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 Lord, David Nevins, 
 
 1792-1880. 
 
 Coming and reign of Christ / 
 

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 TIIE 
 
 COMING AND EEIGN 
 
 CHRIST. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD HAS BECOME OUR LORD'S. 
 
 BY ^/ 
 
 DAVID N. LORD 
 
 NEW-YORK. 
 FRANKLIN KNIGHT, 
 
 133 NASSAU STREET. 
 1858. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 
 
 DAVID X LORD, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of >*ew York. 
 
 .1 . .1 i: k ed, 
 Frist vpcr, 
 
 4.. ( S V. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The object of this work is, to present a brief 
 statement of the principles on which the pro- 
 phetic Scriptures are to be interpreted ; to give 
 an outline of the great scheme of God's govern- 
 ment over the world ; to show that Christ is to 
 come in person and establish his throne on the 
 earth at the introduction of the millennial dispen- 
 sation; to state the great events that are to at- 
 tend and follow his coming ; and to indicate the 
 point which the accomplishment of the great 
 scheme of prophecy has reached, and the princi- 
 pal predictions that are yet to be fulfilled before 
 his advent. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Many Important Prophecies have not yet been Accomplished. The 
 Two Leading Views of the Future Administration over the World they are 
 held to Reveal, -------- 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Their Different Views of the Revelations made in the Prophecies 
 are the result of different modes of Interpretation. The Princi- 
 ples on which Anti-millcnarians proceed in their constructions of them, 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Principles of Interpretation on which Millenarians Proceed. 
 The Laws of Figurative Language, ----- 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Principles of Interpretation; the Laws of Prophetic Sym- 
 bols, -----_.-40 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Redemption of the "World is not to take place under the Present 
 
 Dispensation. Instead, it is a period of trial ; of mixed excitements to evil 
 
 and good, under which men are left to act out their hearts and show that 
 
 they are what God in the work of Salvation contemplates them, - 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The aim of the Present Economy is to Prepare the way for Another 
 Dispensation under which Salvation is to be Extended to all Na- 
 tions and the World Redeemed, - - - - 63 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Manifestations that have already been made of the Hearts of 
 Men, both Unrenewed and Renewed, under this Dispensation, have 
 been very Great and Decisive, ----- 74 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The office of this trial of the Hearts of Men under the Present 
 Dispensation is to Prepare the way for the Salvation of the Race 
 
 AT LARGE THAT IS TO COME INTO EXISTENCE IN THE AGES THAT FOLLOW, 90 
 
VI CONTEN 
 
 CIIAPTER IX 
 Thf Aim of Cra Mrra Tbmpi ' I I' 1 Mn N Th* tJnki of all 
 
 the Iiifallin Orbfl with this Redeemed world in Om Empire under Ills 
 
 iwaj, ........ y4 
 
 OHAPTBB X 
 
 TBI Nj miii i'i i MBM Of Hank- and HotTCOTBI ivimm dm is Exai.t- 
 The whole circuit of the Orbs Peopled by Intelligences, - lUli 
 
 OHAPTEB XL 
 
 TlIF. T.MI MUTANTS OK TUT. BliTlILT WoREDS ARE MADE ATTAINTED WITH 
 
 ID WoiiK of Redemption, ..... 119 
 
 . CHAPTER XII. 
 Christ's Troon in Heaven, u vol the thkone of David, - 130 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Perpetuity of the Human Race, .... 150 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Perpetuity of thf. Hum \n Race, .... 170 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Christ's Second Coming is to Precede thf Mii.i.kvnum, - 18-1 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Christ is to Reign in Person on the Earth di i:in<; m Millennium, 197 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Christ is at His Coming to introduce a New Dispensation, - 210 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 III. is to Institute this X'f.w Dispensation and enter on His Reign 
 id u at thf Destruction of the Fourth Empire under thk SlTUII 
 Trumpet, -------- 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 That Christ is thus to Come and Reign in Person on TnE Earth i 
 I mi IBM Ti:a< niNC. M thk S- ki iti iles, - - - - 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 ( iir.i-i> C.mino — the First QkxAI BtKHTI that are to FOLLOW it — 
 The Resurrection of the Holy Dead.— The Tr;m«-f nnation of Eivii./ 
 lievers, --...... 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Events that are immediately to follow Christ's Coming. — The De- 
 struction of the Anti-Christian Powers— The Binding op Satan, 272 
 
 CHAPTER xxrr. 
 
 Events that are immediately to follow Christ's Coming. — The Judg- 
 ment of the Living Nations. — The Restoration of tho Israelites. — The 
 effusion of the Holy Spirit, ----- 280 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Events that are speedily to follow Christ's Coming. — The New Crea- 
 tion of the Heavens and Earth. — The Earth is not to be Annihilated by a 
 Conflagration, ....... 286 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 The Earth not to be Annihilated by a Conflagration, - 300 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 The Earth is not to be Annihilated at Christ's Coming, - 314 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Events that are to precede Christ's Coming. — The Drying of the Eu- 
 phrates, or Alienation of the People from the National Hierarchies. — The 
 Emission of the Unclean Spirits to Gather the Kings to the great battle 
 against God, ---..._ 328 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Events that are to Precede Christ's Coming.— The Pall of the present 
 Civil Governments of Western Europe, and union of the Ten Kingdoms in 
 One Empire. The Restoration of the Catholic Hierarchies to supreme 
 power, ........ 336 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Events that are to precede Christ's Coming— The Slaughter and 
 Resurrection of the witnesses, .... 342 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Events that are to Precede Christ's Coming. — Tho Close of the Turkish 
 Domination over the Eastern Churches.— The Third Woe, - - 350 
 
VI 11 \ TEXTS. 
 
 chapter xxx. 
 
 ti! m \ i Coming. — The announcement by the 
 
 Angfe] in Mid-heaven, thai th<- Boor of God'i Jn Igmenl is Gome.— Tl. 
 of Jl;it.yloii. Th>: Warning Dot to pay Homage to the Civil Powers rcjiro- 
 scntcd by the- Beast nor to ttM . I by its 
 
 linage, ....--.- 356 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 BTXirTS that are to precede Christ's Coming. — The Sealing of the Ser- 
 vants of God. — The Destruction of Babylon. — Signs of Christ's Coming in 
 the Heavens, and on the Earth, ----- 303 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 The Prophetic Periods of the Apocalypse and Daniel, - 371 
 
 CHAPTER XXX I II. 
 
 The Glorified and the Unglorified of the Race during the Mil- 
 lennium. -------- 398 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Conclusion. — The certainty that these Events are Foreshown. — 
 
 The Children of God generally are to be led ere long to see that this is the 
 
 Scheme of His Government, and to look for the speedy Coming of the 
 
 Redeemer, - .... 419 
 
THE 
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE DISPENSATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MANY IMPORTANT PROPHECIES HAVE NOT YET BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. 
 THE TWO LEADING VIEWS OF THE FUTURE ADMINISTRATION OYER 
 THE WORLD THEY ARE HELD TO REVEAL. 
 
 A large share of the prophecies both of the Old 
 and New Testament, it is generally admitted by 
 those who receive them as a revelation from God, 
 have not yet had their fulfillment. They foreshow 
 an infliction of great judgments on the nations ; 
 a spread of the gospel ; a persecution of God's faith- 
 ful people ; an overthrow of the apostate churches ; 
 a coming of Christ ; a destruction of the persecuting 
 civil governments ; an extinction of idolatry ; a re- 
 surrection of the holy dead ; a judgment of the liv- 
 ing ; a conversion of the nations ; a repeal of the 
 curse of toil, pain, sorrow, and death brought on man 
 by the fall ; a new creation of the heavens and the 
 earth ; a reign of Christ over the ransomed world ; 
 and a variety of subordinate events that are yet most 
 certainly future ; and some of them that are of great 
 significance, it is very generally held, are at hand ; 
 and may probably burst on the world ere the present 
 
10 THE ANTI-MILLEXARUN VIEW 
 
 generation | From the Bcene. The questions 
 
 then, What La the true 1 1 1 « * ; 1 1 1 i i iir of these predicti 
 what ifl it scheme of administration which 
 
 they onfold : what arc the BC6HM of trial and of tri- 
 umph thxragh which they show the foll< 
 Ohrisl are yet to pass ; what is to be the redemj 
 of the nations which he is to accomplish at his com- 
 ing ; and what is to be the scene and nature of his 
 everlasting kingdom — are questions of great moment 
 and entitled to the serious consideration of tl 
 who receive the Scriptures as the word of God. \ 
 dissimilar and in a large measure directly opp 
 
 views are entertained in regard to them. 
 
 A large part of the Protestant churi b in this 
 
 country and Europe, maintain that the-e prophi 
 arc in a great mi significant of events of a dif- 
 
 ferent nature from those which they literally dei. 
 and arc therefore either to be Lnterpr pho- 
 
 rical.er spiritualized as though they were all 
 fhey deny accordingly that Christ is ever to r 
 over the w«»rld in person : that the risen sainl 
 
 i with him here : and that he is io institute an 
 administration over men that will differ essentially 
 from that he is now i They h«»ld that the 
 
 in of providence and the condition o[ the oat i 
 intinue much ■•;- they new leral 
 
 judgment, with the exception that the gospel ie 
 be in Le known to the race universally, ai 
 
 DUjabera arc t,, he converted : that better human 
 to he instituted : the useful ai ' 
 
OF THE FUTURE DISPENSATION. 11 
 
 be much advanced, knowledge more widely diffused, 
 gross crimes prevented, the evils of poverty mitigated, 
 physical suffering greatly diminished, and the race 
 raised to a measure of refinement, virtue and happi- 
 ness, such as only the most favored have hitherto 
 known ; that when a few centuries have thus passed, 
 mankind will reach the end of their career in this 
 world ; that Christ will descend from heaven, and 
 calling the dead from the grave, and judging them 
 along with the living, will then put an end to the 
 multiplication of the race, by transferring the re- 
 deemed to heaven and the lost to the realms of Satan 
 and his hosts, and the earth and perhaps the whole 
 solar system will be annihilated by a conflagration. 
 According to this view, the result of the divine ad- 
 ministration of the world will be, as far as can be 
 judged, the everlasting ruin of immensely greater 
 numbers of mankind, most certainly of adults, than 
 are redeemed ; of the triumph of Satan in destroying, 
 on a vastly greater scale, than of Christ in saving : 
 and the aim of God in the measures of his govern- 
 ment will thence at length be seen to be far more to 
 exemplify his sovereignty and justice in punishing 
 the rebellious, than his power, wisdom and grace in 
 restoring them to holiness and happiness. The work 
 of redemption on this view is to be comprised within 
 comparatively narrow limits — extending to only a 
 small .portion of the fallen ; and to have for its ob- 
 ject accordingly, a mere demonstration that God can 
 have mercy on the guilty consistently with justice 
 
L2 THE mii.u:\ \i:i \\ vu:\v 
 
 and truth, rather than the actual • 
 
 on a scale commensurate with the wonderfulne 
 
 the measures by which salvation is confei 
 
 to continue in bu 
 generations through eternal ages; and its glory th 
 fore will lie chiefly inits showing that he 
 and eauaj if be chose, to the salvation of counl 
 hosts ; — not, as the Scriptui 
 
 haustless riches of the love he actually »s in 
 
 Chrisl and ie to manifest in the complete extric 
 of the nations at length from tl. 
 sin, and elevation to holiness and bL - in their 
 
 successive generations through the round of 
 years. Those who regard this as the scheme of ad- 
 ministration, foreshown in the prophecii ailed 
 Anti-millenarians, and Post-millennialists, becaus 
 their denying the personal reign of Chrisl on the 
 earth during the thousand years. 
 
 A considerable body of evangelical Christians in 
 this country, Greal Britain and Ireland, with many 
 in the British colonies and missions, and a few in 
 Germany, maintain, on the contrary, thai the pr< 
 dispensation is drawing to its close, and that it is in 
 - be marked by avenging jn 
 
 on the nati<»ii>. instead of their eonvei I by 
 
 from the truth, and a i're>h persecu- 
 tion of the witnesses of Jesus ; that at the comm< 
 menl of the Millennium Chrisl is to come in 
 cloud itate poi 1 by the 
 
 wild beast and false prophet, raise the holy dead, and 
 
OF THE FUTURE DISPENSATION. 13 
 
 commence a reign in person over the world ; that 
 the living nations are then to be judged, and those 
 of them not before renewed, that are not consigned 
 to punishment, are to be converted ; that those who 
 are regenerated are to be freed from sin and its curse 
 in this life ; that the earth itself is to be renewed, 
 and be the seat forever of Christ's kingdom ; that 
 the work of redemption, with the exception of a 
 short period during which at the close of the Millen- 
 nium, Satan is to be released from prison, and again 
 delude the nations, is to be continued and embrace all 
 who come into existence from generation to genera- 
 tion through everlasting years. They maintain ac- 
 cordingly, that a new dispensation is to be introduced 
 at the coming of Christ ; that Satan, instead of tri- 
 umphing in the ruin of by far the greatest part of 
 the human family, will be baffled and defeated ; that 
 sin and destruction will be allowed to extend no 
 farther than will serve to prepare the way — by the 
 truths which they set forth — for the salvation of the 
 whole race that comes into existence thereafter ; 
 that Christ's redemption is therefore at length to be 
 a redemption of the whole body of the living nations 
 in their endless generations, and thence is to have 
 a greatness commensurate with the grandeur of God's 
 perfections, the wonderfulness of Christ's incarnation 
 and death, and the benignity and power of the Spirit's 
 influences ; an incomprehensible vastness, a glory 
 ever augmenting and flashing its splendors in brighter 
 and brighter effulgence through eternal ages ; — a 
 
1 1 tiii: DD THE vi; 
 
 trophy worthy in its greatness and beauty of the 
 wisdom, power and Love that rear it. Those who 
 rtain this view of the great scheme revealed in 
 the prophecies, art- called MiUensrians and I 
 millennialists, from their holding that Christ is to 
 come in person at the comm at of the Millen- 
 
 nium, and reign on the earth during the 1 
 denoted by that pei 
 These views of the plan of God's future administra- 
 tion over the world, thus differ from each other in 
 the most essential particulars, and on 
 scale. The work of redemption on the Anti-millen- 
 arian theory, is infinitely less than on the Millen- 
 arian, in its continuance, the number who an 
 share its blee be greatness of the exhibition it 
 
 tonus of God, and the grandeur it reflects on his 
 wisdom. It is altogether incredible, the that 
 
 they can have equal authority from his word. ]• 
 of them is revealed there as the scheme of hifl 
 ministration, the other cannot be. It were to im- 
 peach hifl wisdom and truth : it were to treat 
 word as though it were inadequate a- a guide, to 
 Buppose it to be so indeterminate and equivocal in 
 itfl meaning, that each of th .dlar 
 
 and contradictory may legitimately he deduced from 
 
 it. [fone "1' them Lb true, the other most certainly 
 is not. If one is worthy of the attribut his 
 
 Lisplay them in their fullest efiulgi 1 fill his 
 
 kingdom forever with adoration and joy ; the other 
 must immeasurably mi- \ de- 
 
IS OF GREAT MOMENT. 15 
 
 tract from his glory, and shed a misleading and dis- 
 astrous influence on those who adopt it. The ques- 
 tion then, which of them presents that view, which 
 he has revealed, of the administration he is to exer- 
 cise, is of the utmost moment, and deserves the care- 
 ful consideration of every reader of his word. 
 
