant regarding divine worship violated. By force of arms the daily sacrifice is then taken away, and the abomination of desolation, which is the image of Napoleon himself, is set up in the Jewish temple. This third expedition of Napoleon against Egypt and Palestine is apparently 7 described at fuller length in verses 40, 41, which are retrospective, and which chronologically precede verse 31, because the time of the end , at which they are stated^to commence, is spoken of in Dan. xii. 1 as that time shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do ; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. 31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. NAPOLEON’S INVASION OP EGYPT. 77 when Michael shall stand up, which is evidently Michael’s war with Satan (Rev. xii. 7) seven months before Napoleon’s 3 | years’ persecution. The King of Egypt, assisted by the King of Syria with many ships, which he will probably obtain from some friendly maritime power, is represented as coming against Napoleon, who nevertheless overflows and passes over and enters into the glorious land (Palestine), and this is doubtless the period when he encompasses Jerusalem with his armies and sets up his image in the Temple. The com¬ mencement of the conflict between Napoleon and the con¬ federate kings of Syria and Egypt is additionally indicated to be about 6 or 7 months before the 3) years’ persecution, by the fact that there could not be many ships in the vicinity of Europe at a later period, because the ships in the third part of the sea (the part nearest Europe) will be destroyed under the second trumpet (Rev. viii.) 4 or 5 months before the 3| years begin. The subjugation of England by Napoleon does not take place until about the beginning of this 3| years, and therefore there is no reason why the ships of Chittim and the many ships may not be identical with the British navy. The remaining 4 years of Napoleon’s career after his victory over the kings of Egypt and Syria are described in verses 41 to 45. It seems that he will have possession of Jerusalem during the 3| years’ Tribulation, and then, while elsewhere, will receive unpleasant tidings, which will cause him to lead up a vast army to exterminate the Jews. Having encamped with his hosts upon the glorious holy mountain between the seas (the Mediterranean and Dead Sea), he will suddenly come to his end, and none s/tall help him. Event V. The Coming of Christ in the Air, the Resur¬ rection of the sleeping saints, and Translation of the 144,000 Wise Virgins (or Manchild, Rev. xii. 5) about two years and from four to six weeks after the Covenant. (Rev. xiv. 1—5. Thess. iv. 16. This event is shown in many passages of Scripture to take place before the 3| years’ Great Tribulation (see Chapter iv.), and the precise time of its occurrence is discovered by the chronological position of the Rapture of the Manchild (Rev. xii. 5) in the literal-day fulfilment, being ascertained 78 FIRST STAGE IN THE ADVENT. from its chronological position in the year-day fulfilment. The different visions of the Seals, Trumpets, Vials, rey (ver. 12), which is the very act attributed to the Anti¬ christ, who is termed the Assyrian in Isaiah x. G—“ I will give him a charge to take the. spoil and to take the prey /” and Gog is again shown to be the great Antichrist who is the universal subject of all the prophecies, by the statement (ver. 17): “ Art thou he of whom / have spoken in old time by my servants the. p>rophets of Israel, ivhich prophesied in those days many years that I would briny thee against them ? ” These words fully demonstrate the utter fallacy of the view by which Gog is taken to signify the Czar of Russia, for whereas the whole Bible is full of types and direct predictions concerning the last Antichrist, there is scarcely a single allu¬ sion in all prophecy to the Emperor of Russia. Understand¬ ing Napoleon, then, to be the Gog of Ezek. xxxviii., we find that his expedition against the Jews, after their return to Palestine, as described in verse 12, takes place while “ they are at rest and dwelling safely ’ (ver. 11), and must therefore be previous to the final 3£ years, during which they are to be “ trodden underfoot" (Luke xxi. 24, Rev. xi. 2), and cruelly persecuted, and many of them “ led away into captivity ’ (Zech. xiv. 2, Luke xxi. 24). All the parallel prophecies seem to show that this expedition will be during the six months which precede the closing 3| years, and will either be a little after or at the same time as the coming of “the ships of Chit tint ’ against the Antichrist. When this vast Antichristian host sets out to invade the Holy Land, “Sheba and Dedan, and the mer¬ chants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, by which the generality of reliable expositors understand England to be denoted, will say to Gog — that is, Napoleon :—“Art thou come jO take a spoil l Hast thou gathered thy company to take a, prey?' Ac. (ver. 13). The expostulation is evidently unavail¬ ing, as Gog pursues his onward march to Palestine, and is ultimately destroyed there about 3^ years after his first inva • sion of the land. It might appear, from a superficial perusal 102 NAPOLEON TO SUBDUE ENGLAND. of Ezek. xxxviii., that Gog's overthrow immediately follows his irruption into Palestine ; other prophecies, however, plainly show that he first invades Palestine, and continues his military occupation of it for about 3£ years, at the end of which he assembles a countless host upon the plains of Megiddo to fight with the Lamb, but “ comes to his end, none helping him.” The circumstance of England (the merchants of Tarshish) op¬ posing Gog (Napoleon) when he first marches against the Jews, just before the last 3b years, shows that she will have retained her independence up to that time, while the fact of her opposition proving unsuccessful, viewed in connection with the portentous silence maintained in Ezek. xxxviii. as to her subsequent fate, leads to the conclusion that it is at that very point of time that Napoleon vanquishes and subjugates her, and this conclusion is fully confirmed by other parallel pro¬ phecies. (6.) England is implied to be the scene of Napoleon’s 3£ years’ relentless warfare with the saints (Rev. xiii.), because a wilderness, apparently in America, is represented in Rev. xii. 14 as the only spot where a hiding-place from the murderous assaults of Antichrist will be found. Napoleon, as the Antichrist, is “ to make war with the saints and to over¬ come them” (Rev. xiii.) throughout the whole world, with the exception of those who have escaped before the 3J years into the wilderness. Christianity is outwardly to be almost extirpated by him through all Christendom. This could never be the case unless he subdued England, which contains a very large proportion of those in Europe who are true Christians. In fact, the predicted universality of Antichrist’s military, civil, and ecclesiastical power during the final 31- years, is such as to preclude all possibility of England remain¬ ing unsubdued by him. It must be remembered that the ungodly, who constitute nine-tenths of the population even in England and America, will be dazzled by the attractiveness and glory of Antichrist, and will spontaneously cluster around him as their Head, for God shall send them strong delusion; and thus the submission of England to Napoleon, the Anti¬ christ, may take place without much opposition on the part of many of its inhabitants. NAPOLEON TO SUBDUE ENGLAND. 103 (7.) Retribution for national sins must be meted out to England as well as to every other country at the time of the -great tribulation, when all the nations of the earth are to ‘be chastised ; and the Antichrist is specially appointed by Providence as a scourge to inflict the chastisement ; therefore on this ground alone it must be expected that England will fall under Napoleon’s power. Among her national sins may be mentioned the patronage of Paganism, by giving annual contributions to the maintenance of heathen temples in India— aud of Popery, by making annual grants to Maynooth College and to Roman Catholic schools and chaplains; also the acquire¬ ment of a revenue of five million pounds sterling from the opium traffic with China, by which half a million Chinese are annually poisoned. It must likewise be borne in mind that the fearful prevalence in England of Sabbath-breaking, drunk¬ enness, and immorality will be visited with much severer vengeance than in the case of countries that have not enjoyed such abundant religious privileges. (8.) The first six Vials of Wrath, in their year-day fulfil¬ ment from 1789 to 1866-7, are only poured out on special localities exterior to England, but the seventh Vial (from 1866-7 to 1872) is poured into “the air,” whereby its univer¬ sality is denoted. “ A great and mighty earthquake ”—that is, a terrible world wide Revolution, will be caused by it. From its tremendous effects it is hopeless for England to expect to escape : her fall under the Antichrist will be brought about at that time as much by internal convulsion as by foreign inva¬ sion ; but as the last Vial will not be poured out until Christ comes into the air (Rev. xvi. 15), and as the four angels are to hold back the four winds of desolation until tlieu (Rev. vii.), we may expect that the most calamitous of the approaching wars and revolutions will be to a great extent averted during the next two or three years. Having briefly considered eight reasons which show England’s submission to Napoleon to be inevitable, we may next notice four considerations from which it appears that the American Continent, although not comprised among the horns, will nevertheless, like Prussia, Holland, and other 104 AMERICA TO BECOME SUBJECT TO NAPOLEON. countries outside the Roman earth, be brought in a great measure under the political and ecclesiastical supremacy of Napoleon. First, Napoleon’s power is to extend over all- kindreds and tongues and nations, and all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, except the righteous (Rev. xiii. 7, 8): a few remote heathen nations will also escape (Isaiah lxvi. 19): he is likewise to make war with, and overcome the saints, and as most of the saints are to be found among the Protestants either in America or England, he must necessarily gain great power in those countries, or else his persecution could not reach them. The 3-J- years’ hour of temptation and of Antichrist’s persecution is to come upon all the world, and, except it should be shortened, no flesh, should\ he saved, not a single human being would be left alive (Rev. iii. 10, Matt. xxiv. 22). Satan, who is declared in the Bible to be the Prince of this world (John xiv. 30), is to bestow on Antichrist that which was in vain offered by him to Christ, namely, all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; in other words, his power and his seat and great authority (Rev. xiii. 2). Thus the universality of Antichrist's predicted dominion forbids the supposition that England or America can escape being included within it. Secondly, the designated agencies by which Antichrist is to be placed upon the throne of universal dominion, are specially at work in America. During the latter part of the year-day sixth vial, from 1826 to 1866, three unclean spirits of devils, performing miracles, are foreshown, in Rev. xvi. 14, 16, to go forth from the mouths of the Dragon, Beast, and False Prophet, to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the Battle of that greed day of God Almighty . . . toward (eis) a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Now it is manifest that these three spirits of Infidelity, Lawlessness, and Popery (which the three spirits are generally interpreted to signify), are actively operating in America, and ripening it for the last Antichristian apostasy. Infidelity is being widely diffused through the joint efforts of Universalism, Unitarianism, and especially Spiritualism, which has infected two or three millions out of the thirty million inhabitants of the L T nited States. Lawlessness and SUBJECTION OF AMERICA TO NAPOLEON. 105 insubordination have reared their serpent-heads in an unpre¬ cedented manner recently in parts of America, and Popery is dominant in South America, and Mexico, and Lower Canada, and numbers one-fourth of the population of the United States among its adherents. When the appointed time arrives, the Pope and Romish priests will strenuously urge men to make Napoleon their king, as well as acknow¬ ledge him as their god: the devils, speaking through the Spiritualist mediums, will unceasingly reiterate the same exhortation: their persuasions will be seconded by the marvellous miracles which they will work : and speedily throughout the greater part of the world will be heard the universal shout: “ There is no god like unto Napoleon” (2 Thess. ii. 4). And then, during his 31 years’ supremacy, he will gather nearly all the armies of Christendom to contend against the hosts from Asia that will invade the Roman Empire for 13 months (Rev. ix. 15), and also to fight at the battle of Armageddon, where they will be crushed in the wine-press of God’s wrath. The preliminary step toward the consummation of this tragedy is the conversion of every nation into a nation of soldiers, so that the whole earth may become like one vast military camp ; and when the cry, “ To arms! To arms!” has resounded from North to South, and from East to West, and when even the implements of husbandry have been beaten into weapons of war (Joel iii. 10), the next step will be the subordination of all these countless military hosts to the supreme authority of one great Commander-in- Chief, Napoleon, the Apocalyptic Beast and Apostatic Man of Sin; and thus when at last he assembles all his allies to Palestine to engage in the wars that will be waged there during the last 3J years, thousands of soldiers will go from America to take part in those conflicts, aud will perish in the scene of slaughter that will ensue, in which the blood will come up even unto the horses' bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs (Rev. xiv. xix.; Zech. xiv.). Thirdly, America contains a population that has principally been created during the last hundred years, by the influx of emigrants from the Ten-Horn Kingdoms, and may therefore be regarded as to a great extent identical with those king- 106 APPROACHING REVOLUTION IN AMERICA. doms, and involved in nearly the same destiny. Western Europe is more closely connected with America in respect of the language, religion, and habits of its people than even with the countries geographically nearer to it, such as Russia. On this account the approaching convulsions in Europe cannot but extend to America, and produce corresponding effects there. The unequalled skill with which Napoleon will make those convulsions subservient to the increase of his own power, will greatly predispose the Americans to look to him in the hour of general revolution and anarchy as the only man competent to take the helm of state, and to unite the discordant factions under one government. And this introduces the consideration that, Fourthly, there is to be a great Revolution, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty a Revolution and so great (earthquake meaning Revolution), under the 7 th year- day vial (Rev. xvi. 18), shortly before the last years, from which France alone is to escape ; and the result of this over¬ throw of nearly all existing governments will be the complete establishment of Napoleon in the coveted position of arbiter of the world’s destinies and supreme dictator over the rulers of the nations. Although he will probably soon acquire political power over Mexico and the Southern States, especially as many of the inhabitants of Louisiana, Florida, and Mississippi are French in origin and Roman Catholic in creed, yet it seems that he will not gain his predestiued supremacy (Rev. xiii. 7) over the Northern States until a later period. For the great Revolution adverted to will not take place until two or three years after the Jewish Covenant, and as the four winds of anarchy and desolation are to be held back until then, the complete break-up of existing governments will apparently not happen before that time. Event XII. Division of the entire territory of the old Roman Empire into ten kingdoms, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece, Egypt, Syria, the rest of Turkey, and most probably Tripoli with Tunis, and the union of their ten kings in a congress or confederation under Napoleon’s headship—Rev. xvii. 12. Four points may be specially adverted to in connection with TENFOLD DIVISION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 107 this event. First, that the tenfold or decuple partition of the ancient Roman Empire has never yet been fully effected; and the fact of its occurrence being evidently close at hand is a very clear indication of the nearness of the End. The time when it is to happen is predicted to be the closing hour or final 31 years of the Christian dispensation, and also after the rise of the Eighth Head of the Beast—that is, subse¬ quently to 1S52 : the interpreting angel, in Rev. xvii. 12, having explained the seven heads of the seven-headed and ten-horned Beast to signify seven successive forms of govern¬ ment over the Roman Empire, stated further : “ The, ten horns which thou sawest are ten Icings which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the Beast (i. c., Napoleon III., the Eighth Head of the Beast). These have one mind , and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast. The one hour' here mentioned is identical with the hour which is spoken of in five other passages of Revelation (Rev. iii. 10, xiv. 7, xviii. 10, 17, 19), and which in each case represents the final 31 years of Antichrist’s persecution and of Babylon’s overthrow. The ten horns of the Beast, like the ten toes of the Image (Dan. ii. 41), denote a tenfold division of the whole Roman Empire, Eastern as well as Western ; just as the four horns of the Grecian goat (Dan. viii. 8), represented the four¬ fold partition of the whole Grecian Empire into the four king¬ doms of Greece, Egypt, Syria, and Thrace. A fundamental error into which many expositors have fallen is that of con¬ sidering the tenfold division of the Roman Empire to have been made in the sixth century, when the Western Roman Empire was partitioned into about ten kingdoms ; but it is obvious that the predicted ten kingdoms must be formed out of and include all the Eastern as well as the Western Roman Empire ; and this has never yet taken place, and is, more¬ over, distinctly predicted in the above-quoted passage, in Rev. xvii. 12, not to occur until the concluding hour or 31 years of this Dispensation. The division of the Western Roman Empire into about ten kingdoms in the sixth century was, like many other circumstances in connection with the Papal Anti¬ christ, only a type and figure of the yet future tenfold par¬ tition of the whole Roman Empire at the time of the Infidel Antichrist. 108 BOUNDARIES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The countries that are to be formed into ten distinct king¬ doms may be thus enumerated. In Europe the Roman Empire included England and most of Scotland, and all that part of Europe that lies west of the Rhine, or south of the Danube and Vallum Romanum, which was a stone wall 200 miles long, stretching from Bingen on the Rhine to Ratisbon on the Danube (Gibbon, cli. xii.), and skirting the north of Baden and Bavaria. The countries that at present are situated within this portion of Europe are France, Belgium, Luxembourg. Rhenisb Prussia west of the Rhine, Baden, Wirtemberg, part of Bavaria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria south of the Danube, Turkey, Greece, and all the islands of the Medi¬ terranean. To this must be added the territory of ancient Dacia above the Danube, that would lie south of a line drawn from Vienna to the most northerly part of the Black Sea, and which would include part of Austria, Wallachia, Moldavia, and Bessarabia. In Asia the boundaries of the Roman Empire may be defined in general terms to be nearly the same as the limits of Asiatic Turkey, which comprehend Asia Minor, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Syria. In Africa the Roman Empire comprised Egypt and all the northern coast corresponding with Barca, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and Fez. FOURFOLD PARTITION OF TURKEY. 109 The shaded part of the accompanying map shows very nearly the extent of the Roman Empire.'"' Everywhere within its limits it will be the law of the land, during the last 31- years, that all shall be killed who will not worship Napoleon's image or receive his mark. Secondly, it is clear that four out of the ten kingdoms will be the four kingdoms into which the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great was divided at his death, namely, Greece, Egypt, Syria, and what is equivalent to nearly all the rest of Turkey. In Dan. viii. 9, 22, 23 (literal fulfil.), these four kingdoms are spoken of as being existent at the time of Antichrist’s manifestation, for it is said regarding them : In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the fall, a king of fierce countenance (Antichrist) shall stand up. As these kingdoms have long since disappeared and been absorbed into the territory of Turkey, it is evident that they must reappear just before the revelation of Antichrist, since he is to stand up in the latter time of their kingdom. It is one of the most remarkable signs of the times that their re¬ existence has already commenced. In 1822 the independence of Greece was established, and Egypt was likewise altogether separated from Turkey. As soon as the severance of Syria from Turkey is accomplished, the four kingdoms will have re¬ appeared. Since they are to exist contemporaneously with the ten kingdoms, and are also geographically included within the limits of the Eastern Roman Empire, it follows that they must necessarily constitute four out of those ten kingdoms. The fifth kingdom, in addition to these four, that will make up the five divisions of the Eastern half of the Roman Em¬ pire, will probably be composed of Tunis, Tripoli, and Barca, in the north of Africa. As the two iron legs and feet of the Image (Dan. ii. 33, 40) symbolized the Eastern and Western The life of Julius Ctesar, which Napoleon is said to be preparing, will perhaps contain some intimations of his future plans. The maps with which it will doubtless be furnished will show exactly the geo¬ graphical area which will be formed into the ten kingdoms. It is noticeable that Hippoly tus in the third century explained the clay -iron toes of the Image to signify that the ten kingdoms would at some time be democracies. 110 FOURFOLD PARTITION OF TURKEY. sections of the Roman Empire, and the ten toes denoted the ten kingdoms into which those two sections are to be sub¬ divided, it may be expected that each of the two sections will be formed into five kingdoms, in accordance with the symbol of five toes on each foot. The error of those expositors who have found all the ten kingdoms in the Western section alone, is the same as if they should represent all the ten toes as growing out of one foot. As regards the five kingdoms that will be formed out of the Western Roman Empire, there can be scarcely any question but that Great Britain, France, Spain, and Italy will constitute four of them, and probably the fifth will mainly consist of that part of Austria which falls within the Roman Empire. As the line of division between the Eastern and Western Empires was nearly the same as that which now separates Turkey from Austria, and Tunis from Algiers, it follows that in the Western Empire there will remain Belgium, Luxembourg, Baden, Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Rhenish Prussia, west of the Rhine, Switzerland, Portugal, Fez, and Algiers, which will have to be absorbed into the five Western divisions above mentioned. Portugal may be annexed to Spain, and probably France will make the Rhine its eastern boundary, and convert Belgium, Rhenish Prussia, Luxem¬ bourg, Baden, Wirtemberg, and part or the whole of Switzer¬ land, into French territory : in which case Bavaria would be joined either to France or Austria. It is a question whether Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bessarabia will be joined with Aus¬ tria, or witli the kingdom having Constantinople for its capital. Fez and Algiers will probably be annexed to Spain, or France. Prussia and the German States lying east of the Rhine, as well as Holland and Hanover, will not be compre¬ hended within the ten kingdoms, because they never consti¬ tuted part of the Roman earth. This will also be the case with Bohemia, Moravia, and Gallicia, the separation of which from the rest of Austria may be consequently expected. If the view that Ireland was never part of the Roman earth be a correct one, its severance from Great Britain will speedily take place.* * In 1859 the population of the countries lying within the original Roman Empire (as given in the New American Cyclopaedia) was TEN KINGDOMS TO BE DEMOCRATIC MONARCHIES. Ill Thirdly, each of the Ten Kingdoms will be a demo¬ cratic-despotic monarchy, and therefore democratic-monarchic principles of government will soon be introduced into those parts of the Roman earth which have not yet received them, such as Great Britain, Spain, Austria, Turkey, &c. There are three reasons for expecting this. (1.) The ten toes of the Iron Legs, which are universally admitted to signify the Eastern and Western Homan Empires (Dan. ii. 42), are compounded of iron and clay, whereby it is foresignified that each of the ten kingdoms will be characterized by an admixture of the iron of monarchic authority with the clay of democratic power. It was represented in the vision of the Metallic Image (Dan. ii.), which admittedly symbolizes the four great Empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, that there should be a gradual deterioration and debasement of the governmental power of these four great Empires. They were respectively denoted by the Head of gold, the Breast of silver, the Thighs of brass, and the Legs of iron : and thus there was a progressive descent from one metal to another less precious. The adulteration of the iron with intermingled clay takes place in the last stage of the Roman Empire at a period chro¬ nologically coinciding with the feet and toes of the Image, and in accordance with this prefiguration, it was not until the French Revolution of 1793-4 that the clay of popular power began to be mixed to any great extent with the iron of mon¬ archical and oligarchical supremacy throughout the Roman earth. It is true that the Roman Empire was professedly a nearly as follows : Great Britain (without the six millions of Ireland), 23 millions ; France, 3G millions ; Spain, 1G millions ; Portugal, 31 millions; United Kingdom of Italy under Victor Emmanuel, 23 millions ; Austria, excluding the five millions of Gallicia, and seven millions of Bohemia and Moravia, 27 millions ; Belgium, 41 millions ; Rhenish Prussia, west of the Rhine, 3 millions ; Luxembourg, l million ; Baden, 11 million ; Wirtemberg, 2 millions ; South-west Bavaria, 2 millions ; Greece, 1 million ; Turkey in Europe, 17 millions ; Turkey in Asia, including Syria, 1G millions ; Egypt, 24- millions ; Tripoli, 4 million ; Tunis, 2 millions ; Algiers, 2 millions ; Fez, 1 million. The total amount gives one hundred and eighty-four million (184,000,000) persons as the entire population of the ten Latin kingdoms, over which Napoleon will exercise absolute political and ecclesiastical supremacy through the administration of his ten vassal kings. 112 TEN KINGDOMS TO BE DEMOCRATIC MONARCHIES. Republic for nearly five centuries before it became a Monarchy under Julius Caesar, in 46 B.c., but it did not take its place in sacred history as the fourth prophetic Empire until 32 b.c., when it conquered Egypt, the last remaining portion of the Grecian Empire ; and the governments under which it has existed, in its undivided and divided form, since that time until the period of the French Revolution, have been for the most part absolute monarchies, which are fitly symbolized by the unadulterated iron of the Legs of the Image. Previously to the French Revolution there was scarcely any part of the Roman earth, except Switzerland, in which the governmental power had really been posssessed by the people. The supreme authority was almost universally vested in the monarch and the aristocracy, but recently in France and Italy the people have been allowed to choose their own ruler, and this principle of a monarchy based on the will of the people is the true form of the clay-iron government. (2.) The entire body of the seven-headed and ten-horned Beast, which represents the Roman Empire, is depicted in Rev. xvii. in its last stage, just before the full development of its eighth and last Head, as being scarlet-coloured: and this indicates that the sovereign power is at that time vested in the people who inhabit the countries composing the body of the Beast. Scarlet is the emblem of sovereignty, and the Greek word kokkiuos, which is rendered scarlet-coloured, is the same word which is used in Matt, xxvii. 28, in reference to the royal robe of scarlet that was put on our Saviour in mockery. This colour has not yet spread itself over the whole body of the Beast, for France, Switzerland, and Italy are the only countries on the Roman earth in which the sovereign power has been vested in all the people, and Louis Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel are the only monarchs that have been elected by universal suffrage. But as all the Beast’s body was scarlet-coloured, therefore all the previously-mentioned nations within the Roman Empire, such as England, Spain, Austria, Turkey, Egypt, &c., will, by internal revolutions or otherwise, soon have the sovereign power placed in the hands of the people, and they by their votes will choose a king, just as Louis Napoleon has been chosen by the ballot in France. The ten horns of the Beast remain uncrowned, in Rev. xvii., TENFOLD DIVISION OF THE HOMAN EMPIRE. 113 until just before the final hour of 3| years, and then they beeome crowned by the election of ten kings over the ten kingdoms by universal suffrage. This is further represented in the literal-day fulfilment of Rev. xiii. by the Beast rising out of the sea of revolutionary tumult with its ten horns crowned just previous to its 42 months’ universal supremacy. Election by the voice of the people is to be the only title by which the ten kings will reign, and the demo¬ cratic-monarchic govermental principles upon which Louis Napoleon’s throne is established, are to be universally adopted throughout the Roman earth. (3.) The Beast itself is predicted to become its own Eighth Head (Rev. xvii. 11), that is, the peoples and multitudes and. 'nations (v. 15), represented by the Beast, are virtually to become the Eighth Head, which is stated to be a man (Rev. xiii. 18). The only way in which the Beast can thus be its own Head is by all the people which it symbolises choosing one individual as their representative ; and this will be effected by the population of each of the ten kingdoms, into which the ancient Roman Empire will be divided, electing a king by their votes, and then these ten kings will, in a European Congress, choose Napoleon as their Head and Protector, constituting him in this manner a King of Kings. Louis Napoleon will then be the apex of the political pyramid, being elected over the ten kings, who, in their turn, will have been elected over the people. Although by his restoration of the Napoleonic dynasty in 1852 he has very nearly healed its deadly wound, and almost become the Eighth Head, yet he is at present the Eighth Head only in embryo, and not in its full development; for the ceremony of being crowned, which he will probably not undergo until a short time before the final 3^ years,'is the act by which the Eighth Head will arrive at its full maturity. In Rev. xvii. the scarlet-coloured Beast remains in its non-existent state as the Beast that was and is not (since the death of its 7th Head in 1815), and does not completely re-exist and become the. Beast that teas and is not and yet is until just before the final hour of 31 years; although it has been beginning to re-exist ever since 1852. There are thus three prefigurations by which it is foreshown that all the nations within the Roman earth are to become re- H 114 APPROACHING PREVALENCE OP REPUBLICANISM. publican introductory to tbe formation of the ten kingdoms. (1.) Because the ten toes of the Great Image (Dan. ii.) are compounded of the clay of republicanism mingled with the iron of monarchic absolutism. (2.) Because the body of the Beast (or Bom an Empire), in its last stage, is scarlet-coloured, showing the sovereignty to be in the people (Rev. xvii.). (3.) Because the Beast is to become its own Head, by the people themselves electing their own kings, who, in their turn, will elect Napoleon to be their Supreme Head, and thus Napoleon will virtually become the Beast (Rev. xvii.). Fourthly, it appears that Louis Napoleon will appoint a king over France, as his viceroy, and will assume the position of king over the ten kings who will give their power and strength unto him, and agree and give their kingdom unto him until the words of God shall be fulfilled (Rev. xvii. 13, 17). The Anti¬ christ Napoleon is depicted in Dan. vii. as a Little Horn com¬ ing up behind the Ten Horns, and in Rev. xvii. as the Eighth Head to whom the Ten Horns give their power, and must therefore be a distinct and separate person from the Ten Kings among whom the Roman Empire will be divided. There is scarcely any doubt but that Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece, Egypt, Syria, the rest of Turkey, and Tripoli, with adjacent territories, will in the main (whether or not under different names) constitute the ten divisions : and the remaining parts of the Roman Empire will be annexed to them. Throughout all the Roman earth. there will be great revolutions during the six months or year preceding the second half-week of 3| years, and, as the result of these revo¬ lutions, the ten kingdoms will be completely formed, and the Ten Kings appointed over them. And then, according to the prediction that the Little Horn will arise after the Ten Kings (Dan. vii. 24), Louis Napoleon having virtually abdicated the throne of France in favor of his viceroy, will arise in the new character of King of Kings and Antichrist, and thence¬ forth during his predicted 3^ years’ hour of supremacy, he will rule over all the ten kingdoms through the ten kings, who in reality will merely be his deputies. There is reason for supposing, according to the idea of some of the Fathers, that he will perhaps make Rome or Jerusalem the capital and metro- NAPOLEON TO REVIVE THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 115 polis of Lis Universal Empire. It is very evident from prophecy that Louis Napoleon is to be animated with the determination to revive the Roman Empire in more than its pristine splendour and greatness, and to become invested with the titles and dignities of the Caesars, for otherwise he would not be likely to form ten kingdoms so exactly within the boundaries of the Roman earth. Nor is it sur¬ prising that lie should then cause himself to be deified, for this will only be following the example of Romulus, Julius Caesar, and Augustus Caesar, who were worshipped as gods. This congressional confederation of ten kings under Napoleon will somewhat resemble the Confederation of the Rhine, in which sixteen German princes were united under the protectorship of Napoleon I.; and it will very likely be the policy of Napoleon to establish not only the same religion of Napoleonism, but also the same code of laws and a uniform system of currency throughout all the ten kingdoms. The aspiring ambition which will impel him to stamp his name or mark upon the foreheads or hands of every man, woman, and child, will doubtless lead him to have his name and likeness imprinted upon that which is more imperishable, namely, all the gold, silver, and other coinage that is current. The letters which are likely to be stamped on every coin as the initial let¬ ters of the title which he will assume are exactly equivalent to 66G ; for his title will probably be —Louis Napoleon, Caesar, Dims universi orbis, Rex x regum Romani imperii (in English, Louis Napoleon, Caesar, God of the whole earth, King of the ten kings of the Roman empire), the initials of which are— L-50, 6-0, C-100, D-500, U-5, 0-0, R-0, X-10, R-0, 1-1, and the total numerical value of these letters is 6GG, Antichrist’s' predestined number (Rev. xiii. 18). Event XIII. Assault upon Jerusalem by Napoleon the Antichrist, and substitution of the worship of his image in the place of the Jewish'sacrifices, after which, for 3£ years, all (the ungodly) who dwell upon the earth will worship him or else be killed (Rev. xiii). The Antichrist will allow the Jews at Jerusalem to continue their daily sacrifices and oblations until the end of the first 3| years, or half of the seven years, for which he had made the H 2 116 NAPOLEON’S IMAGE PLACED IN THE JEWISH TEMPLE. seven years’ covenant. But as soon as that point of time is reached (Dan. ix. 27), he will march against Jerusalem and abolish their sacrificial rites, and cause an image or an idol of himself to be placed in the Jewish temple, which every one will be commanded to worship, under the penalty of death in case of refusal. And thus the second 31- years, or latter half of the seven years, which is the period of the great tribulation and of Antichrist’s unparalleled persecution of the saints, will then commence. It is mentioned in the following eight dif¬ ferent parts of the Bible :— Dan. ix. 27. (1) In the midst of the week lie shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over¬ spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation. ( The above men¬ tioned week is the 70 th week of 7 years ). Dan. vii. 25. (3) He shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws : and they shall be given into his hand, until a time and times and the dividing of time. Eev. xi. 2. (5) But the court which is with¬ out the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles : and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. Eev. xii. 5, 6. (7) And she brought forth a man child. . . . And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thou¬ sand tivo hundred and threescore days. Dan. xii. 7. (2) It shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. Eev. xiii. 5, 7. (4) There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue (or make war) forty and tivo months. And it was given unto him tomake war with the saints, &c. Eev. xi. 3. (6) And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousdnd two hundred and threescore days. .... And when they shall have finished their testimony, the Beast . . . shall kill them. Eev. xii. 14. (8) And to the women were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the -wilder¬ ness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. The first four of these eight texts speak directly of Anti¬ christ, and describe his persecution of the Jews at Jerusalem, napoleon’s THREE-AND-A-HALF years 1 dominancy. 117 and of the Gentile saints throughout the world : the fifth text depicts the pollution of the temple and the treading-down of Jerusalem by the Gentile power under Antichrist : the sixth speaks of the appearance and ministry of Elias and the other prophet at the same period : and the seventh and eighth texts twice mention the hiding of many saints in a particular place in the wilderness during the same 31- years. It is almost needless to say that these eight passages all describe one and the same period of 3^ years. Ex¬ positors have nearly all agreed that especially the last seven of them describe the same period, whether in its future literal-day fulfilment .as the 1200 days of the Infidel Anti¬ christ, or in its year-day fulfilment as the 1200 years of the Papal Antichrist. Daniel’s 70 weeks have of course only one fulfilment as weeks of years, because in the original Greek they do not mean weeks of days, but weeks of years, as in Genesis xxix. 27, and would have been more correctly trans¬ lated seventy sevens of years. The identity of the time, times, and halftime with the 1200 days, is evident from Rev. xii. G, 14 : and the meaning of the word time is given in Dan. ii. 25, 32, where the seven times of Nebuchadnezzar’s madness has always been understood to signify seven years ; a time, times, and half time signifies one time, two times, and half a time, or 31, times, which is the half of seven times and denotes 3* years. A. Jewish year or time was uniformly reckoned to contain 360 days, or twelve months of 30 days each, and therefore in prophetic calculations the ordinary year must be computed to be of the same length. When Antichrist goes up to Jerusalem to abolish the Jewish sacrifices, and have his image placed in the temple, he will be accompanied by a great army, and will make an assault upon the holy city, which will thenceforth be trodden under foot by his Antichristian hosts during the succeeding 31 years’ unprecedented persecution ; but it appears that at the end of that time, and in the course of the supplementary final 2£ months, the Jews will revolt against the garrison which Antichrist will have left in their city; and when this intelligence reaches him, he will gather together the kings of the earth and their armies (Rev. xix. 19 ; xvi. 14) to go up to Palestine to exterminate the Jews, and likewise to fight against 118 NAPOLEON’S TWO EXPEDITIONS AGAINST PALESTINE. the Divine King of the Jews (Dan. viii. 25; Rev. xvii. 14), of whose expected advent at Jerusalem, to take possession of the kingdoms of- this world, he will have been informed. Having arrived at Armageddon in the Holy Land, this vast host will suddenly be destroyed. There are thus two great expeditions of Antichrist against Jerusalem: the first, when he encompasses the city and has his image placed in the temple at the beginning of the final 3J years and 2h months ; and the second, after the 3£ years and during the remaining 21 months, when he hears of the revolt of the Jews against his army of occupation in Palestine, and leads up an overwhelming force to crush them, but perishes at Armageddon. It does not clearly appear whether in this last expedition Antichrist will succeed; in taking vengeance on Jerusalem for having l’evolted against him, or whether he will be destroyed before carrying his vindictive determinations into effect. The latter view seems on the whole to be best sup¬ ported. But if Zecli. xiv. 1, 2, describes the second instead of the first expedition, then Jerusalem would appear to be sacked by Antichrist just before his destruction. The first four of the following five passages clearly describe the first expedition of Antichrist, when he will lead his armies against Jerusalem at the beginning of the 31 years, and cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease in the midst of the week (Dan. ix. 27), and then be destroyed 3| years and 2\ months afterward. The fifth passage most probably delineates the first expedition, but may possibly only refer to the second. Luke xxi. 20 : When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains. . . For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. . . . And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations (interval of 34 years, Rev. xi. 2); and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. . . . And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ( This pro¬ phecy was fulfilled primarily and typically at the destruction of Jerusalem in a.t>. 70 by the lloman armies under Titus but it also has a secondary and antctypicalfulfilment at'Antichrist's future desolation of Jerusalem.) NAPOLEON’S INVASION OF PALESTINE. 119 Rev. xi. 2 : But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy- city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months. Dan. xi. 40, 41, 45 : And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him (Antichrist); and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he (Antichrist) shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land (Palestine), . . . (interval of 3| yearn), yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. (It is a question for consideration whether verses 42, 43, 44 describe Antichrist’s first or Last expedition against Palestine). Ezek. xxxviii.: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, 1 am aghinst thee, O Gog (Antichrist), the chief prince of Mesheeh and Tubal; . . . thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, ... to take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods. . . . And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, aud a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, . . . (interval of 3& years). Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee. Zecli. xiv. 1-4 : Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. (Here the 34 years probably intervene.) Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives. The literal image of the Personal Antichrist, which is at this juncture to be placed in the Jewish temple, and made to speak and breathe (Rev. xiii.), is three times referred to in Daniel as the abomination of desolation. Our Saviour also alluded to it in Matthew and Mark. 120 HIS IMAGE THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION. Matt. xxiv. 15-30. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand): Then let them which be in Judrea flee into the mountains, . . . For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the begin¬ ning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And ex¬ cept those days should be short¬ ened, there should no flesh be saved. . . . Immediately after the tribulation of those days . . they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven. Mark xiii. 14-26. But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand¬ ing where it ought not (let him that readeth understand), then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains. . . . For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had short¬ ened those days, no flesh should be saved. . . . But in those days, after that tribulation . . shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. This prophecy of our Lord could not have been fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in a.d. 70, for three reasons : First, there was no abomination of deso¬ lation set up by the Romans in the Jewish temple at that time for the temple was burned while they were entering the city. Moreover the standards or eagles could not have been considered an abomination, which is an expression almost invariably meaning “an idol” (2 Chron. xv. 8). Secondly, there was then no universal tribulation such that scarcely any flesh was saved, for the affliction did not extend beyond Palestine. Thirdly, it is stated that the Son of Man will come in the clouds immediately after the great tribulation conse¬ quent upon the abomination being set up : and this must therefore be something that happens just before the Second advent. There can only be one such unequalled tribulation, and it is clear from the parallel passage in Dan. xii. 1, that this is to be at the time of the End and of the Resurrection. At that time (the time of the End, Dan. xi. 40) there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time . . . and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, &c. napoleon's image placed in the temple. 121 The abomination of desolation is spoken of in the four following prephecies of Daniel, and is distinctly stated in the first two of them to be set up in the midst of the seven years of Antichrist’s Covenant with the Jews, and 1335 days (or 3£ years and 2£ months) before the time of blessedness, which must be the time of Christ’s descent on the earth. Dan. ix. 27. (1) He (Antichrist) shall con¬ firm the covenant with many for one week (of seven years): and in the midst of the week he shall cause th ^sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for.the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consum¬ mation. Dan. xi. 31. (3) And arms shall stand on his (Antichrist’s) part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makelh desolate. Dan. xii. 11, 12. (2) From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makelh de¬ solate set up, there shall he a thousand two hundred and ninety days (some great event to happen then). Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. Dan. viii. 11, 12. (4) By him (Antichrist) the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression. It is fully admitted that Dan. vii. and xii. have been typically fulfilled on the year-day scale by Popery, and Dan.viii. by Mahomedanism, the daily sacrifice of the pure worship of God having been taken away wherever the abomination of such heresies was set up. But those fulfilments have only fore¬ shadowed the final and yet future literal fulfilment. The characteristics that have been exhibited separately in the Pagan, Papal, and Mahomedan Antichrists will all be combined in Napoleon, the last great Antichrist. Thus as the Pagans frequently bore on their forehand or hand the mark of the heathen deity they worshipped, and were forbidden by one of their Emperors to engage in any commercial transactions with Christians; so in like maimer during Napoleon’s 3 *- years’ dominancy, as the Antichrist, his False Prophet (the Pope) will cause “ all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark on their right hands or in their fore¬ heads ■ and that no man may buy or sell, save lie that has the 122 NAPOLEON THE MAN OF SIN. mark or the name of the Wild Beast (Napoleon) or the number of his name. . . . and his number is six hundred threescore and six (Kev. xiii.lG-18). And as the Papal Antichrist is parti¬ cularly distinguished by three features, (1) of having himself worshipped by being called “ Our Lord God the Pope,” and having his toe kissed ; (2) of “forbidding to marry” (1 Tim. vi. 3), as in the case of priests and nuns ; and (3) of having bad about ten kingdoms for 12G0 years, as the chief seat of his apostacy ; so in like manner Napoleon will (1) arrogate to him¬ self the titles and the worship due only to God ; and will (2) forbid the celebration of the ordinance of marriage (in com¬ mon with all other Christian rites); and will (3) have exactly ten kingdoms (Rev. xvii. 13) for 12G0 days as the chief seat of his God-denying apostacy (although it will extend in a less degree to other places). Also, as the Mahomedan Antichrist has abolished the observance of the Sabbath, and substituted for the Christian Calendar one that dates from his bight from Mecca, and has given his followers the Koran instead of the Bible ; so in a similar manner Napoleon is to “ think to change time and laws” (Dan. vii. 25), and will abolish the Sabbath, and probably substitute for the Christian Calendar one dating from some epoch in his own career, and most likely compose for his worshippers some book which shall be to them what the Koran is to the Mahomedans. The heaven-defying self-exaltation of this Man of Sin during his 31 years’ universal supremacy, is specially described in Is. xiv. ; Dan. vii., viii., xi. Nearly all* the ungodly throughout Christendom and in some parts of Heathendom will worship him, or receive his mark (Rev. xiii.): Pagans, Papists, Mahomedans, Jews, Pantheists, Socialists, Rational- * The latest calculations compute the population of the world to be composed of about 90 million Protestants, 170 million Roman Catholics, 75 million of the Greek Church (principally in Russia), 5 million Jews, 1G0 million Mahomedans, S00 million Heathen—total, 1300 million. What criminal illiberality in not adequately supporting .Foreign Missionary Societies professing Christians are guilty of, seeing that 1800 years after the Lord Jesus has commanded men to preach the Gospel to every creature, three-fourths of the earth’s inhabitants have never had it proclaimed to them, and are consequently sinking into hell-fire. THE THREE-AND-A-HALF YEARS’ TRIBULATION. 123 ists, Spiritualists* Universalists, Unitarians, Infidels, and in short nearly all, except those who are truly born again, will either spontaneously or compulsorily render homage to him as their God. The corrupt passions of mankind being un¬ chained, society will fall into a state of moral putrefaction, and the whole earth resemble a hell or Pandemonium. The wicked becoming possessed with devils, will act more like wild beasts than human beings; and scenes of violence and licentiousness, of bloodshed, carnage, and massacre, and of audacious blasphemy against Jehovah, will be witnessed on every side. Millions of persons will be martyred for refusing to worship the Antichrist, they shall fall by the sword and by flame many days, anti their number is represented as so great as to call for special notice three times in the Apocalypse (Rev. vi. 9, xv. 2, xx. 4). The guillotine is indicated by the Greek word 7reVeAc/ait. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace ; and the sun and the air were dark¬ ened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree ; but only those men which have not the seal of Gocl in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormeuted five months : and their tor¬ ment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall de¬ sire to die, and death shall fiee from them. . . . And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails : and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter — (Rev. ix.). The seven judgments introduced by the seven trum¬ pets successively increase in destructiveness .and severity. The first four, which altogether continue only for seven or eight months, are inflicted upon inanimate nature, and consecutively affect the earth, sea, fountains of water, and the luminaries; the last three, which continue for 3|- years, are inflicted upon the animate creation, principally upon those men which have not the seal of God in their fore¬ heads ; and as an omen of the fearful calamities to be occasioned by them, they are preceded by the thrice re¬ peated cry of “ Woe,” from which circumstance they derive the name of Woe-trumpets. The year-day fulfilment of the first and second of these three Woe-trumpets is interpreted by several hundred expositors to relate to the invasion of Europe by the Saracens and Turks: Bickersteth, in his “ Signs of the Times,” gives the names of a hundred of these expositors. The first year-day Woe-trumpet began in G09 a.d., twenty- seven years before the commencement of the Saracen Woe which it introduced, and which consisted in the incursions of 128 FIFTEENTH EVENT. the Saracens (symbolized by the locusts) into the Roman Empire for twice 150 years (twice five year-day months, ver. 5, 10), from 636 to 936 : and therefore this Woe-trumpet, in its literal-day accomplishment, will begin about three years, nine months, and twelve days after the Covenant, twenty- seven days before the commencement of the Woe of literal locusts, which follow it, and which will last for twice five literal months. As soon as the trumpet is sounded, an angel, which had previously fallen {imvTumoTa.) from heaven, will open the bottomless pit, which, there is every reason to believe, is the interior of this earth; it is probably called bottomless because a continually-revolving globular body can¬ not be said to have either a top or a bottom. Out of the opened pit, a lurid black smoke will ascend in dense volumes, temporarily darkening the firmament, and swarms of locusts will then come forth upon the earth, appearing to be engen¬ dered in the smoke, like insects which are generated in the atmosphere of blight. The description given of their outward appearance (ver. 7, 8, 9) will be recognised by every zoologist as an accurate picture of the ordinary locust; but whereas the instinct of the natural locusts leads them voraciously to devour every green thing, these monstrous unnatural locusts will not eat a single green leaf or blade of grass, but will occupy themselves exclusively in stinging the ungodly with the stings which they will have in their scorpion-like tails. So grievously agonising will be the pain produced by their stings, that men shall seek for death and desire to die, but by a special restraining power they will be prevented carry¬ ing their suicidal designs into successful execution ; death shall flee from them, and they shall be kept alive against their will, to endure the most excruciating tor¬ ments. Millions of persons will suffer the intensest anguish from this plague, but scarcely one individual will be killed by it (ver. 5). It will commence about 31- months after Napo¬ leon’s image has been set up in the Jewish temple, and con¬ tinue twice five months. Whether it will extend only to part or the whole of the Roman Empire, or to America and other places as well, is not stated. But whatever localities are visited by the hail and fire under the first trumpet, nine months previously, may be expected to be likewise the scene FIRST WOE OR SUPERNATURAL LOCUSTS. 129 of this woe. No objection can be rationally urged against the possibility of such monstrous locusts being created, for we are expressly told that there are then to be fearful sights and great and marvellous signs, and a series of calamitous events such as was not from the beginning of the world, no, nor ever shall be. The mysterious and supernatural character of those events can alone enable us to understand how it is that these locusts (unlike natural locusts, which have no king —Prov. xxx. 27) will be under the controlling influence of Napoleon as their king, according to the statement : They had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, . . . but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. As they come from the bottomless pit, and are of Satanic and diabolical origin, having no instinct but to torment men, it is to be expected that Napoleon, to whom Satan is to give his seat and his power and great authority, and who is called the a.ngel of the bottomless pit —that is, the minister and vicegerent of Satan—will exercise over the locusts the same authority which Satan otherwise would exercise over them. In fact, so extensive and universal will be Napoleon’s su¬ preme power, that even these locusts will be subject to it, apparently somewhat in the same manner that the frogs were subject to the magic power of the Egyptian sor¬ cerers. (Ex. viii. 7). Some have thought that they will be evil spirits, permitted to assume this form, in which case it is obvious that their subjection to Napoleon will necessarily result from Satan’s kingdom having been given to him. As Satan could assume the shape of a serpent in the garden of Eden, and as devils can enter into swine (Luke viii. 32), there is no greater improbability in their entering into or taking the form of locusts. No employment is more con¬ genial to evil spirits than that of afflicting and torturing man¬ kind ; and it is shown in Rev. xii. 12, tmit they are to do this to an unprecedented extent during the final 3} years. The sealed ones who are to remain untouched by them (ver. 4) are probably the 144,000 Jews, whose sealing appears even then to be commenced, although it is not finished until the end of the literal-day sixth seal (Rev. vii.). The year- day sixth seal represents the sealing of 144,000 wise virgins out of the different denominations typified by the Jewish I 130 FIFTEENTH EVENT. tribes, and there are thus two entirely distinct companies of 144,000. The conventional application of the word Apollyon to signify Satan is utterly unwarranted by this passage of Scrip¬ ture in which it is found. Nearly all expositors, from Bishop Newton to our own day, admit that it denotes the human being who is to be used by Satan at the time of the Woe- trumpets as a great Destroyer. In the year-day typical ful¬ filment, it symbolized Mahomet, who scourged but did not inflict political death upon the Eastern Roman Empire, and who was an eminent type of Napoleon. In the literal-day antitypical fulfilment, it is evidently the literal name of the last great Antichrist, and it is a lamentable proof of the spirit of deep sleep that has fallen upon the minds of men, that although God has graciously condescended to reveal in his Word the name of the Personal Antichrist, and although that name almost exactly corresponds with the name Napoleon , yet the significant fact of such correspondence is almost entirely unheeded. It is surprising that Napoleon’s name, as thus foretold 1800 years ago, should, with the exception of the first letter N, have been transmitted to us with so much accuracy: some other names are not quoted in the New Testament with even so much precision : for instance, Elijah, Jeremiah, Rehoboam, Abijah, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah are called in St. Matthew : Elias, Jeremy, Roboam, Abia, Josa- phat, Ezekias (Matt. i.). The Rev. Dr. Croly in his “ Apo¬ calypse ” considers the word Napoleon to be unquestionably signified by Apollyon. However mysterious the whole nar¬ rative of this Locust-Woe may at first sight appear, we should remember that it is scarcely more marvellous than many other wonderful events described in Scripture, such, for instance, as took place at the Exodus from Egypt. Event XVI.—-The Second Woe or the conflicts for 1 year and 1 month between Napoleon’s armies and countless invading forces from Asia, resulting in the slaughter of the third part of men, and constituting the principal part of the Armageddon War (Rev. ix. 13). The literal-day sixth trumpet or Second Woe-trumpet begins about a year and six months after the commencement of SECOND WOE, OR CONFLICTS OF THE HORSEMEN. 131 Napoleon’s years’ persecution, and continues for twice a year and month,* as a period of both rise and fall: the .slaughter of the third part of men taking place principally during the first year and month. The preceding Woe only tormented and hurt men, but this Woe will kill the third part nf them, and then the third Woe will kill all the rest of the incorrigibly wicked during the last 3^ days. This Woe com¬ mences with the loosing of four angels, which are hound in the great river Euphrates, and prepared against the hour of temptation and against the day of judgment (eis rgv wpav ko.l eis tt]v ggepav, Matthaeus) for a month and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen was two myriads of myriads (Svo /xvpiaSes y.vpia- Swv). It appears that the restraints which had previously prevented the incursions of the horsemen Avill be removed by the loosing of four spirits of evil, and the contest will then commence near the river Euphrates, which is the boundary line between the Roman Empire and nearly all Asia. Just as in the year-day fulfilment of this Woe, the Turks made an irruption, in 1063, from beyond the Euphrates into the Roman Empire, and caused the war of the Crusades, in which the Europeans and Asiatics west of the Euphrates engaged in the- most sanguinary struggles with the invading hosts of the Asiatics from the east of the Euphrates, so will it be in the approaching literal-day fulfilment. The same desperate conflict is once more to be renewed on a scale of such unex¬ ampled magnitude that almost all the armies from the four quarters of the earth will become involved in it. The number of the horsemen is stated to be two myriads of '* Although the double reckoning of the year and month is not ex¬ plicitly enjoined in the prophecy, yet it is correctly considered by Bickersteth and others to be required by the analogy of the period of the previous Trumpet, which is distinctly specified to be counted twice (v. 5, 10): also by the fact that the year-day fulfilment unquestionably lasted exactly twice a mystical year and month from 1063 to 1843; and likewise because there is thus a corresponding growth and arithmetical progression in the length of the three year- day Woes (the Saracen, Turkish, and Napoleonic) of 300 years, 780 years, and 1260 days, for 780 is the point of bisection between 300 and 1260. 132 SIXTEENTH EVENT. myriads, which may either mean an indefinitely great multi¬ tude, or else exactly two hundred thousand thousand, if the word myriad be taken in its original sense to mean ten thou¬ sand ; but this latter view is much less probable than the former, as it would make the number of horsemen to be a sixth part of all the inhabitants of the globe. There may, however, be a larger population than is generally imagined in Asia, from whence the invading forces are to come. The awful and terrific character of their ravages is not only indicated by their vast numbers, but likewise by the circumstance that the third part of men is to be slain in the conflicts that will then ensue. As the Roman Empire is the principal locality of this Woe, it may only be a number equivalent to the third part of its inhabitants that will be slain ; but even this would amount to about 60 million persons, the slaughter of whom during the first year and month will be an average of about 150,000 every day during that period. The number would be seven times greater if the third part of the population of the entire globe is meant by the third part of men. Just as the whole civilized world engaged in the war of the Crusades, so will it be in the approaching repetition of those wars ; for Antichrist having made Jerusalem the ecclesiastical metropolis of his universal empire, will summon his adherents from every part of Christendom to prevent that city falling into the hands of the invaders. There will probably be a flux and reflux in the tide of warfare, the Asiatic invaders at first penetrat¬ ing far into the interior of Europe, and then being driven back by the hosts of Antichrist. The symbolical hail¬ storm of the 7th year-day Vial also falls at the same time, and, like the hail-storm of the first year-day Trumpet, must signify an invasion of the Roman Empire from the North, and is generally understood to denote an irrup¬ tion into Europe from Russia. The struggles between these invading forces from Asia aud Russia, and the armies of Napoleon and his auxiliaries from America and elsewhere, will constitute the principal part of the 3-g years’ WAR OF AR.MAGEDDON, towards which the three unclean spirits are now gathering the nations, according to the prediction that SECOND WOE, OR CONFLICTS OF THE HORSEMEN. 133 the spirits of devils working miracles should go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world , to gather them to the war i roAe/xov of that great day of God Almighty . . . toward (eis) a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon (Rev. xvi. 14). Religious fanaticism will be the main principle by which the contending hosts will be animated, and Antichrist’s worshippers will doubtless be assured by the Romish priests that the contest being main¬ tained by them in defence of the holy city and for the extermination of heretics, is pre-eminently a Holy War. From all parts of Christendom, including America, tens of thousands of soldiers will hasten to the scene of combat, to fight under the banner of Napoleon against the Asiatics who dare to set themselves in battle array against him. These crusades will be at their height during the first year and month , and will decline during the second year and month , until they cease altogether. The breastplates of fire and jacinth and brimstone with which the horsemen appeared in the vision to be equipped, apparently represent, as in the year-day fulfilment, defensive armour decorated with the colours of red and blue and yellow, to which many of the Asiatic nations are extremely partial. The additional statement regarding the horses, that out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone . . . for their power is in their mouth and in their tails ; for their tails were like unto serpents , and had heads, and with them they do hurt, very accurately describes the appearance which horsemen armed with carbines and companies of artillery would present to a distant spectator, who might never before have heard of or seen such instruments of destruction as firearms. The Apostle John expressly says he saw the horses in the vision : he beheld afar off in a vision a panoramic representation of the fearful battles in which they engaged, and as he had no conception of such weapons as muskets and cannon, it would necessarily seem to him when the horsemen fired pistols over the heads of their horses that the horses themselves were breath¬ ing forth fire and brimstone; and also the serpent-shaped cannon dragged at the heels of the artilery horses, and shoot¬ ing out of their mouths forked tongues of flame, would naturally give those horses the appearance of having tails like 134 SEVENTEENTH EVENT. unto serpents which had heads, and with them they do hurt. Almost all expositors agree that in the year-day fulfilment the fire and smolce and brimstone denote the gunpowder which was first used at the taking of Constantinople in 1453, and it is very remarkable that 14 centuries before the invention of gun¬ powder the Bible should have so exactly predicted the period when it first came into use. This Woe is clearly shown to begin about 4 years 11 months and 19 days after the Jewish Covenant—that is, about 806 days before the End ; just as in its year-day fulfil¬ ment as the Turkish Woe it commenced in 1063, 806 years before the End. The Turkish Woe, consisting in the conquest of the Eastern Eoman Empire by the Turks (the political death of the third part of the Roman Empire) and their perse¬ cution of Christians, continued for twice a year-day year and month, as a period of both rise and fall, from 1063 to 1453, the height of their power, and from 1453 to 1843-4. On March 21, 1844, Turkey ceased nationally to persecute Christians. Event XVII.— Conversion of upwards of from 15 to 50 million persons, chiefly among the heathen, during the five years between the two translations, and especially during the final year. (Lit-day, Rev. vii. x. xiv.) The mumber of foolish virgins, or Laodicean converted per¬ sons, that will be left behind at the first translation, may be approximately estimated at about ten millions. As Antichrist during his 3*- years’ persecution will slay at least several millions of the saints, it is obvious that only three or four millions of them would be left on the earth by the time of the Second Translation, unless their numbers had been augmented by additional converts. It is, however, clearly foreshown that a countless multitude will be caught up in the Second Translation, and most of them will be converted, first, during the Revival of reli¬ gion (lasting, most probably, about 17 months) between the Translation of the Wise Virgins and the beginning of the Tribulation, and, secondly, during a subsequent Revival, which is foreshown in Rev. x. to continue during the final year. The first Revival will occur immediately after the literal-day CONVERSION OF MILLIONS OF PERSONS. 135 Rapture of the Manchikl, and daring the literal-day first Seal, and will be the antitype of the Pentecostal Revival which took place after the year-day Kapture of the Manchild, and during the year-day first Seal from a.d. 33 to 323-4. The same miraculous gifts that were bestowed at Pentecost may be expected to be again imparted at the approaching repetition of the Pentecostal awakening. The second Kevival will occur during the final year, almost synchronically with the latter year and month of the literal-day sixth Trumpet, as described in Rev. x., and will be the antitype of the Revival which has continued from the Reformation to the present day. All expositors of judgment and reliability admit that Rev. x. describes a great Revival of religion at the period to which it applies. The Angel of the Covenant appeared in the vision to descend to the earth, with his face shining as the sun, and with a little book (the Bible) open in his hand. This signifies the diffusion of the illuminating rays of Divine truth, and the consequent dissipation of the dark mists of superstition and ignorance. The little book was then delivered to St. John, as a symbolic and representative man, with the declaration, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and Icings, and the Angel likewise announced, That there should be a time (xpovos, 360 days, whether literal or year-days) no longer. This shows that fresh witnesses were then to be raised up to proclaim the testimony of Jesus, and that the period was little less than a time before the End, which was likewise indicated by the fact of the vision being about the midst of the sixth Trumpet. In the year-day fulfilment these prefigurations are universally allowed to refer to the Reformation, which commenced in 1517, about 352 years before the End, and in the literal-day fulfilment they will, of course, describe an analogous Revival, commencing 352 days before the End—that is, about 6 years, 2 months, and 23 days after the Covenant. It may be that England will then revolt against the Personal Antichrist’s supremacy, as it revolted at the Reformation against the Papal Antichrist’s dominancy. The following portions of Scripture refer directly or indirectly to the unprecedented number of conversions that will take place about the time of the Great Tribulation 136 SEVENTEENTH EVENT. between the Two Translations. In Rev. vii. 9-17, at the end of the literal-day sixth Seal, a great multitude which no man could number is exhibited as coming out of the great tribulation (ex tt ]s geyahys) and standing before the throne of God in heaven. This unexampled tribulation is the same as that which is mentioned in Matt. xxiv. 21 and Mark xiii. 19, as just preceding Christ’s descent at Armageddon, and is foreshown in Dan. xii. (lit. ful.) to continue for 3-| years. The great multitude being spoken of as coming out of the great tribulation, are evidently living saints who have been on the earth during the persecution, and, having become converted, are caught up to heaven at its termination. The sealed 144,000 Wise Virgins who are caught up before the great tribulation, are necessarily quite distinct from this great multitude which is translated just after it. The palms in the hands of the great midtitude show that this is the antitype of the Feast of Tabernacles, which was always observed at Harvest-time. Again, in Rev. xiv., after the 144,000 Wise Virgins are caught up to the Heavenly Zion (ver. 1 to 5), there elapses the 3J years’ hour of judgment (ver. 6 to 14), and then the Harvest is reaped, which is generally allowed to signify the ingathering of the saints at Christ’s descent on the earth, and is identical with “ the great multitude” in Rev. vii. Now, both the first-fmiits and Harvest must necessarily be of the same sort or nature ; and each of them consists entirely of translated living saints, neither of them including the raised sleeping saints. But the first-fruits, which is the earlier and much smaller ingathering, is declared to consist of 144,000 persons ; therefore the Harvest , which must be at least two or three hundred times larger than its first-fruits, will necessarily amount to upward of from 25 to 50 million persons, most of whom will be converted between the two translations. The parable of the Marriage Supper (Luke xiv. 16) also shows the vast number that will be converted during the tribulation between the two translations. The lord sent his servants to bring in guests from the streets and lanes of the city, and they returned, saying : “It is done as thou hast com¬ manded, and yet there is room." This typifies the first in¬ gathering or translation of the saints to the marriage of the CONVERSION OF MILLIONS OF PERSONS. 137 Lamb (1 Thess. iv. 16,17). The lord then sent out his servants to bring in a second company of guests, saying: “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may he filled." This represents the second translation, or in¬ gathering of saints, 5 years later, which will be much more numerous than the first, and will be chiefly gathered from the most unpromising and neglected parts of the earth, which are here denoted by the “highways and hedges.” So also it was said by our Saviour, in speaking of the Kingdom of Heaven, that there is first the blade, then the. ear, and after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, imme¬ diately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come (Mark iv. 28). This harvest evidently refers to the conversion and translation of an immense multitude at Christ’s coming, and is the harvest that is spoken of in Rev. xiv. 14 :—“ And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." The prophet Joel (chap, ii.) in describing the awful judg¬ ments of fire and the sword that will accompany the Day of the Lord, declares as the Divine promise : “ I will pour out my spirit upon all Jiesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And I will show ivonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. The first part of this prediction received a partial and inchoate accomplishment at the day of Pentecost (Acts ii.), but its principal fulfilment will be after the first translation, at the time of the great and terrible day of the Lord, which will also be the period of the outpouring of the latter rain (Joel ii. 23, Zech. x. 1, James v. 7), the former rain having been given on the day of Pentecost. It appears very clearly that the 138 SEVENTEENTH EVENT. power of working miracles, and the gift of tongues and of prophecy, and other spiritual gifts, will be bestowed at the same time; and it is doubtless by s ch means that the Gospel will then have its most extensive diffusion. These gifts may even be expected to be bestowed partially between the present time and the first translation ; but they must not be mistaken for the Satanic imitation of them, which is already produced by Spiritualism. It was said to Noah, with typical reference to the 31,- years’ Great Tribulation, “ It .shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the hbw shall be seen in the cloud” (Gen. ix. 14); and Isaiah, speaking of the same period, says (Isaiah xxvi. 9) :—“ When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the ivorld will learn righteousness.” The most glowing promises to those who convert the sinner from the error of his way, and turn many to righteousness (James v. 20, Dan. xii. 3), are given in passages directly referring to the judgments at Christ’s Advent. The Psalms of David, many of which are prophetical, and all the Old Testament Prophecies, abound with intimations that Christ will be mighty to save at the very time when he treads down his enemies in his fury, and that in wrath he will remember mercy. As after Christ’s ascension the Pentecostal effusion descended on his disciples, and after Elijah’s translation a double portion of the Spirit rested on. Elisha, so after the Wise Virgins are caught up to meet Christ, the Holy Spirit will be abundantly poured out on the foolish virgins during the year-day Seventh vial (the final five years) which was further prefigured to be the time of the descent of the latter rain of the Spirit by the time of Elijah, who, after the 1260 days of drought did not obtain rain in answer to his prayers until the seventh time of sending to look for its appearance. The Christian dispensation may also be expected, like the Jewish dispensation, to be characterised by a far greater prevalence of religion at its termination than at any other period during its continuance.* This prospect should lead * The first sprinklings of the latter-day outpouring of the Holy Spirit are perceptible in the unexampled religious Revivals in America in 1857, in Ireland in 1859, and in England, Scotland, Wales, Sweden, CONVERSION OP MILLIONS OF PERSONS. 130 Christians at the present time to distribute Bibles and tracts as widely as possible throughout the world, for they will be eagerly sought for, but not so easily obtained during the Great Tribulation. The current belief among the majority of Christians is, that at Christ’s Advent all probation will cease, and that the righteous will be glorified and the wicked perish, and the earth be burnt with fire. This notion, however, like most other popular traditions, is fundamentally erroneous. It is altogether unscriptural to suppose that Christ’s mediatorial office ends when he leaves the Father’s right hand to come to the earth, for, in fact, that is the very time when it begins to be most fully exercised. There will be innumerably more sinners saved by his intercession and advocacy during the 1000 years that succeed his descent from Jehovah’s right hand to the earth, than were ever saved during his previous occupation of that position ; and just as the elect were con¬ verted during the 4164 years before the Lord Jesus sat down at God’s right hand, so can they be converted during the millennial 1000 years after he has relinquished that seat, and come to the earth to sit upon the throne of David, and to establish the fifth universal monarchy (Dan. vii). Event XVIII. —Darkening of the constellations and a great earthquake (Rev. vi. 12, xi. 13), simultaneously with the commencement of the seven successive literal-day Vials, which during the final 2i- months (1) afflict the Napo- leonists with sores, (2) turn all fresh and (3) all salt water into blood, (4) produce intolerable heat, (5) cover Europe with Jamaica, &c., during the last few years. There has never been a time when they were so many revival preachers, such as Spurgeon, Guiness, Reginald, Raddiffe, Richard Weaver, Brownlow North, Caughey, E. R. Hammond, Dr. Finney, Dr. and Mrs. Palmer, etc. There can be no doubt but that the visits of revival preachers to different places for a short time constitute an important adjunct to the efforts of the settled ministry. It is surprising that there are scarcely any ladies at the present day who imitate the example of Mrs. Fry by speaking in public on religious subjects, although there are now in the United States more than a hundred lady-lecturers on secular subjects, especially on Spiritualism, which they have greatly contributed to disseminate. 140 EIGHTEENTH EVENT. darkness, (6) dry up the literal Euphrates, and (7) cause an unparalleled earthquake and hail-storm, and the Battle of Armageddon. (Rev. xvi.) (Lit-day) Rev. xvi. 2. The first poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grevious sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. 3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea ; and it became as the blood of a dead man ; and every living soul died in the sea. 4. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and foun¬ tains of waters ; and they became blood. . . . S. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. ... 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of dark¬ ness ; and they gnawed their tongues for pain. ... 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs . . . go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15. Behold, I come as a thief. ... 16. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air ; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 18. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail ; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. The usual objection as to the alleged diversity of opinion among expositors, which is continually urged by infidel scoffers as a reason for abstaining from the study of Prophecy, is entirely inapplicable in the case of the seven Vials ; for there is scarcely a single year day interpreter within the last sixty years that has not considered them to have commenced with the French Revolution, about 1792-94, at which time the 1260 years of the principal power of Popery terminated. Moreover, the position of the Vials in the Apocalypse, as well as their introduction (Rev. xv.) in THE LITERAL-DAY SEVEN VIALS. 141 which all those martyred by Antichrist during his 1260 days’ persecution are exhibited singing a song of triumph in heaven, clearly indicate that they are not poured out until just at the close of the 1260 days; and the year-day accom¬ plishment which they have already received fully confirms this view, and shows that the period of their duration is the sup¬ plementary 75 days, which constitute the difference between the 1260 and the 1335 days mentioned in Dan. xii. 12. The respective dates of commencement of the first six year-day Vials are generally held to be about 1792, 1793-4, 1795, 1802, 1815, and 1823-4, which were respectively 1259, 1261, 1262, 1269, 1282, and 1291 years after the commencement of the 1260 years of the Papal Antichrist’s supremacy in 533-7. Therefore the dates of the first six literal-day Vials will be respectively 1259, 1261, 1262, 1269, 1282, and 1291 days after the commencement of the 1260 days of the Personal Antichrist’s supremacy. The Vials commence almost simul¬ taneously with the sixth Seal, which opens with a great earth¬ quake and total darkness, that are additionally described in Rev. xi. 13, Matt. xxiv. 29, etc. The slaughter and resurrec¬ tion of the Witnesses occur synchronically with the second and third Vials. The relative position of these events during the final 21 months is shown in the accompanying diagram. The similarity between these seven last plagues, and the plagues inflicted by Moses upon the Egyptians, is so striking as effectually to remove all objections against the possibility of their literal accomplishment. The first plague will afflict Napoleon's worshippers with noisome and grievous sores, which they will continue to suffer from even during the fifth Vial (ver. 11). The next plague will cause the vast volume of water which is contained within the bed of the ocean to become like the coagulated and congealed blood of a dead man, and every creature within the sea, from the smallest animalculae to the greatest monsters of the deep, will instantaneously cease to live. It is noticeable that at this very same time the moon becomes as blood under the sixth seal. The rivers and fountains of water will next be turned into blood for several days, so that those who have shed the blood of saints and prophets will in just retribution have given to them blood to drink: for they are worthy ; 142 EIGHTEENTH EVENT. and thus the Righteous Judge who once turned water into wine to minister to the enjoyment of his disciples, will show that he can equally turn water into blood to augment the sufferings of his foes. After this, the sun, which a few days previously was blach as sackcloth of hair, will for about a fortnight shine with such fierce and angry glare as to scorch men vhtli fire and with great heat. The miseries resulting from this fourth plague Chronological order of the events of the final 2| months or 75 days (1335-1260) which follow the Covenant-week of 7 years, and also of the literal-day seven vials, which commence 2 days before the end of Antichrist’s 1260 days, and continue over the last 77 days of the 1335 days. (Dan. xii. 12.) 17921 1793 1259 1260 v«oi i Napoleon’s worshippers plagued with sores. Rev. vi. & vii. -g 1794 1261 Vial2. Sea becomes like] During this first 3.) Seal6.TheMoon “ 1796 1263 blood. daysthe witnesses becomes asblood 3 1798 1265 •Vial 8. Rivers and foun- lie dead,and there & darkness pre- S 1800 1267 tains become is a great earth- vails for a few 3 1802 w 1269 blood for about quake, and the hours about the >,1804 1271 seven days. tenth part of the 1261st day, the 4 1806 A 1273 The Sun scorches city falls & 7000 Sign of the Son u 1808 O 1275 iVial4. men with great men are slain. of Man appears g 1810 £ 1277 heat for about Kev. xi. 7, 13. some time be- ^ 1812 EH 1279 thirteen days. The witnesses rise tween the 1261st Ja 1814 « 1281 Darkness covers on the 1264th day. and 1331st day ~ 1816 £r 1283 the throne of (Matt. xxiv. 30), S 1818 1285 f the beast (An- and the Son of E= 1820 1287 tichrist) for Man himself a- £1822 - 1289 three days. bout the 1331st day. Matt. xxiv. •3 1824 S 1826 S 1828 o 1830 3 1832 1291 1293 1295 1297 1299 ' 31. a 1831 EH 1301 'S 1836 A 1303 The river Euphrates is grad- §•1838 1305 ually driedup during the forty The 144,000 | 1840 A 1307 days from the 1290th, to the » 1842 1309 1830th day to enable the Ten Jews are mostly 3 1844 o 1311 tVial 6. Tribes in Asia to march over it sealed during ■B 1846 w 1313 to Jerusalem,and simultaneously the 6th Vial. -2 1848 8 1850 a 1862 O 3 1854 o 1856 $ 1858 £> 1860 ^ 1862 w 5* 1315 1317 1319 1321 1323 1325 1327 1329 the three frog-like spirits gather nearly all the armies of the world to Armageddon. 1864 ft 1331 Second Tr ANSLATioN.lit-day, Rv.xvi.15; xi.15 Rev. vii. 9-17. 1866 1333 )- Third Woe—Battle of Armageddon Seal 7. Descrtb- 1869-72 1335 j Christ descends and slays his foes. ed in Rev. xix. THE LITEEAL-DAY SEVEN VIALS. 143 will probably be aggravated by the scarcity of water, as the effects of the previous Vial upon the rivers and fountains may not yet have passed away. There will next be—as regards the kingdom of Antichrist, which principally signifies Europe —a sudden transition from the scorching glare of the sun to total darkness, which will chiefly last for three days. These events will occupy the first month of the last months. The sixth Vial, causing the drying up of the literal Euphrates, that the Ten Tribes may march across it to Palestine, will then be poured out at the end of the 1290 days (Dan. xii. 11), and will last for about forty days, during which the armies of the world are gathered to the Battle of Armageddon. The Second Translation of living saints is at the end of the forty days (ver. 15), just before the seventh literal Vial,* which extends over the final four or five days, and none but the ungodly will be left upon the globe to endure the terrific judgments which will then be inflicted, for there will literally.be a mighty and great earthquake, such as v;as not since men ivere upon the earth, causing the earth to shake from its centre to its circum¬ ference, and to reel to and fro like a drunken man. The territory of the great city Babylon (Papal Christendom) will become divided into three parts, and throughout a consider¬ able portion of it, including Borne, subterranean volcanic fires will burst forth, and their smoke will ascend up during the subsequent millennium as au unceasing memorial of God’s vengeance (Is. lxvi. 24). So violent will be the earthquake that the cities of the nations, such as London, Liverpool, * In the year-day fulfilment of the seventh Vial, which lasts for four or five years, apparently from 1866-67 to 1872, the great and mighty earthquake signifies an unprecedented world-wide revolution: the division of the great city (Babylon) into three parts denotes the formation within Papal Christendom of three distinct parties of true Christians, Infidels, and Ultramontane Papists; the fall of the cities of the nations represents the dissolution of all the State Churches or hierarchies of the different nations, such as the Church of England, the Greek Church in Prussia, etc.; the cup of wrath given to great Babylon refers to the spoliation of the Romish Church; the vanishing away of the islands and mountains emblematizes the overthrow of all ancient political institutions and governments; the great hail-storm symbolises an invasion of the Roman Empire from the north. H4 NINETEENTH EVENT. Dublin, Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg, New York, Boston, etc., will fall , and become heaps of shapeless ruins, scarcely one stone being left standing upon another. And the islands and mountains which were moved out of their places seventy days previously by the great earthquake at the opening of the sixth Seal, w'ill now, at this subsequent earthquake, altogether flee away and not he found. Simultaneously hail-stones, about the weight of a talent, or hundred-weight, being, in fact, great blocks of ice, will fall upon men, and the plague thereof will be exceeding great. At the same time the Battle of Armageddon is fought, and Christ descending with his saints, destroys them which destroy the earth. Event XIX.— Visible Manifestation of Christ coming in the clouds of heaven, and Second Translation of living saints, 5 days before this Dispensation ends, and the Millen¬ nium begins. (Matt. xxiv. 31, Rev. xiv. 16). Rev. vii. 9 : I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands ; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying. Amen : Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me. What are these which are arrayed in white robes ? and whence came they ? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Lit-day. )* * The year-day Gth Seal lasts for about 70 years from 1793-7 to 1866-7, and begins with the French Revolution (Rev. vi. 12-17): then an interval elapses for finishing the sealing of 144,000 wise vir- VISIBLE MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST. 145 It appears that the raised saints and the Philadelphian first- fruits (Rev. xiv. 4), or 144,000 Wise Virgins (or Manchild, Rev. xii. 5), having been caught up into the air at the first stage in the Advent rather more than two years after the Covenant, will be judged while they remain in the pavilion- cloud for about 5 years, during the rest of the 7 years and 21- months : and they will then have awarded to them their future positions of honour in the Millennial Kingdom. At the end of about 5 years, when the process of adjudication is concluded, they will descend with Christ at their head upon Mt. Olivet at the Battle of Armageddon, and after slaying all rejectors of the Gospel, they will then begin to reign on the earth, and will thus stand on their respective lots or inheritances (kX-tjpo- vo/j.m) at the end of the 1335 days from the setting up of Anti¬ christ’s image in the Temple, according to the promise given to Daniel (Dan. xii. 11, 13). But just before this, the Second Translation takes place. As the First Translation is at the close of the year-day 6 th Seal, 6th Vial, and 6 th Trumpet, about 5 years before the End, so the Second Translation is at the close of the literal-day 6th Seal, 6th Vial, and 6th Trumpet, about 5 days before the End: and it will consist in the visible manifestation of Christ coming in the clouds and sending his angels to gather together his elect from the four winds, which is gins out of the various sects or branches of the Christian Church (Rev. vii. 1-9), and then these sealed ones, as well as the deceased saints, are caught up to meet Christ in the air (ver. 9 to 17), being thus a great multitude that will have come from (ek in the sense of escaping, as in Rev. iii. 10) the Great Tribulation, which follows during the next live years. The literal-day 6th Seal lasts for about 70 days immediately after Antichrist’s 3.; years : it begins with dark¬ ness and an earthquake : 144,000 Jews are then sealed, and together with all the other saints are caught tip in the Second Translation, and thus come out of (bk) the Great Tribulation, having passed through it. The word ek in this passage, like ttoAe/xov and tts (Rev. xvi. 14, 16), has a slightly different meaning in the year-day from what it has in the literal-day fulfilment. The following texts describe in the year-day fulfilment the Resur¬ rection and First Translation, and in the literal-day fulfilment the Resurrection of Antichrist’s martyrs and Second Translation : Rev. vii. 9-17 ; xi. 15-19; xvi. 15. This second stage in Christ’s Advent is also exclusively referred to in Matt. xxiv. 30, 31 ; Mark xiii. 26, 27; Luke xxi. 27 ; Rev. xiv. 16 ; i. 7 ; Dan. vii. 13. K 146 NINETEENTH EVENT. described in Matt. xxiv. 29-31, and Mark xiii. 24-27, as taking place very soon after the darkening of the sun, wliicli immediately follows the 3£ years’ Great Tribulation, consequent upon the set¬ ting up of the abomination of Desolation. In neither of these two passages is the resurrection of the sleeping saints alluded to, for the reason that it will have occurred five years previously, at the First Translation (1 Thess. iv.). It is by no means certain that those who die a natural death during this five years will have part in the First Resur- rection by being raised up before the Millennium. With regard, however, to those who are martyred during the five years, and who refuse to worship Napoleon’s image, it is ex¬ pressly stated, in Rev. xx. 4, 5, that when the saints consti¬ tuting the Lamb’s wife descend with Christ to the earth (Rev. xix. 8, 14, 19) and sit on thrones and have the judg¬ ment—that is, the government of the world give to them — then the souls (that is, the persons, Acts xxvii. 37) of Anti¬ christ’s martyrs will live (that is, be raised up), and will also reign ; and this will be the conclusion of the First Resurrec¬ tion, which will have commenced with the First Translation, five years previously. There is some reason for supposing that those ■who die otherwise than by martyrdom during the quinquennial interval between the two Translations, will be included among the rest of the dead that live not again (that is, are not raised up) until the thousand years are finished, when there will be the Second Resurrection (Rev. xx. 11-15), comprising all who have died during the Millennium, as well as all who were not raised up at the First Resurrection. The Judgment before the great white throne which then ensues, evidently includes righteous as well as wicked persons, from the fact of the Book of Life being produced and opened, which would be unnecessary if only the wicked were present. The living saints caught up in the Second Translation constitute the Laodicean harvest (Rev. xvi. 15), or the great multitude (lit-day, Rev. vii.), and appear to amount to upwards of from 25 to 50 millions persons. By the great ness of their past afflictions they will be thoroughly purified from all that lingering love of the world and that cold indifference to the hope of Christ’s advent, which at present characterises the majority even of SECOND TRANSLATION. 147 truly pious people. Most of them will have witnessed, and, no doubt, have suffered, from the tremendous judgments of the literal-day Seals, Trumpets, and Vials. They will have seen the skies raining down blood (Rev. viii. 7), and the ocean and the streams of water changed into blood, and the moon becoming as blood, and the earth’s bosom stained with the blood of millions of her slain. They will have beheld the sun at one time angrily emitting rays of burning heat, so as to scorch men with fire, and again mournfully hiding its face from the scene of terrestrial woe, and the whole heavens over¬ spread with the blackness of darkness, as if the day of the world’s funeral had arrived. They will have felt the earth shudder and quake as if horror-struck at the atrocities perpe¬ trated by its inhabitants, and they will have seen pestilence, famine, and the sword covering its surface with myriads of unburied corpses. The description of the ancient martyrs will have become applicable to them, for they will have had trial of cruel mockinys and scouryinys, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment . . . being destitute, afflicted, tormented, wanderiny in deserts, and mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth (Heb. xi. 38). Often will they have lamented that they did not earlier believe in and openly confess the imminence of Christ’s Advent, so as to have been caught up in the First Translation. The prophecies of Revelation, which at present scarcely any one studies, will then be anxiously pored over by them, to ascertain how soon they will be delivered by the Second Translation. At last their suspense will be relieved by the appearance in the skies, some time during the first 6 literal-day Vials, of the Sign of the Son of Man, which (whether or not a gigantic cross emblazoned upon the concave of the firmament) will be some conspicuous and universally- visible object, at the sight of which the majority of mankind will mourn, but the saints will rejoice with exceeding great joy. Five days before the End, Christ himself will appear in the heavens, coming with power and yreat glory. All the elect, including the 144,000 sealed Jews, will be caught up to meet him, being the yreat multitude (oyfos. irokvs) which come out of the Great Tribulation (e« t ys 0A.n^ecos ttjs yeyaXps, Rev. vii. 14). After this, the literal-day 7th Seal will be opened, and half an hour’s silence follows, during which the newly- 148 NINETEENTH EVENT. translated saints probably have their respective positions assigned to them. The narrative of the Seals is then suspended at Rev. viii. 1, and recommences at Rev. xix., as the best expositors admit, for the intervening space is occupied with other visions of the Trumpets, Vials, etc. The whole of Rev. xix. is fulfilled exactly within the last five days. The half-hour’s silence of Rev. viii. 1 is broken in Rev. xix. 1 by the great multitude in heaven ( much people, oyAos iro\v s, Rev. xix. 1, 6) praising God for his justice in taking vengeance on the harlot Papal Church, by destroying its chief seat, Rome, which becomes the scene of a perpetual volcanic fire three or four days before the Consummation (lit-day, Rev. xviii., xvi. 19). Amid their exclamations of joy there is heard for the first time the Hebrew word Alleluia, thereby showing, as commentators have often remarked, the presence among the great multitude of many Jews, who are, in fact, the recently translated 144,000 sealed Jews. Their declaration that the marriage of • the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready, | appears to imply that the Lamb’s marriage does not take place until that time, and consequently it is possible that they may form part of the Lamb’s wife, although it might have seemed, from Matt. xxv. 10, that the marriage took place ■ soon after the First Translation, and that the subjects of the Second Translation were excluded from it, and only admitted to the subsequent marriage-supper. This latter view is confirmed by the additional announcement : Blessed are they \ which are called into the marriage-supper of the Lamb, which (unless it refers to the Millennial saints), when viewed in connection with the promise given to the Laodicean saints— that is, the saints on the earth between the two Translations (Rev. iii. 14-22), appears to indicate that the subjects of the Second Translation do not constitute part of the Bride, but are only admitted to the marriage-supper as i wedding-guests or friends of the Bridegroom (John iii. 29), and only sit down on Christ’s throne (Rev. iii. 21), and not on the Father’s throne (Rev. xii. 5). That there will be different companies of the redeemed in addition to the Bride or Lamb’s wife, is indisputable (Psalms xlv. 13, 14; Song Sol. vi. 8, 9), as, for instance, the Millennial saints, SECOND TRANSLATION. 