16 DIFFERENT PRINCIPLES 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THEIR DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE REVELATIONS HADE IN THE PRO- 
 PHECIES ARE THE RESULT OF DIFFERENT MODES OF INTERPRETA- 
 TION. THE PRINCIPLES OH WHICH ANTI-MII.I.ENARIANS FROCEED 
 
 IN THEIR CONSTRUCTIONS OF THEM. 
 
 Where now lies the reason of the deduction by 
 ihr.M- parties from the Scriptures, of these different 
 views of the divine purposes? Such, diverse and 
 opposite constructions of the same revelations would 
 plainly be impossible, were the rules of interpreter 
 i it 'ii on which they proceed the same. The same 
 laws applied to the same revelations could not yield 
 results so utterly dissimilar. Their belief, according- 
 ly, thai the views they severally entertain, are taught 
 in the Scriptures, is the result of a difference in the 
 principles on which they mala' their expositions. 
 Their modes of interpretation are as unlike as the 
 view- are in which they terminate. 
 
 Thus, the Anti-millenarian obtains his Bvstem by 
 disregarding the established laws of language and of 
 symbols, and ascribing to the prediction- a wholly 
 imaginary and arbitrary signification by a pro 
 
OF INTERPRETATION. 17 
 
 called spiritualization. He has no specific and un- 
 ci pi i vocal proofs of any one of the elements of bis 
 peculiar system of views. He rejects that which is 
 directly taught, and substitutes in its place, as a sort 
 of parallelism to it, an artificial scheme which his 
 fancy has wrought. 
 
 The Millenarian, on the contrary, obtains his 
 views by interpreting the language and symbols 
 through which the divine purposes are revealed, by 
 their legitimate and established laws, and has the di- 
 rect and express authority of the sacred word for 
 every point that he maintains. He takes that which 
 the prophecies mean — interpreted according to the 
 established laws of language, and the principles on 
 which symbols are used, — as expressing the purposes 
 they are employed to foreshow. This statement we 
 may verify by a multitude of exemplifications. 
 
 First. The Anti-millenarians do not allege any 
 positive and explicit proof from the Scriptures of any 
 of the great elements of their system. 1. Thus, they 
 do not allege any passage that directly teaches that 
 Christ is not to come until after the Millennium has 
 passed. There is no such passage in the sacred 
 volume. 2. They do not allege any direct statement 
 that the holy dead are not to be raised from the 
 -rave, till after the close of the Millennium. There 
 is no such representation in the word of God. 3. 
 They do not produce any direct testimony from the 
 prophecies that Christ is not to reign in person on 
 the earth during the thousand years. No trace of 
 
18 Tin: ANTi-Miu.r.x.wn.w gHBOBY 
 
 Mich an intimation • I page. 4. 
 
 They haw nq proofs of their doctrine thai the risen 
 
 saint ■ .11 with Christ in person daring 
 
 that period. 5. They have no direct testimonies to 
 sustain their doctrine thai the nations are to be con- 
 verted I ( second coming. No hint to 
 that effect is found in any of the prophets. 6. They 
 have no direct proofs of their doctrine that the 
 Israelites arc never to be restored t<> their ancient 
 land, aid reorganized as a nation. 7. They havi 
 
 proof that the race i- to complete its num- 
 bers, and the work of redemption < Christ's 
 second coining*. 8. Nor is there anj vela- 
 tion, that the earth is then to be annihilated by a 
 conflagration. Of these great elements of their 
 tem, they have let a particle of direct and explicit 
 proof. They are all the work of mere assumption, 
 inference, or fancy. 
 
 Secondly. Instead of relying on the direct t 
 mony of the word of God to support their 
 they deliberately and systematically set it aside, that 
 they may substitute in its place what they regar 
 a parallel or analogous set of truths. The principle 
 (»n which they proceed is, that the literal is a mere 
 veliich- of the spiritual: that predictions therefore 
 of Christ's coming in person at the period of the 
 overthrow <>f tic I by the fourth 1 
 
 Daniel vii. 13, 14, re predictions of his spiritual 
 
 eoini. dictions that he is then to raise the holy 
 
 ly predictions that he will impart -pin- 
 
OF INTERPRETATION. 19 
 
 tual life to the impenitent living ; the revelation that 
 he is then to reign in person and glory on the earth, 
 is only a revelation that he is to reign by influences, 
 providences, and a moral administration, as he now 
 rules the world ; promises that the Israelites are then 
 to be restored to their land, converted, and distin- 
 guished by favors, as God's chosen people, are only 
 promises of the conversion of the Gentiles ; and so 
 of other prophecies. The specific events that are 
 foreshown, the blessings that are expressly pro- 
 mised, are rejected as mere representatives of a 
 totally different class of events and gifts which they 
 fancy are parallels or counterparts of those which 
 the language and other media of the revelations 
 directly denote. It will be enough to exemplify this 
 system by a single specimen. 
 
 " And it shall come to pass in the last days, the 
 mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in 
 the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills ; 
 and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people 
 shall go and say : Come ye and let us go up to the 
 mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of 
 Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will 
 walk in his paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the 
 law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And 
 he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke 
 many people ; and they shall beat their swords into 
 plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks : 
 nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither 
 shall they learn war any more." — Isaiah ii. 2-4. 
 
20 Tin-: AWOMXVUBABLLB THEOBT 
 
 This aocording to the grammatical meaning of the 
 language, La an explicit prediction that in the last 
 days, the mountain on which Jehovah's temple stands 
 is to '"• established alcove the aejghboring mountains ; 
 
 thai all nations shall go to it for instruction i' -: 
 Lng hie will, because his word La there to be promul- 
 gates ; that he shall judge and rebuke many people, 
 ami that they >hall universally discontinue their wars 
 on each other, and convert their weapon- into imple- 
 ments of agriculture. It Is a specific and clear 
 prediction therefore, that in the lasl days Jehovah is 
 to have a temple on inonnt Zion at Jerusalem : that 
 lie is there to make known his will ; that all nations 
 an- to go there for instruction ; and that they are 
 thereafter forever to live in peace with each other. 
 It implies accordingly the restoration ami convert 
 of the Israelites. It is indeed defined by the prophet 
 as a "word that Isaiah saw concerning Jerusalem 
 ami Judah," ami it closes with a direct appeal to " the 
 house of Jacob t<> come ami walk in tin- light <'t Je- 
 hovah." v. 5. Now those parts of thia prophecy which 
 
 are a! war with their theory of God's purpOfi A 
 ti-millenariaiis reject, and maintain that theyare mere 
 
 vehicles of a wholly different Benae j or representa- 
 tives of a wholly differenl class <>i' objects ami occur- 
 rences. Thus they assume that the Lord's b 
 
 instead of a temple, denotes the Christian church, 
 without any reference t" the Israelites ; that 
 flowing el' all nations t< ( his house Bignifu s theii 
 tering the church : that the desire "t" many people 
 
OF INTERPRETATION. 21 
 
 to receive instruction there, means that they are to 
 desire instruction in the church ; and that the going 
 forth of the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem, is sim- 
 ply the proclamation of the gospel in the church. 
 Now — 
 
 In the first place, This construction is wholly arbi- 
 trary. There is no mention of the Christian church 
 in the passage. There is no object or word in it 
 that stands for the church. Jehovah's temple on the 
 top of the mountains, is not the name of the church, 
 any more than a temple on any other site is. The 
 fancy is altogether groundless and absurd. 
 
 In the next place, There is no principle or law of 
 language by which the passage can have such a mean- 
 ing. They do not indeed affect to found their con- 
 struction on the language of the prediction ; but on 
 the things which it denotes ; and especially the 
 Lord's house, Zion, and Jerusalem. But there is no 
 law by which in the connexion in which they stand, 
 they can denote the church. They cannot by virtue 
 of any thing that is affirmed of them in the passage ; 
 for the imputed meaning is not derived from the 
 language, but from the things named by the nouns 
 house, Zion and Jerusalem. But Jehovah's temple, 
 mount Zion, and Jerusalem, do not stand for the 
 church. They are not any where in the sacred vol- 
 ume declared to stand for it. And they are not used 
 in the prediction as representatives of it. Places and 
 material objects are never used by a figure as repre- 
 sentatives of something differing from themselves, 
 
22 in; ;lli:\ai:ia\ EHBOSY 
 
 except it be by the allegory. Bui this prediction is 
 not allegorical. Jt is not claimed to be such by those 
 
 who tr. at it as i atative : and it cannot b< 
 
 cause there \e no analogy between Jehovah's temple, 
 mount Zion, and Jerusalem, and the Christian church. 
 The temple ii a structure in which worship Lb to I 
 fered to Jehovah ; Zion is the mountain or bill on or 
 near which that temple is to Btand ; and Jerusalem is 
 the city which is to Burround that mount. What can 
 be more incongruous, therefore, than to fancy that the 
 
 structure, the mount, ami the city that surrounds it, 
 
 are representatives of the body of believers that are 
 scattered through t lie various regions of the globe, 
 
 who belong to the Christian church? Ji* they were 
 
 used as representatives on the principles of ana'. 
 the temple would stand for sacred edifices in other 
 
 places in which worship is to be offered to Jehovah ; 
 mount Zion for the sites on which those edii 
 
 ted : and Jerusalem lor the cities or inhabited 
 neighborhoods which are to surround th 
 edifices ; while the Christian asseml 
 
 Worship in th08S structure-, would be re; I by 
 
 the Israelites who are to worship in Jehovah's temple 
 on mount Zion. The construction placed | 
 interpreters on the prediction i< therefore directly 
 against analogy, and confutes itself. Their err 
 
 much such as he would make, who d the 
 
 that the Senate and lb W a&hi] _' D are 
 
 the representatives of the people of the United 
 p, Bhould maintain first that the Capitol in that 
 
OF INTERPRETATION ERRONEOUS. 23 
 
 city ; next, the area in which it stands ; and thirdly 
 the city, or the District of Columbia, that surrounds 
 it, are representatives of the population of the 
 United States ; and should therefore hold, that they 
 fill that office exclusively in all the enactments of 
 the national legislature in which the capitol, the 
 grounds that surround it, and the city or district in 
 which it is situated happen to be named. Can any 
 thing exceed the error and absurdity of such a the- 
 ory ? What expositors of law such interpreters 
 would make ! 
 
 In the third place, There is nothing in the usages 
 of society that gives any authority to such construc- 
 tions of the Scriptures. The principle is absolutely 
 unknown in every other sphere of life, and if intro- 
 duced into laws, titles of property, history, or any 
 other records of human transactions, or opinions, 
 would make their meaning wholly uncertain, and 
 render them worthless. What would title-deeds be 
 worth, if the persons, places, and property named in 
 them, were treated as mere representatives of other 
 persons, places, and things ; and it were left to the 
 caprice or fancy of the judge, whose office it is to ex- 
 pound them, to determine who the represented per- 
 sons, the real owners of the property are ; and what 
 the lands, the edifices, or other things are, the owner- 
 ship of which the documents convey ? What would 
 certificates of stock be worth, if the persons named 
 in them as the owners were not really so, but only 
 representatives of the owners, of whose names no 
 
34 THE AHTI-MILLENARIAN TUEOST 
 
 trace appeared In the certify r any means of 
 
 rmining, or conjecturing who they an 
 Buch a principle of interpreting and oertifi- 
 
 -. and other simi- 
 lar documents, would be ly Like thai on which 
 • interpretei spiritualization of 
 this and the bther proph 
 
 In the fourth place, This method of constructi 
 renders different parts of the Scriptures contradi< I 
 
 tch other, and involves them in infinite confusion 
 and uncertainty. It' u The Lord's h< 
 the Christian church, it plainly does, doI 
 its name, hut solely by virtue <»t" it- 1 
 
 the BtrUCture at Jerusalem I 
 
 ship. But ii' it staml< for the church Bimply hy vir- 
 
 ing what it i-. his temple in Jerusal 
 then it is clear that his temple there in j>; ; 
 must for tin- same reason have Btood for, ami be 
 representative of the church. It' the mere fact that 
 the structure called I L [rich is to be 
 
 bed on or Dear mount Zion in the last day-, is to 
 ■ imple, proves that it Btands lor and D 
 this prophecy the church : then the fact that 
 StmctUTi 5 lomon near that mount. 
 
 called the Lord's house, was his temple; and the fact 
 that the ted by Zerubbabel, on that e 
 
 and enlarged and beautified hy Berod, and called his 
 
 mple, proves that t! 
 and meant the church in all the ] 9 srip 
 
 3 in which ti 
 
OF INTERPRETATION ERRONEOUS. 25 
 
 the catastrophes that are predicted of them, are r< - 
 presentatived of catastrophes that were or are to 
 
 befall the Christian church. The prophecies of 
 Jeremiah and the other prophets of the destruction 
 by Nebuchadnezzar, of the temple erected by Solo- 
 mon, are prophecies therefore of a like overthrow 
 and annihilation of the church ; and Christ's predic- 
 tion (Matt, xxiv.,) of the dissolution, by the Romans, 
 of the temple erected by Herod, so that not one stone 
 should remain on another, is a prediction of a like 
 subversion and extinction of the Christian church. 
 And as neither Solomon's, nor Herod's temple is ever 
 to be rebuilt ; not a particle of the matter indeed of 
 which they consisted being now identifiable by man, 
 it follows that the church, after the annihilation 
 which their destruction represents, is never again to 
 be called into existence. The supposed prophecy in 
 this passage that all the nations are to enter the 
 church ; and the express prediction (Eph. iii. 21,) 
 
 that it IS to Continue elc Tvuaag rug -yeveiig tov alQvog tuv ucuvuv, 
 
 through all the generations of the age of ages, are 
 accordingly directly contradicted and convicted of 
 error ! Such aro the issues to which this theory of 
 spiritdalization leads. 
 