149 who, after death, will be taken up to heaven, must necessarily form a distinct body from those saints that constitute the Bride, who is married to the Divine Bridegroom just before the Millennium. It appears on the whole to be at least doubtful whether the Laodicean saints will form part of the Bride, and whether those of them who die otherwise than by martyrdom will be raised up until the post-millennial Second Resurrection; but these two points require fuller considera¬ tion than can here be allotted to them. The marriage of the Lamb, which is briefly mentioned in Rev. xix. 7, 8, is described at greater length in the subse¬ quent vision of the New Jerusalem from Rev. xxi. 2 to xxii. 15, which is not the sequel and continuation of the vision of Rev. xix., xx., and xxi. 1, but is a distinct and retrogressive vision, and refers to the same period of time as Rev. xix. 7, 8. The New Jerusalem, which is no mere emblem, but is a visible and literal city, 1500 miles square, and constructed of the solid and substantial material of pure gold like unto clear glass, descends from the highest heavens down to the pavilion-cloud in the air, where the raised and translated saints have remained for about 5 years: and their immediate entrance into that city and investment, with possession of the mansions that are there provided for them, principally constitutes the ceremony of the Lamb’s marriage. For as at the marriage of an earthly monarch, his bride is publicly in the sight of his subjects, raised to the same exalted rank as himself, to sit upon his throne, to enter into his palace, to receive through life the title of Queen, and to exercise conjointly with her royal consort supreme power over the kingdom, so at the marriage of the King of kings, the saints constituting his Bride will openly, in the presence of the angels and archangels and principalities and powers in heavenly places, receive the lofty titles of Kings and Priests unto God , and they will be formally admitted to take their seat by his side upon the throne and to enter into his Palace (Ps. xlv.), the New Jerusalem, the Capital and Metropolis of the Universe, and thenceforth, as joint-heirs with him, will exercise royal authority and dominion over all things, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. Thus on almost the same day that the False Harlot Church of Rome sinks into irreversible perdition, and has its chief 150 TWENTIETH EVENT. city, Rome, rendered the scene of an unquenchable volcanic conflagration, the Faithful Bride, the true Church, is married to the Lamb, and enters upon possession of the Holy City, whose builder and maker is God. This will be the Heavenly Home of the glorified saints, from which they will continually wing their way upon visits to the earth and other parts of the Universe.* Event XX.— Third Woe, during the final 3 \ days, con¬ sisting principally in the transformation of the territory ad¬ joining Rome into a perpetual lake of fire (Rev. xix. 3), and the destruction of Napoleon and the Pope and five-sixths of their vast armies at the Battle of Armageddon, when Christ will descend on the earth and slay all incorrigible rejectors of the Gospel. (Isaiah xxxiv., Ixvi., Ezek. xxxix., Zech. xiv., Rev. xi. 15, xvi. 17, xix.) “ And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make "War. . . Amd the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. . . And I saw the Beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. And the Beast was taken and with him the False Prophet. . . These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse.”—Rev. xix. The third year-day Woe, or 3J years War of Armaged¬ don! consists in the series of conflicts that take place in * Although the descent of the New Jerusalem into the air near the earth (partially constituting the Lamb’s marriage) does not seem to occur earlier, yet the saints raised and caught up at the first Transla¬ tion may perhaps enter into it previous to this pei’iod. t During the 40 years of the year-day 6th vial from 1826 to 1866-7, preparations are made for the nations being gathered to the 3| years' War of Armageddon, which takes place during the year-day 7th Vial: the word iroXeyov signifying war, and the word eis towards (Rev. xvi. 14, 16). During the subsequent 40 day.? of the literal-day 6th Vial there is another gathering of the nations to the 34 days. Battle of Armageddon, which occurs during the literal-day 7th Vial: the word ttoXe/jlov signifying battle, and ei? into. The double sense of BATTLE OE ARMAGEDDON. 151 the vicinity of Palestine during the year-day 7th Trumpet and Vial, and which will almost have subsided by the end of Antichrist’s years. But the third literal-day Woe, or 3^ days’ battle of Armageddon, is a subsequent contest during the literal-day 7th Trumpet and Vial, to which, in a final paroxysm of rage and despair, Napoleon, filled with indigna¬ tion against the Jews, as the supposed cause of the intolerable plagues of the literal-day Vials, will for the last time summon all his followers, saying : Come, and let us cut them off from beinc / a nation , that the name of Israel may be no more in re¬ membrance (Ps. lxxxiii. 4). As Pharoah did but grow more hardened, after being visited with ten plagues, and pursued after the Israelites to overcome them, so Napoleon, after enduring five plagues, will only become confirmed in the determination to destroy and utterly to male away almost all the Jews. Although the ungodly will have been terror- stricken under the tremendous judgments of the first five vials, during the first month of the final 2| months, yet as the next 40 days during the literal-day 6th Vial is an interval of re¬ spite, they will temporarily recover from their consternation ; and their enmity against Christ’s people will be stirred up afresh by the renewed activity of the unclean spirits of atheism and fanatical zealotry. Like a tumultuous torrent, they will rush from all parts of the earth to exterminate the Jews in Palestine, and that no element of success may be wanting, Napoleon himself, attended by his ten kings and his inseparable associate, the False Prophet, will with great pomp accompany the expedition. At the close of the 40 days, just five days before the End, they will be found assembled in the Holy Land, in a place called in the Hebrew tongue Arma¬ geddon. At this very juncture the Second Translation takes place (literal-day, Rev. xvi. 15). Christ appears in the skies, coming with power and great glory, and the angels descend and take up into the clouds all the saints remaining on the earth (Mark xiii. 27). During the five days (the 1330th to £i5 is noticed by Elliott as occurring in Rev. xii. 6, 14. The year-day 7th Trumpet and 7th Vial begin about a year before the 3A years’ third Woe, and so also the literal-day 7th Trumpet and Vial being about a day before the 31 days’ third Woe. 152 TWENTIETH EVENT. the 1335tli) that then elapse before the End, in the course of which the Marriage of the Lamb takes place in the clouds, the shining brightness of the glory of Christ’s presence con¬ tinues visible in the heavens, betokening his descent to be immediately at hand. This spectacle, so far from inducing Antichrist to desist from his heaven-defying rebellion only hardens him in the resolve to contend with his utmost strength against the heavenly hosts which he perceives are about to come down to the earth. He no longer designs merely to extirpate the Jews, but now turns all his attention to opposing the celestial armies, whom he madly hopes to vanquish, determining to fight neither ivith small nor great, save only with the Divine King of Israel. He will have become so infatuated from his unparalleled career of conquest as to say in his heart, I will ascend into heaven: I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High (Isaiah xiv. 13). Having previously made war with the saints, and even with Elijah and the other Witness, and overcome them, he now thinks to make war ivith the Lamb with a like result. Forthwith he issues orders to his generals and captains to marshal their innumerable companies of cavalry and infantry and artillery in battle array. He will doubtless remind them of their past victories and of their hitherto indomitable courage and invinci¬ bility, and exhort them to fight against the supernatural foes that are approaching, with unfaltering valour and resolution. An interval of a day or two will follow, during which every preparation will be made by his hosts for engaging in the impending struggle ; and then during the subsequent three or four days, consuming judgments will overwhelm them, by which five-sixths of their number will be slain. There will suddenly be a literal earthquake of unparalleled violence, and at the same time mutual hatred and discord will be dissemi¬ nated throughout their ranks. Every man's sword shall be against his brother, and a scene of unexampled carnage will then be witnessed. The slaughter will be so great that it will afterwards occupy the Jews seven months in burying the dead bodies (Ezek. xxxix. 12); and the bloodshed will be such that the blood will come out of the wine-press, even unto the horses' bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs FINAL OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON. 153 (Rev. xiv. 20). This may refer to the length of Palestine, being about 1600 furlongs or 200 miles; but it prin¬ cipally seems to designate the square measure of the area in which the greatest destruction of life will occur, and which would thus be 25 square miles, each side being the length of 5 miles or 40 furlongs, which is the square root of 1600 furlongs. The sword will not be the onJy means by which the doomed five-sixths of this multitude will be slain ; for great hailstones and fire and brimstone will be rained upon them (Ezek. xxxviii.), and an unprecedented plague will smite them. Their flesh shall consume away ivhile the// stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. Every horse will be smitten with blindness and his rider with madness (Zech. xii. 4, xiv. 12). During these final 2 or 3 days the de¬ scent of Christ with his glorified saints from the Heavenly Jerusalem to the earth takes place, and most probably it will occur on the 1335th day, 5 days after the Second Translation, since it also occurs on the 1335th year, 5 years after the First Translation. At the infliction of the first and second Woes the bottomless pit was opened, and supernatural locusts, and horse¬ men with red and blue and yellow breastplates, and mounted upon horses that seemed to breath out fire and brim¬ stone, appeared on the earth. But now T at the infliction of this third Woe, heaven is opened and celestial horsemen, clothed in white linen and mounted upon w’hite horses, de¬ scend from the skies (Rev. xix.). They speedily consummate the work of vengeance upon Napoleon’s armies, which has already been initiated. The Antichrist and the Roman Pontiff are at once captured, like wild beasts trapped in a pitfall, and are cast alive, without undergoing death, into the lake of fire, which appears, from Isaiah xxxiv., and lxvi. 24, and Rev. xix. 3, to be the region adjacent to Rome, which will at that time become the scene of a perpetual volcanic conflagration, and the sight of which will serve as a continual warning and restraint to the subsequent inhabitants of the earth. Thus will Napoleon and his ten kings make war with, the Lamb and against him that sits on the horse, and stand up against the Prince of Princes, but the Lamb shall overcome them, and they shall be broken ivithout hand (Rev. xvii. 14, xix. 19, Dan. viii. 154 THE MILLENNIUM. 25). Ancl thus the great Antitype of Pharoah, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Judas, and Herod, after having reached (as implied by his number 606) the highest degree of human grandeur and perfection that is attainable apart from God, will finally come to his end, and none shall help him. With him as its last Head, the Fourth Universal Monarchy or Roman Empire will pass away ; and the Fifth Monarchy or Millennial Kingdom of the Lord Jesus will almost immediately com¬ mence.* When Christ thus descends with his glorified saints upon Mt. Olivet (Zech. xiv. 4, Acts i. 11), at the end of 7 years and 2| months after Antichrist has been revealed (2 Thess. ii. 3), by his confirmation of the Jewish covenant, the Millennium of 1000 years (Rev. xx.) will almost immediately commence. Its leading features and the changes which it will introduce may be noticed under four heads. (1.) As regards the phy¬ sical condition of the earth. It is important to remember that the earth will not be completely burnt up or depopulated at the Second Advent. The day of the Lord, in which the general conflagration is to occur (2 Peter iii. 10), is not a day of 24 hours, but is explained in 2 Peter iii. 8 to be a period of 1000 years, and is in fact the same period as the Mil¬ lennium. The conflagration will take place partially at the beginning of the 1000 years (Rev. xviii., Is. lxvi. 15, *Tlie expressions “ the End” or “ the Consummation,” are used to signify the end of this dispensation at Christ’s descent at Annageddon, 7 years and 24 months after the date of the Jewish Covenant.—The seven literal-day Seals (Rev. vi., vii.) describe the successive condi¬ tions of the visible Church, with accompanying Providential dispensa¬ tions, during the 5 years 1 month and 5 days between the First Trans¬ lation and Christ’s Descent (See Diagrams II. and VIII). Seal 1 depicts the Church full of a Revival spirit (the white horse) for 9| months. Seal 2 denotes the growing degeneracy of the Church (the red horse) during a period of universal warfare the next 7 months. Seal 3 repre¬ sents the increased apostacy of the visible Church (black horse), daring a time of dreadful famine the next 18 months. Seal 4 signifies the Church’s utter corruption (pale horse) during dreadful wars, famines, and pestilences the next 12 months. Seal 5 denotes a period of respite for the next 12 months. Seal 6 describes the completion of the sealing of 144,COO Jews, during the next 2^ mouths, ending with the Second Translation. Seal 7 depicts the marriage of the Lamb’s wife (Rev. xix.) during the last 5 days. CONDITION OF THE EARTH. 155 Ezek. xxxix. 6, 2 Tkess. i. 8), and more completely at the end of the 1000 years (Rev. xx. 9, xxi. 1), when there will be no more sea. Thus also the New Heavens and New Earth seem to commence partially with the Millennium (Is. lxv. 17, Ixvi. 22), but are not completely perfected until the end of the Millennium, when the sea having given up its dead altogether disappears (Rev. xxi. 1). After the battle of Armageddon some of the less hardened sinners will be spared and converted, and will be sent as missionaries to the nations and to the isles afar off that have not heard the fame nor seen the glory of the Lord (Is. Ixvi. 19). But although a few men are left (Is. xxiv. 6), yet a great many of the remain¬ ing inhabitants of the earth are burned at that time, for the Lord Jesus will send a fire on them that dwell carelessly in the isles (or different continents of the earth) (Ezek. xxxix. 6), and will execute judgment upon all (Jude 15) with flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God (2 Thess. i. 8), and by fire and by his sword will plead with all flesh : and the slain of the Lord shall be many (Is. Ixvi. 16). After the incorrigible rejectors of the Gospel are cut off, the surviving population of the earth (probably a tenth or twentieth part of its present population) will quickly increase and multiply, and live in successive generations ; births, deaths, and marriages continually taking place as at the present time. The glorified saints that were caught up to the heavens at the Resurrection and two Translations, will live in the Heavenly Jerusalem, and constantly descend and ascend between it and this earth, over which they will, visibly or invisibly, reign as Kings. The curse that has rested upon the animal, vegetable, and mineral creation ever since the fall of Adam will be to a great extent repealed. As soon as all the people praise God, then shall the earth yield her increase (Ps. lxvii. 7). The hitherto sterile soil will become extraordinarily fruitful, and will require very little labour in order to produce abundant crops (Amos ix. 13, Joel iii. 18, Is. xxx. 23). Weeds will almost cease to grow naturally upon it. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle- tree (Is. Iv. 13). There will be important atmospheric, meteorological, and geological changes, by means of which wastes, wildernesses, such as the Great Sahara, and 156 THE MILLENNIUM. frozen regions, like those of Siberia, will become clothed with fertility and beauty, for the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose, . . . and the 'parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land, springs of water (Is. xxxv.). Entire exemption from sickness does not seem to be promised to the Gentile nations as to the Jews ; but the leaves of the tree of life in the New Jerusalem are for the healing of the nations (Rev. xxii. 2), and will apparently be brought down from the New Jerusalem to those upon earth who are sick. All the blind, deaf, dumb, and lame that are spared at Christ’s descent will be healed (Is. xxxv. 5). Venomous serpents will become quite harmless, and ferocious animals, such as the wolf, the leopard, the lion, and the bear, becoming graminivorous instead of carnivorous, will live peaceably with sheep and cattle (Is. xi. 6, lx. 25), and may, perhaps, be used as beasts of burden. Man’s lifetime will, perhaps, be pro¬ longed ; the express promise of longevity appears, however, to be only given to the Jewish nation (Is. lxv. 20). These changes will necessarily cause an unparalleled increase of the earth’s inhabitants,* so that they will become as numerous as the sand upon the sea shore (Rev. xx. 8). * It will be interesting to observe during the Millennium bow the difficulties arising from the great increase of population will be pro¬ vided against. In England, the population, which is now 330 persons to the square mile, has doubled itself in 50 years, from a.d. 1800 to 1850, and political economists consider that, if unchecked by wars, scarcity of food, &c., it would easily double itself every 25 years. At this rate the earth’s inhabitants, if only 50 millions at the beginning of the Millennium, would become 204,800 millions in the 300th year, which would be about 3400 persons to every square mile of land, for only 60 out of the 200 million square miles of the earth’s surface consist of land. This would perhaps be as great a population as the earth could well contain, and would require about three- fourths of its soil to be under cultivation, and sufficiently fertile to yield on an average from each acre (the 640th part of a square mile) enough food for seven persons. (Even now, one acre has been known to yield, by spade cultivation, enough to support 20 persons.) There will doubtless be special Providential arrangements, which will prevent too great a multiplication of the human race. This estimate of about 200,000 millions as the possible maximum of the earth’s population (being 150 times greater than its present population of 1300 millions) will make the unglorified inhabitants of the Millennial earth to be 500 times more numerous than the glorified saints of the RELIGIOUS STATE OF THE MILLENNIAL EARTH. 157 (2.) As respects the political and social condition of mankind. One Man will be King over the whole earth, even Jesus of Nazareth, the God-man ; and his kingdom, like the four preceding universal kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, will be a literal, visible, and earthly kingdom (Dan. ii., vii. 11, Zech. xiv. 9) over all people, nations, and languages (Dan. vii. 14), a phrase which exclusively denotes nations as they at present exist in the flesh (Dan. iii. 4, iv. 1, vi. 25). Although he will from time to time manifest him¬ self personally in the terrestrial Jerusalem, the earth’s metro¬ polis and seat of government, yet his principal residence, together with his glorified saints, will be in the celestial Jerusalem, the metropolis of the Universe, a city of pure gold like unto clear glass, and 1500 miles in length, breadth, and height (Rev. xxi. 16), which comes down into the air so as to be visible to the nations of the earth (Rev. xxi. 24), but is nowhere stated to come on to the earth ; indeed, it would be quite incongruous for a perfectly square structure to be poised upon a globe only four times greater (24,000 miles) in circum¬ ference. The glorified saints associated with Jesus, as sub¬ ordinate Kings in the government of this world (Rev. xx. 6, Luke xix. 17), will constantly pass to and fro between the Heavenly City and this planet, thus realising the prophetic vision of Jacob’s ladder (Gen. xxviii. 12, John i. 51). It is a question whether they will reign visibly over the unglorified inhabitants of the earth, or invisibly (occasionally, however, manifesting their presence), like the angels which at present have mankind intrusted to their charge and ministry (Heb. i. 14, ii. 5, Ps. xxxiv. 7), and which wear the titles of the kingdoms of this world (Dan. x. 13, 20). It appears that the nations will retain their distinctive customs and languages (unless Zeph. iii. 9 signifies that there will be only one language), but will probably all have the same laws, currency, and standards of measurement, by which their mutual commercial dealings may be facilitated. The First Resurrection (Rev. xx. 6) who will reign over them—that is, if these latter (exclusive of deceased infants) be approximately estimated to amount to about 400 millions. There would also thus be probably more people living on the earth at one time than the whole sum of all the successive populations during the past 6000 years. 158 THE MILLENNIUM. earth’s inhabitants will engage in agricultural, mechani¬ cal, scientific, and mercantile occupations, and follow the legal, clerical, and literary professions, just as in these days.* But the military profession will be forgotten. Peace will prevail universally (Is. ii. 4, Hos. ii. 18, Ps. xlvi. 9). No standing armies or warlike navies will be maintained. Bayonets and rifled cannon will be regarded as the relics of a bygone age of darkness and barbarism. There will be no despotism, tyranny, or oppression. Cases of crime will be very rare. The whole earth will probably be^ covered with a network of railways and telegraphs, and the surface of the ocean un¬ ceasingly traversed by innumerable vessels, maintaining con¬ stant intercourse among all the communities of the globe. England and North-Am erica, released from the dominancy of Antichrist, will doubtless occupy the foremost position, next to Israel, among the regenerated nations. The Millennial state of the earth is strikingly illustrated by the scene of Christ’s Transfiguration, which was a miniature picture of it, and there¬ fore a prophetic vision of the Son of man coming in his king¬ dom (Matt. xvi. 28, 2 Peter i. 16). The six days (Matt. xvii. 1) typified the 6000 years, after which the Millennium com¬ mences, and Peter, James, and John represented the unglori¬ fied inhabitants of the Millennial earth, over whom the * Although the business of the world will be carried on during the Millennium in somewhat the same manner as at present, yet it is vain for persous to think of retaining their possessions during the coming Tribulation (Is. xxiv.,)andit would be impious for them to make any preparations in expectation of surviving on the earth after the Second Advent and during the Millennium. All converted persons will shortly be removed from the earth in the two Translations, and a few of the unconverted who are leftbehind will be afterward spared and converted, and will constitute the earth’s population when the Millennium begins. It is clearly the duty of those who are true Christians, and who are therefore sure to be caught up in one of the two Translations, to spend as much of their remaining time and property as they can in preaching the Gospel and circulating Bibles and religious books as widely as possible, before the approaching in fidel persecution puts a stop to such efforts. The present momentous crisis justifies Christians in relinquishing secular occupations, if they can do-so without serious inconvenience to themselves or society, and devoting themselves exclusively to striving to enlighten the muk titudes that are perishing for lack of knowledge. THE JEWISH NATION. 159 glorified raised and translated saints, represented by Moses and Elias, will reign conjointly with Christ. (3). As regards the religious condition of mankind. Instead of three-fourths of the human race being in hea¬ then darkness as at present, all persons will then be ac¬ quainted with the doctrines of Christianity, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Is. xi. 9, Heb. ii. 16), and Christ will have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth (Zech. ix. 10, Ps. Ixxii. 8), for all nations shall come and worship before him (Rev. xv. 4, xi. 15, xx., Ps. lxxxvi. 9, lxvi., 2 Dan. ii., vii.). Although men will be free from the deceiving influence of Satan (Rev. xx. 3), yet they will have the same naturally sinful hearts as now, and this will necessitate the continuance of the means of grace and the preaching of the Gospel, which, however, will be accompanied by a much greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit than in these days (Is. xxxii. 15). Open wickedness, such as drunkenness, Sab¬ bath-breaking, gambling, lying, dishonesty, cruelty, impure conduct or conversation, will be promptly punished whenever it occurs, and almost entirely repressed; but there will still be some unregenerate persons among the nations (Zech. xiv. 19). Probably not more than ten millions out of the thirteen hun¬ dred millions now upon the earth are truly converted or born again, but then the proportion of the converted to the uncon¬ verted will perhaps be nearly the reverse of this, so that if the earth’s population is only as large as it now is (and it might and perhaps will be 150 times greater), there will be more adult persons saved in one generation than in all the past 200 generations (without referring to those that die in infancy). There may also be a further addition to the Bible for the Millennial dispensation, just as there was an addition to it for the Christian dispensation. (4.) As regards the Jewish nation. After the Battle of Armageddon, all the surviving Jews throughout the earth will be converted and restored to Palestine, being brought as an offering unto the Lord out of all nations, upon horses and in chariots, and in litters, and upon nudes (Is. lxvi. 20, see also Is. xi;, lx., Jer. iii., xxxi., xxxiii., Zech. viii. to xiv., Ezek. xxxiv. to xlviii., Rom. xl., etc.). It seems that the ships of 160 THE MILLENNIUM. the maritime power called Tarshish (England or the American States, or both) will likewise assist in this work (Is. lx. 9). (It appears that they will, perhaps, have also assisted in the partial restoration under Antichrist seven years previously —Is. xviii.). Only one-third of the Jews that were living in Palestine at the commencement of Antichrist’s persecution will be surviving when the Millennium begins (Zech. xiii. 9), and those of them who are in Jerusalem when Christ descends on Mt. Olivet will look upon him ivhom they have pierced (Zech. xii. 10, Matt, xxiii. 39), and will immediately re¬ pent and become converted through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as typified by the miraculous conversion of the Apostle Paul (1 Tim. i. 16). The Jews will then possess the land from the Nile to the Euphrates, which, although pro¬ mised to them (Gen. xv. 18), they have never yet obtained. Jerusalem will be the metropolis of the earth, and will be 18,000 measures, or 36 miles in circumference, and 9 miles square (Ezek. xlviii. 35), each measure being 6 cubits (Ezek. i xl. 5), and the cubit of the sanctuary being 21 inches. • Within it (if not throughout all Palestine) there will never be any weeping or crying (Is. lxv. 19), and the inhabitant shall not say I am sick (Is. xxxiii. 24) for the very leaves of its 1 trees will furnish an elixir vitae and a medicinal panacea for human maladies (Ezek. xlvii. 12). All the Jews will be truly converted (Is. liv. 13, lx. 21, Jer. xxxi. 34), and will mostly live to the age of several centuries, being only children when a hundred years old, and rivalling in longevity the trees of the forest (Is. lxv. 20, 22). They will be the chief of the nations of the regenerated earth. The Holy Land will become like the garden of Eden (Ezek. xxxvi. 35, Is. vii. 21, 22, xxx. 23), and will be divided afresh among the twelve tribes (Ezek. xlviii.), who will be governed by the twelve apostles (Luke xxii. 30). Over Mt. Zion Avill be a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Is. iv. 5). The Jewish Temple will be rebuilt according to the pattern given in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel, which also prescribe the order of the future sacrifices and other rites ; for Israel, though Chris¬ tianised, will still observe the peculiar ceremonies of Judaism, not as expiatory or prospectively as a shadow of things to come, but as eucharistic, and retrospectively as a sacramental THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM. 161 commemoration of the past offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. All the nations (or at least large delegations from each nation) will make pilgrimages to Jerusalem every year to keep the feast of Tabernacles, or else no rain will descend upon them (Zech. xiv. 19), and such an unprecedented amount of travelling clearly implies an extra¬ ordinary abundance at that time of facilities for locomotion, such as railways and steam-vessels. The Dead Sea will also be completely purified by a river that will be caused to flow into it from Jerusalem (Ezek. xlvii. 8, 10). There will most probably be a channel opened for the passage of vessels between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, by which Jerusalem will be placed upon the highway of commerce between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. The following description of the Millennium is extracted from Purdon’s Last Vials : — “ When the First Resurrection has taken place and the destruction of Antichrist has been com¬ pleted, we may inquire in what form and character shall the Kingdom of Christ be revealed to the world during the Millennial period, or how will it differ from all that went before or that shall follow T “The nature of the Millennial Kingdom appears to be this : 1st.—The Lord shall reign directly over the whole earth. 2nd.—The saints shall reign with and under him. 3rd. — Jerusalem shall be rebuilt, and Israel restored. 4th. ■—The whole world shall become converted. 5th.—The earth shall become more fruitful, and the seasons shall be altered. 6th.—The saints who share in the First Re¬ surrection shall not live upon the earth, but in the Heavenly City. “ The Heavenly City will be suspended over the earth during the Millennial reign, and probably over the earthly Jerusalem, and will be a visible object throughout all the land of Israel. This supposition solves a difficulty which must occur with regard to the millennial climate. We all imagine that some great improvement must take place in the climate, productions, and fertility of the earth dur¬ ing the reign of Christ—and all the prophecies seem to concur in foretelling this improvement. But the question L 162 THE MILLENNIUM. is, by what miracle shall this change be produced 1 We reply, that the Heavenly City will become a source of light, and heat, and fertility to all the world, being 1500 miles square measurement, being filled and lit up by the glory of God (Rev. xxi.), and being suspended not far from the surface of the earth, it will fulfil the office of an additional sun, especially throughout, the land of Israel, and will thus produce that physical renovation of the earth which the Prophets have foretold as the effect of the reign of Christ, (See Isaiah xxxv.) But this City is described in such peculiar language, that it seems impossible to understand by it any¬ thing but a literal place of residence, a really existing struc¬ ture, whether it be a City or otherwise, and a place whose materials will be the most magnificent and costly that imagi¬ nation can conceive. A place filled with the glory of God, inhabited by resurrection saints, and containing within its walls the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, as King of Israel and of the world. Around the palace of the King of Kings will be seen the palaces of all his saints, each of whom will be himself a king and a priest unto God, having ‘washed his robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and he that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them : they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light upon them, nor any heat, for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water ; and God shall wipe away all tears from them eyes.’ Nor is this the whole : for along with the presence of God, and the possession of more than royal magnificence, they shall possess irresistible power—they shall reign with Christ over the nations of the earth, and shall rule the ungodly with a rod of iron. The empire of Satan shall be broken—the reign of radicalism shall be swept away—the boastings of infidel science shall be silenced in darkness, and all power, know¬ ledge, dignity, and wealth shall be transferred from the man of the world to the man of God. The whole course of things shall be inverted; the worldly man shall serve where once he ruled, and thej saint shall rule where once he was despised. And the nations upon earth, looking up every hour to the heavenly city, and gazing with wonder upon MILLENNIAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 163 its ineffable beauty, shall exclaim, with a different tone than that of a formal repetition :— ‘ ‘ ‘ Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ! Make us to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.’ ” “ When once the Lord shall have returned to Mount Zion, he will bring down hea%ui along with him, upon the earth, and spread the life and motion of celestial things throughout all the recesses of the globe. He will restore the tribes of Israel to their renowned and sacred land—rebuild Jerusalem, as the capital of the world and the joy of the whole earth— raise the temple from its ruins to more than its ancient splendour, and fill its sanctuary with the briglitness^of his own presence. All the nations of the globe shall be attracted by the fame of his august dominion. They shall tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is king, and that he shall judge the people righteously : and this report shall bring up all nations to Jerusalem, and there they shall hear his name as a familiar thing ; their ears shall be filled with the history of that wondrous government. They shall walk through the streets frequented by glorified spirits—sit dorvn at hospitable boards, where the common conversation will be of the presence of God, and of the expected visits of his glory. They shall go forth, from day to day, to witness some act of divine power, and to look upon the face of some resurrection saint, or to converse with some man fresh from heaven; and shall look beyond the limits of the earth, and see above their heads the brightness of the Eternal City. Then, perhaps, at some unexpected moment, the presence of the Lord will be made visible from the sanctuary, and a proclamation shall be heard throughout Jerusalem : 1 The Lord, is in his holy temple ; lei all tide -earth h ep silence before him.’ And at this proclamation an awful stillness shall close in upon every heart. And pil¬ grims of every kindred, garb, and complexion shall ascend together to the sanctuary, to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Thus the deepest spirituality shall be spread throughout the world, for the hopes and interests of mankind will be gathered around the throne of CHRIST ; and the hearts of nations will be purified by the contemplation of this wondrous vision. l 2 164 THE MILLENNIUM. “ Our Lord, returning in glory to the place of his former humiliation, and surrounded by his saints, freed from all the miseries of mortality, will point out to his attend¬ ants those scenes immortalized by his sufferings : ‘ In that garden I endured the wrath of God, in agony and bloody sweat—I was betrayed by Judas—dragged before Pontius Pilate—deserted by all mankind. In that spot I stood before the Roman governor—was mocked, buffetted, and spit upon ; along that street I carried the cross, surrounded by the scoffing multitude, and on that little hill I endured the agony of cruci¬ fixion and death. I recollect it all! and as a man, I rejoice that the dreadful hour has passed away for ever. But I remember my native country with pity, not with anger—I love the spot in which I won the crown of victory—and henceforth let it be consecrated for evermore as the one that is dearest to my heart—and here, where once I was lifted upon the cross, I will display the brightness of my presence, and draw men unto me from every nation.’ Such, we may suppose, will be the conversation at the ‘ marriage supper of the Lamb,’ and we may add : ‘Blessed is the man who shall eat bread in the Jcingdom of God ! ’ And how great will be the surprise and disappointment of all those who now fully reckon upon an instant admission to the presence of the Lord whenever he may come, but who have never looked forward to his coming as an especial object of faith and hope. There is much reason to fear that when the Bridegroom comes they shall be num¬ bered among the foolish virgins, and though admitted to his presence in the end, may be shut out from the first bloom and freshness of his kingdom, and left for a time to struggle upon earth. “ When our Lord sets up his kingdom, he will divide its provinces among its saints, and will make them literally rulers over the whole world. He will himself be the paramount sovereign ; but as all His saints are said to be one with him, they must necessarily take part with him in His sovereignty. The world will be divided into departments in the council- chamber of Heaven, and each saint, according to his works, will be advanced to a corresponding rank iif this heavenly government, and will rule over five or ten cities—over a larger or a lesser province (Luke xix. 17). What extraordinary light MILLENNIAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 165 is thrown by this means upon the promises of the book of Revelation! ‘To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne. He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.’ “ If then we admit the Reign of Christ—if we believe that the nations of the earth will be divided among the saints— that each of them shall have some province made subject to his care—that he shall live with Christ in the heavenly city, and come down in his immortal body, visible or invisible, to encourage the righteous—to restrain the wicked—to regulate the world—to bring all things in subjection to the obedience of Christ—to be the dispensers of God’s judgments and his favours to mankind—to administer an authority which can¬ not be resisted, and to possess a dignity which can¬ not be impaired ; if we believe that the meanest saint, who now labours for his bread, may reach to so high an elevation, then we shall understand the force and truth of those pro¬ mises : ‘ He shall sit with me in my throne : I will give him power over the nations.'’ And we shall comprehend the fitness of that new and lofty song, which was sung by the Redeemed around the throne : ‘ Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.’’ What a change would come over the Christian world were such a truth as this honestly examined, and then honestly preached. The great man would sacrifice his power, rather than lose, by wordly ambition, a greater authority in the future earth ; the rich man would forsake his avarice, that he might lay hold upon those unsearchable riches of Christ. The noble would disregard his coronet, that he might be the more prepared for the crown of righteousness, and that he might wear it even upon earth, and in the sight of men. The radiant beauty of high life, whose only ambition is to dazzle for a season, would remember that a few more years would lay her in the dust, and look forward to the pure and ever youthful radiance of the glorified saint. The natural feelings and expectations of mankind will then be forced into the right channel, not by hollow preaching, which the preacher’s 166 THE MILLENNIUM. own life contradicts, but by an irresistible power, drawn from this eternal truth : ‘ That whatever the earth contains that is most precious, shall be possessed by the saints upon THE EARTH.’ ” When the thousand years of the Millennium are ended the reign of the glorified saints over the Millennial earth ter¬ minates, and the Gentile nations being left to try the experi¬ ment of self-government, and being at the same time exposed to the temptations of Satan, w’ho is then released from incar¬ ceration, speedily manifest the corruption of the natural heart by universally apostatising. It is evident that this last generation which apostatises will never have been, like the preceding generations, truly converted ; for if once converted, it could scarcely be guilty of such daring rebellion. The Jews alone, remaining faithful to God, will become especially exposed to the wrath of these rebellious nations, who will forth¬ with proceed, in countless multitudes, to assault Jerusalem, but fire will come down from heaven and devour them. This Battle of Gog and Magog, so called because the Gog and Magog nations are specially prominent in it (Rev. xx. 8), is similar to, but quite distinct from, the Battle of Armageddon, which occurs a thousand years earlier, and in which the Gog and Magog nations also take part (Ezek. xxxviii.). After this the Devil is cast, not into the bottomless pit from which he was previously loosed, but into the lake of fire and brimstone, where Antichrist and the False Prophets were cast before the Millennium, and shall he tormented day and night for ever and ever. About the same period the renovation of the earth by fire (2 Peter iii. 10), which partially took place about 1000 years previously, will now be completely finished ; the sea dis¬ appearing, and the new earth and new heavens being perfected (Rev. xxi. 1). The great white throne is at the same time set up, and the wicked dead are raised to life and judged before it. This Second Resurrection probably includes also the deceased Millennial saints. The judgment of the wicked appears to be a long-continued and deliberate process, in which the actions of each of them will be made known to the assembled universe (Rev. xx. 11-15, Luke xii. 2). If the earth’s inhabitants during the past 6000 years (excluding de- EVERLASTING REIGN AFTER THE JUDGMENT. 167 ceased infants) amount to only 100,000 millions, and if even a 200th part of them have been saved, the entire number of the wicked, including the innumerable Millennial apostates (Rev. xx. 8), will perhaps not be less than 300,000 millions, and it would occupy 34 millions of years to judge this multitude one by one, if the judgment of each lasted only for an hour; and if each stood upon a square yard of ground, they would cover a space rather more than 300 miles in length and breadth. All who have failed to become truly born again or converted will be then cast into a lake of literal fire and brimstone in the same bodies which they had in their lifetime, and which will be raised up from the dust and rendered indestructible ; they are thenceforth tormented in hell-fire for ever and ever (Matt. xxv. 41, Rev. xx., Mark ix. 43). After the Millennium the Everlasting Reign is esta¬ blished, and although death will be abolished, there will yet perhaps be successive generations living afterwards upon the New Earth, since the covenant with Abraham was for a thou¬ sand generations (Ps. cv. 8, Deut. vii. 9, Gen. ix. 12), and in 1000 years there can only have been 270 generations. Thus of the increase of Christ's government there shall be no end (Is. ix. 7), and his saints with him will reign over the whole universe for ever and evert' (Rev. xxii. 5). A solemn Inquiry may here be put to every reader of these pages : Have you obtained that change of heart which consists in being born again or converted , and without which you cannot gain admission into heaven l (John iii. 3) You may be moral, upright, and amiable in your conduct towards your fellow-men, but yet unless you become really converted, you will be cast into liell-fire. True conversion causes a person not only to abstain from drunkenness, profanity, gambling, reading newspapers or worldly books on Sunday, or otherwise breaking the Sabbath, frequenting theatres or ball-rooms, and other openly irreligious acts ; but it also leads him to take a previously unexperienced delight in private, family, and social prayer, in attending religious services, distributing tracts, visiting the sick and afflicted, and instead of crimi¬ nally wasting time in reading novels or romances, to engage as much as possible in meditating on the sacred 168 PRACTICAL EXHORTATION. truths of the Bible. Nor is it presumption for any one who is converted to proclaim that fact to others, and to express a confident assurance of being finally saved (Phil. i. 6); for so great is the change of conversion that those who have experienced it can generally remember the time and the place where they received it, and, possessing the witness of the Spirit (Rom. viii. 16), can testify that they know and are sure that their sins are all forgiven. Neither can they ever be lost; for, at the moment of conversion, all their sins—future as well as past, those that they have not yet committed as well as those that they have committed— are entirely blotted out. The means by which this change is obtained is by olfering up to God, in the name of Jesus, the simple prayer of faith, such as—“ 0 God ! for the sake of Jesus, pardon my sins and give me a new heart, and bestow upon me the influence of Thy Holy Spirit.” The 51st and other Psalms contain most suitable prayers of this character. And such supplications should continually be offered up by the penitent, not only on the bended knee, but also continually at all times and in all places; for many a prayer is inwardly breathed by Christians, even while engaged in their worldly occupations. Nor should the unconverted consider themselves out of danger, until they feel that their prayers are answered, and know, from a peculiar assurance imparted to them by the Holy Ghost, that they have become converted and that all their sins are forgiven. In order to walk closely with God, it is most important always to begin the day with spending at least about twenty or thirty 7 minutes in prayer and in reading and meditating on the Scriptures, for such devotional exercises constitute the very mainspring of the Christian’s strength.* At the present time, when, * Valuable remarks upon the necessity and advantages of a deeper study of the Scriptures and of stronger faith in God’s promises are given in the Life, of Trust (Boston : Gould and Lincoln. §1.25), being a reprint of the Lord's Dealings with George Muller (London : Nisbet), a book which the reader is strongly recommended to obtain and peruse. It shows how, by the prayer of faith, Mr. Muller has received and expended in charitable objects donations to the amount of a million dollars, and is now maintaining and educating a thousand orphans at Bristol, England, without any means of support except the contributions of the benevolent. PRACTICAL EXHORTATION. 169 with the utmost charity, we cannot suppose more than a tenth part even in the most Protestant countries to be truly religious, it behoves every one to examine them¬ selves whether they are boldly confessing Christ before men, so as to bear the character of being avowedly pious and religious, or whether they are mere nominal Christians, living in practical forgetfulness of the statement: “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John ii. 15.) Especially should true Christians arouse them¬ selves now that there is little more than four years remaining during which the present opportunities will exist for preaching the word and circulating Bibles and religious books, which will be of such unspeakable value to those who possess them during the subsequent 3| years’ infidel persecution. A pointed and definite testimony regarding the awful judgments that will shortly accompany Christ’s Advent requires to be loudly proclaimed. To this end persons holding these views should go from place to place, giving lectures on the subject, and also preaching in the open air in the streets, market places, or public squares, for many will never attend in-door services. Much ridicule and even persecution will be directed against those who boldly and prominently bear this testimony ; but to such the promise is given : “ Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you ” (Matt. v. 12). It will require, on the part of some persons, as much courage to declare Louis Napoleon to be the personal Antichrist as it required of Luther to assert that the Pope was the Papal Antichrist; but the proclamation must be made, at all hazards, in order to warn men against furthering the extension of his power, or in any way submitting themselves to his authority or influence, since it will ultimately be exerted by him for the purpose of causing them to renounce Christianity and to commit the unpardonable sin of worshipping his image (Rev. xiv. 9). This chapter* may be suitably concluded by quoting the * Those who maj'' derive light and instruction from the perusal of these pages, are requested in return to supplicate the Giver of every good and perfect gift to accompany with his blessing the statements of divine truth as set forth by this work and its writer. 170 APPEAL TO THE UNCONVERTED. subjoined extract from appeals to the unconverted to come to Jesus and to seek the salvation of their souls : “ Why did Christ, a king in the midst of heaven’s glory, become a babe in the midst of earth’s misery ? You say : ; ‘ To save sinners !’ Why did he toil, and weep, and preach, and pray, and sorrow for months and years among the worst and most hard-hearted, with hardly any reward but that of contempt, hatred, and persecution? You say: ‘To save sinners !’ Why did he bow his head in wondrous submission when torn with the pains of deadly agony in Gethseinane ? Why was he silent when led by blaspheming murderers to the place of insult, and crowned as the king of sorrows with shame, and thorns, and misery? You say : ‘It was to save sinners !’ Why did he yield his body to be smitten with the hand and rod, and torn with the lacerating scourge, and pierced with the nails and spears ; oh ! why ? You say : ‘ It was to save sinners !’ Oh ! then, if the immortal Jesus has passed through valleys of deepest humiliation—through shades of darkest misery—through dames of hottest tribulation, and the black waters of death itself—oh ! if he hath sighed, and wept, and prayed, and preached, and lived, and laboured, and suffered, and died to save sinners—to save sinners, oh! tell me, will he cast them out when they come to him ? when they come and say, ‘ Thy blood can make the vilest clean ; Oh ! let that blood avail for me 1’ will he say, ‘ Depart thou guilty sinner ?’ will he say, ‘ I will have nothing to do with thee ?’ Nay, God forbid; he will rather say : ‘ Welcome, O thou poor penitent! welcome to the cross, O thou returning sinner ! welcome to thy Saviour and to life eternal.’ Can you doubt any longer? If you do, your doubt makes out Christ to be worse than you yourself are. Would not you receive a poor, benighted wanderer, in danger of dying from cold and starvation ? and do you think Jesus will refuse to admit you if you seek him in wretched¬ ness and penitence ? But the case is stronger still. You would not turn your weeping child away from your door to die of hunger; and will he turn you away from his door to perish in your sins when you repent and cry for mercy. APPEAL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 171 Yea, the case is still stronger. If you commanded your prodigal child to return, and promised that all should be forgiven and forgotten, and by means of those commands, and invitations, and promises prevailed with the child, and when he believed you, and came home, refused to admit him, would you not be both false and cruel? And has not Jesus, O sinner! commanded you to come, and entreated you to come, and promised ‘in no wise’ to reject you ; and do you think he will prove so false and cruel as to break his word and cast you out 1 Are all your doubts now cleared away l If there is a single dark doubt still hanging over your head, and casting its shadow into your heart, take this thought and be en¬ lightened and relieved. Now mark well: Christ never yet cast out a single sinner truly seeking him. The young and the old, the poor and the rich, the ignorant and the educated, the outwardly good, the confessedly bad, scarlet sinners and black sinners, all persons of all ages, degrees, and nations, who have ever applied to him during the past nigh two thousand years, have been alike received with compassion and treated with mercy. » “Behold him seated yonder by the way-side ; some women with their children try to press through the crowd and come to him. ‘ What do you want with him V say the disciples ; ‘ to bring your children to him 1 How foolish of you ; take them away.’ Christ overhears it, and straightway ,with look and voice rebukes them, and says aloud, ‘ Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not;’ and taking them in his arms, blesses them, keeping his promise : ‘ I will in no wise cast out.’ “Again, as he is walking along the road between Jericho and Jerusalem, with a crowd of people, a blind beggar, having found out who it is that passes, cries aloud : ‘ Jesus ! thou Son of David, have mercy on me !’ ‘ Hush !’ say the people ; ‘ hold your peace;’ but he only crieth the louder, ‘ Jesus ! thou Son of David, have mercy on me !’ Then Christ hears, stops, and commands him to be brought, asks him what he wants, and when he answers, ‘ Lord, that I may receive my sight!’ he touches only once his sightless eye-balls, and pours into them light and healing, keeping his promise : ‘I will in no wise cast out.’ 172 APPEAL TO THE UNCONVERTED. “ Again, he is sitting at the table of Simon the Phari¬ see. A poor woman, who had been a dreadful sinner, comes behind him weeping, and stooping down, with the large, heavy tears that are falling faster than you can count from her eyes, washes his sacred feet, and then wipes them with her long locks of hair. Simon’s eye is on him to see how he will act. Does he spurn the guilty woman, and crush with despair the heart already broken with sorrow ? Ah ! no, his soul melts with pity. ‘Woman!’ saith Jesus, ‘thy sins are forgiven thee ! go in peace !’ keeping his promise : ‘ I will in no wise cast out.’ “ Again, he is nailed to the cross of shame and glory. A wretched thief, hanging over the mouth of hell, turns to him his dying eyes; his white, furrowed face becomes stiffened with a look of intenseness of desire ; his dry lips part and quiver. ‘Lord!’ he cries, ‘remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.’ Did Christ answer, ‘I cannot hear you now—I am in pain; besides, it is too late—too late?’ Oh ! no, but he turned upon him a look in which love and sorrow shone together, and said, ‘Verily, I say unto thee, to¬ day shalt thou be with me in paradise !’ keeping his promise: ‘ I will in no wise cast out.’ “ Come, then, O child of sin ! in all thy weakness come to Jesus; he will take thee in his arms and bless thee, as he received such of old ! Come, then, O sightless sinner ! in all thy blindness come to Jesus; he will bid thee pray, and on thine eye-balls pour that light celestial which is ‘ marvellous’ in power and glory everlasting! Come, then, O outcast sinner ! in all thy misery come to Jesus ; he will suffer thee to kneel beside him, and wash his feet with tears ; and will pardon all thy guilt, and bid thee go in peace ! And come, then, O dying sinner ! in all thy hell-deservings come to Jesus; and he will hear thy groan of anguish, and answer thy prayer of penitence, and wash thy sins away, and carry thee to heaven ! for, oh ! he hath spoken of old, and hath kept in the past, and will keep till time shall be no more, this precious, ever precious promise : ‘ Him, that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out' (John vi. 37.)” DIAGRAM 3. FUFLILMENT OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. As subdivided, B.c. 457 or 455.. Dan. ix. 24. Seventy weeks (sha- bua, weeks of years — Gen. xxix. 27) are de¬ termined (or cut off) upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgres¬ sion, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for (or cover over) ini¬ quity, and to bring in everlasting righteous¬ ness, and to seal up (i.e., ratify by fulfil¬ ment) the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy (place, not person, i.e., the Holy of Holies). Messiah cut off in a.d. 29 or 33. a.d. 27 or 29. ~ into Three Parts of 7, 62, and 1 Week. — The going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem.— (Ezra vii., Nehemiahii.) B S' i 3 p 5 5- » o M =T 2. s s © p Et. £. g- p 5 <*a O- p, ° ® S' B) 3 B *d ® g s' a g £. § ® Dan. ix. 25. Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the com¬ es mandment to restore and to build Jeru- salem, unto the Messiah the Prince, ^ shall be seven weeks and threescore CD and two weeks ; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous £° times. Dan. ix. 26. And after threescore and two weeks (not necessarily immediately after, but indefinitely, a short time after), shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, and the people of the Prince that shall come (the Romans, the natiou of Anti¬ christ that shall come — 1 Jn. ii. 18), shall destroy the city and the sanctu¬ ary, and the end thereof shall bo with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Louis Napoleon makes the covenant. His image set up in ) the temple. [■ CO tOfi- nd He perishes at Christ’s descent. 05 ”«sr- £ g Dan. ix. 27. And he (Napoleon III., the Anti M chnst, “the Prince that shall come”) shall confirm a (not the) covenant with many for one week ; and in the midst nS of the week he shall cause the sacrifice pV and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the con summation, and that determined shall be _poured upon the desolator. Daniel’s seventieth week. 175 CHAPTER III. Evidence from more than fifty Expositors, showing that Daniel’s seventieth week of seven years will BE FULFILLED WITHIN ALMOST EXACTLY THE FINAL SEVEN YEARS OF THIS GENTILE DISPENSATION, AND WILL COMMENCE WITH A SEVEN YEARS’ COVENANT BEING CON¬ FIRMED BETWEEN THE PERSONAL ANTICHRIST AND THE Jews. Therefore Louis Napoleon, if he is the Personal Antichrist, will confirm a seven years’ COVENANT WITH THE JEWS ABOUT SEVEN YEARS BEFORE the End. The faith of professing Christians is about to be tested by I a signal and extraordinary fulfilment of prophecy, which will be despised and rejected by those who are “ fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ” (Luke xxiv. 27), but will be distinctly understood by the wise and watchful, so as to enable them to discover the date of Christ’s approaching Advent. It was very generally believed by the early Christian Church that Daniel’s 70th week would be fulfilled at the time of the Second Advent, by the Antichrist being received by many of the Jews as their Messiah, and | subsequently placing his image, “ the abomination of desola¬ tion,” in the rebuilt Jewish temple, which would thus be defiled during the latter half -week—the 3|- years of his i tyranny. This view was very little advocated during the dark ages of Papal corruption, but during the last half-century it has been extensively revived. It is thus expected that seven years before the End, Antichrist “ will confirm a covenant with many of the Jews for one week of seven years, and in the midst of the week will cause the sacrifice to cease, even until the Consummation (or End).” As Louis Napoleon is clearly foreshown to be the Antichrist, and as the End appears, from the chronological prophecies, to be about or soon after 1872, therefore it now remains to be seen whether these interpretations will be proved to be true, by Napo- 176 daniel’s seventieth week. leon making a seven years’ covenant with the Jews about, or soon after, 1865-6. Humanly speaking, there is no parti¬ cular reason why Napoleon should ever make a covenant with the Jews, much less that it should be for exactly seven and not any other number of years ; and also that, just about 9 or 10 months after the date of the covenant, the Jews should re¬ establish morning and evening sacrifices in some building then used by them as a temple. The little probability of such events so soon taking place will, however, render their occur¬ rence all the more remarkable.* But even then there will doubtless be unscrupulous and unprincipled individuals, including, perhaps, some persons of reputed piety, wdio, to obtain notoriety, or for the sake of gain, will labour with plau¬ sible and specious arguments to show that these events do not prove Christ’s Advent to be near at hand; or, what will be almost as bad, some preachers, unwilling to encounter ridicule and opposition, shunning to declare the whole counsel of God, I i and being ashamed of these words of Jesus (Acts xx. 27, Luke ix. 26), will be content to maintain a shameful silence upon the subject. But as an exterminating persecution will be carried on during the latter half of the seven years throughout all Chris¬ tendom, and many parts of Heathendom, against those who will not worship Napoleon’s image or receive his mark (Rev. xiii.), it is therefore necessary to warn persons at once that the commission of that act will be an unpardonable sin (Rev. xiv. 9), like that of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. It will be too late to proclaim the warning when the persecution actually begins, for the voice of testimony will then be violently stifled. Now, at the present time, and especially as soon as the cove¬ nant shall be made, believers in these prophecies should labour widely to diffuse these Second Advent and other Gospel truths, even thus expending all their property except w'hat may be required to support them until the Ascension of the Wise * In the author’s “Coming Battle,” published in 1860, Louis Napoleon was spoken of as certain to make the seven-years’ Covenant with the Jews very soon. In this enlarged edition (1862) of the present work, Chapters I., III., and IV. are fundamentally the same as in the first edition, in June, 1861, in which the substance of Chapter II. was not inserted. THE SEVENTY WEEKS EXPLAINED. 17 Virgins, two years and five or six weeks after the covenant. Only those who practically evince their faith by acting thus, can reasonably expect to be caught up among the Wise Virgins. The important prophecy of seventy weeks, which are universally admitted to be seventy weeks, or sevens of years, that is, 490 years, is contained in Dan. ix. 24-27. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for (or cover over) iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy (in the Hebrew, the Most Holy Place). 25. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks : the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself : and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be •with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week : and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of) abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. The true explanation of this prophecy appears to be, that seventy weeks of years dated from the going forth of the decree in Artaxerxes’ 7th year, were marked off as the period of God’s dealings with the Jews while nationally gathered in their own city, and were to end with their complete redemption and deliverance, as described in verse 24. Had the Jews received the Messiah, when he officially came to them at the end of the 69 weeks by the Baptist's preaching and by his own public ministry, then apparently the 70th week would have followed continuously, and would have closed with the Son of David reigning over the house of Jacob for ever. But their rejection of Jesus caused the fulfilment of the 70th week to be postponed until they should be fully punished for that sin, and then the 70th week, after running its course, will end as originally intended, with the setting up of Messiah’s tem- M 178 THE SEVENTY WEEKS EX PLAINED. poral kingdom over Israel, and the bringing in of everlast¬ ing righteousness. Thus Israel’s rejection of Christ has interposed between the 69th and 70th week, the long interval of the Gentile dispensation during which they are punished by their house being left unto them desolate. This prediction must extend to the Second Advent, when the desolation of the Jews and of their holy city shall be finished, for it was given by Gabriel in answer to Daniel’s prayer for the restoration of Israel to Palestine, and is in¬ tended to forewarn him of all their sufferings prior to their final deliverance. It could not, therefore, omit to mention their final and greatest persecution by the last Antichrist, which is the principal theme of Daniel and Revelation (see also Ezek. xxxviii., Zech. xiv.). It was also declared to be an explana¬ tion of the vision (verse 23), which could be none other than the last vision Daniel beheld in Dan. viii., which w r as ex¬ pressly stated to relate to the time of the end, and to the last end of the indignation when the transgressors are come to the full (Dan. viii. 17, 19, 23), and which was not then under¬ stood (verse 27), and therefore received further explanation in Dan. ix. That the 70th week is hitherto unfulfilled clearly appears from reading, in their strictly consecutive order, the verses containing the prophecy. Verse 24. Seventy weeks are cut off, are measured out, as a period, which, with respect to the Jewish people and their city, Jerusalem, is to terminate with the finishing of the transgression, the making an end of sins, the bringing in of everlasting righteousness, &c., &c., and the anointing of the Holy Place (not the Holy Person). All this cannot have been completely fulfilled with respect to Jerusalem and the Jews at the Crucifixion, for Jerusalem has ever since been desolate, and the sins of the Jews have been had in especial remembrance ; but it will be fulfilled at the restoration and conversion of the Jews, after the Second Advent, when they “ shall all be righteous ” (Is. lx. 21), and when the Holy Place in their rebuilt temple shall be annointed and consecrated for the perpetual wor¬ ship of God. Verse 25. Seven and sixty-two weeks, altogether sixty- I THE SEVENTY WEEKS EXPLAINED. 179 nine weeks, are explained to commence with the decree for restoring Jerusalem, which is generally understood to be Ezra’s* decree, in a.d. 457, in Artaxerxes’ 7tli year, and they are to reach “ unto Messiah the Prince that is, unto his official presentation to Israel in a.d. 26, most probably by the preaching of John the Baptist. The ministry of the latter is believed to have lasted for 3} years, and the subsequen t ministry of Christ for a period of the same length. This seven years would fill up the interval from a.d. 26 to a.d. 33, if the latter date was the time of the Crucifixion. But if, as some think, the birth of Christ was four years before the Christian era, then his Crucifixion was in a.d. 29, and in that case, his official presentation to Israel in a.d. 26 would consist in the commencement of his public ministry (Luke iii. 23). Verse 26. After 69 weeks, Messiah was to be cut off, but not immediately after, because there must be some short interval between his official coming at the end of the * There were three commandments, or public decrees, as it ap¬ pears, issued concerning the temple or city of Jerusalem. The first was given by Cyrus in 536 b.c. (Ez. i.), but the erection of the temple, after being commenced, was discontinued until b.c. 519, the second year of Darius, who, in that year, issued the second decree (Ez. iv. 24), and the temple was finished in his sixth year (Ez. vi. 15). But irregularities and abuses in connection with the temple worship having afterwards crept in, a third decree was given in b.c. 457 to Ezra, by Artaxerxes Longimanus, in his seventh year (Ez. vii.). This decree, unlike the two former, related to the restoring of the city as well as of the temple, for it com¬ missioned Ezra “ to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God which is in thy hand” (Ez. vii. 14), and after¬ wards Ezra thanked God for having, “ extended mercy to us to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolation thereof, and to give us a, wall in Judah and Jerusalem ” (the wall built in troublous times, Dan. ix. 25). This decree is generally understood to be the com¬ mencement of the seventy weeks (Dan. ix. 25). Nehemiah s com¬ mission in the 20th year of Artaxerxes seems to have been not a public decree or commandment, but only a private and personal commission, causing him to enforce and carry out more effectually the previous decree of Ezra, with whom he united his efforts. But whether the 69 weeks began with Ezra’s or Nehemiah’s commission does not affect the 70th week, which is separated from them by more than 1800 years. Almost all writers, whatever chronology they adopt, allow the 69 weeks to end about a.d. 263-3. m2 < 180 ANTICHRISTS COVENANT WITH THE JEWS. 60 weeks and Lis death. This latter event does not appear to Lave happened until about a.d. 29 or a.d. 33-4. After this, the Romans, the people of the Prince that shall come, that is, of the future Antichrist, destroyed the city and the sanctuary of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The con¬ struction of the language evidently requires “ the Prince that shall come” to he the person who confirms the covenant in the nest verse. He is also referred to in 1 John ii. 18, “Ye have heard that the Antichrist shall come.” The phrase, “Ye have heard,” implies, as in Matt. v. 38, “ Yc have been told in Scripture.” And this is obviously one of the passages which had informed the apostles that Antichrist (the Prince) “shall come.” Verse 27. “And he shall confirm a (not the) covenant with many for one week (of years).” The person who shall confirm this covenant is evidently “ the Prince that shall come,” mentioned in the former verse, in apposition to Mes- siali the Prince, who had previously been cut off; the one being the future Antichrist, the false Messiah, and the other being the already crucified Christ, the true Messiah. Anti¬ christ’s Covenant with the Jews will be only for seven years, and even then not observed for more than half that time; but Christ’s covenant with them will be an everlasting one ■ (Isa. Ixi. 8). The making of Antichrist’s Covenant is men¬ tioned abruptly as taking place some indefinite time after the cutting off of Messiah, spoken of in verse 2G ; and plainly cannot have yet occurred, because no “ Prince of the Roman people,” that is, no Head of the Roman Empire, has ever yet made a seven years’ Covenant with the Jews, and afterwards caused their restored sacrifices to cease, and placed his image, the abomination, in their temple. Moreover, it is shown in Rev. xiii. and xvii. that the Roman Prince, whose image, “ the abomination,” will be worshipped for 42 months, the last half of the 7 years, is the seventh-eighth, or last Head of the Roman Empire, that is, Louis Napoleon. And in Dam xi. 21 to the end of Dan. xii. he is described as “a*vile person,” or wilful king (see Chap. II., Event 4), who, at the time of the End, shall perish upon the glorious holy mountain of Palestine; and his previous Covenant with the Jews is mentioned no less than five times in Dan. xi. 22, 23, 28, 30, THE SEVENTIETH WEEK. 181 32 (as held also by Tregelles, Strange, Kelsall, &c.). This Covenant is also mentioned in Isaiah xxviii. 18, xxxiii. 8, Psalm Iv. 20. No objection can reasonably be urged against interposing nearly the whole of the Gentile Dispensation between the 69th and the 70th weeks,'"' for it has been justly said, that “ Daniel’s prophecies reach to the end of the world, and there is scarce a prophecy in the Old Testament concerning Christ which does not, in something or other, relate to his second coming.” Examples of a sudden transition in the prophecies from Christ’s first to his second coming, overlooking the long interval of the Gentile Dispensation, are not unfrequent. The sojourn of Christ in Capernaum is predicted in Isaiah ix. 1, 2 (compare Matt. iv. 14), but the next three verses describe his final triumph over Antichrist at Armageddon. This last named occurrence is also spoken of in Zech. ix. 10, but the preceding verse mentions Christ’s riding on an ass into Jeru¬ salem (compare Matt. xxi. 5), although there is more than * While it has been almost universally admitted that the 7 and 62 weeks ended before the crucifixion of Christ, according to the plain statement, “ After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off,” yet many modern Commentators have glaringly erred respecting the remaining 70th week, by superficially concluding that it follows immediately after the 69 weeks. The strange discordance of their interpretations has sufficiently evinced the untenablenes of this view. They have variously alleged that John the Baptist, or the Messiah, made a seven-years’ Covenant with the Jews, although there is no evidence whatever in support of such a notion, and some have placed “The cutting off of the Messiah” in the midst, others at the end of the 70th week, though it is mentioned in verse 25 as occurring after the 69th and before the 70th week. Other Commentators, like Gill and Lloyd, have come a little nearer the truth by admitting that it is not “ Messiah the Prince,” but “the Prince that shall come,” in verse 26, who is to confirm the Covenant for seven years ; and, taking the 69 weeks to end before the crucifixion, in a.d. 33, they place the 70th week from a.d. 63 to a.d. 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the armies of Titus, whom they suppose to be the “ Prince that shall come.” This arrangement is not quite so erroneous as the others, since it allows a break, or interval, between the 69th and 70th weeks, but it is untenable, inasmuch as Titus made no seven-years’ Covenant with the Jews, nor can the sacrifice be shown to have ceased in a.d. 61, nor did Titus perish in a.d. 70. 182 antichrist’s last seven weeks. 1800 years between the two events. It might similarly appear from Micah v. 2, that the complete deliverance and restoration of Israel was to take place immediately after the birth of Christ in Bethlehem (see Matt. ii. 5, John vii. 42). So again in Jer. xxxi. 10-17, Joel ii. 28-32, Isaiah xi. 3, 4, lii. 13-15, xl. 3-5, and in Isaiah lxi. 1, 2, compared with Luke iv. 19, 20, prophecies relating to Christ’s First Advent abruptly pass on, and merge into those referring to his Second Advent. It is manifest that soon after Antichrist’s covenant with the Jews the sacrifices will be renewed, because, “ in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease,” and (as the the Septuagint renders it) “ in the temple shall be poured upon the desolator.” The word “ abomination” in Greek constantly signifies “ an idol.” It is rendered in 2 Chron. xv. 8, the abomination of desolation, even until the Consummation, and that determined (namely, the plague of the vials) shall be “ the abominable idols,” and used in the passage, “ Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites.” It here signifies Anti¬ christ’s image, that will stand in the temple from “ the midst of the seven years” even until the End or Consummation, when Antichrist shall be destroyed at Christ’s descent at Armageddon. The latter half of the seven years is plainly identical with the 3-| years which is mentioned in Dan. vii., xii., and Rev. xi., xii., xiii., as the period of Antichrist’s per¬ secution ; but 30 and 45 additional days, altogether 75 days more, are given in Dan. xii. 11, 12, as the interval occupied with his subsequent overthrow by the literal-day outpouring of the vials. Thus there will be seven years and 2} z - months (75 days) from the beginning of the 70th week at the date of the Covenant until Antichrist’s complete overthrow at Christ’s descent upon Mount Olivet. More than Fifty Expositors are enumerated below who substantially interpret the 70th week in this manner. Among them are five Bishops of the early Church, whose distinct expression of this belief accords with the well ascer¬ tained fact that the primitive Christians, some of whom had conversed with the Apostles themselves (2 Tliess. ii. 5), almost universally entertained these views ; the extracts from them LITERAL-DAY AI?D YEAR-DAY WRITERS. 183 are quoted in B. W. Newton’s “ Ten Kingdoms,” and Mait¬ land’s “Apostolic School.” It may prevent repetition to mention preliminarily that futurist literal-day expositors, such as Burgh, Denny, Tre- gelles, Kelsall, B. W. Newton, Kelly, Molyneux, Scott, Phillips, Guinness, &c., distinctly state that the Antichrist or Man of Sin (2 Thess. ii.) is the same person as the eighth or last head of the Beast, who is called in Eevelation the Beast himself; also the same as “ the little horn ” of Dan. vii., and “ the little horn or king of fierce countenance” of Dan. viii., and “ the Prince that shall come ” of Dan. ix. 26, 27, and the wilful king of Dan. xi. 36 ; and that he is not the Pope, but an individual man who shall perish at Christ’s descent, about seven years after his covenant with the Jews. They likewise generally consider that the ten horn or toe kingdoms (Dan. ii. 44, Rev. xvii. 12), have not yet been completely formed within the whole territory of the Roman Empire ; and that the abomination of desolation (Matt, xxiv., Mark xiii.) is the future image of Antichrist which will stand in the Jewish temple; and that the two witnesses (Rev. xi.) will be two real persons who will prophesy during the literal 1200 days or 3^ years of Antichrist’s tyranny. They hold, moreover, that the 3| years, mentioned in Dan. vii., xii., and Rev. xi., xii., xiii., as a time, times, and a half, or 42 months, &c., is the 3|- years of the Antichrist’s future persecution, and is identical with the latter half of Daniel’s 70th week of seven years, which com¬ mence with a seven-years’ covenant being made between the Antichrist and the Jews. This does not conflict with the view that there has been a typical year-day fulfilment of that 3| times, as 1260 years of Papal dominacy; and of the “little horns ” of Dan. vii. and viii. as the Papal and Mahometan powers respectively. In reading the works of literal-day expositors who interpret the 1260 days, 31 times, and 42 months, to mean 1260 literal days, or 31, years, and of year-day expositors who interpret the same periods to mean 1260 years, the prophetic student must not be stumbled at their sometimes mutually rejecting each other’s views. Each system of interpretation is, however, equally correct, for there is a double fulfilment of most of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, primarily in years and secondly in days. 184 VIEWS OF IREN/EUS. The certainty of England’s submission to the Personal Antichrist because it was part of the original Roman Empire is virtually admitted by Sir E. Denny, Purdon,* Tregelles, B. W. Newton, Burgh, Kelsall, Taunton, and others, who fully acknowledge that all the old Roman Empire, Eastern as well as Western, including of course England, will undergo a final tenfold division, and fall completely under the power of the Antichrist, or Eight Head (Rev. xvii. 12). About thirty out of the following fifty writers distinctly hold that Christ will translate the Wise Virgins to the heavens before Hhe latter half-week or 3 b years’ Antichristian perse¬ cution ; and twelve, including Purdon in 1852, Porter in 1856, Taunton in 1857, Scott Phillips in 1859, and the English author of “Armageddon” in 1858, have expressly shown Louis Napoleon to be the Antichrist who will make a seven-years’ covenant with the Jews. The following are the extracts from the fifty writers referred to. (1.) Iren.'EUS, who was a Bishop in the primitive Church and a disciple of Polycarp, who was a companion of the Apostle John, wrote in a.d. 180 a work “ against the heresies.” He considered the worship of Antichrist and his image in the Jewish temple just before the-Second Advent, to be the threatened abomination of desolation, and expected Daniel’s 7 0th week to be fulfilled by Antichrist, of whom he says : “Putting away idols to’persuademan that he is God, he will set up himself as a sole idol, combining in himself the manifold errors of all the idols. . . . He will sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. In the temple at Jerusalem the adversary will sit, striving to show himself t to be the Christ; as also the Lord * In the Last Vials for 1858, No. 6 (at G. J. Stevenson’s, 54 Paternoster-row, London), Purdon says: “As Britain is part of the Roman Empire we cannot discover the slightest hint in Scrip¬ ture as to the probability of her escape from the tyranny of the Beast. . . . Britain, as part of the Roman Empire, will, we believe, be subject to Antichrist” (whom he shows to be Napoleon III.). f In these quotations the author of the present work has, for the assistance of the reader, occasionally inserted references to the chap¬ ters and verses of the texts spoken of, where such references were not in the original. For the sake of brevity in quoting from these thirty writers, much of what some of them advance on various points is necessarily omitted. VIEWS OF HIPPOLYTUS. 185 says (Matt. xxiv. 15),—“ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, &c.” . . . They shall believe, it says, in the False One (the Man of Sin, 2 Thess. ii. 12) that all may be condemned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. His coming John thus describes in the Apocalypse (Rev. xiii.): The Beast, which I saw, was like unto a leopard, &c. And afterwards of his armour-bearer, whom he calls also the false prophet (Rev. xix. 20), he spake, it says (Rev. xiii. 12), like a dragon, and he exerciseth all the power of the first Beast before him, &c. This is said that all may know his miracles to be done not by divine power, but by magic art; and no wonder, if having demons and apostate spirits to help him, he through them performs miracles by which he deceives those that dwell on the earth. He will also command them to make an image to the Beast (Ch. 28). “At the half of the hebdomad (or week) Daniel saith (Dan. ix. 27), the sacrifice and libation shall be taken away, and in the temple shall be the abomination of desolation and until the consummation of the time, a consummation shall be ap¬ pointed upon the desolation—but the half of the hebdomad is three years and six months.” (Irenceus adver. Heres. ch. 25.) “ And when this Antichrist shall have laid waste all things in the world, reigning three years and six months, and sitting in the temple of Jerusalem ; then the Lord shall come from heaven in clouds, in the glory of the Father : and casting him and those that obey him into the lake of fire, will bring about to the just the times of the kingdom ; that is, the rest, even the seventh day made holy. And he will restore to Abraham the promise of the inheritance ; in which kingdom, saith t he Lord, many shall come from the East and from the West, and shall sit down with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Ch. 30.) (2.) Hippolytus, Bishop of Ostia (a.d. 220), consid¬ ered 69 of Daniel’s 70 weeks to end with the first Coming of Christ, and that then, after the Gospel had been univer¬ sally preached, Antichrist’s abomination of desolation would’ be set up during the last half week of the 70th week, which would terminate with Christ’s Second Advent upon the earth. The following are extracts from his works :—“ When 186 . AFRICANUS AND ORIGEN. the sixty-two weeks have been fulfilled, and Christ has come, and the Gospel has been preached in every place, and the times have run out, there will remain one week— the last in which Enoch and Elias will come. And in the midst of that week there will appear the abomination of deso¬ lation, until Antichrist announces (or ‘ even Antichrist who announces,’ as the Roman editor suggests) desolation to the world.And this the prophets Enoch and Elias will declare, saying, Believe not the coming enemy, for he is an adversary and destroyer, and soil of perdition ; he will de¬ ceive you and bring you to ruin. But the sword shall smite them.And the dragon, it says (Rev. xii.), beheld, and he persecuted the woman that brought forth the man-child. And there were given her the two wings of that great eagle, that she should iiee to the desert, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. These are the 1260 days, even the half¬ week during which the tyrant will rule, persecuting the Church as she flees from city to city. . . . Blessed they who will then conquer the tyraut ! They will take rank above former martyrs as more exalted and more glorious. With what praises and crowns will they not be adorned by Jesus Christ our King. . . . “ The six thousand years must needs be fulfilled that the Sabbath may come—even the Rest, that holy day on which God rested from all his works. The Sabbath then is a type and image of the future kingdom of the saints when they shall reign with Christ after his coming down from heaven, as John declares in the Apocalypse. For a day of the Lord is as a thousand years.” Julius Africanus (a.d. 220) was a contemporary of Hippolytus, and is stated in the Rev. Dr. Burgh’s “ Second Advent Lectures,” and by Jerome, to have considered the last half of Daniel’s 7 0th week to be identical with the future Antichrist’s 31 years, but this statement being contradicted by others seems to be incorrect. (3.) The celebrated Origen (a.d. 225) explained Dan. ix. 27 to be fulfilled by the future Antichrist, as will be seen from the last paragraph of the following extract from hi3 works :—“ Through the assistance of his father, the devil, that wicked one will perform miracles, and signs, and VIEWS OF VICTORINUS. 187 wonders of a lie. For as wonders were wrought by magicians, through the help of those demons who seduced man into wickedness, so this man will receive from the devil himself power to do yet greater wonders to deceive the human race. And concerning the so-called Antichrist, Paul speaks, teaching us, though with some reserve, the manner, the time, and the cause of his visiting the human race. And now, see if Paul has uot spoken on this subject in a manner most grave, and not deserving even the slightest ridicule. ‘ We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of the Lord,’ &c., 2 Thess. ii. “ To explain the whole of this is not our present business. Eut there is in Daniel a prophecy about this same Antichrist which cannot but excite the admiration of any who will read it with common sense and candour. For there, in words truly divine and prophetic, are described the kingdoms that were to come, beginning from the time of Daniel down to the destruction of the world. And this prophecy may be read of all men. Now see if Antichrist is not spoken of there also in these words: ‘ In the end of their kingdom, when their transgressions are filled up, there shall rise a king impudent of face, and understanding problems, &c.’ (Dan. viii.) “ And that which I have already quoted from the words of Paul, that he will sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God—even this also is said by Daniel, and in this manner:—‘ In the temple shall be the abomination of desola¬ tions; and until the end of the time shall a consummation be given against the desolation’” (quoting, apparently, from the Septuagint of Dan. ix. 27). (4.) Victorinus, Bishop of Pettau, in Austria, and one of the Diocletian martyrs, wrote a Commentary on the Apocalypse about A.n. 290. He is stated, in Elliott’s “Appendix on the History of Prophetical Interpretation,” and in Maitland’s “ Apostles’ School of Prophecy ” (p. 202), to have held the latter half of Daniel’s 70th week to be identical with Antichrist’s future 31 years’ persecution, and, therefore, all the 70th week to be yet unfulfilled. He says of this persecution: “ The black horse (under the third seal, Rev. vi. 5) means famine, for the Lord says, ‘ There shall be famine in divers places.’ Now ibis saying properly extends to the time of Antichrist, when there will be a great famine, by which 188 APOLLINARIUS AND PRIMASIUS. all men shall suffer. . . In the trumpets and vials there are described the execution wrought by the plagues sent upon the world, the madness of Antichrist himself, the blasphemj'- of the people, the variety of their plagues, the hope in the kingdom of the saints, the fall of the cities, and the fall of that great city, Babylon, that is Rome. . . . The Lord says in the Gospel, ‘ Then let them which be in Judea flee to the moun¬ tains,’ that is, let as many as are gathered together in Judea go to that place which is prepared for them, and be nourished there for three years and six months from the face of the Devil (Rev. xii. 14, 15). The water which the serpent casts out of his mcuth represents the army which he will send in pursuit of her; by the earth opening its mouth and swallow¬ ing the waters, is shown the vengeance that will be inflicted at the moment. . . . “ The False Prophet will cause a golden image to be set up to Antichrist in the temple of Jerusalem, and into this image the vagabond angel will enter, emitting voices and oracles. He will also cause both bond and free to receive a mark on their foreheads, or on their right hands, even the name, that none may buy or sell without it. Now Daniel had foretold this abomination and provocation, saying, ‘ He will set up his temple upon the glorious and holy mountain that is, he will then set up in Jerusalem an image, such as Nebuchadnezzar made. This the Lord explains, admonishing his churches against the last times and dangers, saying, ‘ When ye shall see the abomination spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place,”’ &c. (Matt. xxiv. 15, Dan. xi. 45). (5.) Apollinarius, Bishop op Laodicea (a.d. 380), as quoted by Jerome on Dan. ix., explained Daniel’s 70th week to be awaiting its fulfilment at the end of this age in the time of Antichrist, whose 3-|- years’ persecution will synchro¬ nize with its latter half, and whose statue, then set up in the Jewish temple, will be the abomination of desolation. Maitland, Burgh, and B. W. Newton speak of him as enter¬ taining this view. (6.) Primasius, Bishop of the Carthaginian Province (a.d. 500), who published a treatise on the Apocalyse, simi¬ larly considered Daniel’s 7 0th week to be the last seven years of the Christian era, ending with Christ’s descent to destroy REV. DR. BURGHS VIEWS. 189 Antichrist, whose 3| years’ universal reign would be the latter half of the 7Oth week (as stated in Elliott’s Appendix on the history of prophetic interpretation); this seems to have been the case .also with other writers in the Primitive Church, such as Barnabas, &c., whose works are not at hand to quote from. (7.) The Rev. Dr. Burgh, of the Church of England, pub¬ lished some able Lectures on the Second Advent, in Dublin, in 1830-32, and also subsequently a very useful literal-day Exposition of the Revelation, both giving the same interpre¬ tation of Dan ix. 27. In the former he says, “ That Anti¬ christ sets up ‘ the abomination of desolation’ in Matt. xxiv. 16, I think further proved from the prophecies of Daniel, alluded to by the Lord Jesus. There are three passages in Daniel where ‘ the abomination of desolation’ is spoken of, and the first to which I would refer is the continuous prophecy of chapters x., xi., and xii. In this context it is indeed twice mentioned, but it is very important to observe that the two notices, though rather far asunder, are one : the first foretelling ‘the setting zip,’ and the other, ‘ the duration' of the abomination (Dan xi. 31, xii. 11). The whole prophecy of these chapters, it will be observed, respects what should befall Daniel’s people in the latter days (Dan. x. 14). . . . To pro¬ ceed to the only other mention of £ the abomination of desolation’ by this prophet, viz., that in connection with the prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan. ix. 24-27)—whatever difficulty there may be in forming a connected view of this prophecy, there is one thing about which I think there can be no doubt, viz., that it extends to the Second Advent of Christ, and includes its objects, as well as those of the First. For, independent of the words ‘ unto Messiah the Prince,’ perhaps ‘ the determination upon Daniel’s people and holy city’—‘ the finishing of trans¬ gression, making an end of sins and reconciliation for iniquity,’ are expressions which in their application to the Jewish nation must be referred to another time than the First Advent, which was a day of vengeance to them, and the infliction of a judg¬ ment under which they still remain. The whole period is seventy weeks (i.e., ‘sevens,’ or periods of seven years), and this period is divided into parts of 02 and 7 and 1. The ‘ sixty-two,’ we are informed (verse 26), reach to the First Coming and death of Christ. . . . There is yet one week 190 REV. DR. BURGH’S VIEWS. to be accounted for, the last of the seventy, which we perceive is considered in the prophecy distinct from the ‘ sixty-two’ and ‘ seven.’ This last -week it is with which our present subject has principally to do, and for its events we are referred to verses 26, 27 . . . ‘The prince that shall come ’ I take to be the last enemy of the Jewish people, the last invader of the holy city, ‘ the Antichrist.’ His confirming the covenant with many for one seven (seven years), I think is the same ‘ league’ and ‘ deceitful working’ and ‘ corruption by flattery’ mentioned chap. xi. 23, 32, by which it would appear he will impose himself on many of the Jews and delude them, as the event proves, to their destruction. For half of the week (3-|- years) he is true to his covenant • but he then breaks it, and for the last half, the remaining 3f- years, ‘ the time, times, and a half,’ ‘42 months,’ or ‘ 1260 days,’ he causes the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the ‘ overspreading of abominations he makes desolate,’ or as the rvords evidently imply and another prophecy has expressed it, ‘ he places the abomination'that maketh desolate.’ That this last ‘half-week applies to the times of Antichrist I find to have been the opinion of the ancient fathers, as, for instance, Irenceus, Julius Africanus, Hippolytus the martyr , and Apollinaris, Bishops of Laodicea.’ ” (Pp. 140, 147, 152.) Dr. Burgh, like other literal-day expositors, understands “ the temple of God,” in which the Man of Sin is to sit (2 Thess. ii.), to be the rebuilt temple at Jerusalem, in which the Jews will offer sacrifices soon after making the Covenant. He also considers that the final Antichristian apostacy will be far worse and more terrible than Popery ; and that Antichrist’s persecution and slaughter of the saints, who will not worship his image during the last half-week, or 3| years, will prevail not merely in the Roman earth, but throughout all Christen¬ dom, until Christ’s descent at Armageddon (pp. 117, 181). He says of Antichrist (p. 89), “No indecision of character or pro¬ fession, no slackness of devotion or service, no merely nominal religion will be allowed; but his (Antichrist’s) pretentions will be enforced by the alternative of Life or Death, and ‘as many as will not worship him shall be killed.’ In a word, he will realize his prophetic name of ‘Antichrist’— denying Christ by saying that he is the Christ, denying God by saying he is the true God—owned by the un- BISHOP HORSLEY ON ANTICHRIST. 101 believing Jews as the Messiah, the Hope of Israel, and taking the wise of the Gentiles in their own craftiness, administering to their pride of reason, and desire for external evidence, ‘ deceiving them that dwell on the earth by means of the miracles which he doeth’ (Rev. xiii.). “ That a monster of iniquity and blasphemy should accom¬ plish the times of the Gentiles, and precede the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom, was apprehended, more or less distinctly, even by the Jews of old, to whom the name ‘ Antichrist’ (i.e., Anti-Messiah) was not unknown, but was fully acknowledged by the first believers in Christianity. Type and prophecy alike foreboded a last struggle with a wicked one, the ful filler and consummater of transgression, and thence also of Divine indignation—the rod of chastisement to ‘ the holy people,’ and at the same time the scourge of the apostate nations. . . . The character of this enemy, moreover, as gathered from the prophecies, was, in general, that he should rival all his types and predecessors in tyranny, blasphemy, and oppression; that he should be supported by a confederacy of the nations, while his fury should be principally directed (as w r as that of all his precursors) against Israel; and that he should ultimately fall before Messiah, standing up to avenge his people ‘ on the mountains and in the land of Israel,’ and by means altogether superhuman.The words of Bishop Horsley are well worthy of attention : ‘ The Son of Perdition , who is to rise out of an open, undisguised apostacy. That Son of Perdition, who shall be neither a Protestant nor a Papist; neither Christian, Jew, nor Heathen ; who shall worship neither God, angel, nor saint; who will neither supplicate the Invisible Majesty of Heaven, nor fall down before an idol. He will magnify himself against everything that is called God, or is worshipped; and with a bold flight of impiety, soaring far above his precursors and types in the times of Paganism—the Sennacheribs, the Nebu- chadnezzars, the Antiochuses, and the Heathen Emperors, will claim divine honours to himself exclusively, and consecrate an image of himself.’ Bishop Horsley adds : ‘ I doubt not but this monster will be made an instrument of that pruning which the Vine (Isa. xviii. 5) must undergo’ ” (pp. f>4, 90). (8 and 9.) The Rev. Edward Bickerstetii and Rev. T. Birks, Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, unitedly 192 VIEWS OF BICKERSTETH AND BIRKS. wrote the chapter on Chronological Prophecies in Bicker¬ steth’s Guide to the Prophecies, published in 1839. The eminent piety, profound research into prophecy, and unsurpassed soundness of judgment of Bickersteth, give great weight to his views. They both distinctly affirmed their belief that the 2300 and 1335 years (Dan viii. 14, xii. 12) would end about 1868, as the epoch of the Consummation, or very soon after¬ wards, and that Christ would come to remove the Philadelphian saints, or Wise Virgins, before the last 3 \ years; for they remarked upon Rev. xiii. IS :—“Just before Daniel’s time of blessedness there is left a period of half a week, mentioned in Dan. ix. 27, for the infidel persecution, from which the Philadelphian Church is saved (Rev. iii. 10, 18-21); but the Laodicean part left in it to be purified, and to be the last gathering of the Church to the marriage supper.” Bickersteth, although a staunch year-day expositor, admitted that there would probably be an ultimate reduplicated literal fulfilment of many parts of Daniel and Revelation in connection with the last infidel Antichrist, who, as Birks admits from Dan. xi., will be worshipped as God in the rebuilt temple at Jerusalem. The following extract is from Bickersteth’s “ Guide to the Prophecies” (7th edition), by which it will be seen that, on the principle of a double fulfilment, they consider that two separate periods of 70 weeks are mentioned in Dan. ix. 24-27 ; first, in verse 24, a continuous, unbroken, complete ecclesiastical period of 70 weeks, or 490 years, from b.c. 457 to the Cruci¬ fixion in a.d. 33 ; secondly, in verses 25, 26, 27, a subdivided trisected period of 70 weeks, the last week of which is the seven years of the infidel Antichrist’s manifestation at the time of Christ’s Second Advent at the Consummation. Bickersteth’s “ Signs of the Times,” “Divine Warning,” contain very much that is excellent, but like many works such as Elliott’s, Cumming’s, Cunninghame’s, Frere’s, they are to a certain extent antiquated and out of date, because they are chiefly year-day historical expositions, and not literal-day futurist expositions. This latter class of writings is now of the most importance, because it treats almost entirely of the great events to happen during the final seven years of the Jewish Covenant-week—such writings as J. Kelly’s, Gregory’s “ Earth’s Eventide” (at Nisbet’s, 4s.), Trotter and Smith’s Eight Lectures, Purdon’s, Molyneux’s, Seiss’s, &c. Bickersteth’s “Restoration of the Jews” is, however, still useful and readable. (Feb., 1865.) THE SEVENTY WEEKS. 193 “ One of the most important chronological prophecies is that of the 70 weeks of Daniel. The interpretation which most satisfies the author’s mind, from its simplicity, and fol¬ lowing the order of the text, is this: The seventy weeks of verse 24 is a definite period of 490 years, ecclesiastically com¬ plete, from the decree of Artaxerxes given to Ezra, 458, to the death and resurrection of our Lord in a.d. 33, which makes exactly 490 years. The period from which this era is to be reckoned is to be gathered from the vision (verse 23) of which it is the explanation. In that vision Daniel asks the question (viii. 13, 14): How lone/ shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give loth the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot; and he is answered, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. The first renewing of the sacri¬ fice, as we find (Ezra vii. 12, 23), was under the decree of Artaxerxes, 458 years before Christ. That decree was directly connected with the building of the temple, and the restoration of worship and the sacrifices. Of the whole period of 2300 years, seventy u'eeks of years were determined, *inrD or cut off, from the restoration of the daily sacrifice to the completing of the perfect sacrifice of Christ, when the spiritual temple was raised up (John ii. 19, 21), and the Most Holy was anointed; Heb. i. 9, ix. 24. We have here, then, the ecclesi¬ astical period of seventy weeks, or 490 years, distinct and perfect. “There is another period of seventy weeks, however, brought before us in verses 25, 26, and 27. As the seventy years’ captivity had a double commencement, from the first captivity to the decree of Cyrus, and from the second captivity under Zedekiah, to the decree of Darius ; so this longer period of seventy weeks appears to have a double commencement. The second commencement is stated to be from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. The date of Nehemiah’s commission from Artaxerxes was 446. But it appears very clearly that the period mentioned by Daniel is to be reckoned in complete weeks, and not in parts of weeks ; hence, as in the period of our Lord’s burial, parts of time are reckoned for the whole. The commencement of a perfect week, therefore, in that course of weeks which had N 194 antichrist’s three-and-a-half years. begun to run with Ezra’s commission, must be taken, or the year 451. There are three periods, (1) seven weeks, (2) sixty-two weeks, (3) one week. From 451 to a.d. 33 is just 433 years, or sixty-nine weeks. For seven weeks, or forty- nine of those years, constituting a jubilee (a sacred measure of time), there are predicted troublous times, as we may judge by the history of Nehemiah there really were, till the Jewish polity was settled. This seems to be one reason mentioned for the separation of the first seven weeks from the sixty-two; though it is probable there may be other reasons. Then fol¬ low' the sixty-two weeks, "which will reach to a.d. 33, when the Messiah was to be cut off, and las it is in the margin) the Jews were to be no more his people. We have then, in verse 26, an indefinite period, the events of which are, the destruc¬ tion of the city and temple by the Romans, and the Jewish desolation. This desolation was to last, as we learn by other prophecies, till the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled (Matt, xxiii. 38, Luke xxi. 24). “In verse 27 we have the additional week at the close of the times of the Gentiles, when the people of Israel are again taken into covenant, as pointed out Ezek. xx. 33, 38. This week is divided into two parts. The character of the first half week seems to be set out (Isa. lxvi. 1, 3), where the Jews are represented as, in a self-righteous spirit, rebuilding the temple and offering sacrifices; and the character of the second half, or dividing of the week, answers to Isaiah lxvi. 4-6, where they are represented as under the terror of the infidel Antichrist, who causes the sacrifice to cease ; and at the close is the Consummation, in the destruction of that Antichrist, as set before us, Isa. x. 23, 25, 2 Thess. ii. 8. (10.) Some “Lectures on the Hopes of the Church,” delivered in Geneva, by J. Darby, were published in 1842. They advocate the futurist, or literal-day interpretation, and maintain Daniel’s 70th week to be the final seven years of this dispensation, as held by the other writers here quoted. The same expositor considers the Rapture of the Wise Virgins to the Heavens will undoubtedly precede the final 3| years of Antichrist’s persecution, or last half of the 70th week. He has also written some other works. VIEWS OF SIR E. DENNY. 195 (11.) Sir Edward Denny, Baronet, about 1845, pub lished a valuable “Companion to the Chart of 70 Weeks,” as an accompaniment to some large and ably executed chrono¬ logical charts. He commences the sixty-nine weeks u.c. 457, and terminates them a.d. 26, seven years before the cruci fixion, which he places in a.d. 33. The interval from a.d. 26 to a.d. 33, he considers to have been disallowed as the place for the 70th week, because of Israel’s rejection of John the Baptist and the Messiah. The 70th week thus remains unfulfilled until towards the end of the Gentile dispensation. Sir E. Denny, as well as Tregelles, Kelsall, B. W. Newton, Strange, &c., maintain that the words in Dan. ix. 24, “ to anoint the Most Holy,” should be “to anoint the Holy of Holies,” i.e., the Holy Place, as is admitted by Lowth and other Hebrew scholars. He also looks for the Ascension of the Wise Virgins before Antichrist’s 3J years’ persecution. A condensed transcript of his work on the 7 0 weeks is here sub joined. “ This great septenary period is divided into three distinct parts,— Seven Weeks, Threescore and two weeks, and ONE week, —the first two of which follow in due continuous order, without interruption. Whereas between the last two, namely, the threescore and two weeks, and the one week, a long interval occurs ; these last two being separated the one from the other by the whole period of Israel’s disper¬ sion. “ The period of sixty-nine weeks begins B.c. 457, and as to the point in history when it was to end, we find that sixty nine weeks out of the seventy should elapse before the Messiah should be come; that is, I believe before whether they received him or not he should at least be offered to Israel. And this occurred neither at the birth of the Lord, nor at the time when he himself came forth in ministry. No; but at the time when the voice in the wilderness, namely, John the Baptist, his messenger, the prophet of the Highest, proclaimed his approach. The history of Christ upon earth properly opens with the preaching of John, his forerunner. His coming to Israel is to be dated from thence; and hence the Lord, speaking of John, said, ‘The law and the prophets were until John ; N 2 196 VIEWS OF SIR E. DENNY. from that time the kingdom of heaven is preached.' Besides which the Evangelist Mark speaks of the preaching of John as the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark i.) Judging from all this, then, I feel no hesitation in placing the end of this period, namely, the seven weeks and threescore and two weeks, just at the point where John the Baptist began to tell of Him who was coming, before he actually appeared on the scene And after (the) threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself On hastily reading this passage, one would naturally suppose that the Lord was cut off at the close of this period. But in these words the proposition ‘ after' is indefinite. We do not read immediately after, as if at the end of the period exactly. It was at the termination of this period that John the Baptist appeared as the prophet—the Elias of his day—announcing the coming Messiah. Between the Messiah’s announcement by .John, and his death, an interval elapsed of seven years—or a week— divided into two equal parts—the first three years and a half being the time of John’s mission—-the next that of Jesus Christ himself. “ This unnoticed week, as I term it, of the Messiah’s rejection, is left an utter blank in the prophecy. For the Lord for the last time was giving Israel a trial, but I they despised him and his testimony ; and for this Israel was j thenceforth rejected, and the name of reproach—the name of Loammi—was written upon them. The week of proffered blessing was, as it were, altogether Cancelled and blotted out. The one week of this prophecy will come in at the end of the Christian Dispensation to complete the full term of seventy weeks, and to supply the place of the forfeited week. “ The last week of Daniel thus detached from the rest, being the great crisis in the history of the world, previous to the setting up of the kingdom, the period of Israel’s ripened apostacy, will be one of deep and awful interest, of unparalleled judgment; and between this and the forfeited week there will be a sort of moral coincidence, as well as of palpable contrast; inasmuch as one was the period when the true Messiah came forth and was rejected; the other THE COMING OF ELIJAH. 197 -will bo a time when the false Messiah will rise and be received by the Jews as the hope of their nation.* “ ‘A nd the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall he with a flood.' Here the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the armies of Home under Titus, in the reign of Vespasian, follows next in historical, and at the same time in moral order, after the foregoing notice of the cuttingoff of Messiah, the sin of the Jews and their punishment being thus linked together. This occurred about the year A.D. 7 0. I n this passage we should carefully mark the distinction between ! the people of the prince that shall come’ and ‘ the prince’himself. ‘Th e people,' that * As throwing further light on this subject, and as proving that this is not a solitary instance of this sort of double fulfilment of prophecy, l next turn to consider the testimony of John and of Elias, the forerunner of Christ at his first and second appearance. Theirs is, we shall iind, exactly a parallel case ; these prophets standing precisely .is to their testimony in the same relation one to the other, that the two weeks above named do in the purpose of God. in Malachi iv. we read, in connection with the Lord’s second coming, as follows: “ Behold 1 send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” which we need not say will yet be fulfilled. But in the meantime, when Christ at his first coming presented himself to his people, claiming their allegiance as the heir of the throne, he was preceded by one, who, “in the spirit and power of Elias,” " came to prepare the way of the Lord.” Of him it was that the Lord said, “If ye will receive it this is Elias which was for to come.” It was all a contingency, it depended on this — had John been received (his reception involving, too, that of him of whom he came to bear witness) he would have really proved what he ostensibly was, the harbinger of the kingdom — the very Elias; and no other would have been needed to announce the coming glory of Christ, which would iu that case even then have been revealed. But John and his testimony, as in the case of Jesus himself, have been alike 3et at naught; and hence the Elias originally foreknown in the counsels of God will come, and as Jesus declared of him after the slaughter of John by King Herod (Matt. xvii. 10, 11), shall restore all things, and be in the full sense of the word the prophet of the Highest. Yes, he will assuredly come : taking up the burden once uttered by John, he will really be what John ought to have been — the messenger of the covenant, the establishment of which will depend not on the will of the Jews, hut on the power and grace of Jehovah himself. [Sir K. Denny's Companion to the Chart of 70 Weeks. ] 398 VIEWS OF SIR E. DENNY. is the Roman Nation, existed when the Lord was on earth, and was afterwards used, as we have seen, in chastising the Jews for their ill treatment of him. £ The prince that shall come,’ on the other hand, is the last head or king of this very same people ; the same as the little horn which Daniel beheld in his vision come forth out of the head of the great Roman Beast—who in the last day, when Israel shall have filled up their sin in owning him as their king—their promised Messiah, will be used as a scourge more fearful by far than Nebuchad¬ nezzar or Titus, or any of those who like them have trodden Jerusalem down from the very beginning. “ And unto the end of the ivar desolations are determined. This passage refers to the present desolations of Zion, which began when the armies of Rome, under Titus, invaded, as we have seen, the holy city and temple, and which will continue to rage, in more or less violence, down to the time of the end, when the Seventy Weeks shall be accomplished, and Israel be owned again by the Lord. “ And he shall confirm the covenant with many for One Week. Here ‘ the prince that shall come’—the wilful king of Dan. xi. 36—is presented. His ‘people,’ the Romans, many centuries before his birth, under the conduct of Titus, in the reign of Vespasian, had led the way in the work of destruction. But now he himself rises—he, the little hom in the fourth beast of Daniel, the great head and leader of Gentile apostacy, as well as the impious usurper of the power of David, here abruptly appears on the scene. “ Now, then, we have reached the last or ‘ one w r eek ’ of this prophecy, which, as I before said, will hereafter come in the place of the forfeited week of Messiah’s rejection. And for this week this deceiver (for such he will be at the outset) will enter into a covenant with the deluded children of Israel. They slew Him who once came to them in the name of his Father, the true Hope of Israel; and in return for this they will now be left to themselves, so as to fall into the snare, and to receive another, vdio, coming to them in his own name, in the pride and blasphemous independence of man without God, will treat them, as we shall see, according to their treatment of Jesus, so that with the same measure they meted to him it shall be measured to them again. . . . antichrist’s character and career. 199 Satau is not yet chained as he will be ;. still, as the god and prince of this world, the spirit who works in the children of disobedience, he is never at rest. And when the evil of man has well nigh reached its maturity, just before the second coming of Christ, he will at length meet with one who, so far as he is suffered to go, will carry Satan’s plans into effect. One who, assuming to himself all the power and glory of the real Messiah, will draw to himself the admiration, the worship, of all but the disciples of Christ; one whom Satan will clothe with all that is fitted to dazzle and captivate the natural mind, seeing that all the glory, the strength, the intelligence of our unrenewed nature, will centre in him, so as to exalt him, both in his own eyes and in the estimation of others. In him will be fully developed all the principles of evil which have ever lurked in the flesh since man fell. Human nature, in short, enslaved and debased by the enemy, will be shown forth in him. “ Such is the one who in the latter day will arise, and, as we read in the prophecy, will enter into a covenant for one week with the deluded nation of Israel, who will present himself to them, and bo received as the expected Messiah; and then, in the end, be used as a means of chastising that nation, who slew the Lord when he came. And what wonder, if the whole Gentile world, as well as the children of Israel, that world which — urged on, it is true, by the Jews—nailed the Lord to the cross, should fall into the very same snare, and become their companions in evil ? What wonder if, attracted and dazzled by the false glory and beauty of this mighty deceiver, with their ten kings at their head, they should give their power and their strength into his hands, and become tributary to him ? The truth is, the whole world, both Jewish and Gentile united, will wonder after the Beast, will fall prostrate before him, and own him as King of kings and Lord of lords—names which we knew belong only to Christ. Thus the week of this wilful one’s empire will be the period of the world’s ripened apostacy, when the unrestrained power of those three great agents of evil, the world, the flesh, and the devil, will be fully expressed, and will be seen linked in a daring attempt to cast the blessed God out of his own creation. 200 VIEWS OF SIK E. DENNY “ And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, anti for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the Consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate (desolator, see margin). “ The Prince, before named, having for the first three and a half years of his time reigned in peace over the Jews, he now at the end of that time, that is, ‘ in the midst of the week,’ as we here read, throws off the mask and discovers himself. He had acted as a deceiver at first, and now, having compassed his object, as in like instance has always been the case, he shows himself forth as a tyrant. He had set up at first, with a view to flatter his subjects, that species of worship which only would take with the Jews. But now this is all set aside, he causes the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the forty- two months, or three years and a half spoken of in Revelations and Daniel, namely, the latter half of the week, he opens his mouth in blasphemies against the God of Heaven, while he at the same time oppresses his people. “ These, according to the Lord’s word, will be ‘ the days of vengeance,’ rvhen God through the means of this false one, ‘the enemy and the avenger,’as he is termed in the 8th Psalm, will punish his people. This will be ‘ the time of Jacob’s trouble,’ Jer. xxx. 7, ‘the great tribulation,’ so fear¬ fully shown in Matt. xxiv. and in Rev. xiii., when the holy city shall be trodden under foot, the abomination of desolation set up, and the image of the Beast, namely, that of the deso¬ lator himself, shall stand in the holy place as the object of worship, and when all shall be slain, who will dare to refuse to worship the idol ? “ There will be a sort of moral connection—a similarity, and, at the same time, a contrast —between the week of this wilful one’s reign, and the cancelled week of Messiah’s rejec¬ tion. This is evident, if we compare them in the following manner :—‘John the Baptist came forth preaching, and then went out,’ we read, ‘ Jerusalem, and all the region round about Jordan, confessing their sins.’ Their repentance was, however, false and deceitful, as was shown by their murder of him, in whose light they had for a season rejoiced. Afterwards, when Christ himself came, he was met by the open enmity of ANTICHRIST’S BATTLE WITH CHRIST. 201 Israel, and at last put to death upon the cross. Now here was deceit in their treatment of John, and violence with regard to the Lord, which two sins will be visited upon them at last, through Antichrist, the bloody and deceitful man, as he is termed in Scripture, who will begin his reign with beguiling, and end it with oppressing his victims. And this, observe, will continue for the space of 42 months, or three years and a half, corresponding exactly with the time that the Lord walked a stranger and pilgrim through the land, enduring the hatred and scorn of those whom he came to deliver and bless. “ At length he whom we here read of as being used as a rod in the hands of the Lord, will be in his turn judged. This great wilful one having been suffered to go to the full length of his native iniquity, and displayed the evil of the flesh in all its enormity, will now at length come to his end, and none shall help him. At the battle of Arma¬ geddon, so fearfully described in the book of Revelations (chapter xix.), the powers of the earth, with this great Apostate King at their head, are seen in personal conflict with Christ. And there his impious career is cut short—- there Antichrist falls with all his confederates, both Jewish and Gentile. Thus then we reach the close of our period— the end of Antichrist’s week—the last week of the seventy— the point when the Lord, who through their sin in rejecting his Son has been estranged from his people for ages, will .-show himself faithful to his ancient covenant with Abraham, and retmaiing again to the scene of his former presence on earth, will be known once again as the God of Jeshnruu, the Rock of his people. “Thus we have traced the history of the Jews to the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the Seventy Weeks. And what have we seen ! Evil, nothing but evil, on the part of the creature: grace, wonderful grace, on the other hand, on the part of the Lord. That which appears to be especially sweet and profitable in these meditations on this 9th chapter of Daniel, is the application of the very same truth to ourselves, as individuals, which belongs to the Jews, as a nation. How often, alas ! do we find that we have but little heart for the blessing which the Lord gra- 202 VIEWS OP DJI. TREGELLES. ciously lays at our feet, just as Israel bad at the first coming of Christ, the consequence of which is, that, like Israel at present, we get awhile into deadness, darkness, and distance from God ; and in the end, like the Jews in the latter-day under Antichrist, plunged into a sea of trouble and sorrow ; all the result of our folly and sin in not walking in happy child-like obedience to God. Blessed, however, to know that such is not to be the end of the path either of the saint in this dispensation (however perverse in his ways) or of Israel hereafter, but that full blessing is reserved by the Lord for both one and the other.” (12) Dr. S. P. Tregelles, LL.D., of Plymouth, an eminent Greek scholar, wrote “ Remarks on Daniel” about the year 1846, giving the futurist interpretation of that Book, like Sir E. Denny, Kelsall, Strange, B. W. Newton, <&c. He shows in a chapter on the Roman Empire and its divisions, that its en¬ tire territory, Eastern as well as Western, including England, will be formed into ten kingdoms, and become subject to the future Antichrist. He also gives an excellent exposition of the future actings of Antichrist as described in Daniel xi. 21-45. With respect to the Seventy Weeks, he considers the first sixty-nine of them to commence about b.c. 454 or 455, and consequently to end in A. d. 28 or 29, which he believes to be the year of our Lord’s crucifixion, as he takes the date of the Nativity to be about four years before the common era. The last of the seventy weeks'" he of course regards as yet to come at the end of this dispensation. The following extracts are from his work. (P. 106 to 113.) “ The seventy weeks, when distributed into portions, will stand thus : I. From the edict to the building of the wall, &c. 49 years. II. From the building to Messiah the Prince, and his ) . 0 , cutting off. ...( 434 y earS - (Then an interval of unmarked length.) * Dr. Tregelles justly rejects the idea that the translation of the Gentile Church from the earth will precede the 70th week as being Jewish time. He says, “ Some have thought from the Church hav¬ ing become a constituted body upon the earth just at the end of the 69th week, that it was no longer found on earth when the interval is past, and the 70th begins. Nothing about the matter can be found from the vision, the Church not being mentioned in it.P. 116. Daniel’s seventy weeks. 203 III. The period of the covenant of ‘ the prince that ) _ shall come’ . ( 1 > ears * “ The various things spoken of (in verse 24-) ‘to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,’ are all I believe future. I do not regard any of them as referring strictly to the work of Christ upon the cross (although we, as believers in Him, know that many of these things have a blessed application to us), but it rather appears to me that they all belong to the time of Israel’s blessing,—when the pre¬ ciousness of the blood of Christ shall be applied to those ‘ who are spared of them ’ : when ‘ thou shalt call me, my Father and shalt not turn away from me.’ (Jer. iii. 19.) “Verses 25 and 26. — The 483 years (the seven weeks and threescore and two weeks) from the issuing of the decree run on to ‘ Messiah the Prince :’—It becomes then important to inquire to what part of our Lord’s earthly path the refer¬ ence is made. He was ‘ born King of the Jews ’—but this appears to be something more than the mere title ; now, the only time in which we find the Lord Jesus taking this title in the presence of Jerusalem, was six days before he suffered, when he came thither on the ass’s colt :—He was then pre¬ sented as King, and six days afterwards was put to death as the King of the Jews. 1 should regard the limit ‘ unto Messiah the Prince,’ as reaching on to his having been thus presented to Jerusalem. It is worthy of remark, that the decree of Artaxerxes was issued in the month Nisan, the very month in which the passover was kept, and in which our Lord both rode into Jerusalem and was crucified. . . . “The words which stand in our English version, ‘but not for himself,’ have often been taken as if they spoke of the vica¬ rious character of our Saviour’s suffering; this would however be, I believe, placing a most true and important doctrine upon an insufficient basis. I believe that the words simply imply, ‘and there shall be nothing for him ;’—he will be rejected, and his earthly kingdom will be a thing on which he will not then enter. “ The series of years has run on unhinderedly from the issuing of the edict to the cutting off of Messiah;—but at this part of the vision there are various events spoken 204 VIEWS OF DR. TREGELLES. of before the one remaining week comes into notice at all. ' And the city and the sanctuary shall the people destroy of a prince who shall come.’ This refers, I have no doubt, to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; as was also foretold by our Lord in Luke xxi., ‘ When ye see Jerusalem compassed about with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.’ This destruction is here said to be wrought by a certain people ; not by the prince who shall come, but by his people :—this refers us, I believe, to the Romans as the last holders of undivided Gentile power ; they wrought the destruction long ages ago,—the prince who shall come is the last head of the Roman power, the person con¬ cerning whom Daniel had received so much previous instruc¬ tion. It is most important to attend to the exact words of the passage ; it is thus that we avoid the mistake of con¬ founding the people and the prince who afterwards springs up, “ ‘ And his end shall be in the overflowing:’ I suppose that this speaks of the end of the prince who shall come ; in the expression ‘ the overflowing,’ allusion seems to be made to some known event in prophecy; 1 suppose that it is the same overflowing as that which is alluded to in Isa. x. 22, and xxviii. IS. This would identify the time of this prince with the crisis of Israel’s history,— this identification is (as we shall see) yet more decidedly brought out in the subsequent part of the vision. The interval up to ‘ the end,’ is only characterized by war and desolations. . “ The vision gives us no intimation about the times of events which belong to the interval; we only find at the cutting off of Messiah, one seven years is unaccomplished; this ‘ reserved week,’ as some have aptly called it, belongs to the time of the prince who shall come. “ Verse 27 : ‘ And he (the prince who shall come) shall confirm a covenant with the many for one iveek.' In ‘ Remarks on Dan. vii. and viii.,’ I sought to show that the horn spoken of in the two chapters is identical, and here he again appears to come before us ; in fact, the allusion seems to be made to known circumstances about him. He makes a covenant with the multitude ; that of course means the multitude of Daniel’s people ;—they are leagued with him, and he with them. This takes place three years and a half before he causes sacrifice and RENEWAL OF THE JEWISH SACRIFICES. 205 oblation to cease ; hence it is clear that they go oil as under his patronage for some time. This will, I believe, throw some light upon the two thousand three hundred days mentioned in chap, viii. 14. We find him there making a covenant for one seven years, then breakiug it at the end of three years and a half; and the removal of sacrifice, &c., is so spoken of as to connect it with the breaking of the covenant. This tends, I think, to show that one thing done in pursuance of this cove¬ nant had been the establishment of the temple worship. The period of two thousand three hundred days is a few months short of the whole term of the seven years,—enough being not included, it may be, to bo allotted for those preparations which will be needful for the worship to be set up ; then fol¬ lows the time during which it is carried on under his auspices, and then follow three years and a half of distinct persecuting and blasphemous power. “ The character of this period of three years and a half is to be especially gathered from chap, vii., in which mention is made of ‘ a time, times, and a half,’ and also from the forty and two months, 12G0 days, &c., which are spoken of in the book of Revelation. “ The identity of the time, times, and a half, of chap, vii., with the last half week of this chapter, might almost be taken for granted :—the proof,' however, is simple—the horn in chap. vii. acts in blasphemy and persecution until the Lord Jesus and his people take the kingdom ; the three years and a half run on to that point; here in this chapter, the whole pe¬ riod of seventy weeks issues in the absolute and established blessing of Israel, Daniel’s people—the week of this covenant is the last portion of the seventy weeks, and the half week after the sacrifice is taken away is the latter portion of that week. Thus the period in chap. vii. and the concluding period before us run oh to the same point;—they are also equal in duration ; hence, they begin at the same time, and are altoge¬ ther identical. If we would form a just estimate of the events of the last half week, we must gather it from chap, vii.— here we have the same power in its local connection with Jerusalem. “ Dan. xii. 1.—This time is one of trouble, such as has never been equalled:—Our Lord, in Matt, xxiv., predicts a VIEWS OF OK. TKEGELLES. 206 time of tribulation also unequalled, and that without the like ever having been before, or to be after. This, then, in Daniel, cannot be subsequent to that in Matt, xxiv., for our Lord’s words would then be contradicted. Daniel’s people are delivered at the time here spoken of, so that there is no place for the tribulation in Matthew as a subsequent thing ;—hence it follows inevitably that the same period is spoken of in both places—the time of which it is said in Jer. xxx., ‘ It is the time of Jacob’s trouble ; but he shall be delivered out of it.’ This tribulation is during the reign and blasphemy of the Antichrist, whose fearful power will be thus permitted of God. Past history will afford no parallel, and the energy of Satan will then have an unhindered character, which God at present does not permit (p. 167). “ His reign is a time of grievous and grinding oppression to Israel; his abominable idol (the image of the Beast, that the false prophet causes both to speak and breathe), Rev. xiii., being set in the holy place, all who refuse to worship it are the objects of his wrath ; death is the doom which their dis¬ obedience receives. But God preserves some in his own sovereign power, each one whose name has been written from before the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the slain Lamb. This is proved by a remnant being spared, when the Lord Jesus comes with power of destroying judgment; for none can be spared who have joined in the Antichristian blasphemy : ‘ If any man worship the Beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,’ &c. (Rev. xiv. 9, 10). This remnant must not be confounded with those who have confessed Christ previous to his coming; they, as being an integral part of the Church of the first-born, will share his millennial reign in glorified bodies ; this remnant, on the contrary (however previously acted on by testimony), will not know the Lord Jesus until they see him, and the Spirit of grace and supplication is poured out upon them (p. 165). “ These prophecies of Daniel, and the predictions of Christ in Matt, xxiv., will be used in the day of the setting of the abomination of desolation in the holy place. The Church ought, therefore, to know what these things are, in order to antichrist’s future miracles. 207 stand prepared, and not find these things taking her by surprise. “ There is a wide-spread incredulity at present as to Satanic agency and miraculous power — au incredulity which needs to be dispelled, because it leads many to be blind to their danger. • The working of the ‘ mystery of iniquity’ commenced in the days of the apostles ; it has gone on, including Popery and all other forms of corrupted and corrupting Christianity, and at length it will result in the manifestation of the ‘ man of sin,’ who will arise accredited by Satanic miracles—‘ with all power, signs, and lying won¬ ders.’ Surely this is not believed by many, and yet the Spirit of God here speaks of actual miracles, and no mere deceptions of men’s senses. What some of these miracles are we read in Rev. xiii., where we are told of fire made to come down from heaven in the sight of men, and an image made to speak and breathe. “ If claims to miraculous power be made, let us take heed and hold fast the truth of God; it is nowhere told us in Scripture that God will give us any new revelation confirmed by miracles, but we are warned that Satan will thus introduce the Antichrist; and that in this manner men will be deceived. No miracle can invalidate an antecedent fact. The fact of re¬ demption by the blood of the Son of God will remain as the sure ground-work of all Christian religion, even if ten thousand miracles were wrought to disprove it: this is a truth but little considered; and so little heed will be paid to it by men in general, that by miracles they will be misled, unless they have received the love of the truth of God into their hearts, by the operation of the Holy Ghost. “ To some it may seem a dark and discouraging prospect thus to contemplate what the issue will be of professing Chris¬ tianity within the Roman earth ; to see the corruption which goes on, as that which will at last increase so as to lead to full Antichristian apostasy—the rejection of God and of Christ. But, if it be different from the prospects which may have been imagined, we have only to ask whether this is not the truth of Scripture. If this be the case, then it is well for us to know it; for God never instructs us by holding out false expecta¬ tions. Have not the Apostles Paul (2 Tim. iii.), John (in 208 VIEWS OF DR. KELSAXL. speaking of ‘ mauy Antichrists’ as tlie characteristic of ‘ the last time’), James (v. 1-8), Peter (2 Epist. chap, iii.), and Jude, all taught us that the concluding days of this Dispensation will be days of peculiar evil in the Church and in the world, up to the coming of the Lord (p. 213, 214). “ The Scripture presents a criterion and a safeguard to those who are watchful:—‘ If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, “ Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;” thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.’ (Deut. xiii. 1-3.) Thus, if any miracle be wrought in confirmation of any contradiction of a truth previously revealed of God, then such miracle ought not to be received as though it accredited in any way the newly-introduced doctrine or opinion. The divine miracles of Scripture were in full accordance and harmony with every previous revelation, and their nature and character were distinctly opposed to Satanic power” (p. 24). (13.) Henry Kelsaxl, M.D., R.N., wrote an admirable futurist literal-day treatise, in 1846, upon “Antichrist.” Among many other remarks, he observes that the Chaldaic (a Gentile language) is used from Dan. ii. 4- to the end of Dan. vii., but the rest of Daniel is in Hebrew; implying that the prophecies of Dan. ii., iv., vii., relate more to the Gentile •powers and their connection with Antichrist, while those of Dan. viii., ix., xi., Xii. refer chiefly to Antichrist’s connection with the Jews and Jerusalem. He also notices that each of the four successive Empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, assumed its prophetic position of supremacy as soon as it fulfilled the three conditions of being a monarchy, and of having possession of Palestine, and of extending to the Medi¬ terranean, “the Great Sea.” He thus expresses his expecta¬ tions as to the future:— “ At first the Prince, Antichrist, makes a treaty or covenant with the Jews for one seven, or hebdomad, the last of the 70 weeks (Dan. ix. 27), but after making this seven WORSHIP OP ANTICHRIST’S IMAGE. 201 ? years’ covenant, lie will break it in the midst, and cause*, the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, after which the period for the exercise of his open blasphemy exactly cor¬ responds with the time, times, and a half of Dan. vii., at the commencement of which the abomination of desolation will be set up, and the worship of him and his image continue- until the time of fulfilment. The abomination of desolation is probably the image endowed by Satan with the power of speech and breath of life. (Rev. xiii, 15.) . “ That the Gentiles should worship the image of Antichrist, is not difficult to conceive, seeing that idols, and crucifixes,, &c., are even now adored by the nations of European Christen¬ dom. . . . Gentiles and apostate Jews will place the abomina tion that maketh desolate — fabricate the image and set it up . At this awful instant of time every one who ‘ understands' (Matt, xxiv. 15) will immediately quit Jerusalem. From this moment will commence that ‘dreadful tribulation such as was? not from the beginning of the world.’ This will consist not only of the raging persecutions of Antichrist and the false prophet, but of the angry visitations of God which are now about to be poured out. This is the point of time when Anti¬ christ breaks his covenant in the midst of seven years, and‘ when the two witnesses (Rev. xi. 3) make their appearance in Jerusalem. Forty-two months are therefore left for the com pletion of these wonders. About the same time as the two. witnesses (probably Elias and Moses, p. f)G) there will appear in Jerusalem a false prophet, who will be empowered to per¬ form astonishing miracles. He will cause an image of AntR christ to be set up in the sanctuary, which, by the agency of Satan, he will be enabled to endow with life and the power of speech. This image seems to be typified in Dan. iii. Ho will require every man to worship this image, and to receive a mark in his forehead, or on his right hand, as a token that he acknowledges Antichrist as God, and he will cause to be put to death all who refuse to receive the mark. “ The Apostacy (Atheism, and the self-exaltation of man,)' will probably, towards ‘ the end,’ receive its great impulse from the progress of human learning (which Satan knows how to direct and to use for his own purposes). Science daily now adds some new wonder to the knowledge which has been rapidly o 210 VIEWS OF T)K. KELSALL. accumulating for the last 60 or 70 years ; that short period only having advanced the Gentiles of Christendom further in every variety of science than the previous seventeen centuries. Should knowledge continue to progress in the same ratio for a similar period, to what must it eventually lead ? The adop¬ tion of railroads throughout Europe, and of steam navigation to every quarter of the globe, will tend to bring the world to maturity. . . . “ The results of a more perfect acquaintance with the nature and powers of electricity are also perhaps incalculable. This comparatively recent discovery will eventually lead to important consequences ; because it appears to be, or really is, the agent which God has appointed for the regulation both of organic and inorganic creation. When man finds that he can with certainty control and apply this wonderful power to the imitation of the ordinary, but hitherto mysterious operations of nature, the inevitable consequence will be the lifting up of his heart. “ The recent revival of Animal Magnetism is also worthy of notice ; there can be no doubt that it is identical with the arts of sorcery practised in the early ages of the world. At present, only the elements of this long-lost art are understood. The phenomena already observed are sufficiently startling ; but when greater perfection in Mesmerism shall be arrived at, it will probably be found capable of effecting all that sorcery ever performed. Witchcraft will be one of the characteristics of the latter days, and will co-exist with the idols of Anti¬ christ, the Assyrian. Micha v. 8-15, prophesies of the ven¬ geance which Christ, at his second coming, will execute upon the heathen; wdien the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people; and when God will cut off witchcraft, and the Jews shall have no more soothsayers. Perfection of scientific knowledge will hurry on ‘ the times of the Gentiles’ to the crisis.” This writer correctly states that precisely ten kingdoms (the ten toes and ten horns, Dan. ii. 44, Rev. xvii. 12) will be formed out of the territory of which the Roman Empire consisted in the time of Trajan, including, of course, England; and will become completely subject to Antichrist. He says (pp. 35, 102, 21, 22)— “The quadruply divided Grecian was included territori- ANTICHRIST SUPREME OVER ENGLAND. 211 ally in the Roman earth : and when the final settlement of the latter into ten kingdoms takes place, the four ancient Grecian kingdoms (Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Thrace, with Bithynia, ifcc.), will most likely be restored and make four of the ten. . . . The ten Gentile kingdoms into which the whole Roman earth (complete in the time of Trajan) will be ulti¬ mately divided, and which are now developing themselves, will make their appearance so as tcPbc distinctly recognised by those who take the light of prophecy as their guide. While the Jews, on Gentile sufferance, or under Gentile protection, are allowed to worship in their new Temple, and perform again all the ordinances of the Mosaic law, the maturing of the ten kingdoms will be effected. When these ten kingdoms are perfected, they will all become nationally apostate. . . . “ These, when they are formed, will be connected with * the great seaEngland now lias possessions there. Ireland was never brought within the limits of the Roman empire, and probably does not come within the scope of the prophecy. The present course of events in that island renders it possible that its separation from England may hereafter take place. Belgium was within the limits of the Roman earth; Holland was not ; and lately (1832) they have been separated. The restoration of the kingdom of Greece within the last few y'ears (1827) is also worthy of observation. It seems as if the ten kingdoms were gradually developing themselves.” (14.) The Rev. C. Maitland, in his “Apostolic School of Prophetic Interpretation” (1849), gives many valuable extracts from the Fathers of the primitive Church, and subsequent writers, showing that Antichrist was generally held to be an individual man, who would gain a universal empire, and be received by many Jews as their Messiah, and for 3^ years have himself and his image worshipped in the Jewish temple and throughout the earth, meanwhile being master of Rome and Jerusalem, and persecuting Christians to the death, but at last would be destroyed by Christ’s personal descent at the battle of Armageddon. He also believes, in common with some of the Fathers," 1 Some of those writers have been incorrectly stated to have thought that God would confirm the seven years’ Covenant with the O 2 212 VIEWS OK REV. C. MAITLAND. that 69 of tbo 70 weeks were fulfilled before our Saviour’s crucifixion, but that the 70th week is future, its latter half coinciding with Antichrist’s 3A years, at about the close of which Christ will descend on this earth. He says i days (Rev. xi.) exposed to the gaze and rejoicing of their I murderers ; but at the expiration of these days, they will again, j to the terror of the beholders, stand upon their feet and re¬ ascend in glory to those blessed mansions from which they had i been sent back again to earth on this, their predicted mission ■ of mercy and salvation. . . It is during the remainder of the literal 1335 days that the last vials of God’s wrath will pro¬ bably be poured forth in all their terrible litcrality, ushering in the Millennium at their close. Blessed will that day be to the saints of the New Jerusalem, for then will they all visibly appear in glory before God and the Lamb, standing each of them with Daniel in their appointed lot.” The writer of “ Armageddon” further considers (chap, xii.) that 1862 will most probably be the year when Louis Napo- ! leon will make the seven years’ covenant with the Jews. By Jewish reckoning, 1862 will not terminate until Nisan or ' Tisri (about April or September), in 1863 ; but whenever the covenant is made, there will be only 7 years and 2| months | to the End or Consummation. He holds “ the King of the I South” (Dan. xi. 40) to be the sovereign of Egypt whom Na¬ poleon, the “Wilful King” (ver. 36), is to vanquish. He also views England as one of the doomed ten-horn kingdoms (Rev. xvii. 12), and says (chap, xxiii.), “ With the French army, the largest and best appointed of any in Europe, and its navy, un- WISE VIRGINS ESCAPE NAPOLEON’S PERSECUTION. 243 cea,singly increasing in all its branches to an unprecedented and overmastering power, what course is unhappily left us but submission to that ‘ Wilful King,’ who, to avenge the defeat of Waterloo, may at any time turn round upon and rend us?” He does not, however, give fully the chief argument which proves this view, and which is, that all the original Roman empire (of which England was part) must fall under the do¬ minion of the seventh-eighth Head, or Antichrist (Rev. xiii. 7, 8), and at the same time be divided into exactly ten king¬ doms, five in the Western and five in the Eastern division (Dan. ii. 41, vii. 24. Rev. xvii. 12). It is correctly shown by this'author that the ascension of the man-child (Rev. xii. o), in the year-day fulfilment, means the ascension of Christ personally in a.d. 33, about 500 years before the Papal Antichrist’s 1260 years’ persecution (Rev. xii. 6, 14), and that in the literal-day fulfilment it means the ascension of the Wise Virgins, the mystical Christ, before the Personal Antichrist’s 1260 days' persecution He omits, how¬ ever, to state the necessary conclusion, namely, that the ascen¬ sion of 144,000 Wise Virgins must therefore occur about 500 days (16 or 17 months) before Napoleon’s 1260 days’ perse¬ cution, that is, the last half of the Covenant-week of seven years • and thus their ascension will be about two years and 5 or 6 weeks after the date of the Covenant (see diagram 4), as can be further proved by several other reasons. But he clearly shows that this first ascension or translation of 144,000 saints at Christ’s coming in the air, will precede Napoleon’s 3 b years’ persecution, and the second translation of the remaining saints will be shortly after the 3^ years when Christ descends and slays the unrepentant. Respecting this, he says, “ It is, l think, manifest that the glorification of the 144,000 will not only precede that unparalleled Reign of Terror of Dan. xii. 1, of which the one in 1793 was but a fearful type, but precede also the glorification of the Great Multitude (Rev. vii. 9), since we learn from Rev. xii. 12-17, that before the last ‘ time times and half a time ’ (3i years) of Antichrist begin, the Dra¬ gon will be cast down from the heavenly places to the earth, and persecute, during that period, the remnant of the wo¬ man’s seed left therein after the Man-child or First-fruits, the mystic Christ, the 144.000 (comprising the Wise Vir- Q 2 244 VIEWS OF THE ENGLISH WORK “ ARMAGEDDON.” gins), shall have been caught up to God and to his throne. . And if the Queen of the 45th Psalm, and the Dove oi the sixth of Cauticles, be the predicted representative of the First-fruits, then the ‘ King’s daughter attendant upon the Queen, and the Virgins her companions that follow her, and the threescore queens and fourscore concubines, the Virgins without number, and daughters of the Church associated with the Dove, will be identical with the palm-bearing multitude Of these it is said that £ with gladness and rejoicing shall the} be brought unto the Queen : the}'- shall enter into the King’s Palace’ (or the New Jerusalem), Ps. xlv., and that ‘ they saw, and blessed, and praised the Dove,’ Song Sol. vi. 9. Thus, amidst the gladness and rejoicing of the angelic hosts, and oi the sealed ones, shall these king’s daughters, and queens, and concubines, and virgins without number, this palm-bearing multitude, that no man can number, be brought out of this fiery tribulation redeemed by the blood of the Lamb from the persecutions of Satan and the power of Antichrist, and be joined for ever to the Queen, the Dove, the First-fruits, in the city of the living God, blessing and praising them for their ministrations during their 1260 days’ sojourn in the wilderness, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” The same writer regards as erroneous the current idea that the Foolish Virgins (Matt, xxv.) are false-professing Christians. In common with Olshausen, Stier, Dean, Alford, Dr. Seiss, &c., he considers that they are all true Christians, but that the Wise Virgins are believers, and the Foolish are unbelievers in the speedy second personal coming of the Bridegroom, and that the latter may be saved either at death or at the second trans¬ lation after the 3} years’ great tribulation. He says, “For some years the cry of ‘ the Bridegroom cometlT has gone forth with a continually increasing force. The wise virgins apparently are the sincere believers in the event. . . . The united light which they give in the procession by means of the oil in their well-trimmed lamps, that is, by their faith, is symbolical of that prophetic light which they will en¬ deavour to diffuse throughout a benighted world : of that public testimony which, like Noah, that preacher of righteous¬ ness before the Deluge, they will render to the certainty of the premillennial advent of the Bridegroom, and of the conse- PUNISHMENT OF POSTMILLENNIAL BELIEVERS. 245 quent near approach of the awful day of the Lamb’s wrath, in which all the ungodly shall be drowned in a flood of fire as formerly by the flood of waters. The foolish virgins are those who, lacking faith in the literal coming of the Bridegroom, both as regards themselves and their influence with others, are without the oil of expectation wherewith to trim their lamps, and consequently without that light which would enable them to join in the wedding procession, or to assist in preparing their own people or the nations of the earth to meet the returning Saviour. Looking only for a providential, or a spiritual, or a postmillennial advent of the Bridegroom, they are seized with consternation at the unexpected cry, ‘ The Bridegroom cometh.’ They seek aid from the wise, but are bidden to go and buy for themselves; that is, to search the Scriptures under the Holy Spirit’s teaching, for that faith, that oil to trim their lamps, where alone it can be obtained. Whilst thus employed the Bridegroom comes, and the door is shut. At this they knock, seeking admittance with the agonizing cry of ‘ Lord, Lord, open to us,’ and are answered with the sad words, ‘ I know you notwords not denoting apparently, like the ‘ I never knew you,’ or, ‘ depart from me, ye cursed,’ of Matt. vii. 23, xxv. 41, eternal condemnation, but exclusion for a season from the marriage feast. This * remnant of the 'woman’s seed ’ are thus left without, to be brought, like the sons of Levi, through that fiery purification, the subsequent tribulation of the last (literal-day) 1260 days, which, it may be, will alone remove the veil from their hearts, open their eyes to the truth, and enlarge their faitli to believe all that the prophets have spoken concerning the Bridegroom’s promised premillennial return in glory to his widowed and waiting Church.” (Chap, xiii.) (22.) The First Fruits is a useful prophetic treatise, by Alexander Porter, which was published in Philadelphia, United States, in 1856. It distinctly asserted that Louis Napoleon -would be the future Antichrist, who should make the seven years’ covenant with the Jews, seven years before the end. (Dan. ix. 27.) The following is an extract from it, (page 28) “ ‘ Behold, I will make thee know, or explain to thee, what shall be in the last end of the indignation ; for, at the time appointed, the end shall be, was the promise of Ga- 246 EXTRACTS FROM PORTER’S “ FIRST FRUITS.” briel. (Dan. viii. 19.) He proceeds in Dan. ix. 26 to fulfil this promise. ‘ The people of the Prince that shall come (the Romans) shall destroy the city and the sanc¬ tuary (Jerusalem and the temple), and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war it shall be cut off by desolations’— (i.e. , Jerusalem shall thenceforth remain trodden down of the Gentiles until their times, verse 27, shall be fully accomplished). Then he, the Prince that shall come (in the last end of the indignation), shall confirm and make a covenant with many for one week of years, and in the midst or middle of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abomination he shall make it desolate until the consummation, when that deter¬ mined shall be poured upon the desolator .’ What is it that is determined upon this desolator'? ‘ He shall be broken without hand.' (Dan. viii. 25.) “The person here named ‘The Prince,’ I believe, is the pre¬ sent Emperor of France, LOUIS NAPOLEON, who possesess in a remarkable degree the characteristics of the king of fierce countenance (who is to appear as the head of the ancient Roman empire), '■when the transgressors are come to the full.' (See Dan. viii. 23). The expression in this verse ‘ of fierce countenance,’ would be more truly rendered ‘ of obdurate countenance; literally, one whose firmness, of features and com¬ plexion betray no emotion, and suffer no secret to be read — a man of imperturbable look. The Jews will fill up their trans¬ gression by receiving him as their Msssiah or deliverer—(as foretold by our Lord Jesus : ‘ If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive ,’ John v. 45)—and, making a covenant with him for one week of years, he will confer upon them the privilege of restoring their sacrifices and worship at Jerusalem • but after three and a half years he will break his covenant with them, offer himself to them as the Messiah, and command them to worship him. At this point he will become the Antichrist of 2 Thess. ii. 8. ‘ Then shall that -wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.’ Being filled with all the energy of Satan, he will have power to work with signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. ‘ All that dwell upon earth shall w’orship napoleon’s persecution and overthrow. 247 him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.’ (Rev. xiii. 8). 1 Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not seen since the beginning of the world to this time ; no, nor ever shall be. 'And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.’ (Matt. xxiv. 21.) The prophecies of Zechariah xii. and xiv. ; Zeph. iii. 8th to 20th verses, and •Toel ii., will, during his reign, be fulfilled. This will be ithe time of ‘Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be delivered (out of it’ by the appearing of the Lord Jesus and all his saints—in the clouds of heaven coming to Jerusalem. ‘Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those .inations (led on by the Antichrist) as when he fought tin the day of battle.’ ‘ And his feet shall stand in that iday upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on i lithe east.’ (Zech. xiv. 3 to 5). ‘ But He (the king of unpenetrable countenance) shall be broken without hand.’ ‘ He shall come to his end, and none shall help him.’ “This we believe to be the truth ; and believing we rejoice in hope of the glory. Seeing the wonderful harmony of these prophecies, it seems that the hand of God has indeed guarded them, that the wise may understand according to the sure promise.” (23.) The Days in which we Live is an excellent treatise on prophecy, by E. W. P. Taunton (120 pages), the first i 1 edition of which was published in Philadelphia, U.S., in 1857. He shows from much the same arguments as are adduced by Purdon, Faber, Rees, Frere, Phillips, &c., and at greater length in I Chapter I. of the present work, that Louis Napoleon is unques¬ tionably the Eighth Head, who is to be developed as the Anti¬ christ, and make the seven years’covenant with the Jews; and during the last half of the seven years is to be worshipped as God in the Jewish temple, the sacrifies being abolished, and his image, ‘the abomination,’ being* set up there. He says, * It is not surprising that a few writers should have imagined that some of the periods of 3.1 years mentioned twice in Dan. vii. ‘25, xii. 7, and five times in Rev. xi. 2, 3, xii. 6, 14, xiii. 5, should signify the first half of the final week of 7 years, and others of these periods its last half. It is a natural mistake for those to fall into, who do not understand how remarkably all the periods have 248 EXTRACTS FROM E. W. P. TAUNTON’S TREATISE. regarding the seventy weeks, “A time of trouble is fast coming, which will surpass anything of the kind that has ever preceded it. It is spoken of by the Prophet Daniel (chap. xii. 1), as ‘a time of trouble such as never was, since there was a nation, even to that same time; ’ by our Lord (Matt. xxiv. 21), as a time of ‘great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be.’ These two scriptures must, of course, refer to the same period, as they both refer to the maximum i of trouble. “It Avill be seen by reference to Dan. ix. 24, that seventy weeks were determined upon Daniel’s people. The word ‘ determined’ signifies ‘ cut out,’ or ‘ divided off,’ that is, Daniel was informed that in coming time seventy weeks were divided off in order to accomplish a number of things relating to the Hebrew nation. The angel did not say that those seventy weeks would be consecutive, but only that in coming time, seventy weeks belonged to the his¬ tory of the Jewish nation. It is not needful for us to prove that this period means seventy weeks of years, or 490 years, : or that it had its commencement 483 years before the Lord Jesus died on Calvary. Suffice it to say, that the 25th verse speaks of seven weeks, or 49 years, which commenced when Artaxerxes commanded that Jerusalem should be re¬ built (Nell. ii. 8), and terminated with the building of ‘ the street and of the wall.’ Then follows a further period had a precursory year-day simultaneous fulfilment within 1260 years, from a.d. 534 to 1794-95, and therefore they will all necessarily synchronise and run parallel in their future literal-day ful¬ filment within 1260 days, or the last half of the 70th week. Those literal-day expositors who shirk laborious investigation by blindly ignoring the year-day fulfilment, grope and stumble in the dark when they attempt to arrange the relative positions of the literal-day seals, trumpets, and vials, whereas this arrangement is discoverable in its minutest details, by deducing the literal-day from the year- day fulfilment, because the literal-day fulfilment of Dan. and Rev., within 2595 days, will be almost an exact fac-simile of their year-day fulfilment within 2595 years. (See diagram to chapter iv.) A few persons are mistakenly supposing that the wise virgins will be translated just before the seven years of the Covenant- week. Their translation, however, will be about five years before the end (see chap. iv.). THE FUTURE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION. 249 of sixty-two weeks, or 434 years, which terminated with the ‘ cutting off of the Messiah.’ Lastly, we get the third period of one week, or seven years, which is still future, because the sin of Israel has not yet come to an end, and the everlasting righteousness’ of Israel has not yet been ‘ brought in,’ both of which were to occur within the scope of these seventy weeks. “ Also, because the prophecy declares the abomination of desolation to be set up, when, in the middle of the week, the Antichrist compels a cessation of the daily sacrifice and of the oblation (v. 27). “This event is also referred to in Dan. viii. 11, where the Antichrist is said to ‘magnify himself even to the Prince of the Host (the Messiah), and to take away the daily sacrifice also, in the 13th verse of the same chapter, where one of the holy ones, in his inquiry as to its duration, connects the daily sacrifice with the abomination of desolation ; also, in Dan. xi. 31. These three passages all refer to the same event, and to the same person. “ The Lord, in Matt. xxiv. 15, said, ‘When ye therefore shall see the abomination spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (of the Temple), fiee; for then (verse 21) shall be great tribulation.’ This tribulation we have already shown to be the same that Daniel refers to in chap. xii. 1. By the connection of all these Scriptures we establish beyond a doubt the futurity of the seventieth week. “ Then it follows, that if seven years still remain to be di¬ vided off to the Jewish nation, there must be an intervening space of time, a kind of interregnum or parenthesis, so to speak, between the termination of the sixty-ninth and the commencement of the seventieth. This space is occupied with the Gospel dispensation, which is designed of God to ‘ gather out of the Gentiles a people for his name.’ When the Lord had concluded his last public address to the Jewish nation, he said (Matt, xxiii. 38), ‘ Behold! your house is left unto you desolate,’ and this desolation they sealed upon themselves when they cried out, ‘ His blood be upon us and upon our children.’ In consequence of this the natural Jewish ‘branches were broken off because of unbelief,’ and the ‘wild Gentile branches grafted into their place (Rom. 250 TAUNTONS PREDICTIONS CONCERNING NAPOLEON. xi. 24), and this was to continue ‘ until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,’ which also agrees with the words of Christ (Luke xxi. 24), ‘Jerusalem shall be trod¬ den down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.’ It is therefore evident that the Gospel dispensation, or the heavenly calling of the Church, com¬ menced where the earthly calling of the Jews broke off. “ We must here remark, that ‘ He’ who confirms a (not the) covenant or agreement with many of the Jews for seven years (Dan. ix. 27), is the individual spoken of ‘ as the prince that shall come’ (yet to come). The nation who destroyed the city was the Romans, therefore the expression 1 the people of the prince, the coming one ’ (literally), connects this coming prince with the Roman empire, and proves that the man who will restore the Jewish people, and undertake to protect their worship for seven years, will be the Eighth Head of the Beast, or the Antichrist acknowledged as the prince of Israel. Under his guardianship they will repeople Palestine. Per¬ haps the day may not be far distant when Louis Napoleon will preside over a congress of European kings, and when he will assign pacific and political reasons for the expediency of the re-occupancy of the Holy Land by the Jewish Nation. This might be brought forward as the most desirable method of tranquilizing this excited country. And if Napoleon III. wills it, what nation shall prevent it 1 Thus he will accom¬ plish one of the favourite projects of his uncle, who gathered together the chiefs of the Rabbins at Paris, with that object in view ; but as God’s time had not arrived, it came to nought. In this manner the seventieth week will probably begin ; at least so we might expect from recent events.” This writer also correctly maintains that the whole Roman Empire, including England, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and the North of Africa, will be formed into exactly ten kingdoms previous to the final 3^ years (Rev. xvii. 12, 13), and “will give their power and strength” to Louis Napoleon as king of their ten kings; and that Belgium will most probably be annexed to France. He ikewise mentions some of the Scripture proofs that the coming of Christ “ in the air,” to raise the deceased saints, and to translate the Wise Virgins, will be some time before the 3| years’ UNIVERSAL WORSHIF OF NAPOLEON’S IMAGE. 251 Great Tribulation, and that there will be a second translation of living saints about the end of that 3| years. He makes the fol¬ lowing remarks upon the worship of Napoleon, the Antichrist, during the Tribulation, and of the actings of the Roman Pontiff, who will cause him to be worshipped (Rev. xix. 20). “ The Pope, transformed into the False Prophet, will be the individual head of that astounding system of * Anthro- potheism,’ or man-worship. As to the nature of the mira¬ cles that he will perform by the power of Satan, they will equal any that may have been wrought by the power of God. He will, like Elijah, call down fire from heaven ; he will impart life and articulation to the inanimate statue of the Antichrist, and he will command that all shall suffer the penalty of death who-will not bow down to this second Babylonian image. Of old, those who refused were cast into a burning fiery furnace; now they will be killed with the sword, or probably guillotined. But few, and they only the elect of God, chiefly the saints of Daniel’s race, will refuse to bow down and worship. Men of the present day, confident in the boasted enlightenment of the age, are incredulous of such a statement, but we credit the Scrip¬ tures of truth, which declare that ‘ God will send them strong delusion, that they- should believe a lie.’ 2 Thess. ii. 11. Moreover, the Scripture clearly shows that the ex¬ pectant in the Church of Christ will be translated before these events occur, and it is certain that a flood of demons will be cast down from the heavenlies into the earth (Rev. xii. 7, 8, 9. Compare the Greek of Eph. vi. 12). These things make it not difficult to believe in the possibility of strongly delusive signs and wonders, for how astonishing will be the effect produced upon the w-orld at large by the sudden trans¬ ference of all those who are looking for the return of Christ, and by the actual presence of Satan and his hosts in the midst of the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, ‘ having great wrath, because he kuoweth that he hath but a short time.’ Religiously, politically, socially, and morally the world will be, under such circumstances, another chaos • infidelity, anarchy, injustice, and immorality will reduce the earth to a condition not far removed from hell. ‘ We -would here remark, that this counterfeit lamb-like power (Rev. xiii. 11), which is at present Popery, and ZOZ VIEWS OF MAJOR SCOTT PHILLIPS. other corrupt systems of the Christian faith, rvill so remain until within three and a half years of the close of the crisis, by which, we mean the manifestation of Christ in glory. This is evident from the stated fact, that the persecution of the saints is to last that length of time. (See Dan. vii. 25, Rev. xiii. 5.) At the commencement of that three and a half years, it will become infidel, and this entire trans¬ formation of its system will probably be induced by the thorough disgust that the nations will exhibit for the Pa¬ pacy, and this will cause the ten kings to ‘hate the whore, and to make her desolate and naked, to eat her flesh and burn her with fire (Rev. xvii. 1G). They and their peo¬ ple will trample her polity under foot, and they will fall upon her wealth and fatness for a spoil. But, alas, it will be from bad to worse; from a religion professedly acknow¬ ledging God, to one in which God shall have no •place, and man will lay claim to that worship due to Jehovah alone.” (24.) Major Scott Phillips, of London, wrote a work in 1859, called “Interpretations.” He shows that most probably the earthquake that is to cleave the Mount of Olives asunder at the descent of Christ at the battle of Armageddon (Zech. xiv. 3, 4), will open a valley between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, and as the former is 1312 feet higher than the latter, the waters rushing down¬ wards into the Dead Sea will cleanse it, and find an outlet, by the ancient bed of the Jordan, into the Gulf of Akabah, which constitutes part of the Red Sea. Jerusalem, the metropolis of the millennial earth, will thus stand upon the highway of vessels passing from Europe to Asia. In regard to Antichrist, he says (page 86), “The papal system, under its successive popes, has been repeatedly proved by comparisons of history with Scripture to be the year-day Antichrist of 1260 years’ endurance. Although the difficulty of proof has been increased by a literal indi¬ vidual Antichrist of 1260 days, being also to be manifested in extreme power and earthly glory immediately before Christ’s coming to the earth (2 Thess. ii.) But the last individual Antichrist, as well as the long-enduring Anti¬ christian popedom, are now well conceived and recognized in the minds of faithful interpreters of prophecy.” After showing that Louis Napoleon is the seventh NAPOLEON'S FUTURE MARVELLOUS ACTS. 253 revived or Eighth Head of the Beast or Roman Empire, and bears the number CCG in both his names (Ludovicus and NaTroAeoi'Ti), and is to “ destroy many by peace ” (Dan. viii. 25), he says (page 91-95), “Ever since 1842-48, the prospects of the Jews have tended more and more to their restoration ; and it only remains that they should be restored to their own land by the ageney of the Antichrist, who (Dan. ix. 27) shall confirm a covenant with them fora week of years, break it in the midst thereof, and himself be destroyed 1260 literal-days, or 34 years afterwards, consumed by the bright¬ ness of our Lord’s coming. . . . When from the troubled sea of the nations we behold the nephew of the great Napoleon upheaved by revolutionery passions — and when directly upon access to supreme power, lie commences the strife about ‘ the holy places’ at Jerusalem, we recognise an incipient connec¬ tion between him and the Jews. . . . The king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences (Dan. viii. 23), that putter forth of riddles, who has ‘ dethroned the sphinx,’ has throughout the past seven years been spending an extra million annually on the increase of his war-steamers ; he has cased ships in iron, invented screened gunboats, armed his boarders with six-barrelled revolvers, armed his immense armies with rifles, invented cannon of vastly increased powers, victualled his fortresses, especially completing the great menace to England, the fortress of Cherbourg. He has fortified Civita Vecchia, filled Rome with troops, stimulated Sardinia to war ; and all the while, though himself exercising vast bodies of men— 50,000 at a time—he has repeated, L’Empire, cest la paix — My Empire is an Empire of peace !” “ Napoleon, not daring to attack England directly, will, like the First Napoleon, turn his eye eastward. And he will make a covenant for seven years with the Jews, and restore them to Palestine. . . . Breaking his covenant in the midst of the seven years, he will cause all who refuse to worship the Beast, or to receive his mark, or the number of his name, 666, in their right hand or on their foreheads, to be killed (Rev. xiii.), thus commencing that most dreadful period, the last 31- years, the literal 1260 days, during which the Devil gives to him * his power and his seat and great authority.’ Immediately before this terrible period of 1260 days, if not at the com¬ mencement of the seven years, will take place the removal of the 254 VIEWS OF REV. II. G. GUINNESS. select people of God, of those who .are watching and praying, and shall he accounted worthy to escape the suffering which willeomc upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth; and they shall ascend to meet Jesus Christ in the air, in order that at the close of the final period, be it seven years or 34 years, they may return to judge the world, according to that which is written, ‘ the Lord my God shall come, aud all the saints with thee’ (Zech. xiv.), and ‘ do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world,’ for such honour have all his saints. (1 Cor. vi. 2; Ps. cxlix.) The wise virgins enter in unto the wedding feast, the foolish remain where they were. Then whoso will lie saved during that great and terrible day of the Lord, must be saved yet so as by fire. Everywhere Antichrist has triumphed. He has lived to put down all opposition on the earth (pp. 114, 120, 123). . . . Sub¬ duing the territories once reigned over by Nebuchadnezzar, the four Empires foreshadowed by the ‘great image’ (Dan. ii.), Antichrist will, as it were, reconstruct that image, work miracles by Satanic agency, speak great words against the Most High, wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and seasons, and they shall be given into his hands until a time, times and a half time, 1260 literal-days, or 31 years (Dan. vii.): at the close of which period, gathering his armies around .Jerusalem, ‘he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.’ (P. 98.) (25.) The Rev. PI. G. Guinness, who is eminent for his evangelistic labours in Great Britain and America, published a prophetic pamphlet in 1861 (at Hamilton’s, Philadelphia). It consists principally of texts usefully arranged under different heads. He takes the Antichrist, as held by futurist literal- day writers, to be a man who shall be the future Utile horn, king of fierce countenance, wilful Icing, and healed, or eighth head of the beast, who will confirm a seven years’ covenant with the Jews, and during the latter 3 J years of the 7 years will set up his idol, which is the abomination of desolation (Mat. xxiv.), and be worshipped by all who dwell upon the earth (Rev. xiii.). He says : — “With respect to the Jews, the word of God teaches that the children of Israel on account of their rejection and crucifixion of Christ, in unbelief, have been judicially blinded; their holy city and their temple destroyed; their house antichrist's seven years’ covenant. 255 left to them desolate, thousands of their nation slain by tho sword, and the rest scattered as outcasts among all nations; that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until ‘ the times of the Gentiles ’ shall be fulfilled ; that Israel’s judicial blindness shall last until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in ; that they are still beloved for their fathers’ sakes ; that they shall yet be restored to their own land in unbelief ; that having rejected Christ, they shall then receive the Anti¬ christ ; that by his means they shall be brought through unparalleled tribulation ; that this ‘ great tribulation ’ shall be the climax of God’s chastisement of them for their sins, and ; will result in the repentance of a faithful remnant of them ; that there shall then come unto Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; that Israel (the lost ten tribes) shall be reunited to Judah; and that ‘so all Israel shall be saved.’ “ The prophet Daniel, speaking of the time of the end, and of Antichrist, says, ‘ He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week ’ (of years, 7 years), ‘ and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and upon the battlements shall be the idols ’ (or abomination) ‘ of the desolator, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolator’ (Dan. ix. 27). In allusion to this passage our Lord says, in Matthew, to Ins disciples, ‘ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet,’ ifcc. (Matt. xxiv. 15,22; see Jer. xxx. 7; Dan. xii. 1; Zech. xix. 1, 3; .Matt. xxiv. 15, 21). The arguments of the pamphlet in proof of Christ’s Advent being before the Millennium conclude with the following exhortation : — “ If, as the Scriptures prove, the last great Jewish trouble, 'the great tribulation,’ will immediately 'precede the Jews’ millennial blessedness, and if, as these Scriptures .also show, rhe Lord will personally come to deliver the Jews from this their last and sorest affliction, and to turn away ungodliness from Jacob, then the coming of the Lord- Jesus mill be premillennial. Again : if, as these Scriptures prove, the world in the millennium will be filled with righteousness, and if, as these Scriptures also prove, the world will continue in its present unrighteousness until the second 256 REMARKS OF H. G. GUINNESS. coming of Christ, that coming must be before the millennium. Again: if, as the Scriptures represent, the last head of the fourth (or Roman) Monarchy, that is Antichrist, is to perish before the millennium commences : and if, as these Scriptures also represent, that very Antichrist is to be destroyed at the second personal appearing of Christ, his second personal appearance must be premillennial. “ Again : if, as these Scriptures represent, no false profess¬ ing apostate church will exist on earth in the millennium; and if, as these Scriptures also represent, the present false professing church will continue on earth until the second coming of Christ, and only perish at his coming, that coming must be premillennial. And lastly, if, as these Scriptures represent, the true Church of Christ will reign with Him over the whole earth, in righteousness, blessedness, and visible glory, during the millennium ; and if, as these Scriptures also repre¬ sent, the true Church of Christ on earth will continue in an imperfect and persecuted state until the second coming of the Lord from heaven, that second coming must be premillennial. Do not close your eyes to these facts, dear brethren in the Lord. I solemnly assure you that these are but a few out of very many unanswerable arguments in proof of the pre¬ millennial coming of the Lord. ‘ Search the Scriptures ’ daily concerning these unspeakable important truths. And as the second coming of the Lord is to be premillennial (and there is not a single text in Scripture that states that it will not be so, while there are hundreds of passages which prove that it will), then make that coming the one great object of your hope, your daily desire, and hourly watching. Let it lead you, as it surely will if you yield to it, to separation from ‘this present evil world,’ whether it be the world professing or the world denying the religion of Jesus. Let it lead you to more true, earnest, and untiring effort for the everlasting welfare of all around you. Knowing the shortness of the time that remains for such labours, let it lead you to holiness of life, for ‘ every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as He is pure’ (1 John iii. 3). “A word to those who are unprepared for the Lord’s coming. How fearful is your state! The appearing of Christ, which is the ‘ blessed hope ’ of saints, is a terror to you; for you know that he is to be ‘ revealed from heaven THE SECOND ADVENT OE CHRIST. 257 in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.’ Oh! were he to come this day, or even this week, or month, what would you do 1 where would you appear ? Poor, miserable sinner ! He would come in love to millions, but not to you. He would come to break the chains of millions, but yours would bo riveted for ever. He would come, bringing marvel¬ lous light to the eyes of millions, but to you, the blackness of darkness for ever. He would come as the morning star, come as the altogether lovely, come as the hoped for, longed for joy and rejoicing of all his saints ; but to you only as the Almighty King and righteous Judge, the glorious and terrible God-man, Christ Jesus. Oh! man, woman, why die under ‘the wrath of the Lamb?’ Why perish under Christ's awful hand of judgment, when now, even now, his hand is outstretched to save you if you will come to him ? He was made a curse for us ! Why reject the salvation, refuse the pardon, peace, eternal blessedness which his death puts within your reach, and thus come under the judgment of the wicked ? Why should you compel his lips to curse you ? Why should you compel those lips which for long ages have spoken only grace to sinners, to utter the irrevocable sentence of your doom? Eternal destruction ! The damnation of hell! Oh ! perishing sinners, why will you die ? You refuse mercy, you reject love, you despise compassion, you cast away salvation, and all for what 1 A few days of self-indulgence! An hour of false delight! a few moments of pleasurable sin ! And for this you despise and reject the once crucified Jesus, with the ever¬ lasting salvation he offers; and to obtain this you cast your¬ self, with your eyes open, into hell ! Oh! could my entreaties avail, I would beseech you by the name of the all holy God, our Maker and our Judge, not to trample on the agonies and blood and death of Jesus ! not to close your eyes and turn away from his love, his grace so wonderful, from his outstretched arms, his solemn earnest invitations^ Oh ! come to him ! Give up, poor sinner, give up ! You have long enough rebelled. You have long enough been your own worst enemy. Now, have mercy on yourself! Refuse to commit suicide on your own soul. For the first p. 258 VIEWS OF D. M‘CAUSLAND, LL.D. time in your life, stop in your downward course. Stand still and refuse to go any further toward destruction. Turn, and look up to the blessed Saviour ! Kneel down ! Kneel at his feet! Yes, poor maniac, kneel down, maniac no longer, at the feet of Jesus ! There is forgiveness there ! Healing and peace are there ! Righteousness and rest! And then to you, no longer the rebel, but now the pardoned, the accepted, Jesus will come as the star of morning, the morning of your everlasting joy ! To you Jesus will come as the beloved, the beautiful, the altogether lovely ! To you Jesus will come as the joy and glory of your soul, as the salvation of God, as your everlasting all! to you, even to you ! (26.) The Latter Days of Jerusalem and Rome is a lengthy and somewhat diffuse dissertation upon the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, by Dominick McCausland, LL.D., Barrister-at-Law, published in 1859, at Bentley’s, London. It agrees with the other works here quoted, in regarding Daniel’s 7 Oth week as the last seven years of this dispensation, which are to be marked by unparalleled judgments, and by the persecution of Jews and Gentiles during the latter half¬ week by the personal Antichrist, or Man of Sin, who is then to arise. It is correct in the general outline of its views as to the visions of Daniel and Revelation describing the calamities that befall mankind within the final seven years, but its 'particular applications of the seals, trumpets, vials, and some other parts of the prophecies, are misty and indefinite, especially as to the chronological prophecies. It is written, however, in well-chosen language, and though not near so profound or accurate as Purdon’s, Burgh’s, or Kelly’s works, is yet, on the whole, a useful and timely production, contain¬ ing many important elements of prophetic truth. Its writer justly considers “ the abomination,” mentioned in Dan. ix. 27, xi. 31, xii. 11, Matt. xxiv. 15, &c., to be the literal image of the future Antichrist, or Man of Sin, that will be placed in the Jewish Temple at the time of the Great Tribulation (Matt. xxiv. 21), during the latter half of the 70th week. He says, “This period of seventy weeks is, in the subsequent verses of the same chapter, divided by the angel into three parts—the first consisting of seven weeks : the second, of sixty-two weeks, ending with the cutting off of the Messiah; and the third and last, of one week. These seventy weeks, THE COVENANT AND ANTICHRIST’S IMAGE. 259 denoting seventy weeks of years, or 490 years, commencing ‘ from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem,’ began to run from the year 455 B.c.; and, therefore, the seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks (sixty-nine weeks), terminated a.d. 29, which was the year of the Saviour’s death, when, as appears from the twenty-sixth verse, the Jews are to be no longer his people (margin). The old dispensation was finished, and they become outcast. But, though they became thus outcast and alien from the God of Abraham, and have so continued ever since, they arc not to continue so for ever; for we are told in the next verse (v. 27), that ‘he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week,’ i.e., for the last remaining of the seventy weeks; and during that week, the abomination of desolation shall be set up in the restored temple, the sacrifice suspended, and the Jews subjected to the Antichristian perse¬ cution, or ‘ the great tribulation,’ so often alluded to in Scrip- : ture. (P. 372.) “This renewal of the covenant with the Jewish people in the latter days is also spoken of in several other passages of Holy Writ. For instance, in the twentieth chapter of Ezekiel, when God is speaking of gathering the Jews out of the coun¬ tries through which they are scattered, he says, ‘ I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant’ (v. 37). “ Thus it appears that in the latter days of this dispensa¬ tion, the Jews will be restored to their own land, their temple rebuilt, and their ceremonial worship re-established; while, at the same period, the Gentile nations, as such, shall have wholly thrown off their allegiance to God, and submitted themselves to the head of the revived Roman Empire, the Antichrist, who shall not only deny Christ, but announce liim- self to be the Messiah, attesting his claims to divine honours by miracles and prodigies. (P. 37G.) “This erection of an image of the Antichrist (Rev. xiii. 14), is, we conceive, the setting up of ‘the Abomination of desola¬ tion, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, and referred to by our Saviour in his prophecy upon the Mount of Olives. It is clear that by miraculous and diabolical agencies, the image shall be endued with life, for the pur¬ pose of luring the unfortunate Jews to turn from their ex¬ pected Messiah to worship and submit themselves to the 260 m'causland’s views as to popery. ‘ Destroyer of the Gentiles.’ This will he the season of their last trial, denominated by the prophet Daniel, and by the Saviour, as ‘ the great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.’ And it is confirmed by the continuation of the Lord’s prophecy—‘And except those days should be shortened, j there should no flesh be saved ; but for the elect’s sake ! those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, lo ! here is Christ, or there ; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch, that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. , Here there is a reference to the false Christs (the Antichrist, or the first Beast), and to false prophets (the second Beast, which is afterwards styled ‘ the False Prophet ’), and to their mira¬ culous signs and wonders and here, also, we find a reference to the ‘ very elect/ or those written in the Lamb’s book (v. 8), who are to be the remnant that shall refuse to worship, or pay homage to the arch-impostor (P. 382). “ The ultimate triumph of Romanism, and apostasy is in¬ evitable ; for the pages of prophecy reveal what daily expe¬ rience and observation is confirming to the inquiring mind, that this unchanging system shall spread like a cloud over the face of the earth, and extinguish Gospel truth before that it shall be itself extinguished. And when once the final triumph shall have commenced the progress will be sure and rapid. As a system, it has, as we have seen, much to re¬ commend it to unregenerate minds, which are influenced by events, and estimate the propriety of principles by results to the eye of sight, being w'holly blind to that which is only discernible to the eye of faith. England has hitherto been hostile to Borne, and opposed a stubborn front to her aggressions even in the dark ages ; and England may yet be permitted to continue to be a witness, defying her open hostility and withstanding her covert machinations. But, if we have rightly interpreted these prophecies, the time will come when she too will be drawn into the vortex of apostacy and infidelity; when the people of God must enter into their secret chambers, and shut their doors about them for a little moment, until the indignation be past. (P. 509.) “ Christ appears, with his saints, to take vengeance of antichrist’s career and overthrow. 261 and to exterminate his foes, who at last appear in open rebel¬ lion, like Korah and his company, on the field of Armaged¬ don,’ on the mountains of Israel. The Beast and the Kings of the earth (the Ten Kings), with their armies, are vanquished. The Beast and his False Prophet are taken, and east alive into the fire burning with brimstone, and the remnant are slain with the sword—they perish in the gainsaying of Core.” (Jude 11.) , In the foregoing work,"' the following quotation is given from the year-day exposition of Daniel, by the Rev. T. . Birks :— “It may be inferred, from a careful comparison of several : Scriptures, that at this time (the Jewish restoration) the temple described in Ezekiel will have been built, and that there this fierce and mighty king will seat himself as a sove- j reign, and claim to be the object of a divine adoration. And again—“The Papacy, directed by the Wilful King, in its last hours, will fill up the measure of its apostacy, and gather to itself those partial features of Antichrist which are now to be seen in the Mahometan delusion, and its : open rejection of the Sou of God. At the same time, a leader will arise, the last personal head of the compound sys¬ tem of evil, and the heathen Antiochus, the Pope, and the Turk, contribute to supply the features of this iniquity. The Wilful King, in this last stage of his power, and re¬ presented now by this leader, will gather in himself the pre¬ dicted character of a King of the North, and then come down like a whirlwind on the land of Israel. Success for a time will attend his banners, so that, in the words of Habak- kuk, * he will gather to himself all nations, and heap unto himself all people.’ The faithful witnesses who protest against his idolatry and blasphemy will be persecuted vjith great wrath, and, hunted out for destruction. The King of Pride will take Jerusalem, the holy city, for his seat, where he will plant his standard, and probably claim divine honours from the subject nations ; a worship to be paid, in * Although it might seem from Ezek. xx. .‘57, quoted by this writer, that it will be God who will bring the Jews into the bond of the Covenant, yet this is not inconsistent with Antichrist making the Covenant, for God will bring it to pass instrumentally through his agency. 262 VIEWS OF REV. W. MARKABLE. Ms person, to the dignity of regenerate and glorified humanity, freed from the long delusion of past ages.” (27.) The Rev. W. Marrable, Prebendary of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Dublin, published in 1858-59 a well- arranged prophetical pamphlet, entitled, “ What the Lord saith concerning Israel and Jerusalem,” and consisting of sixty-seven divisions, supported by innumerable passages of the Word of God. It is briefly reviewed in the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy for July, 1859. He maintains that the Gog of Ezekiel xxxviii. is identical with the Antichrist, or eighth head of the Beast—a view which is also upheld in the present work (see page 100). For although Antichrist, the Eighth Head, is dis¬ tinctly foretold in Rev. xix. 20 to be finally.cast alive into a lake of fire, which would seem to conflict with the state¬ ment in Ezek. xxxix. 11, that in the valley of Hamon-gog “ shall they bury Gog and all his multitude yet this last- mentioned passage may merely mean, in a general sense, that Gog’s hosts will be buried in that valley, and need not strictly imply that Gog himself will actually be interred in the soil of the earth, which, in fact, would seem irrecon- cileable with bis being cast alive into a lake of fire, unless the word “buried” denotes the violent act of submerging and plunging Antichrist beneath the liquid sea of fiery lava, just as the phrase “buried with him in baptism” (Col. ii. 12) signifies the submersion beneath the water of those who are baptised. But the expression “ Gog and all his multitude,” may be a hendiadys for “ all the multitude of Gog,” as in Rev. xii. 5, “ God and his throne ” is a hendiad}^ for “ the throne of God.” Antichrist being certainly identical with “ the wilful king ” of Dan. xi., who is attended by the Ethiopians and Lybians, and finally perishes upon “ the glorious holy mountain ” of Palestine, clearly appears to be the same as Gog, who also is followed by the Ethiopians and Lybians, and at last perishes on “ the mountains of Israel.” The Rev. W. Marrable further considers that the Anti¬ christ, or Man of Sin, is to sit in the rebuilt .Jewish temple, and that he is not the Pope, but an individual who will be Head of the revived Roman Empire, who is described in Dan. ix. 26, 27, as “the prince that shall come,” and as the person “ who shall confirm the covenant with many for VIEWS OF DE. SEISS AS TO THE COVENANT. 263 one week,” &c., after wliicli there will be seven weeks to the Consummation or End, as held by the other writers here quoted. (28.) An Israelite, apparently possessing considerable acquaintance with the theological writings of the Jews, con¬ tributed some articles in 1861 to the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, which is published at Nisbet’s, in London. He in¬ timated it to be the opinion of other Jews besides himself, that Gog of Ezek. xxxviii. would be the last great oppressor of Israel, and was the person who at the latter end of this dispensation would fulfil Dan. ix. 27, “ by confirming a covenant with many of the Jews for seven years,” and at last, about the closing of the seven years, would be destroyed at the coming of the Messiah. His testimony is valuable, as showing that these passages in Ezek. xxxviii. and Dan. ix. 27 are not only applied by Christian, but also by Jewish commentators, to the final decep¬ tion and persecution of Israel by the last great Head of Gentile power at the time of the future glorious Advent of the Lord Jesus A (29.) The Rev. Dr. Seiss, the able and eloquent author of “ Last Times,” “ The Day of the Lord,” “ Threatening Ruin,” “ Parable of the Ten Virgins,” &c., and Minister of St. John’s Lutheran Church, which is one of the largest in Phila¬ delphia, United States, has recently given the same explana¬ tion as these other writers regarding the 70th week. He says, in a note appended to the second edition (1862) of his “Day of the Lord — “ From Daniel ix. 27 it would seem that one week of years before ‘ the consummation,’ Antichrist (supposed to be Louis Napoleon) will make a league with the Jews, pledging his pro¬ tection and assistance in their return to Palestine, and the re¬ establishment of the temple services. It is thought by many that this covenant may be expected within a year or two. When it is made, it will constitute a very notable epoch, and will settle the point that we are then within seven years of the End.” Dr. Seiss also holds that the 144,000 in Rev. xiv. re- 1 His exposition not being at hand to quote from, the outline of his views is only given from memory, otherwise it would be stated at further length. 264 VIEWS OF REV. DR. SEISS. presents the wise virgins, who are caught up in the first trans¬ lation at Christ's coming “ in the air” before Antichrist’s 34 years’ persecution ; and he considers the great multitude in Rev. vii. 9, and “the harvest” in Rev. xiv. 15, 16, to denote the saints who are caught up in the second translation after that 34 years. In his book, entitled “Parable of the Ten Virgins” (189 pages), he clearly shows that the foolish virgins do not represent the ungodly, as is usually supposed, but denote true Christians who are in a backsliding state, devoid of real faith in the nearness of Christ’s Advent ; who, although left behind at the first translation, are not necessarily lost, but being in the main truly converted and godly persons, are eventually saved either at death or in the second trans¬ lation, yet so as by fire, and after being in many cases exposed to the terrors of the Great Tribulation. All his published u r orks having been composed as lectures, are written in an eloquent and popular style, which renders them most suitable and attractive treatises for beginners in the study of prophecy.* (30.) Israel’s Zukunft, or “ Israel’s Future,” is the name of a moderate-sized exposition of the prophecies relating to the Jews, winch is published in German by Ernst Bredt, at Leipzic. It is a German translation of an original French work, written by E. Guers, in 1856, and entitled, “ Israel aux derniers jours de l’economie actuelle, on Essai sur la restauration procliaine de ce peuple—par E. Guers, Paris, Grassart: Geneve Emile, Beroud.” It is a futu¬ rist literal-day exposition, and explains Daniel’s seventieth week to be the last seven years of this dispensation, and to * These books cau be had at the Lutheran Publication House, 42 North Ninth-street, Philadelphia. “The Last Times” ($1) contains about 400 pages, and treats of the Second Advent, Great Tribulation, Millennium, &c. It is almost the only popular elementary pro¬ phetic ; work that is easily obtainable in the United States. If republished in England, it would doubtless have a good circulation there. Dr. Cumming’s recent prophetic -works cau be got at Rudd and Carleton’s, New York ; although very excellent, so far as they go, yet they do not touch upon many of the most important prophecies relating to the present momentous epoch. The Rev. Dr. Duffield’s Second Advent Lectures, and Rev. Isaac Labagh’s “Great Events of Unfulfilled Prophecy,” are books admirably suited for general circulation. Shimeall’s Bible Chronology (Barnes and Burr, New York), is also a learned prophetic work. antichrist’s seven years’ covenant. 265 commence with a seven years’ covenant being made between the Antichrist and the Jews ; the latter 3J years of the seven years being the period of the Great Tribulation, closing with the personal descent of Christ at Armageddon. It is not known by the present writer whether or not its author perceives and states that Christ will come to take away some of the living saints, as is clearly shown in Scripture, before that 31 years. This book by E. Guers, being published both in French and German, and easily obtainable at Paris, Geneva, and Leipsic, is a most valuable work to give and to recommend for perusal to persons who only speak those languages, and [may become a great blessing to such Europeans as read it, if it convinces them of the nearness of the Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the awful persecution that Christians will presently meet with from the Personage who will soon make the seven years’ covenant with the Jews. Those who have French or German friends should urge them to obtain and peruse it. It can, of course, be obtained in America or Great ; Britain, by ordering it through the usual bookselling agencies, from Paris or Leipsic. (31.) Temoignage is another futurist literal-day French exposition, which, from an extract given in the Prospect, seems to hold the same view as to Daniel’s 70th week, for it speaks of the 31 years’ Great Tribulation mentioned in Dan. xii. 7, 11, as “ the Great Tribulation of the last half-week” (evidently lithe last half of the 70th week), after which the Lord descends in visible glory. (32.) An anonymous pamphlet, called “The Difference between the Parousia and Epiphaneia,” was published in London about 1859. It showed the distinction between these two Greek . words, as they are used in texts referring to Christ’s Advent—the first implying the presence of Christ “in the air,” to raise the saints and to take away the Wise Virgins, before the final 3| years’ Tribulation; and the second denoting the manifestation of his presence at his descent on the earth after that 3| years, which it further showed to be the latter half of Daniel’s 70th week. (33.) The Coming Battle is a prophetic treatise by the author of the present work, in which the same views were presented. It was published in 1860, and some of the 266 “ THE COMING BATTLE” AND NAPOLEON III. following remarks, written before the Secession of the Southern States, have already proved correct. “ The fifty million dollars that have been spent by England over the Chinese war had better have been reserved to relieve the poverty that will soon prevail among her operatives. For when the American Union is dissolved by the Secession of the Southern States, the exports of cotton are likely to be diminished by the outbreak of hostilities and servile in¬ surrections. As this disruption may occur speedily,* perhaps even before 1861, England must soon feel the effects, in want of employment among the one-fifth of her population who are engaged in cotton manufactures. In the midst of the riots and disturbances that would necessarily arise, Napoleon might find a good opportunity to attempt an invasion of England. . . It is probable that unforeseen political compli¬ cations may arise, and events take such a turn, as to bring across the ocean some of Napoleon’s 600,000 French soldiers; and give them a foothold on American soil. The interference of France was sought and obtained in the last American War, and the precedent may be followed in the conflagration of in¬ testine warfare which seems likely soon to rage with uncon¬ trollable fury. “ The atheism which shall signalize the period of the Napoleonic Woe, will proceed to the assertion and establish¬ ment of the worship of man in the person of the French Em¬ peror. The commencement of this, by the Jews receiving him as their Messiah, may be expected very speedily. This would not be inconsistent with the covenant on his part, to permit them to continue the observance of the Mosaic rites during the seven years. . . . The seven years to be mentioned in the agreement will probably be the period for which Napoleon III. will engage to protect all Jews dwelling around Jerusalem, or to assist those who may wish to emigrate there, or to make free grants of lands to settlers. In the midst of the seven years, he will begin to tyrannize over them, setting up his image in their temple, and causing all to be slain who refuse to worship it. Liberty of commerce will also be granted to none but those who have imprinted on theii forehead or right hand the number 666, or one of the * The Secession of the Southern States began in December, 1860. NAPOLEON’S OVERTHROW AT ARMAGEDDON. 267 words Louis Napoleon , or a certain mark which he will appoint. At the close of the three ancl a half years, during which this will continue, the Emperor will become indescribably exasperated with some acts of insubordination on their part, and will go forth at the head of a vast host, breathing out threatenings and slaughter, and resolved, in his fury, to destroy and utterly to make away many. “ Having concentrated his armed hosts upon Jerusalem, this modern Pharoah will have already begun, in anticipation, ; to exult over the victory within his grasp ; when suddenly, without a moment’s premonition, a frightful tumult will arise from every quarter of his camp. A confusion more confound¬ ing than that of Babel will be heard on every side. The - mutual hatreds and jealousies that have been long fermenting among the various sections of his heterogeneous and ill-assorted host, will have burst forth in a tempest of irrepressible fury. ; ‘ Every man’s sword will be against his brother,’ Ezek. xxxviii. i 21. European, Asian, African, German, Italian, Russian, all will be mingled in one chaotic, fierce, and sanguinary conflict . of mutual slaughter. Simultaneously, great hailstones, and fire and brimstone, will be rained down upon the ill-fated combatants ] and to accelerate their destruction, the earth will open her mouth and engulf thousands, like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, in the yawning chasm. In a shorter period than would be occupied by the recital, five-sixths of these proud and heaven-defying warriors will have had their carcasses given : as food to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. Meanwhile the Antichrist, who is gazing upon the scene with feelings akin to those experienced by the first Napoleon at Waterloo, when the line of the Old Guard wavered and broke, is suddenly seized by the divine executioners of the ‘judgment written,’ and, together with the False Prophet, Ills intimate ;issociate, is cast alive into the lake of fire.” (31.) “ The Millennium of the Doctrines of the Second Advent,” by “ Omicron,” was published at Nisbet’s, in London, in 1844. It stated that before the present dis¬ pensation terminates, the Roman Empire must revive in * In this fourth edition in 1863, fifty-seven instead of only thirty- three writers on the 70th week, are quoted, being twenty-seven more. 268 VIEWS OF MESSES. BARKER AND REES. its imperial form spoken of as “ tlic beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition that this imperial power will kill the two wit nesses, and have given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and will continue forty and two months (or 31- years), and make war with the saints and overcome them, and possess universal power over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations, and be worshipped by all that dwell upon the earth, except those whose names arc written in the Lamb’s- book of life : and will have a subordinate agent, the False Prophet or two-horned beast, ivho will deceive people by lying miracles and great wonders, and will cause as many as will not worship the image of the beast to be killed (see Rev. xi., xiii., xvii. throughout); but that, first of all, “this imperial power will make a covenant with the Jews, who will be partly restored to their own land in a state of unbelief, for a week or seven years : in the middle of the week he will break the covenant, put down their usual services, plant the abomination of desolation in the temple itself, and demand for himself the worship which belongs to God alone. Now will be fulfilled truly and literally the prophecy of the Man of Sin, or Wicked One (2 Thess. ii. 3-12). Such is the end of the present dis¬ pensation, as described in the book of God : and for this terrible end the professing Church is making ready Avit-k fear¬ ful rapidity.” (35.) The Rev. W. G. Barker, of the Church of England, wrote in the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, in 1850, a short “ Apology for Moderate Futurism,” maintaining that both year-day and literal-day interpreters are in the main correct, on the principle that “ what has been acted over by Popery in 1260 years shall be acted over again by Infidelity in 1260 days, and close the scene of Satan’s opposition to Christ by his strongest and most daring effort.” He is also stated by Elliott to hold Daniel’s 70th Aveek to be the last seven years of this dispensation, in the same manner as W. Kelly, W. Trotter, &c., explain it. (36.) Arthur Rees, of Sunderland, in England, published a brief but striking treatise in 1852, called the “ Death of Wellington and Resurrection of Napoleon,’’ showing Louis Napoleon to be the future Antichrist, or Eighth VIEWS OF MR. HUNTER. 