 In the fifth place, It empties the word of God of 
 ;ill certainty of meaning, and enables the interpre- 
 ter to erase from its pages any truth, and insert in 
 its place any error he pleases. The question whether 
 the petsons, places, acts, or occurrences expressed in 
 
 the prophecies are to be regarded simply as repre- 
 
 2 
 
the AHTI-KZLLDfASIAR Tin: 
 
 --•lit ;nl what tli 
 
 arc w hich t! to be decided wholly by 
 
 fancy or caprice of the interpreter. The nature 
 of the spiritualizatioii : that 18,-04? the things thai 
 
 osidered as foreshown, and t!. 
 which it is to be carried, are at his arbitrament en- 
 tirely. It depends on no principle, it is regulafc 
 no law. It may be applied to om r predict] 
 
 rly as another, and may strike from as tl 
 ry futurity that is revealed to ua in the • 
 of God. If Christ's coming in person in tl. 
 of heaven, receiving the dominion of the earth, 
 ding on mount Zion forever, arc to be spiritual- 
 and made to signify only what is called a i'_ 
 ativc coming and reigning, ♦. e^ a positive 
 ing ami iiol-reigning, then his i 
 the dead, the reigning of the risen saints, the con- 
 
 don of the nations, the new creation of the earth 
 and air. and all the other I Vi atfl that are foreahown 
 
 must be ; and the frhole revelation that is made 
 the future is an unmeaning pageant, a mot 
 
 ■hows, that only tantalize and d :.t OUT faith 
 
 and hope. 
 
 This method of construction by which they 
 aside the purposes God I !. and substitute 
 
 othns in their place, i- thus altogether ground] 
 arbitrary, and subversive of the truth. If attem] 
 t<> be introduced into legislation, jurisprudence. <>r 
 any other Bphere, it would 1 
 
 . to truth and right, and would consigD it 
 
OP INTERPRETATION ERRONEOUS. 27 
 
 catea to universal scorn. Yet it is to this system 
 entirely that Anti-millenarianfl are indebted for their 
 
 belief thai their theory of his purposes is taught in 
 the word of God. Let them abandon it, and interpret 
 the prophecies by their proper laws, and their notions 
 of his designs will vanish. 
 
tiik mi: 
 
 CHAPTBB III. 
 
 TnE ram EBPRBTAX1 BIGB mili.f.nakians 
 
 EED. — TnE LAWS or nOURATTVl LASC 
 
 Ix place of that method of interpretation, Mil! 
 rians hold that the prop] ike other parts of the 
 
 Scriptures are to be interpreted by the establie 
 laws of the media or instruments through which they 
 I. If they are language prophecies, like 
 those of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Christ, and Paul, they are 
 to be interpreted by the usual laws of langu \ 
 their grammatical is their true and onrj It' 
 
 they are Bymbolieal, like those i F Daniel and John, 
 they ar»' to be interpreted by t! 
 representation as they ai in the inter- 
 
 pretations that are given by the Spirit of inspiration 
 in those prophecies, and as they are determinable 
 from analogy. The gnat features of tl 
 principles and laws we shall give, as tl pre- 
 
 sented in the Theological and Literary Journal, and 
 
 in The Char nd LaW8 irMive L 
 
 je.* 
 
 * T: id Bud Laws of I 1 N 
 
 Lord, fourth edil 
 
OF INTERPRETATION". 20 
 
 The language prophecies are easily distinguishable 
 from those which are symbolical. The symbolical 
 prophecies were, with few exceptions, revealed to the 
 prophets in dreams or visions, in which the symbols 
 were exhibited to the eye of the prophet. Thus 
 Daniel and John saw the wild beasts, the human be- 
 ings, the angels, and other agents that were symbols 
 through which the revelations made to them were 
 conveyed, and witnessed the actions they exerted, or 
 conditions through which they passed, by which the 
 actions or catastrophes of those whom they repre- 
 sent are foreshown. When the symbolic agents were 
 not exhibited to the prophet in vision, they were ac- 
 tually present to him, and beheld by him naturally : 
 as were the implements used to represent the siege 
 of Jerusalem (Ezek. iv. 1-3,) and the sticks repre- 
 senting the two houses of Judah and Ephraim, 
 xxxvii. 16-20. The symbolical prophecies beheld 
 in vision accordingly are all narrated in the past 
 tense. And had Ezekiel narrated the symbolical 
 acts he was directed to exert, (chap. iv. v. xxxvii..) 
 after he had exerted them, they also would have been 
 related in the past tense. The language prophecies 
 on the contrary, are universally, with the exception 
 of a few expressions, in the future tense ; as the pre- 
 diction respecting Abraham's seed, Genesis xvii. 5-8 ; 
 Chrisi n on the throne of David, Isaiah ix. 6, 7 ; 
 
 the restoration of the Israelites, Isaiah lxvi. 10-:!^. 
 Jeremiah xxx. xxxi ; the conversion of the nations 
 and cessation of wars, Isaiah ii. 2-4. This is a con- 
 
BO tin: mii.i.i:.\.\i:ia.\ m 
 
 Bideration oi ff fche whole 
 
 BJ BteiD Of -pirituali/.atioii, which Ifl QOthJ I han 
 
 the treatment of language propheoiei as though they 
 were symbolical. 
 
 Of the language propheoiei also, thai which is lit- 
 eral, is easily distinguishable from thai which is figu- 
 rative. No passage or expression is figurative, exoepl 
 such as baa i specific figure in it. An expression! for 
 example, cannot be metaphorical, onleaa it has a meta- 
 phor in it. Jt cannot l»c allegorical, unless it us part 
 of an allegory. It cannot be substitutional, or repre- 
 sentative of one act or condition by another, ui 
 there is a hypocatastasis in it. Tbia ia a truth of the 
 
 utmost importance, as it cuts off Q large class of inter- 
 pretations Anti-millcnarians put upon passages, under 
 the pretext thai they arc figurative, although there 
 ia do figure in them. They are accustomed, when the 
 
 jencies of their theory require it, to treat p 
 ges as metaphorical without a metaphor, as allegorical 
 without an allegory, and aa representative or substi- 
 tutional, without a hypocatastasis. 
 
 Those prophecies ami expressions thai arc without 
 a specific figure, are to be interpreted aa fteral, 
 their grammatical is their true and onl; 
 prophecies and expressions that are figurative, are t-> 
 be inter]. rete'l according t«> the nature of the figures 
 through which they are expressed, and their gram- 
 matical sense when BO interpreted, is their true and 
 
 only 
 
 There are nine figures : the comparison, thfi lif 
 
OF INTERPRETATION. 31 
 
 phor, the metonymy, the synecdoche, the hyperbole, 
 the hypocatastasis, the apostrophe, the personifica- 
 tion, and the allegory. Kadi of these has a nature of 
 
 its own that distinguishes it from the others and from 
 literal language ; each is used on a principle peculiar 
 to itself; ami each has its own special law; and the 
 knowledge of their laws is indispensable to the just 
 interpretation of the predictions that are conveyed 
 through them. The question in respect to the mean- 
 ing of the language prophecies, lies almost wholly in 
 the question what portion of their language is literal, 
 and what portion figurative ; what the figures are 
 that exist in them; and what the principles are on 
 which their figures are used, and the laws by which 
 they are to be interpreted. When the figures are 
 identified and their laws known, their meaning is as 
 easily and certainly determined, as that of literal lan- 
 guage is. 
 
 The comparison or simile, is an affirmation that one 
 thing is like another. In its simplest form it merely 
 asserts the likeness ; in its fullest form, the particulars 
 of the resemblance are stated. The law of this figure 
 is, that the /(rimes of the tilings eomjxired are always 
 used in their literal sense. Otherwise it would not be 
 known what the things are that are compared ; and 
 the force, beauty, and truth indeed of the comparison 
 would be lost. Thus in the Saviour's declaration 
 that, " as the lightning cometh out of the east and 
 shineth even unto the west ; so shall the coming of 
 the Son of Man be," Matt. xxiv. 27, if " the lightning" 
 
t used liten !!;. to denol 
 tog from of which 
 
 there is do mention in the b bright 
 
 thought darting through the mind-— there can 1 e 
 knowledge what it is to which the coming of th( 
 of Bfi m is compared. And in Like manner, it' ■ 
 coming of the Bon of M I am d literally and 
 
 denotes his personal visible coming in the cloud 
 hut some analogous thing of which th< . 
 no mention in th in invisible influ- 
 
 ence of the Spirit, or an ad of pi 
 there can be no knowledge whal 
 it is declared shall be like the flashing of the Lightning 
 in t] that shii -*. And this 
 
 is of the utmost importance i 
 
 demonstrates that predictions are literal which Anti- 
 millenarians affirm to be figurative. For examp] 
 the prediction, [saiah xxxv. 1, "The wilderm 
 the solitary place shall be glad, and I 
 
 ouns wilder: litary 
 
 place and desert, are held by Anti-millenari..: 
 
 figurative, and to denote nun, or the church ; and the 
 verb blossom to be figurative ah oify that 
 
 the church i- to flourish. .Hut \] •: the 
 
 JOming el' the desert and the bloS80ming of 
 
 r Confutes that notion, and -hows th; 
 
 Boming of th( real ; becan 
 
 like the blossoming of t 
 
 that is t" bloSSOm like l: J ftlso : and the 
 
 liction therefore is a literal j 
 
OF INTERPRETATION. 33 
 
 version of the literal desert, the waste, and the wil- 
 derness, into scenes of verdure, bloom, and beauty. 
 There is a great number of passages in which this 
 figure in like manner confutes the tropical or spirit- 
 ualized- construction put on them by Anti-millenari- 
 ans, and proves them to be literal. 
 
 The metaphor is an affirmation that an agent, object, 
 or act, is that which it merely resembles ; as when 
 God is called a tower, Zion a crown, and the rapid 
 movement of a vessel before the wind, flying. The 
 peculiarities of the figure thus are : 1. That it 
 ascribes to that to which it is applied, something that 
 is not literally true of it, but which it only in some 
 relation resembles. 2. The figure lies entirely in the 
 affirmative part of the proposition in which it occurs. 
 The words tower, crown, and flies, are the only words 
 that are used by the figure in the expressions — God is 
 a tower, Zion is a crown, the ship flies. The nouns 
 God, Zion, and ship, of which the affirmations are 
 made, are used literally. If they were not, there 
 would be no means of knowing what it is of which 
 the affirmation is made. And this law of the figure 
 is of the greatest practical importance, as it precludes 
 a multitude of constructions put by Anti-millenarians 
 on i on the assumption that the name of the 
 
 agent or object to which the figure is applied is used 
 by the figure, as well as the verb or noun of the 
 affirmation. For example, in the prediction, Isaiah 
 xxxv. 1, ' ; The wilderness and the solitary place shall 
 be glad," the nouns wilderness and solitary place arc 
 
TliK MII.l.KN \i:i an TO 
 
 held l>y Anti-millenariani to 
 
 sentativt U as the verb be glad, and 
 
 for human beings or the church, instead of uncultured 
 
 ami desolate regions of the earth. But this law of 
 
 the metaphor .-hows thai the ii.irure is confined to the 
 
 ! : that the QOOne which are it- nomina- 
 
 tiw. are need in their literal and thai the 
 
 diction, then a prediction of a change of the 
 
 wildc nd solitary place Gram waste and d< 
 
 tion, to a verdure and bloom thai shall cause than to 
 
 mble in cheerfulness and beauty the human i 
 tenance when lighted up with gladness. There is not 
 in the whole sphere of Language, a truth of greater 
 
 moment than this : that in the metaphor universally, 
 the nominative or nana' of the agent or ol 
 which the figurative affirmation is made is used in its 
 literal -• ad that the agent <>r object, is the 
 
 subject of that which is asserted in the figurative 
 affirmation, whatever the meaning of that affirmation 
 may he. 
 
 The hypocatastasu rabstitution of an act of 
 
 one kind with its object or conditions, lor another, in 
 
 to set forth and ex- 
 emplify with — that which tl 
 
 tnte is used t.» represent : as when Enoch i- said to 
 u walked with God/ 1 as though it were in a 
 
 path, to Signify that he acted conformably I 
 
 will : or lived obediently to his law. This figure, 
 
 which is wholly unnoticed by rhet* nd crit- 
 
 with the comparison and nieta- 
 
of ixti:i:pukt.\tion. 35 
 
 phor, is of very frequent occurrence in the Scrip- 
 tures. Thus bearing the cross, the instrument of 
 crucifixion, is put for enduring self-denial : " watch- 
 ing," that is keeping awake, unto "all prayer and 
 supplication," for a continual realization of the duty, 
 and a continual earnest offering of prayer ; God's 
 stretching forth his hand, is put for his exerting his 
 power ; and his hewing down the forests of Lebanon 
 with a stroke, for his striking down the army of Se- 
 nacherih, by the blast of the pestilence. It is of very 
 frequent occurrence also in common speech, as wdien 
 a person is said to be wading in deep waters, to sig- 
 nify that he is pursuing a course of great difficulties 
 and dangers ; and that he has anchored his bark in 
 a well-sheltered harbor, to denote that he has placed. 
 his affairs in a state in which they are secure from 
 disaster and disturbance. The principal character- 
 istics of this figure are, 1. That its nominative, or the 
 name of the agent or thing of which the affirmation 
 is made, is always used in its literal sense ; and that 
 that agent or thing is the agent or subject of the act 
 or effect which the substituted act represents. The 
 person who is said to be wading in deep w r aters, is 
 the person who is involved in the difficulties which 
 wading is employed to denote. 2. The figure accord- 
 ingly lies wholly in the affirmative part of the pro- 
 position. 3. It consists in the use of an act with its 
 object or condition, not of words. The words may 
 all be used in their literal sense. 4. The acts and 
 conditions ascribed to the agent accordingly are pro- 
 
Till: MII.I.KXAKIAN V I 
 
 per to his nature. 5. Hi 
 
 by the lh of a wholly different kind from 1 1 
 
 fpr which they are substituted : and mblance 
 
 thai 11 them ifl one .-imply of 
 
 difficulty, bh or weakness, or some other char- 
 
 ri.-tic of* that natur . ] km>\\ l< tliis 
 
 figure and it- Uw - ia also of th 
 importance, as it furnishes the means of overturning 
 a lai ■_ of the constructions by which Anti-mil- 
 
 lenariana s( I the true meaning of th< 
 
 word. 
 
 Tlius it confutes the pretext that the predicti 
 (Jeremiah xxxiii. 15, 16,) relates to the Christian 
 church. ''In those .ml at that time, will I 
 
 cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto 
 
 David j ami he shall execute judgment and r 
 eousness in the land. In those days .-hall Judah be 
 
 Baved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely ; ami this is 
 
 the name whereby he .-hall be called. Th L : 1 our 
 Righteousness." lh as Anti-millenarians hold, the 
 expi " Judah shall 1 Jem 
 
 shall dwell Bafely/ 1 were representative, which I 
 are m.t, it could only be in the affirmative part by a 
 hypocatastasis. Let us then Buppose them to 
 used by thai . and Judah and Jerusalem the 
 
 nominatives of the affirmations, will still be used in 
 
 their literal and the figure will lie wholly in 
 
 the WOrds M I :." and " dwell - 
 
 whatever those words denote, Judah and ■ Jem 
 
OF INTERPRETATION. 37 
 
 will be the subjects of them, and not as Anti-mil- 
 lenarians contend, the Christian church. 
 
 The allegory is the use of agents, objects, acts, him! 
 events of one class or sphere to represent intelligent 
 beings and their acts in another ; as in the allegory 
 of the vine, (Psalm lxxx.,) and of the vineyard, (Isaiah 
 v. 1-7.) The peculiarities of this figure are, 1. That 
 agents and objects in one sphere are used to repre- 
 sent men in another. 2. The agency of the descrip- 
 tive part is always represented as already exerted, 
 that is, the narrative is in the past tense, never in 
 the future. 3. The conditions and acts ascribed to 
 the representatives are always in accordance with 
 their nature. 4. It is always attended by an express 
 intimation who the persons or people are whom it 
 represents. The knowledge of these criteria is 
 also of the utmost importance, as they serve to show 
 that a large class of prophecies that are treated by 
 Anti-millenarians as though they were allegorical, 
 have no trace of that figure in them, and cannot be 
 interpreted as representative, except by the utter 
 rejection of their true, and ascription to them of a 
 false sense. Thus the prophecies of Isaiah lx. lxii. 
 Jeremiah xxxi. xxxii. xxxiii. Ezekiel xxxiv. xxxvi. 
 and man}' others, of the restoration of the Israelites, 
 which Anti-millenarians spiritualize as though they 
 were representative, and therefore allegorical, aro 
 shown to be not allegorical by the simple fact that 
 they are written in tho future and predictive, not in 
 the historical or past tense. This simple test reveals 
 
I \j:ia\ y: 
 
 tin' error of their inl 
 
 which they would erase from th< i volume the 
 
 .t purp sled n the com- 
 
 ing and reign of Christ, end tb option of the 
 
 world. 
 
 i' >i the other figures, the apostrophe, the metony- 
 my, the Byneodoche, the hyperbole, and the- personi- 
 fication, which are of Lose frequeni occurn 
 of Lesi importance in interpretation, readeri 
 ferred to the author's work on thi l 
 and Laws of Figurative L; they arc 
 
 treated at Lai 
 
 All figurative expn in the prophets are thus 
 
 distinguishable with the utmost certainty and i 
 from those which arc literal ; the principles on 
 which the several figures arc used make their mean- 
 ing char and demonstrable ; and they cut oft the 
 spiritualization oi the predictions to which Anti-mil- 
 leneriansare addicted, as absolutely i 
 geometry preclude false pi in that Bci< 
 
 Of the certainty and BSSe with which ti guref 
 
 are distinguishable from literal Lang 
 
 proof ib given in the expositions in the Theological 
 
 and Literary Journal of the first forty chapters 
 
 Isaiah, in which all their -. with the exception 
 
 ibjy of here and there one through inadvertej 
 are pointed out. That these are their Is 
 have demonstrated in a greal numl 
 it is in truth as indisputable 
 
 [Uetry are the law.- of that .-rnnce. ll ifl equally 
 
OP IWTEfiPRETATION. 39 
 
 indubitable also that they and the ordinary princi- 
 ples of grammar are the laws by which the Scrip- 
 tuns are to be interpreted. They are the laws by 
 
 which all other language is explained. They are 
 the only principles of speech. It would be impossi- 
 ble for mankind to communicate their thoughts to 
 each other either by spoken or written words, if 
 they did not designate the agents, objects, and ac- 
 tions of which they treat by their literal and distinc- 
 tive names. Were all literal names of persons, ob- 
 jects, places, acts, and events struck out of a history, 
 and their places supplied by pronominal substitutes, 
 as he, it, they, it is plain that it would be impossible 
 to tell who the persons, what the places, or what the 
 actions and occurrences are to which it relates. Yet 
 such a history would be no more unintelligible than 
 the prophecies are, if as Anti-millenarians assume, in 
 regard to many of them, the persons, places, and 
 events named in them, are not the real persons, 
 places, and events which they foreshow, but are re- 
 presentatives of another set wdiich fancy, conjecture, 
 or assumption is to supply. 
 
 The questions between Anti-millenarians and Mil- 
 lenarians respecting the revelations made in the 
 language prophecies, thus lie almost wholly in the 
 questions, whether those prophecies are figurative 
 or not ; whether they can bo figurative without hav- 
 ing specific figures in them ; whether all the figures 
 there are in them can be identified ; what they are, and 
 what the principles are on which they are employed, 
 and are to be interpreted. 
 
•10 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF l.\ TIoX. 
 
 OH A PTER IV 
 
 TUT. PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION ; THE LAWS 
 
 SYMBOLS. 
 
 Some of ilio revelations Gk>c| has made are convey- 
 ed through symbols in place of language, as most of 
 those of Daniel, and .John, and a part of those of 
 Ezekiel, and Zechariah. The peculiarity of a sym- 
 bolical prophecy is, that it is made through repre- 
 sentative agents, object* and events, on the 
 principle usually of a general, Bometun tact 
 tnblance ; that is the representative arc 
 sometimes taken from one Bphere, and symlx 
 
 agents in another ; as the 1 del acting in 
 
 their proper Bphere in the animal world, an- employ- 
 ed i" represent men in the civil and military world. 
 
 In other i when do Buitable Bymbol of another 
 
 sphere can be found, Ww agent to be represented, or 
 
 of his kind is empL I be Bymbol, 
 
 There are Bomewhat over four hundred Byml 
 employed in the Old and New Testament. They are 
 of different orders, i s, 1. Divine, God the Father 
 Ancient of days, the One like 3 : Mai ,the Lamb, 
 
THE LAWS OP PROPHETrC SYM -1! 
 
 the Word. '2. Created beings, as living creatures, 
 angels, Satan, men-, Bpirits,who are intelligent ; b< 
 monster animals, fowls, fish, insects, that arc unintel- 
 ligent. 3. Dead bodies, as the slain witnesses. 4. 
 Natural unconscious agents or objects, as the earth, 
 sun, moon, stars, waters, a mountain, fire. 5. Arti- 
 ficial objects, as an image, candlesticks, a sword, 
 cities, a crown, books, linen. 6. Acts, effects, char- 
 acteristics, as speaking, flying, fighting. 7. And times 
 and spaces, as days, years, furlongs, length, height. 
 
 The most important of the laws of symbols are, 1. 
 That the symbol and that which it represents resem- 
 ble each other in the station they fill, the relations 
 they sustain, and the agencies they exert in their re- 
 spective spheres; that is, agents represent agents, 
 not acts or effects ; acts represent acts, not agents ; 
 effects stand for effects, and conditions for conditions. 
 Thus the wild beasts (of Daniel vii.,) destroying in- 
 ferior animals, symbolize human kings conquering 
 and slaughtering their fellow men. This law is of 
 great importance, as it shows the interpreter what 
 he is to find in order to a counterpart to a symbolic 
 agent. with its objects, acts, and effects; and cuts off 
 a large class of interpretations in which expositors, 
 disregarding the laws of analogy, exhibit agents as 
 symbolizing acts or events instead of agents, and 
 acts and effects as symbolizing agents, instead of ac- 
 tions and events. 
 
 2. The representative and that which it represents 
 are of different species, kinds, or ranks, in all cases 
 
\: Tin: 
 
 wli. ■ mbol ia of such a nature, d in 
 
 such a relation that it cm properly Bymboliie some- 
 thing different from itself. Tin 
 moment, as it shows tin- interpreter to it be 
 look for the agent thai is symbolised in a different 
 sphere from that of the Bymbol, when an analog 
 
 can be (band ; and calf oil* I r into which 
 
 many hare fallen, that warriors must of con 
 
 bolize warriors, and earthquakes and other COmmO- 
 tionfl in the natural worM, convulsions and 
 
 like themse] 
 :'». When the agents and event 
 
 are of a nature, or arc to appear in conditions, that 
 
 . mbol of a different order can properly reprt 
 them, tl. lt in th< their <>wn sym- 
 
 boL Thnsai at can properly symbol- 
 
 God the Father, or Christ, they appear in the 
 
 visions to foreshow their actual | in the 
 
 scenes which the visioi [ \ ielit 
 
 of «lavs appeared in the vision, Daniel vii. y-14, of 
 the destruction of the fourth beast, and the ini 
 
 of the Son of Man with the dominion of the 
 earth : and the Sou of Man appeared in person in 
 
 the vision of his investiture with the dominion of the 
 earth, Dan. vii. 1:) 1 \ ; and the Word of God in the 
 
 :i of his coming to ; t battle 1 1 1 Al- 
 
 mighty, Rev. xi.\. 11 2] : to w that he if 
 
 - m in the clouds of he:t\ 
 
 when tl: fulfilled. sf< :. lik< 
 
 ir in many of t □ in 
 
 
TIIK LAWS OF TROPIIETIC SYMBOLS. \'\ 
 
 the same spheres and relations, because no other sym- 
 bol could serve to represent them in those conditi 
 
 Such are " the kings of the earth, and the great men, 
 and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the 
 
 mighty men, and every bond-man, and every free- 
 man, who hid themselves in the dens and in the 
 mcks of the mountains, and said to the mountains 
 and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of 
 him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath 
 of the Lamb ; for the great day of his wrath has 
 come, and who shall be able to stand." Rev. vi. 15- 
 17. No inanimate or brute symbol could represent 
 the terror of men at the visible presence and impend- 
 ing wrath of the Lamb, which is here foreshown ; as 
 none but human beings in those conditions are capa- 
 ble of feeling and uttering affections of that kind. 
 To foreshow, therefore, that men are to see the Lamb 
 in the clouds of heaven, are to know that he has come 
 to inflict wrath on his enemies, and are to be over- 
 whelmed with terror at the sight, and fly to the dens 
 and caves of the mountains to escape from his pre- 
 sence, it was necessary that they should be exhibited 
 in their own persons in the vision. And so of the 
 witnesses in their slaughter, and resurrection, Rev. 
 xi. :>-l:> : the resurrection and reigning of the holy 
 dead, xx. 4-6 ; and the resurrection and judgment 
 of the rest of the dead. Rev. xx. 11-15. 
 
 4. When the symbol and that which it represents 
 differ from each other, the correspondence between 
 them extends to their chief parts, and the general 
 
1 1 the rn: nranfetAfl 
 
 ■ 
 
 ]»arts in that whh h i 
 
 w bicb the tempest of M in and fir 
 
 ing i Lintrv, i] 
 
 .-third of t! g the 
 
 •■ itfa disorder and desolation, 1 to 
 
 ! > . T to i Etonian 
 
 in power, rapidity, and r 
 
 - and destructivenese, what that I 
 
 the natural WOrl R Inch it 
 
 ibolicaJ agent must I b in the sphere 
 
 which it filled 
 
 ing, and tractive of life and pro] 
 
 whirlwi vrhichth 
 
 ily would Bymfo 
 ■ 
 
 full; themselves : but there would 
 
 o means of determinin 
 bich tin 
 of the Bymbol to that which it repr 
 
 to a single particular, 
 obje< 
 
 1 millions of oti re would be 
 
 no mean hich, on! 
 
 multitude, is the one the Bymbol rej 
 t. for exam] 
 
 that it Lfi V, 
 
 gyml it which it d 
 
 would be as much - 
 
 
THE LAWS OF PROPHKTie SYMBOLS. L5 
 
 agent BymbofiflM ;l ^ :m y ofner. This law is thna of 
 great importance, and it preclude I number of 
 
 constructions which interpreters have pnt on Bym- 
 
 1m. Is, on the assumption that resemblance in a single 
 particular is all that symbolizatiou involves. 
 
 5. A single agent in many instances symbolizes a 
 combination and a succession of agents ; as the wild 
 
 its of Daniel and the Apocalypse. Times, also, 
 such as days, months, and years, represent combina- 
 tions of days, and successions of months and years. 
 
 6. The names of symbols are their literal and pro- 
 per uam 
 
 These laws are deduced from the interpretations 
 ymbols that are given by the Spirit of Inspiration 
 in the prophecies themselves ; and that fact, their 
 conformity to the principles of analogy, and the con- 
 tit solutions to which they lead of the symbols 
 that are not interpreted by the Spirit, amply estab- 
 lish this truth. The interpretations given by the 
 Spirit, amount to about one hundred and fifty, and 
 include at least one of each class of symbols, and 
 many of the most important of the leading classes ; 
 and they are all in accordance with and exemplifica- 
 tions of these laws. No higher proof can be asked of 
 their truth, and adequacy to the interpretation of 
 36 parts oi the symbolic prophecies that are yet 
 to be fulfilled. They equally also with the laws of 
 literal and figurative language, cut off the spirituali- 
 zation of the predictions of Christ's coming, and the 
 resurrection of the holy dead at the commencement 
 
•l«i Tin: PRIJI [OH. 
 
 of the millennium ; 
 
 coming in the clouds, Daniel \ii. l:;. l }. m he bimeelf 
 >li«.w a, Matt. \w i. ». 1. ;tn<l hie coming with ti 
 ofh< . U .. \i\. 11 21, symbolise hie literal com- 
 t the time to which thoee vision i the 
 
 irreotiOD <»1* the holy dead in the 
 
 1 6, symbolises their real resurrection at the |- 
 bich that vision refers. 
 These brief statements w ill enable tin- r 
 what the distinguishing principles are on which the 
 symbolic prophe interpreted, and 
 
 manner in which they demoi that Chri 
 
 come in person at th d of the ]>« - 
 
 noted by the wild beast and his armi the holy 
 
 dead, and enter OD a literal reigD OD the earth. T 
 
 who full exhibition of the snbj erred 
 
 to the Theological and Literary Journ . tally 
 
 vol. i. ]>j». 177 256 : vol. iii. I : VoL vii. 177 
 
 217, 886 H h 57( ad the Premim 
 
 by the Rev. B. VYinthrop. 
 
PECULIARITIES OF THE TIME OF CHRIST^ REIGN. 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE REDEMPTION OF THE WORLD IS NOT TO TAKE PLACE UNDER TOE 
 PRESENT DISPENSATION. INSTEAD, IT IS A PERIOD OF TRIAL; OF 
 MIXED KX< TTEMENTa TO EVIL AND GOOD, UNDER WHICH MEN ABE 
 LEFT TO ACT OUT THEIR HEARTS AND SHOW THAT THEY ARE WHAT 
 GOD IN THE WORK OF SALVATION CONTEMPLATES THEM. 
 
 It is held by those who deny Christ's personal 
 reign on the earth, that the conversion of the nations 
 and prevalence of righteousness and peace foretold 
 by the prophets, are to take place under the present 
 dispensation, and through the agencies and instru- 
 mentalities that are now employed for the communi- 
 cation of the gospel to men, and their deliverance 
 from the thraldom of sin. That belief, however, is 
 not only without authority from the sacred word, but 
 is against its express and ample teachings, and be- 
 speaks a mistaken notion both of what the condition 
 and character of mankind are to be during the period 
 to which those prophecies refer, and what the pecu- 
 liar office is of the present dispensation. 
 
 What i< it then that is specially to distinguish the 
 period of Christ'fl triumphant kingdom on the earth? 
 
i culiaril 
 
 n «.\ er it, and I • with him of the i 
 
 and . ■ ied by I 
 
 who maintain that be U D Only by i n ll n • I 
 
 of the Spirit and by 1.. ■■■• h '1 
 
 however, other characteristics of the period thai 
 Bean . cilable -with ti All 
 
 the nations are to . L All 
 
 individuals are to be ri .21. 
 
 earth is to be full of the knowli 
 the wato , Eaaiah u. 9. 1 
 
 . Mankind are to be wholly 
 
 i un- 
 in, nor I 
 war any more, Isaiah ii. 1 ; lx. IT. l v . T 
 be no persecutors, no cruel oppn 
 and enslaving tyrant-; do unjust 1. nnprinci- 
 
 pled judges, no corrupt courts 
 prisons crowded with victim i; 
 held in bondage. .Mankind arc t<> l itely 
 
 from all the corrupting and d dominai 
 
 and innuences by which they are now held ii 
 . il men and evil principle s. Satan, 
 
 mind, and exerts hia malignant 
 i r t" delude and tempi to sin, is th< i im- 
 
 pria ! intercept 
 
 which he rules in tb< of men. 
 
 to destruction. All I ats of 1 1 
 
 also brought on the race by the tall, arc | 
 
 I 
 
(II UUCTER OF THE PRESENT DlSPENt \Tlo\. 49 
 
 moved. There is to be do more i ting and 
 
 blighting toil ; do more physical suffering;; do i 
 sorrow; do more tears; do more death, Those 
 dreadful ingredients which now fill each op 
 and make the world a vale of grief and i . will 
 
 be unknown, and the world bo raised through tho 
 work of Christ to much siu-h an exemption from 
 evil in all its forms, as would fori ver have pre- 
 vailed, had our first parents not tr. ed, Rev. 
 xxi. 3-7, 21-27 ; xxii. 1-6. And finally, the Spirit 
 of God will be poured out on the hearts of man- 
 kind universally with a fullness and power of 
 which but faint exemplifications have hitherto 1 
 seen. That such a complete change in the condition 
 of the world ; such an exemption of the whole human 
 family from the infinite evils which revolt has drawn 
 in its train, and the universal and unmitigated reign 
 of which is one of the most conspicuous features of 
 the present economy, should nevertheless take place 
 under this very system which admits and perpetuates 
 them, is clearly impossible. The present dispensa- 
 tion docs not contemplate Buch a deliverance of the 
 race as the effect of its . . It docs not make 
 any provision for it. It does not employ any means 
 for the production in its completeness of any one of the 
 changes that are to be wrought in order to that re- 
 demption. Thus, it docs not carry the gospel effec- 
 tually to all nations and individuals. It does not re- 
 move all ignorance. It all evil 
 
 iion.-. It dors not imbue men universally with 
 3 
 
( hai: H TER OF THE PRESENT D I KW. 
 
 uli other. It 'l 
 church, as a body, to perfect bolii 
 true children: bul they are lefl to a war with their 
 own evil affections, with s crowd of temptei 
 their fellow men, and with the great seducer to ei il. 
 False teachers and artful and deluding apost 
 do! intercepted from spreading their deadly err 
 tyrants, remorseless opp and bloody warriors 
 
 arc not prevented from wreaking their cruel | 
 onthehelple E tan is not arrested in his malignant 
 plots, and n forts to 'drag men to destruction. 
 
 And no means are provided to put an end to death. 
 sickness, suffering, toil, wan: To suppose 
 
 these and other effects which are to push the 
 
 era of Christ's reign, to take place under the pn 
 dispensation, is therefore in fact, to Buppoee tin 
 pensatfon itself to be reversed i and become i 
 gether a new one. 
 
 Bui apart from such of these chai 
 wrought by the direct act of Omnipotence, not by 
 physical instruments, or moral means: such as the 
 
 banishment of Satan and his Legions, and th( 
 
 Of death. >iekness. pain, toil, and sorrow, it : 
 
 Bible that the renovation and sanct ilieatioli of men 
 
 universally should take place under the present dis- 
 pensation, from the consideration thai it is not its 
 
 aim. Tl * and peculiar aim ^i' the pn 
 
 ministration is, on the one hand. \i^ display th< 
 
 the power, and the iitv of God in the work 
 
 Sving, and ' men : and on the othei 
 
CHARACTER OF Till-: PRESENT DISPENSATION. 51 
 
 hand, to subject men to trials thai cause them, whe- 
 ther evil 01 good, to Bhow forth their true character-. 
 
 It Is pre-eminently a dispensation of tests, of trials, 
 
 in all the forms which cur nature admits from want, 
 dependence, Buffering, the actioD and re-action on 
 
 individuals and bodies of men of the good and evil 
 passions and principles of the heart, false doctrines, 
 
 idolatrous worships, unjust laws, evil examples, and 
 finally, tin 4 ceaseless, subtle, and powerful agency of 
 Satan and his hosts. It is a dispensation under which 
 good and evil co-exist, display their characters in 
 Contrast with each other, maintain a tierce struggle, 
 and show their natural fruits in all the forms they 
 can assume under such conflicting influences. Chris- 
 tianity does not exist alone in the world. It dwells 
 in the midst of rival religions, the inventions of 
 Satan and men who are his co-operators ; and their 
 impious errors, their debasing principles, and all 
 their vast array of deluding pomps and cheating pre- 
 texts are allowed to exert their power on men as 
 fully as the doctrine of Christ exerts itself to coun- 
 teract, disenthrall, and transform them. The church 
 of Christ does not stand alone as an organized body 
 striving to draw other men to itself, to make them 
 partakers of its faith, and sharers in its hopes. It is 
 surrounded on every hand by antagonist organiza- 
 tions with their hierarchies of priests and teachers, 
 their system- of doctrines, rites, and worship, and 
 their agents of propagandism, each endeavoring to 
 extend its swav, or at least to maintain its dominion 
 
mi: n:i>i;\T disi-lnsation 
 
 bom it has already draw n t.» il 
 
 a kingdom in the WOl I 11 as 
 
 Chi intic 
 
 powers in maintaining it; in drawing to hi- Bide 
 
 crowds of rvil men ; in making human 
 ments bis instruments ; and in rendering Learning, 
 art, and wealth subservient to hi d he has 
 
 carried his conquests into the church and 
 
 drawn its greal hierarchies of the ad the W 
 
 t<> tlic most effic they could i 
 
 his behalf, by intermixing the worship of idols 
 demons with the worship of God, and Bubstitutii 
 mock sacrifice and atonement intheplaa 
 Of the \a-t population of the g] I iani- 
 
 tteen centuries, prei n nominally, 
 
 with only perhaps forty or fifty millions, and of those 
 not probably over one or two millions can Be regard- 
 ed as true children of God. Evil is now as predomi- 
 nant as it was fifteen centuri Bp a 
 hold on the human mind j itentei into the 
 institutions of society ; it has as numerous and : 
 erful engines at work in sustaining and extending 
 swav. relatively to the evangelical church, 
 mer periods; and it dei powerful aid for the 
 spread and propagation of its empire, as pure Chris- 
 tianil from the improvements of t! ithe 
 methods of communicating knoi through the 
 
 1 the union of numbers in the ]•: 
 and disseminal i 
 
 The result of this administration, in which the 
 
ONE OF TRIAL. 
 
 pel and its converts are id this manner Left to 
 maintain a Btroggle against opposing h< real 
 
 power, Bnbtlety; and zeal, thus necessarily is, whai 
 the experiment of eighteen hundred years has shown 
 — the full test and exhibition of the opposite princi- 
 ples and affections oi the two parties — not the' abso- 
 lute victory of either. The true disciples of Ghrisl 
 have indeed through a Large part of the long conflict 
 been confined to a small number, compelled to fly 
 from the presence of their enemies and hide them- 
 selves in solitude, and would at many junctures, have 
 been swept from the earth, had it not been for God's 
 extraordinary care. The issue of this vast trial is — 
 not the redemption of the world, but only the proof 
 and exemplification of its alienation, and hopeless 
 
 3 dage to evil — not the triumph of the gospel in 
 the extermination of false religions ; but its rejection 
 for fifteen or Bixteen centuries by nearly the whole 
 church, as well as the world, and substitution in its 
 place of idol and creature worship, and the degrada- 
 tion of the nations that hear the Christian name, to 
 the lowest depths of ignorance, debasement, and mis- 
 ery. The very nature of the present administration 
 thus wholly precludes both the genera] conversion of 
 the nations, and the elevation of those who are renewed 
 to the lofty purity and happiness that are to prevail 
 in Christ's victorious reign. It is as contradictory to 
 it to expect that all mankind are to be renewed and 
 sanetified under if, as it would be to expect that in a 
 contest between vast hostile ho>ts armed with all the 
 
6 I THE PB1 
 
 I itli. DOT ii'T injuries 
 
 would be inflicted ; or i bat when all ti, 
 
 nd death are present in th< ities 
 
 carried by the wind ry hamlel and dwell- 
 
 : will take place, but health prevail. 
 Aj the destructive elements most be removed from 
 the Boil and air, in order that d inay be pre- 
 
 vented, and a fresh and vigorous health be universal- 
 ly enjoyed ; bo the powerful i and influ< 
 which men are held in the \ mnst be 
 removed, and the all transforming power of the Holy 
 Spiril onob8trncted possession of their h< 
 in order that they may be turned to right 
 and peace. 
 
 But the removal of tne powerful i which 
 
 they arc now subjected ; the discontinuance of the 
 
 trials by which they are led to act out their princi- 
 
 and show what their dispositi toward 
 
 is incoi with the very end for which he 
 
 instituted and maintains this administration. II:- 
 aini Is not now to sanctify all : but to cause all to 
 
 show what their hearts are, whether sanctified, or 
 
 unsanctilied : in the same manner as in conducting 
 
 from Egypt to Canaan, it wae not his 
 
 aim ' ity them all. and free them from excite- 
 
 ments to evil : but instead, to test their dispositions 
 toward him, and cause them to Bhow whether they 
 
 •• Thou shah remei 
 
 all the way which the Lord thy God hd ill 
 
 forty years in the wildei humble thee, and to 
 
ONE OF TRIAL. 55 
 
 prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whe- 
 ther thou wouldst keep his commandments, or ao ; 
 and he humbled thee and Buffered thee to hm 
 and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest Dot, 
 neither did thy fathers know, that he might make 
 thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but 
 by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of 
 the Lord doth man live," Deut. viii. 2, 3. In like 
 manner we are assured by Christ that " the hour of 
 temptation shall come," under the present economy, 
 '• upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the 
 earth," Rev. iii. 10. They were all to be placed in 
 conditions in which they would show by decisive acts, 
 whether they chose his service or not ; and the issue 
 has been at every stage of the trial a demonstration 
 that the multitude will not have him to reign over 
 them ; but pursue the broadway of sin which leads 
 to destruction ; while only here and there one finds 
 the narrow way to life. All the churches planted by 
 the apostles soon declined in love, became distracted 
 by parties, were led by heretical teachers into false 
 doctrines, and went on from one degree of corrup- 
 tion and apostacy to another, till they were swept 
 from existence in a great measure by persecution, 
 and the sword of the Goths, Saracens, and the Turks. 
 The churches of Western Europe, most of which 
 were formed after the death of Paul, soon sunk into 
 an equal depth of ignorance, error, and superstition, 
 and after the lapse of more than a thousand years, 
 were but partially recalled to the knowledge and love 
 
56 
 
 of the truth >rmation. ] □ and 
 
 irmed churches on the continent h i in a 
 
 bized from th< < bian faith 
 to pantheism and other false phi) : the 
 
 Eindoofl and Q 
 world. The churches of Gr< in and tl 
 
 re rapidly plunging into similar errors, whili 
 nations of Airic I and i be . the 
 
 Southern and Pacific main almost undistu 
 
 in li, of false reli The hi 
 
 and apostacy of nations which have 
 riod embraced Christianity, and exemplified its 
 powerful influence in their live 
 of individual churchi >ns of revival ar< 
 
 followed by seasons ofap< 1 world- 
 
 liness. Periods distinguished b; bhful 
 
 followed by periods in which sedu< 
 
 from the truth arise, and strike the chnreh with a 
 blight and decay thai often continue for a series of 
 
 ed for the piety of its churches, the purity of their 
 faith, and their steadfastness in the truth, lias 
 later period ae of unbelief, worldli- 
 
 All individuals also, a- well 
 communities, are placed in conditions 
 of their lives, in which they are Led to display 
 true character of their affe< I and 
 
 show whether they are lit. or unfit, for bis kingdom. 
 And the result of this experiment is, the 
 tion «>n a vast and appalling Bcale of the inter india- 
 
ONE OF TRIAL. 57 
 
 position of men spontaneously to return to God, and 
 
 the hopelessness of their redemption unless it ho 
 under an administration in which the great agents 
 that dow tempi them to evil, shall be precluded from 
 exerting on them their deluding and maddening pow- 
 er, and the Spirit of God takes exclusive and absolute 
 possession of their hearts. 
 
 And this system of trial and discipline in which the 
 evil and the good- are thus tested and made to disclose 
 themselves, is to continue till Christ comes. lie ex- 
 pressly told his disciples, that their life was to be one 
 of disquiet, persecution and suffering. "Behold the 
 hour cometh that ye shall be scattered every man to 
 his own, and shall leave me alone. In the world ye 
 shall have tribulation." John xvi. 32, 33. Paul also 
 exhorted the believers at Antioch to continue in the 
 faith, because "we must through much tribulation 
 enter into the kingdom of God." Acts xiv. 22. lie 
 reminded the Thessalonians also, "that no man should 
 be moved by these afflictions" — to which he and his 
 fellow laborers were subjected by their enemies, — 
 " for you yourselves know that we are appointed 
 thereunto. For verily when we were with you, we 
 told you before that we should suffer tribulation, oven 
 ■ came to pass, and ye know.'' 1 Thess. iii. 3, 4. 
 It was as much a part of the scheme of God's provi- 
 dence that they should be opposed by hostile Jews 
 and Gentiles, maligned, threatened, imprisoned, per- 
 secuted, and subjected to the most violent and i, 
 
 minions inflictions : as ir was that they should preach 
 
 3* 
 

 Tin: i 
 
 ■ 1. and gatfa to whom tli<- irord was 
 
 made efficacious by the Spirit into ohu 
 the office of this tribulation was to purify their li< 
 to bring them to tin- most m I subjection of 
 
 themselVi G od, and to canae them to show their 
 faith, love, and devotedness to him in the moel indu- 
 bitable and emphatic forma. "We glory in tribula- 
 tions, knowing thai tribulation worketfa patience, and 
 patience experience, and experience hope, and 1 
 maketh no1 ashamed, because the l" 1 . i 
 abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given 
 to ii-.*' Bom. v. 3-5, and James i. 2 1. And thii 
 cipline of trial and Buffering is extended without 
 ception to all God's children, of every i 
 rank, and of every condition of life. ' .M 
 not thou tlu' chastening of the Lord, nor faint * 
 thou art rebuked of him ; for whom the Lord loveth 
 he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom h< 
 ceiv< i!i. [fye endure chastening, G leth with 
 
 you as with sons ■ for what son is la' whom the Father 
 
 steneth not ? Bu1 if i ithout chas 
 
 — whereqfdR an pariah rs — then are 
 not sons. Furthermore, we have had Bathers of our 
 i which corrected us, and v. them rover- 
 
 ; Bhall we not rather be in subjection unto the 
 Father of Bpirita and In i ? I' ir th< j \ i rilj I 
 
 3 chastened us after their own p] : but 
 
 he for our profit, thai we might be | f bis 
 
 holini is. Now no chastening for the] seemeth 
 
 to be joyous, bill b j nevert] I 
 
ONE OF TRIAL. 59 
 
 it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto 
 them who are exercised thereby." Ileb. xii. 5-11. — 
 Subjection to calamities and sorrows, and correction 
 
 by suffering, are thus exhibited as the lot of God's chil- 
 dren under the present dispensation, as much as tho 
 gift to them of the Spirit, the teachings of the word, 
 the supports of tho promises, the protection of provi- 
 dence, and life itself are ; and they are represented 
 as an indispensable means to bring them to a proper 
 subjection to him, and cause them to yield the fruits 
 of righteousness, which are requisite to their prepa- 
 ration for his eternal kingdom. And these tribula- 
 tions are to continue through every period of the 
 present dispensation. It is foretold by Christ that 
 the Israelites shall fall by the edge of the sword, and 
 shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jeru- 
 salem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the 
 times of the Gentiles — the period of the fourth Gen- 
 tile kingdom, Dan. vii. 7-28— shall bo fulfilled." Luke 
 xxi. 24. And that " immediately after the tribulation 
 of those days" " shall appear the sign of the Son of 
 Man in heaven, and then shall all tho tribes of tho 
 earth see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of 
 heaven with power and great glory." Matthew xxi v. 
 29, 30. 
 
 It is foreshown also that all the great obstacles to 
 the conversion of men that lie out of themselves, all 
 the occasions of temptation, all the powerful agencies 
 by which they are prompted to evil, are to continuo 
 till Christ comes. Thus want, toil, pain, sorrow and 
 
60 THE 
 
 i continue ai w do, till 
 
 xxi. 1 5. I ii of the na- 
 
 that 
 till he comes, the evil are to continue into 
 with thi '. at the first promulgation 
 
 of the gospel, and have been ; 
 
 •• Be that soweth the [ 1 \b 1 1 i « - Son of 
 
 Man : the field is the world : the 
 children of the kingdom: but th chil- 
 
 dren of the wicked oi , T emy thai them 
 
 is the devil. The harvesl is crwr - tl •■ end 
 
 of the age, and the reapers ar 
 
 the tares are gathered and burned in the fir 
 shall it 1 I of the i 
 
 The Son of Man shall send forth his angi 
 shall gather out of his kingdom all thai 
 
 -all that seduce, and prompt to sin — 
 I all that do iniquity ; ! c I them in1 
 
 furna shing 
 
 of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine 
 sun in the kingdom of th< ir Father." Matt. xiii. 
 
 I thus fori in this i 
 
 ami impressive form th 
 
 children of the wicked ami children of the 
 
 kingdom ; and th tpter 
 
 p Bubordinal etray 
 
 men into sin, are uot to be r I be world 
 
 till the end of this e ; that the chil 
 
 . ill. till that time, continue intermixed with 
 
ONE OF TRIALS; ' 61 
 
 the children of God ; that Christ is then to gome, and 
 canse his angels to separate the evil from the good ; 
 and that thenceforth the righteous are to shine as the 
 
 sun in the kingdom of their Father. Matt. xxiv. 'M . 
 Not only, therefore, is there to be no general conver- 
 sion of the nations before the end of this age, but 
 there is to be no exemption of them till that epoch, 
 from the tempting presence of the great seducer, nor 
 any deliverance of the children of the kingdom from 
 the presence of the children of the wicked one. The 
 te powers of the chnrch also, denoted by 
 the eleventh horn of the fourth beast. Dan. vii., and 
 the Man of Sin, '2 Thess. ii. 3-8, are to continue in 
 activity down to the time of Christ's advent. It is 
 not till the Son of Man comes in the clouds of heaven 
 and receives from the Ancient of days the sceptre of 
 the world that all nations may serve him, that that 
 horn is to be judged, and given to the burning flame. 
 It is at the brightness of Christ's coming, not at any 
 earlier epoch, that the Man of Sin is to bo consumed 
 by the spirit of his mouth. Instead of gradually los- 
 ing their power and sinking into lethargy as they 
 approach their end, they are in their ] s to 
 
 wreak their vengeance on the true worshippers, in a 
 bloody persecution. The slaying of the witnesses by 
 the beast, is immediately to precede, the seventh 
 trumpet, under which it is to be cast into the lab 
 lire. Rev. xix. 20. The woman of Babylon is to be 
 drunk witli the Mood of the when seated on 
 
 the beast in the form in which it is to go to perdition. 
 
tin-: 
 
 E& i . w ii. :; 6. Th( preclude, tl 
 
 . the supposition that the world in to 1 
 during the Bway of those hostile powers. They arc 
 traction, noi to salvation. Their armies 
 are to be Blain and given to the fowls of heaven ; noi 
 converted into worshippers who are to walk in the 
 light of the New Jerusalem, and bring their honor 
 and glory into it. 
 This dispensation is thus to continue to i1 
 
 to 1 ne of trials, noi of reel : of conflicts with 
 
 powers of evil, not of exemption from them. 
 
Tin: aim of tiii: present economy. 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TIIE AIM OF TOE PRESENT ECONOMY IS TO PREPARE TOE WAY FOR 
 ANOTHER DISPENSATION UNDER WHICH SALVATION IS TO BE EX- 
 TENDED TO ALL NATIONS AND TOE WORLD REDEEMED. 
 
 WHAT then are the remoter ends which this dis- 
 pensation contemplates ? If only a few compared to 
 the vast multitudes of the race are to be saved under it ; 
 if its chief aim is to try the hearts of men, both evil 
 and good, show forth their character, and verify the 
 great facts of the alienation and incorrigibleness on 
 the one hand of the unrenewed ; and of the love, sub- 
 mission, and faith of the renovated on the other, on 
 which God proceeds in the work of redemption — 
 what are the ends which that verification on so vast 
 a scale is to subserve ? What bearing has it on the 
 salvation of the race under a future dispensation? — 
 What office is it to fill in God's administration over 
 his vast empire of worlds ? 
 
 These are questions which those who hold that 
 there is to be no redemptive dispensation after the 
 present, seem not to have asked. The present econ- 
 omy in relation to the future, is to them an inexplica- 
 

 T11K i 
 
 'I 
 
 i fill toward the human ra 
 (t can b a prepar anothei 
 
 11 Qnder which I shall 
 
 be removed, and redemption to all the liv- 
 
 ing population of the globe through an Interminable 
 round of A to their views th< 
 
 son why, if it is the d God I sal- 
 
 vation to tin- nations at large, the gospel i 
 made known to them universally immediately after 
 
 Lrst promulgation. That such count] 
 left to perish, th< - the work i 
 
 t y : I G i to mak< than 
 
 a small number pari 
 
 »rs to display his just than hi^ 
 
 and hold thai if this e< ay influe 
 
 on his administration of the universe in fun; 
 it is to be by the preponderance which his justice in 
 punishing men has, and is to hai y in 
 
 Baving them. \ hem, therefore, I 
 
 which i rnmenl pn - Full of dark- 
 
 and awfulneas, and answers in no respect to 
 
 delineation he h in his word of hi 
 
 nor of the infinite riches of the wisdom and the love 
 which the Bible every where rep 
 in tl, of Christ, and to be unfolded and veri- 
 
 rarate with the grandeur of 
 his being and empi 
 
 loving the world th I 
 
 hat whosoever 1 >uld 
 

 rs PREPARATIVE TO ANOTHER. 65 
 
 imt perish, but have everlasting life," ends in hie leav- 
 ing nearly the whole that come into existence to 
 perish withoul their even hearing thai Christ was to 
 die <>r has died, for them. Sis goodness, his love, 
 his mercifulness which are exhibited as his whole 
 character, and as armed with infinite wisdom and 
 power to accomplish their desires toward men, in- 
 1 iA' achieving or purposing their salvation on a 
 Bcale proportionate to his attributes, and the gr 
 - and wonderfnlness of the provision made f 
 in Christ's incarnation and death, are satisfied in a 
 chiei with making that display of themse] i 
 
 and with the exception of a small election, the count- 
 less crowds of the human family are left to perish as 
 helplessly, as they would had no method of salvation 
 been devised for them. 
 
 But these notions arc altogether groundless, and 
 he-peak an astonishing misconception of God, and 
 the teachings of his word. Tho Scriptures declare 
 in the most ample and emphatic manner, as we have 
 shown, that the present dispensation is to termi- 
 nate at the fall of the fourth kingdom symbolized, 
 Dan. vii. 7-27, and is to be followed by another 
 under Christ 3 nal reign, in which the work of 
 
 onption is to he extended to all people, natio 
 and tongues, and is to continue through eternal ages ; 
 and they indicate that the present economy is pre- 
 paratory to that, and that the exhibitions and verifi- 
 cations that take place in it of the great truths of 
 God's rights, of man's alienation, and of tho indubi- 
 
Tin: !•!:: 
 
 tabl< . of ili"-<- v. bon I 
 
 children, edful t«» the jusi understanding by 
 
 men themselves and the nnii work of sal- 
 
 vation, the vindication of God in it. and ascription t<» 
 him of tin' infinite m, and love, 
 
 which it displays. Thai it i y to the 
 
 pensation thai is t<> follow, is apparent fin 
 perfections. It would be to impeach his wisdom to 
 suppose thai it occupies no Buch pi 
 that which i- t'» Bncoeed it ; that that dispensation 
 mighl as well have been introduo ( 
 -ion : ami that the conflicts of so 1 
 the perishing of so many generations of tin* tmchris- 
 tianized nations, the ape* minal church, 
 
 ami the trial sufferings, and bu 
 
 people have been without any obje< - the 
 
 Bnbseqneni government of tin- world u 
 
 of God make it certain that it has 
 ends, in his future purj ward tl. thai 
 
 commensurate in their importance, with 
 • the sins and . thai t;:' 
 
 ander the pr< my. 
 
 What then an- those end-? How i> it tliat tin? 
 
 great, the awful, and the glorious truths that an 
 forth ami exemplified in such various forms ami on 
 so immei do, under the pr< 
 
 prepare tin- way for a new dispensation onder which 
 the work of redemption i- t>> It extended to all the 
 nations of the earth, ami continued through unen I 
 years? The an . by verifying the 
 
IS PREPARATIVE TO ANOTHER. 61 
 
 which God proceeds in the salvation of men bo ade- 
 quately, as i" enable the universe to discern and feel 
 them in all their certainty and greatness, and make it 
 sun* that without any further exemplification of them, 
 the salvation of mankind in the past, the present, and 
 all future ages, will be justly understood, and the glory 
 given to God for it that is due to his wisdom, rccti- 
 tude, and grace. 
 
 It is plain that the exereise of grace by God to- 
 ward revolters from his government, the restoration 
 of sinners to holiness, their forgiveness, their justifi- 
 cation, their adoption as children and exaltation to 
 the most intimate relations to himself and the Re- 
 mer, must be measures of the utmost interest to 
 other orders of intelligences, and must give rise to a 
 variety of questions of the greatest moment to God's 
 glory and their peace. Are mankind so utterly alien 
 and lost as the work of redemption assumes and re- 
 presents? Is there no disposition left in them spon- 
 taneously to return to allegiance to God ? Are those 
 whom God renews and forgives truly reconciled to 
 him? Arc they indisputably his friends, and ready 
 submit to any evil rather than disown him, and 
 again join the ranks of the unsanctified ? Is their 
 renovation and sanctification indubitably the work 
 of his Spirit? not of natural affections. Have they 
 given in their conduct such evidences of their resto- 
 ration to holiness that the universe can see that God 
 is justified in treating them as unalterably his chil- 
 dren, and raising them to exalted stations in his 
 

 TIIK ITIiiN 
 
 king ation to* 
 
 them Bach, thai tln-y who fully 
 
 comprehend all ita w ith th< 
 
 conviction thai it ia marked b} 
 
 which ! 
 Iii- perfections, and Buited b 
 
 jecta to a higher rap- 
 
 turoufl devotion t<» hia Bervii biona 
 
 of the u tin* tores 
 
 in every pari <>t* hia kingdom, and qui 
 mual be furnished with the mosl ample :' an- 
 
 ing in the affirmative — in order to their continu- 
 ed confidence and love of him as all-perfect, and wor* 
 thy of the full and fixed homage and submission which 
 To !• ave them without information, 
 would be to make it impossible thai they should* 
 prehend his ways ; to leave them to perplexity 
 doubt, and to expose them to the dai faltering 
 
 in their all< li is indubitably the pari 
 
 righteoB J, therefore, that I 
 
 should make them acquainted with the reality of all 
 the greal facts on which he proceeds in the wort 
 salvation by bo arranging his providence thai men 
 
 a public, visible, and full exemplification of 
 
 them in their conduct, in every v;ui adition, 
 
 and under every form of influence that can serve to 
 
 rion ami demonstration to the truth. — 
 
 crowds of nan deny thai they are in r< 
 
 G any need of a Saviour. Multi- 
 
 v and reality I 'a in- 
 
D9 PBEPAB LTIVB TO ANOTHEB. ♦ . ' » 
 
 carnation, and rejed salvation throngh him. Great 
 numbers deny that there is any nn d of a renovation 
 of the heart ; or thai it is, or can be wrought by the 
 Spirit of God, and maintain that men are entitled to 
 acceptance on the ground of their merits. They 
 deny also that God has a righl to punish men for 
 their sins ; and declare it to bo impossible that ho 
 should consign his creatures for their offences here, 
 I., everlasting punishment hereafter. Satan also 
 utters these and similar denials, and impeaches 
 God's justice, wisdom, and benevolence in all his 
 measures both in the punishment, and in the lor- 
 
 of men. I; i- not improbable that t! 
 denials are known to all the intelligent hosts <»}' 
 God's empire, and that a special necessity arises from 
 that tor the confutation of them in his administra- 
 tion over the world. In order, indeed, that the work 
 of redemption should be. understood, it seems indis- 
 pensable that sin should be seen in all the forms it 
 naturally assumes in beings like men ; that there 
 should be a full exemplification on the one hand of 
 the alienation, debasement, and misery to which it 
 reduces those in whom it reigns : and that there 
 should be a full exhibition also, on the other, of the 
 reality of the restoration to holiness of those whom 
 God renews, pardons, and crowns with life and glory, 
 and proof by ti. sts of their unalterable 
 
 allegiance, and i - forthe intimate relatioi - 
 
 himself to which he i- to exalt them in his kingdom. 
 But suppose Adam and Eve and all their posterity 
 
70 THK PUN 
 
 mmedial r their 
 
 raid the uni 
 selv< what : into 
 
 which revolt naturally brings creatures? Sow could 
 they have di lized what r 
 
 abandoned I 3 tan ; 
 
 t<» b the unmitigated dominion of Belfiah and 
 
 malignant affections? There could then h 
 no exemplification to thi of what 
 
 man is as ■ i ; nor what the brutish ;m<l fiend- 
 
 ish shapes are which selfish] mity, and m 
 
 assume. Suppose all immediately on regeneral 
 had from all I their afl 
 
 how, though they committed . would it appear 
 
 that it v. 
 
 Bow could there be anj their in- 
 
 flexible attachment t«» <;..d? 11 old then 
 
 any demonstration that they wei the inti- 
 
 mate relationship t<> him t<» which thev are I 
 alted ? <>r it' there >w could it that 
 
 their obediei - taneons work of their 
 
 own minds, instead of the fruits of ti i and 
 
 . Spirit '! There is then a manifest n< 
 sity, in order that the work of redemption should be 
 understood in its true chars that 
 
 there Bhould 1m- such a manifestation in all it 
 
 taking place m 
 of what man's I what hifl condition i- as a 
 
 -inner - what the ehan I in 
 
is PREPARATIVE TO ANOTHER. 71 
 
 the redeemed, and who it la who accomplishes that 
 
 dial .. 
 
 It is dear also that in an administration under 
 which snch a manifestation of the heart of man takes 
 place, it is requisite that God Bhould exhibit his dis- 
 pleasure at sin. by leaving it to bring forth its natu- 
 ral fruits of blindness, insensibility, and misery ; and 
 should punish it by retributive inflictions. To allow 
 it to pass unchastised, would be to treat it as though 
 it we it not the object of disapprobation ; to connect 
 with it the blessings which are the proper fruits of 
 holiness, would be to reward it as though it were ap- 
 proved, and lead the universe to false views of his 
 dispositions and purposes respecting it. 
 
 The necessity then of Buch an exemplication of 
 man and of God is apparent ; and it is taking place 
 under the present administration on such a scale as 
 to answer the ends of the divine government, and su- 
 persede a need of its continuance in the ages that are 
 to come. 
 
 1. Thus, all nations, all bodies of men, all families, 
 and all individuals, are put by the conditions in which 
 they are placed, and the influences to which they are 
 subjected, to a continual and severe trial of their 
 affections toward God, and one another, and led to 
 show what their hearts are. That this is a fact, all 
 are aware from consciousness, observation, and his- 
 tory, and it is expressly taught in the Scriptui 
 Dent. viii. '_!. 3 : Rev. iii. 10 ; James i. 12-15. 
 
 2. When nations and individual- apostatize from 
 
. them to th of their 
 
 ,rkout I 
 
 fhiitti of in 
 
 thai [method confute 
 
 i; . ". - 
 
 forbidden worship,! 
 them dominion of their fal i«n- 
 
 andallo? them 
 
 ofute th 
 the wick *hich tl 
 
 f the Man of Sin utafterthe workii - with 
 
 all, andlyinf ! with all 
 
 truth, 
 that they might be I for thi 
 
 shall Bend them Btrong delusion, that they ma; 
 
 thai they all maj 
 
 truth, but have pleasure in unri 
 
 . a T --■ ii. 9 12. 
 Henotonly trieshistro 
 calamiti 3 ° f ^bul he Mows 
 
 their enemi ^ them to the 
 
 which they ran be subjected, by inflicting on them 
 the most cruel torture,and 
 
 ifpoBgible.toforcethemtoi [millions 
 
 have Burrendered their property, their liberty, their 
 
 rather than Bwerve from 
 to him. 
 
IS PREPARATIVE TO ANOTHER. 7)i 
 
 5. IIo testifies against the sins of men, whatever 
 their character may be, by judgments] and gives tin- 
 
 universe to see the abhorrence with which he regards 
 them. Thus the destruction of the antediluvian 
 world and of all the ancient nations, was because of 
 their sins. All the evils that have been inflicted on 
 the Israelites for three thousand years, have been in 
 retribution of their rebellion against him, their revolt 
 to idols, and their rejection of the Messiah. And all 
 the immeasurable evils with which the nations of Eu- 
 rope have been smitten during the last twenty years, 
 and all they are yet to Buffer in the last stages of the 
 present dispensation, are represented in the Apoca- 
 lypse as poured from the vials of God's wrath. 
 
 6. He gives his children indubitable tokens of his 
 favor, hears their prayers, grants them his Spirit, veri- 
 fies his promises, supports them in their trials, and 
 makes death itself, in its most awful forms, for his 
 sake a victory. 
 
 Under this administration — which stretches from 
 the fall to Christ's second coming — an exemplification 
 and proof of the great truths respecting God's rights, 
 man's ruin, and the restoration to holiness of the re- 
 aed, are thus made on a scale as vast as the exi- 
 gencies of the divine government require, so that no 
 necessity will exist of their being carried further, but 
 salvation may then I aded to all nations and 
 
 individuals, through the lv>air period denoted by the 
 millennium without any danger of its being misap- 
 prehended by any pari of God's kingdom. 
 
7 1 
 
 OH A PT E B VII. 
 
 TBS M IB THAT 1: :•■ THE 
 
 THIS 
 
 .ion, i;a\ : 
 
 The ezhibitionci thai 1. 
 of men, both evil and good, hav< I and va- 
 
 rious al every period <'i" their history dowi 
 -it time. 
 Thus, we are told, that in t< bat immediately 
 
 followed the tall, '* the wicl 
 
 t in tlic earth, and that every imagination ol 
 thoughts of his hearl was only evil continnally : that 
 
 Looked upon the earth and behold it 
 rupl : for all flesh ha-! corrupted his way upon 
 earth, and the earth was filled with viol 
 
 vi. 5, 11. 1_\ Whether the evil imaginations 
 the thoughts <«t" their hearts embraced tin- invention 
 and worship of t I Id : 
 
 hnt the irruption of their manners, and the 
 
 violence with which they filled the world, which 
 the usual consequences of a rejection of ( 
 it probable. The whole race advanced t- such a 
 
AIM: MADE I'NDER THIS D ISP EN 8 \Ti< 75 
 
 pitch of wickedness, thai divine justice required that 
 they Bhould be swept to destruction by a delug . 
 This aniversa] ;■ rroin God, this ez indi- 
 
 vidual and social corruption and malevolence, formed 
 a terrible exhibition of what the human heart i~. in 
 its estrangement from the Most Bigh. They were 
 not left in the ignorance of the Pagan nations of the 
 present age. They did not derive their false system 
 of religion and morals from a long line of ancestors. 
 Their wickedness was not instilled into them by igno- 
 rant parents, or an established priesthood, and en- 
 forced by a powerful civil government, under the de- 
 ceitful garb ot'a divine religion, h was all origin 
 and matured by themselves, and amidst the clear 
 light of a divine revelation, and the powerful re- 
 straints of a knowledge of its guilt, solemn warnings 
 from heaven, and the pious remonstrances and holy 
 examples of patriarchs and prophets. God revealed 
 himself openly to men in those ages, as we learn from 
 his appearances to Adam, Cain, Enoch, and Noah, and 
 announce^ his will to them in an audible voice. — 
 They were made acquainted with the scheme of re- 
 demption, and required to offer - - in expres- 
 sion of their faith in the Messiah whom the slaugh- 
 tered victims typified. They enjoyed the presence, 
 com: ! I samples of Adam, through more than 
 half of the period to the flood ; and the instructions, 
 probably, of a great array of eminent prophets down 
 to their last years. Noah himself tilled the office of 
 a preacher of righteousness for at leasl a hundred and 
 
76 i 
 
 twenty red thu 
 
 amidst all I minent advanta I all 
 
 Bank universal 
 
 v. iili th( S ali and hifl family — 
 
 ich an al irruption ; they I inflamed, 
 
 through all t ich vile ai oant 
 
 render the divine fori any 
 
 i make it 
 
 atial to the vindi 
 thai i m on them hifl vei 
 
 : instantaneously to perditi • . Wl t an 
 amazing proof of their alienation] Whatanempl 
 and terrible (ration, that th< 
 
 and onmitigated revolt! 1! r must it have 
 
 to tlif wil oniverse, thai thi 
 
 well enet God rid the r 
 
 of redemption contemplate them ; and thai the d 
 with which they were overwhelmed was t ; 
 
 Equal proofs were given by the 
 Noah within a brief period, of their alienation 
 debac . I "e that patriarch died — three hundred 
 
 and lift> singe, — every nation 
 
 tribe into which the 
 
 »E to beli -hip. 
 
 There were individuals and families, in I 
 Abram, Melchisedek, Job, and hifl friends, who re- 
 tained the knowi 
 true Gk>d, and they may have been nunu 
 
 r on the sacred page, thai hole 
 
ARE MADE UNDER THIS DISPENSATION. 77 
 
 people continued to be worshippers of Jehovah. Tho 
 first uninspired histories also, and the earliest monu- 
 ments of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt, Assyria, 
 and India, exhibit them as idolaters. Notatrac< 
 pears in any of their religions, at tho earliest dato to 
 which our information extends, of a recognition of 
 the true God. This is certainly astonishing ; as not 
 only Noah lived till after that time, but Shcm survived 
 one hundred and fifty years longer, to the time of Ja- 
 cob. So that very ample means must have been pos- 
 d of a knowledge of Jehovah, and the method of 
 redemption ho had made known to Adam, and re- 
 newed and confirmed to the holy patriarchs and pro- 
 phets through all the long tract of ages that had in- 
 tervened, to the division at Babel of the race into 
 separate tribes. Whence can such a universal apos- 
 tasy from Jehovah have sprung, except from an utter 
 alienation of heart from him ? How could they have 
 turned from him to the besotted homage of creatures, 
 idols, and mere imaginary deities, had there not been 
 an absolute extinction in their minds of righteous- 
 ness, truth and wisdom ; had they not yielded them- 
 selves to the unrestricted domination of the powers 
 of darkness. 
 
 Tho principal ancient nations of central and west- 
 ern Asia, northern Africa, ami eastern Europe, con- 
 sisted of two classes : one that was under the domi- 
 nation of absolute monarchs and a legalized priest- 
 hood, who dictated to their subjects the religion they 
 should exercise. The governments of the other 
 
78 i " 
 
 from the peopL 
 
 ii was a _ly the i 
 
 in a lai 1 1 1 i in* nt 
 
 lie ruler- and pi I be des] 
 
 w ho dictated th ion of tl 
 
 moDg t . I of 
 
 their age, if they had had any proper n J< - 
 
 hovah, and disposition to favor tl of a true 
 
 religion, they mighl hai ted a powerfbJ influ- 
 
 in repressing ignorant stition, and idol- 
 
 worahip, and prompting their Bubj< 
 ti.-n of the true God. Bat □ of thai land 
 
 • made by them. Instead, the monan . jypt, 
 
 ria, Babylonia, and I .1 their ; 
 
 their whole infln in and spread their 
 
 eral systems of idolatry . In I where the belief 
 
 in the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection 
 of the body, appears to bai lined, an 
 
 have given birth to tl. ndid II and 
 
 their custom of embalming the dead, their worahip 
 
 rred from Jehovah to the I 
 and reptiles, thai peopled the land, the wal 
 the air of that region ; and among them irof 
 
 most hideous made ol 
 
 ial adoration. Their l 
 with idol> and pictures of idol deities, and the whole 
 population were forced by the iron hand of power to 
 
 their homage to thofl 1 shapes, some! 
 
 Living, more frequently probably dead, and bl 
 and deformed by the mbalmei 
 
aim: .maim: iwi i:i: this DISPENSATION. 7'.) 
 
 them a material immortality. Is it possible tor crea- 
 tures to offer a more awful affront to Jehovah their 
 creator and Qpholder? Their paying this worship 
 to the ox, t ho crocodile, the cat, the ibis, and tlio 
 beetle, implied thai their attributes were superior to 
 his j that their stations, relations, and agencies, in- 
 vested them with higher rights, and rendered them 
 
 more worthy of acknowledgment and trust. 
 
 The despotic rulers of Assyria in like manner es- 
 tablished a va-t system of idolatry as the Btate reli- 
 gion, in which hulls and lions with human heads ap- 
 pear to have held the most conspicuous rank ; while 
 in Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar erected a gigantic 
 image of gold, of a human shape, as the object of* 
 homage, and required his subjects on penalty of 
 death to worship it ; and images, or material em- 
 blems of some form, were the objects of homage to 
 the native inhabitants of Palestine, Syria, the adja- 
 cent parts of A.sia Minor, and the vasl regions that 
 stretch eastward to the confines of India, for a long 
 series of : while in India itself, a different set 
 
 of still more hideous and monster shapes were con- 
 stituted deities, ami a vast array of priests employed 
 to pay them a worship of complicated and cruel rites. 
 The despots who reigned over those populous and 
 cultivated nations tor two thousand years, instead of 
 exerting their authority in repressing false religions, 
 and prompting to the worship of Jehovah, gave their 
 whole influence to the introduction and support of 
 idolatry, forced their subjects to live as apostates 
 
from J< !. o i ;:.. d ! made their cruel rit - and <! 
 
 to t; 
 The Greel i Minor, the islands of t!. M 
 
 i. 
 Ital;. lire of freedom, 
 
 tiers, fheir 
 mmenl ly in a I 
 
 the expression of the general will, and their relig 
 
 popular at. Ti. 
 
 religions rites were the gods and rites of the 
 bo the general voi i them so. Y 
 
 i, Kit thna to their own * 
 than those of the rn empires, still 
 
 'apostatL niversally an 
 
 thf homage of idols. Th 
 and the ( 
 
 ranean, were for 
 rioationof mi , and the erection 
 
 of tern] I oe, T 
 
 thronged wil i mly in the temples, the fa 
 
 of jr. e theatres, the 
 
 l>ut in to 
 
 their whole Life was monlded and i by their 
 
 — tlms showingin the most Btriking manner 
 that no strength or snbtlety of intellect, no refinem 
 
 kno* . m in the arts, 
 
 lorn, nor o of them in their hi 
 
 any bar vah 
 
ARE MADE UNDER THIS DISPENSATION. 81 
 
 to idol-worship : that it is not ignorance and political 
 degradatioD alone that prompl to it, but that the sub- 
 tle, the Learned, the winy, the refined in many forms, 
 an<l the free, are borne as readily to the renunciation 
 
 of the Creator and ruler of the universe, and the suh- 
 Btitntion of Stocks and stones that are graven by man's 
 
 art and device in his place, as the great nations of 
 Asia and Africa whom tho hand of despotism has 
 kept in the most abject ignoranco and vassalage. A 
 similar display was likewise made by the population 
 of Italy. 
 
 And the whole of these nations continued their 
 idolatry down to the age of the apostles. No experi- 
 ence of the vanity of their worship, none of the ter- 
 rible judgments with which they wero overwhelmed 
 by the Most High in punishment of their revolt from 
 him — judgments from which they learned that their 
 gods could not deliver them — contributed in tho 
 slightest degree to excite them to abandon them. 
 So far from it, they continued to multiply their dei- 
 ties and to sink to lower and lower depths of supersti- 
 tion and debasement in their worship, till their f. 
 systems began to bo superseded by the gospel. 
 
 What an amazing exemplification of tho human 
 heart ! Those nations comprised, with the excep- 
 tion of the Hebrews, the whole, or nearly the whole 
 that had risen above extreme barbarism during the 
 twenty-three centuries that followed the deluge, and 
 abounded witli rulers, philosophers, poets, and histo- 
 rians, of as great genius and as large cultivation in 
 
 4* 
 
-J 
 
 their I in the 
 
 WOrld. Y. t wit OeptiOD, their [ 
 
 DCtiOD U 1 Of 
 
 idolatry— the worship of marble! metalli 
 
 Btatuefl ; the most hideous brutes and vil< 
 
 or human monsters of lost, treachery, cruelty, 
 
 ambit ified by the imagination, ami inv< 
 
 with !• the affairi of men. Can the I 
 
 conceive of more decisive and dreadful proofs that 
 
 the race is in open revoll From Jehovah, and rej 
 
 him and his Bervice with the moat intone non ? 
 
 [f it be not, how Lb it that not a Bofitarj 
 
 from this monatromi impiety is heard through 
 
 pi it 
 
 wafl at the risk of his li: 
 
 Their apostasy thus i, . t<» the worship 
 
 of false deitie8, in most of whom an animal and 
 
 ual nature was held t.» have a predomin 
 urily followed, as the apostle indicate 
 withdrawing from them, ami giving them ap to the 
 unrestrained sway of the appetites which they impi- 
 6naly deified, and allowing th< ink t<> ti 
 
 depths of impurity ami debasement. The sexual 
 sion, in its most unli ml polluting 
 
 ■ : 1 1 \- formally sanctioned, but its gratification a 
 part of their homage to their deities; their tei 
 
 in,L r made the of puMie and DOUndl ititlh 
 
 t inn. and their priestsand pri i the chief ai 
 
 in the horrid , And from them the tide of law- 
 
 ::id corrupt] h all the inferior 
 
aim: man: DNDEB THIS r ;<>\. 
 
 ranks, till the whole mass Bank to the low< 
 of pollution. The cities on the borders of the As- 
 phaltine Bea had reached Buch an extreme ofwicked- 
 - in this relation, in the days of Abraham, that 
 God Bwepl them to destrnctioD by a storm of fire and 
 brimstone, and their site remains a monument at i 
 of their guilt and his ace. Four hundred 
 
 years later the Canaanites were destroyed, in a L 
 measure, for their addiction to the same debasing sin. 
 The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the 
 population of Syria preeminently, and of Asia Minor, 
 were Dotorious for the profligacy of their manners; 
 and throughout the whole circuit of the Roman em- 
 pire, in the age of the apostle, an almost total diss - 
 
 lution of morals had taken place. 
 
 And the unbridled reign of that debasing appetite 
 gave birth also — as the Spirit of truth indicates it 
 naturally must — to the whole brood of seliish and 
 malign passions, and converted its vassals into ene- 
 mies, scourges, and destroyers of each other. The 
 great business of the chief nations from the days of 
 Abraham to the birth of Christ, was war, slaughter, 
 conquest, plunder, devastation, and vengeance. Dur- 
 ing that period — besides the numerous wars betw< 
 inferior kingdoms — five great empir three in 
 
 the east, and two in the west, that spread their con- 
 quest.- over a large pari of the world that was then 
 in any degree civilized, ; I at iped it in the blood 
 of its inhabitants. The people were held to be the 
 absolute property of the monarchs, and were crushed 
 
v I GREAT MANIl TJIi: HI 
 
 □ millioi 
 que* d into a bopel< 
 
 • 
 
 ry pari !i«l such 
 
 thing 
 
 beni . known tu a human bosom. 
 
 Buoh was tin- i i nations* 1 
 
 . of the Israelites, the i 
 Jehoyat) to the idols of their heathen neighl 
 depths of impiety and profli^ which they sank, 
 
 and tin' fierce and bloody wars In which, after their 
 division into two kingdoms, they scourged and wa 
 
 h other, formed a .-till more awful exhibition of the 
 human hi 
 
 Such was the result <>f the trial el' mankind through 
 four thousand years, 1 I d clearly 
 
 sled himself to them through his 
 himself known t<> them in many ether mod 
 would recognize and honor him, or would r< 
 and turn from him t<» th< ip of imaginary d< i- 
 
 : and to Bhow with what direful pi they 
 
 would become inflam to what awful l< 
 
 of wick. : bey would turn, whi 
 
 righteoui bandons them, b I their i 
 
 f their own corrupt and malignant 
 
 . 
 This i-. indeed, hut a faint picture i 
 
 1 reality. Yet Blight and dim as it is, what a 
 
 But to the < hole 
 
ABB MADE UXDEK THIS DISPENSATION. 89 
 
 scene, and comprehended its fearful significance, how 
 
 profound and overwhelming must the realization have 
 been it produced, thai tin* raeo are lust lb a Btern and 
 remorseless enmity to Jehovah ! 
 
 Tho exhibition made of the human heart under the 
 gospel, in the opposition it met from Jews and Pa- 
 gans at its promulgation, the dreadful perversion to 
 which it was soon subjected, and the merciless per- 
 secution by which the true worshippers were for many 
 ages pursued by Pagans and false Christians, is equally 
 demonstrative of its utter alienation from God. Tho 
 dark picture given in the New Testament of tho 
 treatment Paul received as the great preacher of the 
 glad tidings of salvation through Christ, may be taken 
 as an exemplification of the reception the news of 
 redemption met from the nations generally to whom 
 it was first proclaimed. His life, through the twenty- 
 six years of his labors, was one ceaseless conflict with 
 passionate and malign opponents, a scene of perpetual 
 peril from conspirators, assassins, mobs, and persecu- 
 ting magistrates. He says of himself, " I am more 
 a minister of Christ than others ; in labors more abun- 
 dant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more fre- 
 quent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received 
 I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with 
 rods ; once was I stoned ; in journey ings often, in 
 perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine 
 own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils 
 in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in tho 
 sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and 
 
THE HE 
 
 painfulness, in watch r and ti. 
 
 in fa . ten, in cold and naki 
 
 I he at Length fefl a victim to thi 
 of his enemies, and 1 ipitated 
 
 tlii-. simply of hia fidelity to Chriai ; not- 
 
 withstanding hia apoatleahip waa demonstrated I 
 
 r crowd of atnpendona miracL lially in 
 
 the hestowmi piritual gifta in connexion with 
 
 hia a athenic 
 
 any other m< ' '1 althongh hia 
 
 duct waa marked by th< iprightness, pru> 
 
 dence, gentli f-denial, and sea] for 
 
 the well-being of those whom he addressed. ] 
 hatred and malice with which he was parse 
 finally martyred, are only paralleled by the infori 
 with which the I k>d waa 
 
 by, malig 
 mocked, aconrged, and at Length pul to death on 
 Conld snch a procedure towarda an uprij 
 . holy and benevolent, noble-h 
 working preacher of aalvation, have been possible, 
 had not those who thus outraged him been the most 
 Btern and implacable and lawlesa and 
 
 brutal enemiea of hia children ? 
 
 The persecution of the discip] I gun 
 
 by t! l' oa in the apoatle'a life, waa continued by 
 them at intervals through more than two hundred 
 and lil"t\ ind hundreds of thoi 
 
 j-;iwli\ tli. Qominioua and cruel deal 
 
 1 in dun torn with hot irons, bun 
 
AUK MAIM-: UNDEB THIS DISPENSATION. 87 
 
 the stake, decapitated on the block, hung on