2G9 Head of the Beast, according to Rev. xvii. 10, 11, as demonstrated by Frere, Irving, and others. He, moreover, referred to Dan. ix. 27, as to be fulfilled at the future restora¬ tion of the Jews by the Antichrist Napoleon, whom he expects to make a seven-years’ covenant with them seven years before the Millennium. His prophetic treatise (4d.) can be ordered from W. Macintosh’s, London. (37.) James Hunter, in Plymouth, in 1854, wrote a pamphlet, entitled “ The Personal Coming and Reign of the Lord Jesus over the Earth,” which gives as good a futurist out¬ line of the leading events attending Christ’s Advent as has prabably ever been expressed within an equally small compass. He explains “ the prince that shall come,” who is depicted in Dan. ix. 26, 27, as making a seven-years’ covenant with the Jews, to be the future personal Antichrist or Man of Sin, to whom he also applies the description of the little horn, in Dan. vii. and viii., and of the vile person in Dan. xi. 21-45, and of the foolish shepherd in Zecli. xi. He also holds that nearly all persons in the ten kingdoms that are to be formed out of the old Roman Empire, from England to the Euphrates, will worship this Antichrist for years, according to Rev. xiii., and then the Man of Sin will be cast alive into the lake of lire at the Battle of Armageddon. The wise virgins, he be¬ lieves, will be taken up to meet Jesus before the judgments fall on the earth. (38.) The Author of “ Notes on Scripture,” which were printed in the successive numbers of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy for several years following 1849, mentioned in Nos. 9 and 10 the passage in Dan. ix. 27, as referring to a covenant to be made by the personal Antichrist with the Jews, and then to be broken by him. He justly understands from Zech. xi. that Antichrist’s right arm will be withered, and his right eye darkened, and from Rev. xiii. that his image will literally speak and breath. He also maintains that the 144,000 wise virgins in Rev. xiv. 1-5 will be translated before the Great Tribulation, which Antichrist’s persecution will cause. In the course of his many excellent remarks he thus, in No. 27,* * The llcv. Dr. Horatius Bonar of Scotland is its editor. American readers would do well to obtain it from Nisbet’s, London, and peruse its ably-written articles. 270 VIEWS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS. meets tlie hackneyed objection that none can discover the time of Christ’s Advent:— “The expression in Rev. i. 1, ‘The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show to his servants things which must shortly come to pass,’ implies that the revelation was a communication disclosed to Christ by the Father, and of which Christ had not been previously aware. The non-revealing of the day of the Lord to Jesus, while on earth, was part of His humiliation. ‘ Of that day and that hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father’ (Mark xiii. 32). After His resurrection, however, the Father appears to have made disclosures to Him, and these we have in the Book of Bevelation. How interesting and blessed must be the study of such a part of the Word!” (39.) The Author of a well-arranged “ Syllabus of Four¬ teen Lectures,” inserted in the twenty-seventh number of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, in 1855, explains the 70th week in Dan. ix. 27 as to be fulfilled by the future Antichrist at the epoch of the Second Advent, when the literal 3J years in Rev. xiii. 5, Dan. vii. 25, will be accomplished by him. In giving the usual literal-day futurist views, this expositor con¬ siders Apollyon, in Rev. xi. 11, to be the name of the Anti¬ christ, and the “abomination” in Matt. xxiv. 15, Mark xiii. 14, to be his speaking and breathing image that will he worshipped (Rev. xiii. 14, Hab. ii. 18) : and also his acquisi¬ tion of great treasures of gold and silver to be foretold in Dan. xi. 28, 38, 43, Ezek. xxviii. 4, 5, Hab. ii. 5-10. This last-mentioned feature in Antichrist’s character seems, at the date of the fourth edition of the present work in 1863, to be already developing in Louis Napoleon, whose seizure of Mexico and therewith the Mexican silver mines is the prelude to his speedy possession of the gold mines in California, and before his career is ended to the auriferous treasures of British Columbia and Australia. (40.) The Author of “The Church and the Kingdom,” published in 1851, at Granville’s, in Bristol, remarks that only the seven weeks and sixty-two weeks out of Daniel’s seventy weeks were fulfilled before the cutting off of Christ, and that, therefore, “ one week or seven years yet remains to be fulfilled,” and that it will be accomplished at VIEWS OF MIDDLETON AND OTHERS. 271 the period of the time of trouble of Dan. xii., “ when the Church being already translated and in glory, and Satan cast down to the earth, events will thicken with a rapidity that has had no parallel in the history of the world—the short but fear ful reign of Antichrist, the great tribulation, and to close the scene, the Lord Jesus personally appearing to crush his foes now made his footstool.” (41.) The Rev. I’. G. Middleton, of the Church of Eng¬ land, published a pamphlet in 1860, at Nisbet’s, in London, called “ The Rapture of the Church,” in which he maintained, that the Advent of Christ to raise the deceased saints and translate the wise virgins (1 Thess. iv. 16) will I precede the great tribulation. He also adverted to the 7 0th week in Dan. ix. 27, as awaiting its fulfilment at that final crisis. (42.) W. C. Baynes, of Montreal, Canada East, delivered in that city in 1859-60, very able futurist lectures on pro¬ phecy, some of which were afterwards published. He main¬ tained that Antichrist will make a seven-years’ covenant with the Jews about seven years before the Millennium, as stated in Dan. ix. 27, and that the Jewish sacrifices will be re-instituted in the restored temple soon afterwards, and that the wise virgins will be caught up before Antichrist’s furious raging during the last half of the seven years. His general views are very like those of Denny, Tregelles, Trotter, &c. (43.) A writer in the Advent Herald, a weekly prophetical journal in Boston, U.S. (to which the annual subscription is two dollars), showed in some articles early in 18G2 that Louis Napoleon is the embryo Antichrist, who will make a covenant for seven years with the Jews, seven years before the descent of Christ to destroy him (Dan. ix. 27), and will massacre Christians during the last half of the seven years, according to Rev. xiii. 5. His other views were very similar to those of the writers above mentioned. (44.) The Rev. G. Brookman, of the Church of England, in London, Canada West, and formerly in India, has written and preached considerably upon the prophecies, and firmly maintains, from Rev. xiii., xvii., that Napoleon III. is the incipient Antichrist, who will make a seven-years’ league with the Jews, about seven years before his destruction at Christ’s 272 VIEWS OP MESSES. SCHOLTE AND TROTTER. descent upon Mt. Olivet (Dan. ix. 27, Zech. xiv.); and that the first translation will precede the 3£ years’ Napoleonic infidel persecution. His views agree generally with Trotter’s, Kellys, Purdon’s, &c. (45.) H. P. Scholte, in “The Israelite Indeed,” published in New York, in Jan. 18G2, speaks thus : “ The signs of the times are portentous of great coming events. The whole world is in commotion, and all the nations of the globe are in contact with each other. Science has conquered almost every obstacle of time and space : the pulsation of the heart at one place can be communicated in a moment to all the nations of the earth by telegraph : and an order emanated from a central power can be executed in a short space of time by steam motion. Religious indifference gains ground amongst Christians, Mahometans, and heathen. Everything is prepared to bring about the last form of worldliness, which shall exist in the last or extreme part of the days of this world.” “ In that last period God’s promises to Israel shall be fulfilled. Then the broken chain of the seventy weeks of years will be resumed, and the last week will be accomplished. That last week will be full of trouble for the holy people ; but the final issue will be for Jerusalem as well as for Daniel’s people ; ‘ to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and pro¬ phecy, and to anoint the most holy’ (Dan. ix. 27). The numbers in Daniel as well as in the Apocalypse have reference to that last year-week of Daniel when Israel will be again restored as a nation, and to the revelation of Antichrist against the middle of that week.” (46.) W. Trotter, one of the best futurist literal-day interpreters, published in 1853-4 a series of “ Plain Papers on Prophetic Subjects” at the Dublin Tract Repository, at 10 D’Olier-street, and at W. Macintosh’s, London. In No. 15, upon “Israel in the approaching Crisis,” he fully explains ' Dan. ix. 27 as to be hereafter accomplished by Antichrist, the eighth head of the Roman Empire, making a seven-years’ alliance with the Jews, and in the midst of the seven years commencing his 3| years' massacre of those who will not worship him, and at last perishing at Christ’s descent. He VIEWS OF MR. GRANT AND OTHERS. 273 looks for the ascension of the wise virgins at some period prior to Antichrist’s 3J years’ persecution. He says, “ The seventy weeks were determined upon Daniel’s ‘ people ’ and upon his ‘ holy city ; ’ and whenever the seventieth week shall commence if will be Jerusalem and the Jews will be again in question before God. And he (that is, ‘ the prince that shall come ’) shall confirm a (see margin) covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it deso¬ late, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be , poured upon the desolate.’ Here we have the ‘ covenant with death,’ and the ‘ agreement with hell ’ on the part of the Jew¬ ish rulers. Re-established in their land, under the protection of the ‘ prince that shall come,’ the eighth Satanic head of that people who long ago destroyed the city and the sanc¬ tuary, he will enter into an alliance with the Jews for seven years.” (47.) F. W. Grant, in Canada West, wrote a brief pro¬ phetical publication in 1861-2, to show that the Advent of Christ will most probably occur within the next few years. He lectured in Toronto in 1861, upon Louis Napoleon being the future Antichrist or Eighth Head ; he also explains Dan. ix. 27 to signify that a seven-years’ agreement will be made about seven years before the Millennium, between n.any of the Jews and “the prince that shall come.” He believes in a translation of saints before the Great Tribulation, and agrees in most points with the general futurist interpretation of Pro¬ phecy. (48.) A. P. Jolliffe, an American prophetical writer, has held for some years past that Louis Napoleon is the coming Antichrist, who will make a seven-years’ treaty with some of the Jews seven years before this dispensation ends ; and that the prepared saints will be caught up at some period before his persecution of 3£ years rages during the last half-week, at which time the seals, trumpets, and vials, &c., will be literally fulfilled. (49.) J. Fondey published some explanations of pro¬ phecy in the United States more than ten years ago, in which he justly maintained the 2300 days in Dan viii. 14 to be, in its literal-day fulfilment, a future periqd 3 274 VIEWS OF DRS. BOS WORTH AND LITCH. beginning with the reinstitution of the Jewish sacrifices at their return to Palestine, and ending with the descent of Christ on the earth. He has recently had printed a concise statement of his belief that Louis Napoleon will be the personal Anti¬ christ, who will make a covenant with many Jews seven years before the consummation, and that the ready saints will be translated before Antichrist’s 3.V years’ massacre of Christians. His prophetical views agree in the main with those of the present work. (50.) The Rev. D. Bosworth, in the United States, has for many years preached and written on Prophecy. He says of Dan. ix. 27: “The Jews are expecting a speedy return to their fatherland, there to enjoy all their former glory as a nation. In the leader then, whom they shall receive, may we not expect a fulfilment of Christ’s prediction when reproving them for not receiving himself? ‘lain come in *my Father’s name and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive ’ (John v. 43). We may expect then such a leader soon to appear, to make a covenant with the Jews for a prophetic week. In the midst of the week, allying him¬ self with others (perhaps spiritualists and Papists), he will break his covenant with the Jews, set his idols on the battle¬ ments of the temple, and perhaps himself in the temple of God; and after bringing untold miseries on the Jews, will perish at the earthquake tread of Christ upon Mount Olivet.” (Zech. xiv.) (51.) Dr. J. Litch, editor of the Advent Herald ,* in Boston, U.S., and author of several able prophetical treatises, believes, from Dan. ix. 27, that the personal Antichrist will confirm a seven-years’ compact with some of the Jews, and that during the ensuing final years of this economy, there will be two trans¬ lations of living saints at the two stages in Christ’s Advent, with Antichrist’s 3.) years’ persecution intervening. (52). “ The Present Testimony,” published at R. Groom bridge’s, in London, contains various prophetical articles * This valuable and evangelical newspaper was commenced twenty years ago, by the eminent and highly esteemed Second Advent mi nister, the Rev. J. V. Himes, who is about to publish a useful pro phetical journal, called “ The Voice of the Prophets,” at Buchanan. Michigan, U. S. He has long maintained the Advent of Christ to occui about 1867-8. VIEWS OF MR. REINKE AND OTHERS. 275 by the “Brethren,” and in volumes v. and xii. in 1853 and 1861, gives expositions of Daniel and Revelation, in which Daniel’s 70th week is explained to be the closing seven years brfore the Millennium. (53.) The Rev. E. E. Reinke, of the Lutheran denomina¬ tion, and one of the editors of an excellent little monthly periodical in Philadelphia, U. S.—the “ Prophetic Times”— considers that Antichrist will fulfil Dan. ix. 27, and holds much the same views as Trotter, Kelly, Seiss, &c. (54.) Dr. Williamson, of Toronto, C. W., also has enter¬ tained substantially the same prophetical views as the writers just mentioned for upwards of twenty years ; and interprets Louis Napoleon to be the embryo Antichrist. He is about to issue a new work on prophecy. (55.) J. L. Hopkins, editor of a bi-monthly prophetical newspaper in San Francisco, California, U.S., called “The World’s Crisis,”* similarly advocates these views in his journal. (56.) Thomas Parker, of Newbery, Berkshire, England, published a work called “ Visions and Prophecies of Daniel Expounded,” in London, in 1646—two hundred years ago. He expected the Papal 1260 years to end somewhere near 1860, and lie distinctly stated that Antichrist would fulfil Dan. ix. 27, by making a covenant with many Jews seven years before the Millennium, and carrying on his unparalleled persecution until his destruction. (57.) C. Stanley, the esteemed author of various excellent religious and prophetical tracts at W. H. Broom’s, Paternoster- row, regards England as certain to fall under Antichrist, by whom he also seems to expect Daniel’s 70th week to be fulfilled. The foregoing summary of more than fifty testimonies as to the future fulfilment of Daniel’s 70th week (Dan. ix. 27), by the Antichrist (who has been shown in chapter I. to be Louis Napoleon), should be carefully studied by every Christian who desires “ to discern the signs of the * As many copies of it are circulated gratuitously, and it is the only Second Advent journal in California, it is highly deserving of contributions and subscriptions, which will be thankfully received by its editor. The “ Prophetic Times” is printed at Messrs. C. Sherman and Sons, Philadelphia, U. S. S 2 276 PRACTICAL LESSONS OF THIS SUBJECT. times.” The above quoted prophetic interpretations of Pardon in 1849 and 1852, of Porter in 1856, of Taunton in 1857, of the Eng lish author of “ Armageddon ” in 1857-8, and of Major Phillips in 1859, as to the certainty of Louis Napoleon becoming the Antichrist, and making the seven years’ covenant with the Jews, will be of especial value as soon as this event shall have taken place. Meanwhile, the fact, that after that event there will only be two years and from four to six weeks before those of us who are the Wise Virgins will be caught up to be with Christ, should exert a most quickening and purifying influence upon our minds. As a practical application of the subject of the Second Advent, the following extracts from a valuable prophetic work (Seiss’s Parable of the Ten Virgins), may here be introduced :— “ Nor is it difficult to ascertain what are those works to which we must devote ourselves with a view to be ready for the Lord’s coming. Having given ourselves unreservedly to Christ, Ave must try continually to be more and more like Him, mortifying the desires of the flesh, employiug diligently the means of improvement in sacred wisdom and grace, sub¬ jecting ourselves cheerfully to the rules of heavenly discipline, occupying our stations with industry, patience, and fidelity, endeavouring to be useful to the Church and to our fellow- men, and by constant prayer and circumspection seeking to abound in love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, good¬ ness, faith, meekness, temperance, and charity, which are the proper fruits of a living union Avith the Saviour. When tempta¬ tions arise, Ave must fight them, and resist, though it should cost us many an earthly loss, or even life itself. When a field of usefulness presents, and Providence calls us to occupy it, Ave must promptly enter it, as by God’s own appointment, never tiring and never relinquishing, as long as we have strength to labour or Avork to do. We are not to forsake our places in the world and turn pilgrims and anchorites, nor yet to seize upon offices in Avhich God has not placed us, but to be faithful in our appointed stations, according to the graces severally dealt to us,—prophesying, ministering, teaching, exhorting, giving, ruling, showing mercy, and serving with all godliness and honesty ; abhorring that Avhich is evil, cleaving to that which is good ; not slothful in busi¬ ness ; fervent in spirit ; rejoicing in hope ; patient in. FUTURE DIGNITIES OF THE CHRISTIANS. 277 tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints ; given to hospitality ; blessing them that persecute ; rejoicing with them that do rejoice ; weeping with them that weep; condescending to men of low estate ; providing things honourable in the sight of all men (Rom. xii. 6-17), and all as under the immediate eye of Him to whom we shall presently have to account for the way in which we have fulfilled our trusts. “This is the path to the honours of Heaven. They can be reached by no other road. And he only who is found walking in this way is prepared to meet his Lord, or can be said to fill out the great requirement in the command to ‘watch.’ “ It would seem as if heaven had no gifts of honour and glory higher than those which are to be distributed among the saints and made the everlasting possession of the faithful fol¬ lowers of the Lamb of God. I am amazed and confounded when I attempt to survey the transcendent altitudes of exalta¬ tion and power to which the poor sinful children of men are to be advanced by redeeming grace. We sometimes say to ourselves, amid our many and daily provocations, and trials, and tempta¬ tions, and failures, and discouragements, A h, it is a hard thing to be a Christian ! And it is even so. The evil with which we have to contend is so powerful, our own strength is so feeble, the opportunities, inducements, and incentives to wrong are so many, the burdens of a devoted life are so heavy to our poor depraved nature, that it is a hard thing to be a Christian. It requires incessant toil, and self-denial, and watchfulness, and prayer; and even then we seem to retrograde rather than pro¬ gress. But when we consider what the Saviour has done for us, and think how that for these crosses come crowns; for these sufferings, thrones; for these toils, kingdoms ; for these struggles, judgeships and princedoms in the high Empire of God, we have abundant reason to rejoice and give thanks in the midst of all the hardships that we have been called on any conditions to enter upon the campaign for such transcendent honours. “ But there is quite as much in this to humble us as to exalt and rejoice. What a thing of weakness and infirmity is man! Look at him; survey his case; realise the utter vanity and wretchedness which appertain to such a being ; and then bring forward the fact, that of such as these God 278 GLORIOUS REWARDS OF THE SAINTS. has chosen the people who are to judge the world, and to judge angels; to share in the grand administration of the glorious Christ in renewing the world; to sit with the only- begotten Son of God in the exercise of dominion to which angels shall be in subjection, and to reign in immortal regency in the high princedoms to which the ransomed myriads of the new world’s exalted population shall bow in cheerful and happy obedience,—and see whether there be not reason for us to blush and hide our faces, and to humble ourselves in the very dust, at the mere thought of being promoted to such astounding dignities ! O my God, what is man, that thou art thus mindful of him 1 or the son of man, that thou dost so exalt him 1 “ And hence there is also much in this subject to enhance our appreciation of the dignity and value of a Christian life. It connects empire with our lowly discipleship, and sublime royalty with our penitence and prayers. Piety may subject us for a little while to the scorn and sneers of men, but it will presently introduce us into the fraternal esteem of angels, and - secure for us recognition among eternal principalities. Even for the life which now is, it has its profit over all losses. And should we have to give up everything which this world values, in Christ there still is ample compensation. The first disciples forsook all, and from fishermen and tax-gatherers they became patriarchs of the New Dispensation,—pastors, and prophets, and princes upon apostolic thrones, and leaders of a vaster and sublimer host than monarch ever marshalled. In place of the friends and homes they left, they were made the beloved centres of another household, which gave them sons and daughters, brethren and sisters, in all lands, full of loving sympathy and undying affection. For the little estates which they relinquished, all things became theirs ; and rich men laid their money at their feet, and streams of generous liberality broke into life whithersoever they went, furnishing them abundance for all their wants. And, with all the wrongs and persecutions to which their new profession subjected them, there was an accompanying reward, rich and glorious, in the teachings and experiences of the gospel which it gave them. Even when the powers of evil pressed heaviest upon them, their souls still fed on hidden joys, and thrilled with liberty and peace, of which no adversity could deprive them. And never, BLESSEDNESS AWAITING THE CHRISTIAN. 279 unto this day, has any one forsaken aught at the call of Jesus, but he has found a recompense even in this life. Moses re¬ linquishes the court and riches and dominion of Egypt for the promises of God ; and from Jethro’s sheepfold he rises to be the humiliator of Pharaoh, the liberator of enslaved Israel, and the prince of prophets, legislators, and historians. Daniel deliberately forfeits his life for the sake of communion with liis Maker ; and the hand of miracle interposes for his safety, and lifts him to the highest honour and authority in the gift of great Babylon’s lofty king. Rosa Madiai persists in the devout reading of her Bible, in the face of imprisonment and chains ; and instantly her humble name is heralded over the earth, and millions of hearts are touched, and flow with tenderest sympathy to cheer her in her dungeon and to enroll her among the modest heroines of the faith. The recompense may not always come in a form so marked, or in a degree so ample ; but it will come, for it is the pledge of manifold Wisdom and almighty Love to attemper to each obedient child a reward and consolation even now for all the sacrifices exacted. But high over all such gains as these are honours to which all our attain¬ ments here are but the feeble indexes. To these are to be added thrones and dominions in eternal glory. Every thorough Christian is not only a child of God, and linked to him in in¬ destructible communion and peace, but a rightful heir to en¬ during kingship. His very Christianity transmutes him into a being of wondrous dignity. When we look upon him, we behold a royal personage,—a being anointed of God to wield the sceptre of immortal empire,—a man who is presently to be invested with potencies to which even angels shall bow,— a future dispenser of administrations from which the great and holy interests of ‘ the world to come’ are to take com¬ plexion, and the eternal ages to be shaped and conditioned. As yet, he dwells in flesh, amid weaknesses, necessities, and straits ; but his name is in the books of heaven, and God hath decreed concerning him that he shall receive power and riches and glorious rulership, and reign for ever and ever. Great, wonderful man! beside whom the great ones of earth, at whose names the nations tremble, are but ciphers and mimic men ! The very earth beneath his steps is being consecrated by reason of the exaltations to which he is called and predestined ! “ From this subject may we, then, also learn to prize the 28 0 PRECIOUSNESS OF CHRIST’S DEATH. preciousness of our Redeemer’s cross. By that bloody instru¬ ment of eternal compassion it is that these dignities are put within onr reach. Without that, instead of rising to take rank among the eternal principalities, we should all have been de¬ graded and ever-sinking vassals,—the thralls of sin and hell’s disgusting tyranny, the doomed and helpless victims of ) unholy domination. Had there been no Jesus to die for us on Calvary, there had been no world of peace and glory for man, no thrones there to be occupied. It is by his cross and passion that all these honours come. It is by his mysterious encounter with death and hell in their own dark domain that these princedoms have been won and been rendered attainable to sinful men. And it is only through the victory which he completed by his resurrection from the tomb, that such kings shall reign, and such princes decree justice. For many reasons, the cross is a precious token. It is the everlasting monument to the perfections and glory of God. It tells of his eternal power and Godhead equally with the mighty products of his creating hand. It bespeaks a power of a higher sort than that which called the worlds into being. It preaches of an unswerv¬ ing justice in a language more awful than the thunders that roll and bellow in the prison-house of the lost. And it pro¬ claims a goodness, wisdom, and love, vast as a sea without a bottom or a shore. It is also the symbol of an agency, which all the universe beside could not furnish, by which Satan’s dominion is broken from the enslaved souls of men, their sins blotted out, and they made to share once more the light and liberty of the sons of God. But, beyond and above all this, it is the enduring memento of a victory which has gained for us the privileges of eternal empire--of a purchase by which we become ‘ kings and priests unto God,’ to share the throne of the ‘ Heir of all things,’ and to sit with him in immortal regency, as he is seated with the Father on the central throne of heaven. Oh, dear and blessed cross, that has been the instrument of such wondrous good to man ! “ But, above all, should this subject serve to render us heavenly-minded, and to deliver us from the frivolities of worldliness and the entanglements of an unsteady faith. If we are to be kings, we ought to conduct ourselves with reference to the positions of exaltation and authority which we expect to occupy. If we have been anointed to share SINNER ! COME TO JESUS. 281 in the sublime adjudications of the world to come, we should exhibit a corresponding bearing, and study, labour, and pray to be filled with that spirit of truthfulness, wisdom, justice, and harmony with the mind of God which alone can qualify us for duties so responsible and sublime. People who expect to be j udges dare not spend their years of preparation in idleness, or waste their time upon perish¬ ing and useless trifles. They must be diligent in their search into the principles of right and truth. They must be earnest in bringing themselves under a proper discipline to be able calmly to hear and weigh causes, and to decide them righteously. They need wisdom, and training, and culture, which can only be obtained by long, faithful, and laborious application. And how much more is it needful to be instructed, trained, and exercised in righteousness, to be fitted to participate in those sublime administrations for which the saints are destined ! Let us, then, go away from the contemplation of this subject, resolved to work, and pray, and study as we never hitherto have done. Let us show by our way of using this world that we do really regard it as the mere temporary scene of preparation for judgeships and kinghoods in the world to come. Let us deal with its poor honours and possessions, not as things in which to locate our affections or to seek our portion, but as the mere perishable scaffoldings by which to mount up to far sub- limer dignities, which are to endure for ever. And as there are eternal princedoms placed within our reach, let us ever press forward to them, and see to it, above all things, that we do not ‘ let them slip.’ “And unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has engaged to make us kings and priests unto God, even the Father, to Him be glory and domi¬ nion for ever and ever. Amen.” DIAGRAM 4. Year-day Fulfilment of Dan. & ltev. durinar the last 2595 years (2520+75) Dun. iv. 23; xii. 12,from C.C. 721 to A. D. 1872. The date of each event is put in parentheses, and its distance from the begin¬ ning of the 2595 years is given. 1 to 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 FIRST TIME. OOOOOCC OCOOC SECOND TIME. 750 780 810 840 870 900 930 960 990 1020 1050 1080 THIRD TIME. 1110 1140 1170 1200 1230 1260 1290 1320 1350 1380 1410 1440 | FOURTH TIME. | 1470 1500 1530 W 1560 a 1590 1620 1650 1680 1710 fen 1740 M 1770 1800 1830 1660 1890 H 1920 i-i 1950 M 1980 E-< 2010 2040 H 2070 X 2100 2130 2160 2190 2220 2250 2280 2310 2340 M 2370 H 2400 & 2430 H 2460 2490 W 2520 Ul 2550 2580 w 2595 7* Literal-day Fulfilment of Dan. & Rev. during tl last 2595 days .2520+75), Dan. ix.27 ; xii. 12, con mencing with the date of the Covenant bctwee Louis Napoleon and the Jews. The distance « each event from the beginning of the 2595 days given. 1 to 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 * < PH H Ul £ bs 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 390 420 450 480 510 540 570 600 630 600 690 720 p i < r* ft X O O w ui 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 750 1 780 810 M 3 840 C 4 870 W 5 900 Ph 6 930 P 7 960 £ 8 990 9 1020 w 10 10.30 11 1080 12 1110 1 1140 2 1170 3 1200 4 1230 5 1260 6 1290 7 1320 Ph 8 1350 9 1380 10 1410 11 1440 12 1470 1 1500 w 1530 3 1500 < 4 1590 w 5 1620 6 1650 7 1680 8 1710 9 1740 1—1 10 1770 + 11 1800 12 1830 1 I860 2 1890 3 1920 4 1950 w 5 19S0 6 2010 7 2040 8 2070 X 9 2100 10 2130 Ul 11 2160 12 2190 i 1 2220 2 2250 3 2280 4 2310 5 2340 w 6 2370 7 2400 8 2430 9 2460 10 2490 w Ul 11 2520 12 2550 ( n 1 2580 2 2595 i The Mitnchihi caught up (Rev. xii. 5). Seal 1. Primitive Zeal of Church (33 to 324),759th to 1050th year. Trump 1 (250 to 395), 976th to 1091st year. Dragon cast down ^824), 1050th year. Seal 2 (324 to 534), 1050th to 1260th year. Trump. 2 1 365to412), 1091st to 1138th year. Wings given toWoman (379), 1105tnyear. Trump. 3 (412 to 476), 1138th to 1202d year. Trumpet 4 (476) 1202d year. Pope supreme over 10 kingdoms._ The 2520 years or “ seven times” (Dan. iv. 23) began primarily R.C. 725-6. Their latter half synchronizes with the Papal Antichrist’s 1260 years, or 3} times of temporal supremacy. The 2300 years (Dan. viii. 14) began with the renewal of the Jewish sacrifices, partially B.C. 456-7, in the 270th year, and fully B.C. 431-2, in the 295th year. Ascension of Christ, A.D. 29 or 33-4, betweenthe 754th and 759th year. Sealo (534 to 1073), Spiritual (Famine of Trumpet 5 Church, 1260th (609 to 936), I to 1799th year. 1335th to 1662d year—First Woe of Mahommcdan Incur sions, 1362d to 1662d year. Trumpet 6. Second Woe of Seal 4 (1073 | Turkish In¬ to 1 4 3 8), vasions (1063 Spiri tual | tol844),1789th Desolation | to 2570th yr. of Church, | 1799th to 2164th year. Seal 5 (1438 to 1794), Season I of Delay be¬ fore F i n al J u d gm ent, 2 16 4th to 2520th year. Reformation in 1517 — 2243d year. .3 o (T> 2 * S' rj »T a> ® r- oeai /, iruinp. viai / ;ioo S' 1871-2), 2590th to 2595th j The 2520 days or seven years of th Covenant-week (Don. ix 27)be«i here; their latter half synchronise with the Personal Antichrist (Louis Napoleon’s) 1260 days,or; years universal supremacy. The 2300days (Dan. viii. 14) begin nit the renewal of the,’ Jewish sacri fices, partially about the 270th, an fully on the 295th day. The Mmicliilri caughtup (Ilev.xii.G Seal 1, Church full Ascension of th of a Revival Spirit, 769th to 1050th day. 144,000 Wise "Vir gins, about or be tween the 748t) aud 762nd day. Trumpet 1, Hail, 976th to 1091st day. Dragon cast down, 1050th day. Seal 2, War, 1050th to 1260ih day. Trumpet 2, lG91st to 1138th day. Wings given to Woman, 1105th day. Trumpet 3,1138th to 1202nd day. Trumpet 4,partial darkness,1202d day Napoleon supreme over 10 kingdoms. Seal 3, Famine, 1260th to 1799th day. Trumpet 5, 1335th to 1662d day. First Woe of Literal Locusts, 1262d to 1662d day. Trumpet 6, Second Woe- Seal 4. War, Pestilence, & Famine, 1799th to 2164th day. Asiatic Ar¬ mies Invad¬ ing Roman Empire. 1789th to 2570th day. Seal 5. Season of Delay, 21454th to 2520th day. Great Revival of Religion (Rev. x). commencing bout 2243d day. P s&M Seal 7, Trumpet 7, Vial 7,2590th V to 2595th clay. ORDER OF COMING EVENTS. 283 CHAPTER. IV. Ten Reasons, proving that the Advent of Christ “ in THE AIR” TO RAISE THE DECEASED SAINTS, AND TO TRANS¬ LATE the Wise Virgins, will precede the final 3§ years’ Great Tribulation, or Napoleonic Persecution, and will be about Five Years before the End of this Dispensation. Whenever Louis Napoleon shall have confirmed the seven years’ covenant with the Jews, the point will then be settled, that, from the date of that event, there will only be seven years and two and a half months to elapse before the glorious descent of Christ upon the earth at the battle of Armageddon, to slay the impenitent and introduce the Millennium. It might, then, at first sight be thought that the resur¬ rection and translation of the saints, which is to take place at Christ’s Advent, would not occur sooner than the termination of this same period of seven years and two and a half months, since we are told that it is not until “ the Lord himself de¬ scends from heaven” that the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall ever be with the Lord (1 Thess. iv. 16). It would, how¬ ever, be an error thus to suppose the resurrection and rapture of the saints to occur at so distant period after the date of the Covenant; inasmuch as they are clearly declared in the prophecies to take place rather more than two years after the Covenant. The Advent of Christ is shown to occupy about five years in its accomplishment, and to be effected in two stages. He first comes from the highest heavens into the air, and then the raised and translated saints are imme¬ diately caught up to meet him (1 Thess. iv. 17): and con¬ sequently, the hosts of Satan, the Prince of the power of the air, are cast down from the air into the earth, and pro- 284 ORDER OF COMING EVENTS. ceed (after an interval) to carry on, through the agency of Napoleon, the Antichrist, the final 3| years’ persecution against the unready Christians who have been left behind upon this globe (Rev. xii.). Meanwhile, Christ, with his raised and translated saints, remains invisibly in the air, in the pavilion- cloud, until after that 3| years’ Tribulation (Matt. xxiv. 29, 30), and then suddenly displays the Sign of the Son of Man in the heavens, and openly reveals his bright glory and majesty to the astonished inhabitants of the world below. At this point he sends forth his angels to gather to him, in the air, all the saints that are found on the earth, including the surviving foolish virgins, and those who have been converted since the First Translation ; and he then “rains a horrible tempest of fire and brimstone” upon Antichrist’s hosts and all the ungodly, “ purging out the rebels,” but sparing and converting some of the least hardened, especially among the Jews and Heathen (Is. lxvi.). This spared remnant constitutes the holy seed, or nucleus of the population of the earth during the subsequent millennium, and with their descendants will compose “the nations of them that are saved” (Rev. xxi. 24), who will be governed during the 1000 years by Christ and his glorified, raised, and translated saints, these latter living principally in the heavenly Jerusalem, and visiting the earth daily in order to exercise rule over the successive generations of its mortal, un¬ glorified inhabitants. Upwards of thirty-five prophetical treatises or writers may be mentioned,* that have of late years distinctly upheld * The following are the names of upwards of thirty-five prophetic treatises or authors which have been (it is believed accurately) ascertained to state that the advent of Christ in the air to raise the deceased saints, and translate the wise virgins, will be several years before his descent on the earth, or will at least precede the 34 years’ Great Tribulation. The dates of the respective publications are en¬ closed in parentheses. Dissertations on the Prophecies, by Rev. Dr. Duffield (1842); Hopes of the Church, by J. Darby (1842); Millennial Tidings, by H. Livermore (1843); Second Advent Lectures, by Rev. E. Windthrop (1843) ; Rev. W. Pym (1843) ; Time of the End, hy W. Trenwith (1845) ; Companion to Stream of Time, by Sir E. Denny (1845); Apocalypse Interpreted, by Rev. J. Kelly (1849); The Prospect (1849) ; Things to Come, by Rev. C. Bowen (1849); Plain Papers, by Captain Trotter (1850) ; Light of Prophecy, by Judge Strange (1852); Chronology of the Scrip- FIVE YEARS OCCUPIED BY THE ADVENT. 285 and stated the general view, that the Advent of Christ to receive up into the air the raised and translated saints, would undoubtedly be several years before his visible descent on the earth to destroy the Antichrist at the battle of Arma¬ geddon, and would precede the Great Tribulation (which is to last 3^ years). It is of the utmost importance that this view should be fully inculcated and understood, or else persons will be lulled into a dangerous state of unwatchfulness, and thrown off their guard in waiting for the Advent of Christ, by supposing that there is no prospect of his coming until after the Great Tribulation and Antichristian persecution have run their course. It cannot be objected that there would thus be two Advents of Christ,— one at the beginning, and the other at the end of the period of about five years,—for the simple fact is, that the jone sole act of Christ’s Second Advent will occupy in all its circumstances and arrangements about five years from its incipient commencement to its final conclusion. And the first resurrection, which consists principally of the resur¬ rection of all the deceased saints at Christ’s coming in the air at the beginning of the five years’ interval, also includes the subsequent resurrection of the Witnesses (Rev. xi. 11), and of those who are martyred by Napoleon, the Antichrist, during that interval; these latter being expressly mentioned in Rev. xx. jtures (1854) ; The World’s Crisis, by Rev. J. G. Zippel (1854) ; First Fruits, by Alexander Porter (1856) ; The Parousia and Epiphaneia (1858) ; Rapture of the Saints, by Lord Congleton (1859) ; Interpretations, by Major Scott Phillips (1859) ; Judgment of the Righteous, by Rev. Dr. Newton, Rector of the Epiphany, Philadelphia (1862). The rest of the writers or works mentioned in this list expressly maintain not only that there will be the Resurrec¬ tion and Translation of Saints before the Great Tribulation (of 3£ years), but also a second Translation of Saints about the end of that 3i years (Matt. xxiv. 29-31). The Apocalypse, by W. Cuninghame (1832) ; Commentary, by a Clergyman of the Church of England (Dublin, 1835) ; Guide to the Prophecies, by Rev. E. Bickersteth and T. Birks (1844) ; The Translation, by Rev. J. Hooper (1847);. The Retrospect (1847 ); Last Vials, by R. A. Purdon (1852) ; Days we Live in. by E. W. P. Taunton (1857) ; Armageddon (published in London, 1858) ; Coming Events (1858) ; A. P. Joliffe (1861) ; J. Litch (1861); Parable of the Ten Virgins, and Last Times, by Rev. Dr. Seiss (1861); The Coming Battle (1860). 286 THE TIME OF THE ADVENT REVEALED. 4, because otherwise it might have seemed uncertain whether they would be raised up at all before the Millennium. Although Christ’s coming “into the air” will be like the lightning (Matt. xxiv. 27), and, therefore, probably accompanied by a momentary brilliant glare throughout the whole heavens, yet, with this exception, he will remain with his ascended saints in the air, altogether unseen by the inhabitants of the earth, until the end of the interval of about five years, when he will descend in visible power and glory upon Mount Olivet (Zech. xiv. 4). The statement that his advent in the air will be accompanied with “ the voice of the archangel and the trump of God” (1 Thess. iv. 16), seems to imply that there will also be some loud mysterious noise heard at the instant of its com¬ mencement. It is much to be lamented that many pious Christians altogether neglect the careful study of these prophecies, and seek to justify such conduct by referring to the text, “ Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” (Mark xiii. 32.) But these words being spoken in the pre¬ sent tense, are not necessarily true of any period subsequent to their utterance, when the knowledge, which was then hidden, might be revealed by further prophecies. Moreover, they can only hold good and continue in force as long as the Divine Son himself does not know the day or hour, which certainly cannot be the case at the present period. It is not surprising that such unthinking persons as swearers, and drunkards, and other utterly irreligious characters, should con¬ stantly cast this text in the teeth of those who warn them that the Advent of Christ is certain to take place during the next several years. But it is, indeed, very deplorable that any ministers, or reflecting Christians, should be guilty of the same gross perversion of that text; for the least consideration would show, that Christ having subsequently ascended to heaven, and received a fresh Revelation from the Father, who alone knew the day and hour, has now imparted to us knowledge which previously was withheld. Sixty years after the words of that text were spoken, Christ delivered to St. John, in Patmos, further prophecies, entitled, “ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING PROPHECY. 287 shortly conic to pass . . . and the things which shall be hereafter . . . Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy ” (Rev. i. 1, 3, 19). Here, then, is a disclosure of that which was before known only to the Father; and, in truth, the Book of Revelation, in its year-day and literal-day fulfilments, is a most wonderfully com¬ pendious map or chart, foretelling the history of the Church and the world from the First to the Second Advent of Christ. The marvellously skilful adjustment of its entire structure, its simple and yet sublime imagery, its unrivalled blending , of minuteness of detail with comprehensiveness of outline, and the amazing exactitude of the accomplishment of its predic¬ tions, signally stamp it as a masterpiece of Divine wisdom, an emanation from the Divine mind, and a superhuman compo¬ sition, altogether beyond the capacity of any mortal intellect to produce. Most criminal and reprehensible is the conduct of those who assume the responsible office of stewards of the Gospel mysteries, and yet never attempt to explain these pro¬ phetic visions to their hearers, and instead of earnestly urging them to explore the field of prophecy, which is flowing with the milk and honey of spiritual delights, untruly represent it as barren, unprofitable, and dangerous. God says of the Revelation, “ Blessed is he that readeth the words of this pro¬ phecy “ Here is wisdom: let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast” (G6G) (Rev. i. 3, xiii. 18). But the modern fashionable religious world, deeply tainted with semi-infidelity, cries out, “ Here is folly : An enthusiast is he who deeply studies Daniel and Revelation, or affixes any definite interpretation to the prophetic numbers.” Expositors who distinctly assert that Louis Napoleon will be the Antichrist, and that Christ will come at the period 1866-71, may be often accused of presumption; but, in fact, those who so accuse them are, in reality, themselves guilty of pre¬ sumption, because they condemn that which they cannot dis¬ prove, and which they are too slothful to investigate and too ignorant to understand. So far from the period of Christ’s advent being unrevealed, the Scriptures distinctly state, as in the following texts, that it shall be discovered at the time of the end from the prophecies and signs of the times. “ The words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end .and none of the wicked shall 288 period of Christ’s coming foretold. understand, but the wise shall understand ” (Dan. xii.) (the time of the end is evidently nearly identical with the final seven years). “ Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealetli his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos iii. 7). “We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place” (2 Peter i. 19). “ But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you unawares as a thief” (1 Thess. v. 4). “Learn a parable of the fig tree ; when the branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” (Matt. xxiv. 32). “If the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would have come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up” (Matt. xxiv. 43). “ If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Rev. iii. 3). These texts plainly imply the impossibility of watching for the Saviour’s return unless we possess some knowledge as to the circumstances and time when it is to be anticipated. For watching does not consist in living in a vague, indefinite expectation of a given event happening at any time, but it im¬ ports the careful survey and attentive examination of occur¬ rences as they transpire, so as to discover, from the signs precursory to that event, when it is going to occur. It might also reasonably be concluded that, as the date of great events, such as the Exodus, the Deluge, the End of the 70 years’ Jewish Captivity, and the First Advent of Christ, &c., w r ere all pre-intimated, so the date of the momentous event of Christ’s Second Advent would be foretold. The predicted parallelism and correspondency between Noah’s day and the Second Advent also indicates that, as the Deluge was foretold to be at the end of 120 years, and then afterwards even the day was revealed, so almost the exact period of the Second Advent will be dis¬ closed towards the end. Although, if in literal accordance with the text before mentioned, the day or hour may be unrevealed, yet it is clear that at least the week or fort¬ night in which Christ will come to remove the Wise Virgins will be about two years and from four to six weeks THE TIME OF CHRIST’S ADVENT REVEALED. 280 after the date of the Covenant. For, as the year-day Man- child (Christ) was caught up about 500 years before the Papal Antichrist’s 1200 years began, so the literal-day Man- child (the Wise Virgins) will be caught up about 500 days before the Personal Antichrist’s 1260 days, or last half week, begins (Rev. xii.), as shown in diagram 4, and in the seventh of the subjoined ten divisions of this chapter. And Christ’s coming is further shown to be about five years before the End, because it occurs at the beginning of the year-day 7th seal, 7th trumpet, and 7th vial, all of which commence about ' five years before the consummation, or close of this Dis¬ pensation. The truth is, that the Apocalyptic Revelation given by God the Father to St. John, in Patinos, in a.d. 90, reveals “ the times and seasons which the Father has putin his own power,” and which “ it was not for” the disciples sixty years previously to know (Acts i. 7). It is an exact chronological map of the Church’s history between the first and second Advents of Christ, and the period of Christ’s second coming is described on that map almost just as accurately as the latitude and longitude of London or New York is marked on a reliable geographical chart. There is NOT A SINGLE TEXT in the Bible that implies that the week or month of Christ’s Advent will not be discovered beforehand. On the contrary, it is distinctly stated, that “ the words shall be unsealed at the time of the end, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand (Dan. xii. 10). It is little short of blasphemy for persons to turn men away from endeavouring to find out from Daniel and Revelation the time of Christ’s Advent, by asserting that the Bible declares that no one shall know the time, when, in reality, the Bible contains no such declaration at all. Even if the oft-quoted texts about “ the day and hour,” in Matt, xxiv., xxv., applied immediately to our own times, they could not fairly or reasonably imply that the week or month should not be known, for the word “day,” being coupled with the word “hour,” plainly shows that a literal day is meant. But in fact, it is just as unreasonable to say that the Saviour’s words “ of that day and hour knowetb no man . . not even the Son” (Mark xiii. 32), apply to these days, or now hold good, as to say that his words, “I thirst” (John xix. 20), T 290 PROOFS OF PREMILLENNIALISM. are actually true at the present time. It should be particularly noticed that not one of these texts about “ not knowing the time, or the day, or hour,” are in the future tense • the obvious purpose of them being only to keep Christians in the early ages unacquainted with the predetermined length of time that was to elapse before Christ’s Advent, and, therefore, expecting it as possible even in their own lifetime. It may be well to mention here, that among the numerous proofs that Christ’s personal coming will be premillennial, or before the Millennium of 1000 years, there are six arguments in particular that are specially conclusive. First. The matter is decisively settled by the first resurrection being foreshown in Rev. xx. to occur before the 1000 years, in order that the glorified saints in their raised bodies may reign with Christ over the mortal, unglo¬ rified generations of mankind, who will live on the earth during those 1000 years. In Rev. xix. a description is given of the Marriage of the Lamb, which the Parable of the Virgins alone -would show to be the Union of Christ to Ms raised and translated saints at his Second Advent. After the marriage ceremony, Christ and his saints descend in great majesty to the earth and destroy Antichrist’s Rosts. Then, in the next chapter (Rev. xx. 4), they are represented as having ascended their thrones to govern the spared nations of the earth during the 1000 years, and the revelator specially observes among them “ the souls ” (or the persons, consisting both of body and spirit, as in Acts xxvii. 37) of those who were martyred by the Personal Antichrist, and who now “ lived (e^cra)* and reigned * “ If, in a passage where two resurrections are mentioned, where certain \J/vxcu tXjioav at the first, and the rest of the vtKpoi only at the end of a specified period after that first—if, in such a passage, the first resurrection may be understood to mean spiritual rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising from the grave— then there is an end of all significance in language, and Scripture is wiped out as a definite testimony to anything. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then so is the second, which, I suppose, none will be hardy enough to maintain ; hut if the second is literal, then so is the first, which, in common with the whole primitive Church, and many of the best modern expositors, I do maintain and receive as an article of faith and hope .”—Dean Alford’s Greek Testament , Rev. xx. ADVENT OF CHRIST BEFORE THE MILLENNIUM. 291 ■with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived (etflaav) not until the thousand years were finished. This is the first Resurrection.” It being undeniable that the word “ lived ” means “ were raised up,” it follows that this text alone proves that some f of the dead will be raised up before the 1000 years, involving, of course, Christ’s premillennial Advent to effect their Resurrection. Secondly. The final Battle of Armageddon, which consists principally in an exterminating assault, conducted by Anti¬ christ’s hosts against the Jews, is expressly stated to be accompanied by Christ’s “ coming as a thief ” (Rev. xvi. 15, 16), by his coming from heaven with the armies of his glorified saints (Rev. xix. 8 , 14), by his “coming with fire and with his chariots, like a whirlwind” (Is. Ixvi. 15), by his descent with his saints to the earth, so that “ his feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives” (Zecli. xiv. 4), and by the mani¬ festation of his presence (Ezek. xxxviii. 20); this Hebrew word for 'presence invariably means an actual personal presence, as in Gen iii. 8 , Num. xx. 6 , 1 Kings xii. 2, Is. lxiv. 3). That “ this Battle of that great day of God Almighty” at Arma¬ geddon takes place just before the Millennium is almost universally admitted, and is abundantly evident from the context of the above passages and many parallel texts. All those passages distinctly show that Christ will then come personally, and not merely providentially. Thirdly. In 2 Thess. ii., the Man of Sin, or the Anti¬ christ (1 John ii. 22) is predicted by St. Paul to be de¬ stroyed by the brightness of Christ's corning (ry e 7 n<£ama t 77 s TTapovenai) by the appearing of his presence, which must mean Christ’s personal coming; for, in every instance in which either of these two Greek words are used in the New Testament, they invariably denote actual personal presence, as shown elsewhere in this chapter. That Antichrist’s destruction will be antecedent to the Millennium is ad¬ mitted by all standard expositors ; for, of course in a time of universal righteousness there can be no Antichrist, nor any mystery of iniquity, which, as St. Paul implies, was to continue to work from his own day until it issued in the revelation of the Man of Sin. The same prediction is also given in Dan. vii., where Antichrist, or the Little Horn, is foreshown to perish, together with the Roman Empire, at 292 THE SECOND ADVENT PREMILLENNIAL. the visible Advent of the Son of Man, whose millennial kingdom is then established over the nations of this earth. Fourthly. The Great Tribulation, and time of trouble and distress of nations, such as never has been, or shall be, obviously precedes the Millennium, for it is emphatically defined to be at the close of the times of the Gentiles, or present Gentile dispensation, just before Jerusalem shall cease to be trodden under foot (Luke xxi. 24-27), and also just prior to the time of Millennial blessedness (Dan. xii. '12, 13), and as soon as “ the Gospel is preached for a witness to all nations,” which is already the case (Matt. xxiv. 14, Mark xiii. 10), and likewise at the time of the Personal Antichrist’s cruel oppression of the Jews, and persecution of Christians for 3-J years (Dan. vii., xii., Rev. xi., xii., xiv.), which issues in the Battle of Armageddon.* But this great tribulation, or time of trouble, is again distinctly stated to be the time of the resurrection (Dan. xii. 1, 2), which necessarily involves Christ’s Advent, and also to be accompanied by Christ’s “ coming in a cloud, with power and great glory, and sending forth his angels to gather in his elect (Matt. xxiv. 29-31, Mark xiii. 24-27, Luke xxi. 27), and to be at the time of the seventh or resurrection trumpet (Rev. xi. 15-19). By this line of argument, therefore, Christ’s personal return is demonstrated to precede the Millennium. Fifthly. The Scriptures foreshow that the earth will be increasingly wicked until the Second Advent of Christ, but will be universally righteous during the Millennium, ■which must, therefore, necessarily be subsequent to that Advent. The Apostles spoke of the period in which they were living as the last time (1 John ii. 8), these last days (Heb. i. 2), these last times (1 Peter i. 20), and they predicted those last days, or times, to be characterized by continu¬ ously increasing wickedness until the coming of Christ— “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter * The Battle of Armageddon (Rev. xvi. 14, 16, xix.), in which Gog, of the land of Magog (Ezek. xxxviii.), is the great Comman- der-in-Chief, and which is before the Millennium, (is wholly distinct from the battle of Gog and Magog (Rev. xx.), which is at the end of the Millennium, and in which the descendants of the premillen- nial Gog and Magog nations are specially prominent. WICKEDNESS OP THESE LAST DAYS. 293 times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy,” 6na-tTai, Heb. ix. 2S) ... 34. I tell you that in that night two men shall be in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left, &c. Luke xxi. 35.—For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 1 Thess. v. 2, 3.—The day of the Lord so cometli as a thief in the night. 3. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. Another class of texts represent the Second Advent as taking place at a time of great affliction and calamity :— Dan. xii. 1, 2.—And at that time ( the time of the end, Dan. xi. 40), shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a TIME OF TROUBLE, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time ; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, &c. (This resurrection is necessarily at the Second Advent). Matt. xxiv. 15-31 (and similarly in Mark xiii. 14-27).—When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, &c. . . . woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. . . . for then shall be GREAT TRIBULATION, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should NO FLESH. BE SAVED, but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Then, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets.Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming, in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he 302 THE TWO STAGES IN THE ADVENT. shall send liis angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds. (This is the second translation at the second stage in Christ’s Advent, after the 3| years’ tribulation.) Luke xxi. 25-27.—And there shall he signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory. Rev. xvi. 17-21.—And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, it is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone the weight of a talent; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. (The year-day fulfilment of this 1th vial with its terrific judgments clearly lasts for 4 or 5 years before the end of this dispensation.) Zech. xiv. 1-4.—Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. The Old Testament prophecies also abound with intima¬ tions (Isaiah ii. 12, xiii. 6, xiv. 17, xxiv., efec.), that the day of the Loud, that is, the epoch when the Lord comes to judge the world, will be ushered in with scenes of apalling de¬ solation. These scenes are further described in detail in the literal-day fulfilment of the seals, trumpets, and vials, in • Revelation, during the final five years. It is evident, then, that the two classes of texts above mentioned give two very different descriptions of the earth’s condition at Christ’s Second Advent, and there¬ fore refer to two different stages in his Advent; for it is obvious that mankind cannot be said to be eating and THE COMING DISTRESS OF NATIONS. 303 drinking, that is, luxuriously indulging in banquetings and revellings, while there are dreadful famines and pestilences (Rev. vi. G, 8, xi. 6), and “ the curse hath devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate : therefore the in¬ habitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” (Is. xxiv.). Nor can they be planting and building while the earth is rocking to and fro with an earthquake so mighty and so great as was not since men existed, and the cities of the nations are falling, and every island and mountain are being moved out of their places (Rev. vi. 12, xvi. 18). Nor is it likely that they will be marrying and giving in marriage, and entertaining each other at wedding feasts, while hail and fire, mingled with blood, is being rained upon them, and the tor¬ menting stings of scorpion locusts are driving them to seek for death without being able to find it, and the third part of them is being killed during a year and a month (literal-day, Rev. viii., ix.); this being the time, also, when marriage, in common with all other Christian rites, will be almost entirely abolished during the Infidel Antichrist’s 3|- years’ universal supremacy, and slaughter of the saints. Moreover, it is not credible that the tribes of the earth will be crying Peace and safety, while peace is taken from the earth (Rev. vi. 4), and all nations are gathered to Jerusalem to battle (Zech. xiv. 1, Rev. xvi. 14), and they are mourning because of the signs of Christ’s coming, and their hearts are failing them for fear, and they are blas¬ pheming because of the plagues of the literal-day seals, and trumpets, and vials. Nor can people generally be said to be buying and selling at a time of which it is declared, “ Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketli it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be as with the buyer so with the seller. . the land shall be utterly emptied and spoiled,” etc. (Is. xxiv.) In short, the desolate and woeful condition of this earth dur¬ ing the 34 years’ tribulation preceding Christ’s descent upon it, will not in the least resemble the peaceful and prosperous state of the antediluvian world, and of Sodom, before their sudden destruction. A careful comparison of the two classes of texts which are cited above, shows, then, that there are two distinct acts, or crises, or stages, in Christ’s Advent. First. He comes “into the air” (1 Thess. v. 1G), to raise, the sleeping 304 Christ’s coming is not his appearing. saints, and take the Wise Virgins, while the world is wrapped in the slumber of apathy and carnal security, profusely indulging, as in Noah’s day, in all the pleasures and enjoy¬ ments of this life. Secondly. After a time of unexampled trouble has run its course, during which, the general convic¬ tion that Christ has come, or is coming, will lead multitudes, in their bewilderment, to rush from unbelief into the opposite extreme of credulity, and eagerly follow after false Christs, who will arise and work great miracles, the Sign of the Son of Man will suddenly appear in the skies, and he will descend on the earth and slay all the unrepentant. III. Two different Greek words, 7 rapovana and oric^aveia are used in Scripture to describe the Second coming of Christ,—the one signifying.only His actual personal presence transferred to the vicinity of this earth, the other denoting the subsequent appearing or open manifestation of that presence. There are thus two distinct stages in His Advent. A careful comparison of the passages in which these two words are employed to describe the Second coming of Christ, shows that the irapovcna (parousia), or presence of Christ, is spoken of with reference to the first stage of His Advent, when He comes “ into the air” (1 Thess. iv. 16, 17), with the spirits of His deceased saints, and reunites them to their raised bodies, and when the world is as prosperous as in Noah’s day; but the e7n<£aj/eia (epiphaneia), or visible ap¬ pearing of Christ, is the term used in reference to the second stage of His Advent, when every eye will see him descending- in glory, after the subsequent 3^ years’ Great Tribulation, to destroy Antichrist by the appearing of His presence (e-ma.veta ty]j irapovirta'). 1 Thess. ii. 19. What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming (in tii aiiTov 7r apovTia). 1 Thess. iii. 13. To tho end he may establish your hearts unblame- able in holiness before God, even our Father - , at the coming (iv t-T; irapovaia) of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. 1 Thess. iv. 15. We which are alive, and remain unto the coming (tU tiiv irapovaiav) of the Lord shall not prevent (be before) them which are asleep. 1 Thess. v. 23. And I pray God your whole soul and body be pre¬ served blameless unto the coming (ivTg irapovTia) of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thess. ii. 1. Now we beseech you, brethren, by (concerning) the coining of our Lord Jesus Christ (virtp tI/s irapova-utf)^ and by our gathering unto him, that ye be not shaken in mind. 2 Thess. ii. 8. Shall destroy with the brightness of his coining (rijs irapovcrtas'). James v. 7. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord (t«s tt}s 7T up over lav too K-upiov). James v. 8. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh (g irapovsla too K vpiov ijyytKt). 2 Peter iii. 4. Where is the promise of his coming ? (tt;s 7rapowi irapovuia) of Titus. 2 Cor. vii. 7. And not by his coming only, &c. (tv xrj -rrapovviit). 2 Cor. x. 10. But his (Paul’s) bodily •presence (if <$£ Trapovcna 'tov a-wpaTov) is weak. Phil. i. 26. That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Christ Jesus for me by my coming (Sia -rij? t/ojsir apovmas) to you again. Phil. ii. 12. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only (si/ tij irapovain uou), but now much more in my absence. 2 Thess. ii. 9. Even him (the Man of Sin) whose coining (ov ii irapuvTia) is after the working of Satan. 2 Peter iii. 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming (tiiv crapovmav) of the day of God. 2 Peter i. 16. F or we have not followed cunningly devised fables U 306 TWO STAGES IN CHRIST’S ADVENT. when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (tijw -rrapovcnav), but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. The word em^aveia, translated appearing or brightness, occurs only in the undermentioned six passages in the New Testament, and in the first five of them refers to Christ’s second advent. 2 Thess. ii. 8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spjirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness oj his coming (tirKpaueia t>js rrapoumas auTov). Titus ii. 13. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious ap¬ pearing (arujiavtiav rrjs of the Great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ. 1 Tim. vi. 14. That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing (ptxP 1 tijs £-n- Laveias) of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Tim. vi. 1. I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing (Kara tijw emcjiavELav) and his kingdom. (His millennial kingdom is here plainly implied to be subsequent to his appearing.) 2 Tim. iv. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also who love his appearing (tijv nruhavtiav avrov ). 2 Tim. i. 10. But is now made manifest by the appearing (Sia -rijt nricjiaveias) of our Saviour Jesus Christ. (This refers to the first advent of Christ.) In the foregoing texts Christians in general are hidden es¬ pecially to look for and love the epiphaneia of Christ, because it alone, and not the parousia, will be an object of sight; and the consummated blessedness of the world will not be brought in at the parousia, but at the subsequent epiphaneia. More¬ over, the epiphaneia of Christ will be manifested to the wise virgins at his parousia , although not to mankind generally until a later period. The fact that these two Greek words invariably denote the I bodily personal presence of the individuals to whom they relate, is one of the strongest arguments against the post- millennial delusive theory, according to which they are inter¬ preted to mean a mere spiritual or providential coming. It is also similarly apparent that the Man of Sin must be an individual person, and not a mere system, since his parousia is spoken of in 2 Thess. ii. 8. WISE VIRGINS ESCAPE THE TRIBULATION. 307 IV. A distinct promise is given in Luke xxi. 36, and Eev. iii. 10, that those who faithfully watch for Christ’s Advent shall be kept altogether out of the hour of temptation, that is, the 3] years’ Great Tribulation. Our Lord having described in Luke xxi. the wars, pes¬ tilences, famines, fearful signs in the heavens, and the desola¬ tion of Judea by invading armies, which was fulfilled, typi¬ cally, at the destruction of Jerusalem, but which will take place antetypically during the four or five years time of trouble preceding His descent upon Mount Olivet, then says (ver. 28, 36) : “ When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. . . . Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be accounted to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before (ep.-rrpoaOev') the Son of man ” ( i.e ., to stand accepted as objects of His complacent approba¬ tion, as the Greek expression denotes — compare also Jude 24, Rev. vii. 9). This passage clearly shows that at the very be¬ ginning of these things that shall come to pass, namely, the four or five years’ final tribulation, all expectant believers in Christ’s speedy advent, who have watched the signs of the times and prayed for deliverance, shall escape (eKv yet) the tribulation by being caught up to the heavens to stand in the presence of the Son of Man. The same truth is stated in Rev. iii. 10, in the Epistle to the Philadelphian Church, which represents Christians who really believe in the nearness of Christ’s Advent ; for the seven epistles have long been considered to be prophetic deli¬ neations (1) of the leading features of Christ’s Church during seven successive periods in this dispensation, and (2) probably of seven different classes of Christians existent at Christ’s coming. The Philadelphian condition of the Christian Church commenced at the French Revolution in 1793, for since that era the Church has been strikingly characterized by a con¬ tinually increasing expectation of Christ’s speedy advent, as evinced by the rise of numerous speakers and writers on the subject. To Philadelphian Christians who really cherish this expectation, it is promised, “ Because thou hast kept the word of my patience (the injunction to watch patiently for my advent), I also will keep thee from (ck, out of) the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world to try them that u 2 308 PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS. dwell upon the earth.” This hour of temptation has certainly never yet come upon all the world; and it is manifestly identical with the Wild Beast’s hour of supremacy over the ten kings (Rev. xvii. 10), and the hour of Babylon’s judgment (Rev. xiv. 7, xviii. 10, 17, 19), in other words, with the final 3|- years’ great tribulation, or infidel persecution. The word hour in the year-day fulfilment of Revelation invariably means years, as is shown by the 3| years in Rev. xi. 11, being called the same hour in Rev. xi. 13. The Philadelphian Christians who really love and look for Christ’s appearing (2 Tim. ii. 8, Heb. ix. 28), will be alto¬ gether kept out of this 3| years’ hour of temptation, by sudden and simultaneous translation from the earth to the heavens. The Laodicean Christians, many of whom will be pious, but unwatchful and unbelieving in regard to the Second Advent, will be left behind to experience the terrors of the hour of temptation , and if they survive will be translated at its ter¬ mination, just before the Lord descends in visible glory at Armageddon (Matt. xxiv. 29-31). They are pictured as being unclothed, and the shame of their nakedness appearing ; and under the year-day sixth vial, Rev. xvh 15, it was threatened to him who would not watch for Christ’s coming, that he should walk naked and they should see his shame. The remarkable correspondence between the phraseology of these two passages plainly shows that the Laodiceans have been left in a naked and shameful condition, because they failed to watch for the Lord’s coming, while the Philadelphians have been taken away from the approaching woe. Gracious promises are nevertheless held out to the Laodiceans, in case of their repentance, and it is believed that these promises will be savingly appropriated by millions, during the interval of about five years between the two translations. V. In the Parables of the Ten Virgins and of the Marriage Supper, and in the Narrative of the Wise and Evil Servants, the Wise Virgins and Wise Servants are an earlier ingathering and the Foolish Virgins and Evil Servants are a latter ingathering, to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. (Matt. xxv.; Luke xiv. 22, xii. 42 ; Matt. xxiv. 45.) The word Then, with which Matt. xxv. begins, shows that the Church is not likened to Ten Virgins, until the THE FOOLISH VIRGINS FINALLY SAVED. 309 period of Christ’s Advent, which had been spoken of in Matt, xxiv.; at first the foolish as well as wise virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom, but while he tarried they all slumbered, and remained asleep until the sounding of the midnight cry. This cry (verse 6), at which all the virgins will arise from their previous slumber, has not yet been fully raised; but probably when the covenant between Napoleon and the Jews is confirmed, attention will be directed far more generally to these prophecies, so that nearly 1 all pious people will give some sort of heed to them. The wise virgins are those who have before-time obtained some of the oil of prophetic knowledge and of belief in the nearness of Christ’s Advent, but who have relapsed into a state of unwatchfulness, until they are aroused by the midnight cry, and acquire a renewed belief in the proximity of Christ’s coming, so as to be caught up at his Advent in the air before the 3| years’ tribulation. The foolish virgins are not unconverted nominal professors, but really converted, regenerate believers, and, as such, sure to be eventually saved; for a person who is once truly bom again or converted always remains so, and, however great a backslider, is certain to be ultimately saved. (Phil. i. G; John x. 28.) Their lamps had once been lighted with the flame of genuine piety, although now almost going out through unwatchfulness ; they were also virgins betrothed to the Bridegroom, notwithstand¬ ing their being foolish ; and they arose and went out to meet their Lord—an act which can never be ascribed to the uncon¬ verted. They represent, in truth, the numerous class of pious persons who do not believe in the speedy .advent of Christ, and who will be beginning too late to investigate the subject, when He suddenly comes. It should be noticed that it is not said to the foolish virgins, “ Depart from me,” but only, “I know you not,” which denial of them is virtually implied in the very act of leaving them behind. Nor are they thus addressed by Christ in his character as a Father, Redeemer, or .fudge. It is only as a Bridegroom (Matt. xxv. 1, 5, 6, 10) that He “knows them not,” because they lack the spirit of the Bride. But they afterwards obtain the oil of prophetic knowledge and of belief in Christ’s speedy advent, and though left behind at the ante-tribulation first translation, are yet, if surviving, caught up in the second translation, about five years later. 310 CHRIST COMES BEFORE NAPOLEON’S 3£ YEARS. Rudolph. Stier, Olshausen, and Dean Alford, in their Com¬ mentaries, and Dr. Seiss, of Philadelphia, in his exposition of this Parable, severally interpret the foolish virgins to be lukewarm, but yet in the main real Christians, that may finally be saved. Similarly, the wise and evil servants described in Luke xii. 42, Matt. xxiv. 45-51, are equally true servants of Christ, but the evil servants are in a backsliding state, thinking inwardly that the Second Advent is many years distant, and uniting with the wicked in persecuting those who proclaim the imme¬ diateness of the Second Advent. They will, therefore, be cut off (marginal reading) and appointed their portion with the hypocrites during the 3|- years’ great tribulation, where there shall he weeping and gnashing of teeth ; but, being totally dis¬ tinct from the hypocrites, in whose company they are shut out from the first translation, they will ultimately be saved. The parable of the Marriage Supper (Luke xiv. 22, 23) clearly represents the two translations or ingatherings to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Matt. xxv. 10 ; Rev. xix. 7) j the second company of guests, which is much more numerous than the first, and which comprises a worse and more neg¬ lected class of society, evidently representing the second- translation saints-—the harvest of Rev. xiv. 15, and great multitude of Rev. vii. 9. The ingathering of the saints to Christ is also referred to in Matt. xxiv. 28, and Luke xvii. 37—“Wheresoever the carcass (or body) is, there will the eagles be gathered together,” for the Wise Virgins will mount up with wings as eagles (Is. xl. 31), to meet Christ at His coming in the air. VI. The ultimate literal day fulfilment of the prophetic vision of Revelation obviously lasts for rather more than 3 h years (Rev. xi. 2, 3, Ac.), and is shown by the scenery of Rev. v. not to begin until after Christ has come and taken up the raised and translated saints to the heavens. At the commencement’ of the Apocalyptic visions, St. John saw a door opened in heaven, and beard a voice as of a trumpet saying to him, “ Come up hither,” and imme¬ diately he was caught up to heaven, and beheld twenty-four elders sitting around the throne, with crowns on their heads, and crying out simultaneously with the four living crea¬ tures, “ Thou hast redeemed us to God, by thy blood, out of SEALS NOT OPENED UNTIL CHRIST’S ADVENT. 311 every kindred and tongue and people and nation.” A book sealed with seven seals was at the same time delivered to the Lamb, who forthwith proceeded to break the seals, and during the successive opening of them, within a period of rather more than 31 years, certaiu events took place as recorded in Rev. vi., vii., viii. 1, and xix., until at last after the seventh seal the Lamb’s marriage occurs, and then He descends with all his saints to destroy Antichrist and reign upon the earth. In these scenes St. John is a symbolic or representative man, as in Rev. x. 8-11, and his ascension into the door of heaven in response to the invitation, “ Come up hither,” repre¬ sents the ascension of the Wise Virgins at the Second Advent. The twenty-four elders are the representatives of the raised and glorified saints, and the fact of their having CROWNS upon their heads incontestably shows that the first stage in Christ’s coming or appearing must have taken place, for Paul and Peter expressly intimate that the saints will not receive their crowns until that period; (2 Tim. iv. 8; 1 Peter v. 4). More¬ over, the exclamation, “ Thou hast redeemed us,” manifestly implies that their bodies are now redeemed from death and ransomed from the grave (Hosea xiii. 14 ; Rom. viii. 23), by the resurrection which occurs at the Second Advent. Nor can the opening of the seven-sealed book of life, containing the names of the redeemed, be reasonably understood to take place earlier than Christ’s second coming, especially as this epoch is defined, in Dan. vii. 10, to be the time when the books shall be opened. Again, the mention of men being in heaven at this period, as well as on earth (verse 3), manifestly indicates that the saints in heaven now completely repossess their former humanity as much as people on the earth, and that they are no longer disembodied, incorporeal spirits, but have reassumed their bodies of flesh and bone, which by this time have been raised up from the grave. Thus the scenery and descriptions presented in Rev. v. unmistakably show that the saints are raised and translated to heaven at the first stage in Christ’s Advent (1 Thess. iv. 16, 12), before the subsequent visions of the seals, trumpets, vials, &c., undergo their real literal-day fulfil¬ ment. But it is fully admitted that there has been a sort of typical year-day fulfilment of parts of those visions by way 312 WISE VIRGINS ESCAPE NAPOLEON’S PERSECUTION. of rehearsal on a larger scale, although they are to be hereafter more completely and minutely fulfilled on the smaller literal- day scale. The manifestation of Christ to the Wise Virgins, but not to the world at large, at the first stage in his coming, is fur¬ ther prefigured by His appearing personally to St. John (Rev. i.) before showing him the judgments of the seals, trumpets, / Xa-ra/i/ BatriXcia, not being proper names of any Antichristian persons, can only be collateral and minor fulfilments. (2) It is a man’s name in the re¬ quisite dedicatory form of the dative case (Acts xvii. 23), as the in¬ scription to be imprinted on the foreheads and hands of Antichrist’s worshippers (Rev. xiii. 17). (3) It is a man’s name, radically iden¬ tical with, and the modern form of, Apollyon, or, in the aorist par¬ ticiple, Apoleon, the predicted name of Satan’s last great agent in the literal-day fulfilment of Rev. ix. 11. (4) It is the great dynastic name of the Napoleons — the Seventh and Eighth Heads of the Beast. Rev. xiii. xvii. 1 IL ) Acts NuttoXeoi/. (Greek nominative for Louis Napoleon. ) I The Greek diphthong ou in \o\ni, being sometimes written o, as in \ots, and thus A 30 + o 70+ i 10 + eople, and is the real cause why the long wars in which we have been engaged for the last century and a half have been in the outset deeply checkered with disaster. To this is to be ascribed three-fourths of the debt which now oppresses the energies and cramps the exertions of our people. But several causes, springing from the very magnitude of our former triumphs, have rendered these dispositions in an especial manner power¬ ful during the last thirty years ; and it is the consequence of their united influence which now renders the condition of this country so precarious. “ If it be true, as the wisest men have affirmed in every age, and as universal experience has proved, that the real source of riches, as well as independence, is to be found in the cultivation of the soil, and that a nation which has come to depend for a considerable part of its subsistence on foreign states has made the first step to subjugation, the real patriot will find ample subject of regret and alarm in the present condition of Great Britain. Not only are from twelve to fifteen million quarters of grain, being a full moiety of the national consumption, now imported from abroad, but nearly half of this immense importation is of wheat, the staple food of the people, of which a THIRL) comes from foreign parts. Not only is the price of this great quantity of grain—certainly not less than from fifteen to twenty-five ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 371 million pounds sterling—lost to tlie nation, but so large a portion of its food has come to be derived from foreign na¬ tions, that the mere threat of closing their harbors may render it a matter of necessity for Great Britain, at some future period, to submit to any terms which they may choose to exact. Our colonies, once so loyal, and so great a support to the mother country, have been so thoroughly alienated by the commercial policy of the last few years, which has deprived them of the chief advantage which they enjoyed from their connection with it, that they have become a burden rather than a benefit. One half of our diminutive army is absorbed in garrisoning their forts to guard against revolt. Lastly, the royal navy, once our pride and glory, and the only certain safeguard either against the dangers of foreign invasion, or the blockade of our harbours AND RUIN OF OUR COM¬ MERCE, is fast becoming inadequate to the national defence ; and the commercial navy, its true nursery, is every day less to be relied on : for the reciprocity system, established in 1823, and the repeal of the Navigation Laws of 1849, have given such encouragement to foreign shipping in preference to our own, that in a few years, if the same system continue, more than half of our whole commerce will have passed into the hands of foreign states, which may any day become hostile ones.” The growing peril of England, thus described by the historian in 1851, is manifestly much greater in the present year of 1865, since the recent construction of new fleets by the United States and other nations. It was lately stated in the Daily Telegraph of Nov. 29, 1864—“Recent Statistical reports prove that France, Italy, Spain, and Austria have in commission or in construction seventy-one iron-plated screw ships, mounting altogether 2244 guns. Now this grand total is very near four times greater than the force (of ironclads) we shall have afloat in the course of a few more months, accord¬ ing to the present arrangements. Such a prospect is not one we can contemplate with indifference.” As regards the statistics of Great Britain’s commerce, her imports were valued at two hundred and twenty-six millions of pounds sterling in 1862, at two hundred and forty-eight millions in 1863, and at two hundred and sixty-nine millions. 372 MENACING PERILS IN in 1864 ; and her exports at one hundred and twenty-four millions in 1862, at one hundred and forty-six millions in 1863, and at one hundred and sixty millions in 1864—these exports being entirely of British produce and manufactures ; besides which there is about fifty million pounds sterling annually of foreign and colonial produce exported. Her export and import trade has doubled in the last twelve years* The destruction of this gigantic trade by a blockade of her ports, or by the ravages of privateers in event of War, would in a few months produce such a scarcity of food, want of employ¬ ment, general bankruptcy, ruin, and discontent, that tens of thousands of operatives, and especially the Irish in Liverpool, London, Glasgow, and other cities, would be driven by hunger to act on the principle, “ Necessity has no Law,” and to help themselves to whatever food, was at hand; and the work of plundering once begun, would extend until the whole country was given up to rapine, pillage, and desolation. 4.—England’s Loss of the cordial co-operation and support of her former Great Allies, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and her similar alienation of the other leading nations, leaving her without a single ally in the inevitably approaching wars. This weighty consideration is altogether overlooked by those who foolishly boast that because England overcame France in 1815, therefore she can do so now. Such persons forget that not only had Britain in 1815 the supremacy of the seas and a much larger army than at present, but also she * The above statistics are in the supplement to the London Econo¬ mist Journal, March 11, 1865. The entire British Revenue, raised annually, is about seventy million pounds sterling, out of which the Navy costs ten millions and the army fourteen millions, and the in¬ terest on the National Debt of nine hundred millions is annually about thirty millions. The Federal United States’ National Debt is calculated now in March, 1865, to be about five hundred million pounds. A pound is nearly equal to five American gold dollars. The population in Great Britain is about twenty-four millions, and Ireland six millions: in the United States, at the beginning of the war in 1861, about twenty millions in the Northern States and ten millions in the Southern seceded States, of whom four millions were slaves. ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 373 had the all-important hearty co-operation and alliance of the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian Powers. During the last fifty years, however, she has unfortunately managed (in the words of the historian quoted below) “ to irritate those Powers beyond forgiveness” by her foreign policy, and by giving moral if not material support, and the loudly expressed sympathy of her people and of her public journals, to any revolutionists or assailants who tried to overthrow the despotic governments of those Powers ; as for instance, in the uprisings of Kossuth and the Hungarians, and of the Italians in Lombardy and Venetia, against the Austrian Government, and in the revolt of the Poles and the Crimean war of the Turks and Anglo-French armies against the Russian Govern¬ ment, and in the recent defensive war of Denmark against Prussia and Austria, on which occasion the two latter nations plainly enough displayed their contempt and hatred toward Great Britain. In fact a free country, in which shelter and sympathy are given to political refugees and revolutionists, must necessarily be regarded by neighbouring despotic governments with jealousy and dislike. For this as well as other reasons, the present alliance between France and England can only be of a brittle and transitory nature, as will soon be discovered, when Louis Napoleon's plans for the humiliation of his hereditary antagonist are fully matured. On these points Sir Archibal Allison thus speaks in the Preface to his History of Europe from 1815 to 1852 :— “Tocomplete the perils of Great Britain, arising out of the very magnitude of its former triumphs and extent of its em¬ pire, while so many causes were conspiring to weaken its internal strength, and disqualify it for withstanding the assault of a formidable enemy, others, perhaps more pressing, were alienating foreign nations, breaking up old alliances, and tend¬ ing more and more to isolate England in the midst of Euro¬ pean hostility. The triumph of the democratic principle by the Revolution of 1830 in France, was the cause of this ; for it at once induced an entire change of government and foreign policy in England, and substituted new revolutionary for the old conservative alliances. Great Britain no longer appeared as the ■champion of order, but as the friend of rebellion ; revolutionary dynasties were, by her influence, joined 374 MENACING PERILS IN Nvitli that of France, established in Belgium, Spain, Portugal; and the policy of our Cabinet avowedly was to establish an alliance of constitutional sovereigns in Wes¬ tern, which might counterbalance the coalition of despots in Eastern Europe. This system has been constantly pursued, and for long with ability and success by our Government. Strong in the support of France, whether under a “ throne surrounded by republican institutions,” or those institutions themselves, England became indifferent to the jealousy of the other Continental powers • and in the attempt to extend the spread of liberal institutions, or the sympathy openly expressed for foreign rebels, irritated beyond forgiveness the cabinets of St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Berlin. While the French alliance continued, these powers were constrained to devour their indignation in silence : they did not venture, with the embers of revolt slumbering in their own dominions, to brave the combined hostility of France and England. But all alliances formed on identity of feeling, not interest, are ephemeral in their duration. A single day destroyed the whole fabric on which we rested for our security. Revolu¬ tionary violence progressively worked out its natural and unavoidable result in the principal Continental states. A military despotism was, after a sanguinary struggle, esta¬ blished in Austria and Prussia ; the 2nd December arrived in France, and that power in an instant was turned over to the ranks of those who may one day prove our enemies. Our efforts to revolutionise Europe have ended in the establish¬ ment of military despotisms in all its principal states, sup¬ ported by fifteen hundred thousand armed men : our alliance with France, in the placing of it in the very front rank of what may at some future time become the league of our enemies.” The above-mentioned historical fact that Russia, Prussia, and Austria are now politically alienated from England, remarkably agrees with Prophecy, which shows that, al¬ though those four nations unitedly wounded to death the Napoleon headship over Europe in 1815, yet that England as part of the old Roman Empire is to become a portion of a ten-kingdomed revived Napoleonic Empire ; • while Russia, Prussia, and Northern Austria, being outside the ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 375 Roman Empire, are to be politically separate from the future Napoleonic decem-regal Empire ; although they will be more or less subsidiary and subject to Napoleon’s universal dicta¬ torship, and the massacre of true Christians will to some extent be carried on within their territories for 3|- years (Rev. xiii. 3, 5, 7, xvii.). The wars and revolutions of the next few years are dis¬ tinctly foretold in prophecy to eventuate in the Emperor Na¬ poleon as the seventh-revived head of the Roman Empire, and the Roman Pontiff as head of the Roman Church (represented by the ten-horned and two-horned figures in Rev. xiii.), ob¬ taining and exercising for forty-two months or three and a half years universal “ power over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and making war against the righteous and overcoming them,” especially within the ten kingdoms into which the ter¬ ritory of the old Roman Empire is to be divided. This crisis of 3] years closes with their overthrow at Armageddon just before the Millennium. And about seven years before the Armageddon conflict the political restoration of the Jews to Judaea will be commenced by a seven-years’ covenant between them and Napoleon.* (Rev. xiii. 3, 5, 7 ; xix. 19 ; Dan. ix. 27). The Roman Empire consisted of the northern frontier countries of Africa, and of that part of Europe lying beneath a boundary line drawn from the Clyde to the Rhine as far as Mannheim, thence to Ratisbon along the Danube; and of that part of Asia lying between the Black Sea, Euphrates, and Arabia. The Roman Empire also had its Eastern half separated from its Western half near Belgrade and Tunis, and five kingdoms will be in each half, answering to five * The Jewish sacrifices will be renewed nine or ten months after the Covenant (Dan viii. 14), and the 144,000 wise virgins trans¬ lated to heaven two years and from four to six weeks after that Covenant (Rev. xiv., Matt, xxv., 1 Thess. iv. 17, Rev. xii. 5), and after this the fall of England, and massacre of Christians in the midst of the seven years. As Napoleon’s triumph over England is not indicated to be sooner than 2 or 3 years after the Covenant, it may be inferred that his armies will probably find plenty of work elsewhere until that time. A great war by him against the United States seems close at hand. It must fall under him. 376 MENACING PERILS IN toes upon each foot of the prophetic image. (Dan. ii. 41.) The five Western Kingdoms will in the main be Britain, France, Spain, Italy with Southern Austria, Algeria ; and the five Eastern Kingdoms Greece, Northern Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Tripoli.* These ten kingdoms are to be united in a Congress under the revived Napoleon headship healed of its deadly Waterloo wound, and to be ruled by ten Napoleonic- vassal kings elected by universal suffrage, and receiving power as kings only for the term of 3-g- years (Rev. xvii. 12, xiii. 3, 5, 7), somewhat like Louis Napoleon’s original election by the people as French President for 3|- years. All this has to be accomplished by about 1870, or soon after, as the indicated epoch of commencement of that notable 31- years; and whether it be brought to pass by international wars, internal revolutions, or peaceful diplomacy, the following state of matters—if these prophetic conclusions are well founded—will then be arrived at. (a.) The Napoleonic democratic-despotic principle of electing the Monarch by universal suffrage will come to be fully established in all the ten kingdoms ; because they are prefigured by the ten clay-iron toes of the Image, in each of which the clay of democracy is mingled with the iron of despotism, and because the whole body of the ten-horned Roman Empire is predicted itself to become its own Eighth head, and is scarlet-coloured—the emblem of sovereign power being vested in the people. (Dan. ii. 41, Rev. xvii. 3-11.) (b.) All of the present rulers over those ten kingdoms will then be displaced, because the ten horns or kings are not to receive power as kings, except just during the “ one hour” of “ forty-two months,” or 3^- years (Rev. xvii. 12, xiii. 5). Even Louis Napoleon himself will give up the immediate government of France to one -of the ten horn-kings as his viceroy, and will become the Feudal King of the Ten Kings, who are to “ give their power and strength to him,” as the Eighth Head of the Wild Animal or Roman Empire. (Rev. xvii. 13.) * The reasons for this are more fully explained in chapter ii. sec. xii. of Louis Napoleon the Destined Monarch of the World, and in the forthcoming work, Forty Coming Wonders. See also The Coming Battle. ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 377 (c.) The northern boundaries of Greece will be considerably extended. Syria is to be made an independent kingdom. Napoleon will wage war against Egypt and subjugate it (Dan. xi. 25). The present Turkish Government will be overthrown, and Constantinople and Northern Turkey governed by one of Napoleon’s future ten kings, and therefore cannot permanently fall into the hands of Russia, as has often been expected. It is difficult to see how Russia will be induced thus to abstain from seizing Constantinople and Northern Turkey, which has always been the great object of its ambition. The first Napo¬ leon and the Czar were ready to unite their forces to conquer the world, if they could only have agreed which of them should possess Constantinople. But the third Napoleon is to cut this Gordian knot, and solve the question in his own favour. Russia will probably become, through foreign or civil wars, too weak to resist him, or else be persuaded to take as an equiva¬ lent part of Prussia or Austria, or the Principalities north of the Danube. The present Austrian Empire will be com¬ pletely rent in twain, and its capital, Vienna, and all that part of it which is south of the Danube, and which, therefore, was within the Roman Empire, must be separated from the remainder, such as Bohemia, Moravia, Gallicia, above the Danube, and must become part of Napoleon’s ten kingdoms. If this sub-Danubian separated part is not then made singly by itself one of the ten, it will have to be incorporated with whichever of those ten kingdoms is most suitable ; that is to say, either with France or else with Italy, in which latter case the Danube would become the northern boundary of Italy. Venetia at least may be expected to be reunited to Italy. France will necessarily make Upper Rhine her frontier, and thus annex and absorb Belgium, Rhenish Prussia west of the Rhine, Luxembourg, Baden, Wirtemburg, and most of Bavaria ; Switzerland being then divided between France and Italy. Spain and Portugal also will become one nation. All these changes (whatever may be their relative order of occurrence) are prophetically expected before or very soon after 1870. Whether Germany above the Danube and Russia become fused into one great Muscovite empire, or whether they will exist during the final 3| years under several separate goverments, they will at least be submissive 378 MENACING PERILS IN to Napoleon, because power is to be given him over all nations. (Rev. xiii. 7.) 5.—The Revived Irish Agitation against the British Government is another looming peril in connection with Eng¬ land. Out of five and three quarter million inhabitants of Ireland, fully five million are Romanists, and for the most part would be ready, there is too much reason to apprehend, to aid and assist, rather than oppose, any assault upon England by the eldest son of the Pope. Very many Irish Romanists are also residing in the leading British cities, such as London, Liver¬ pool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester,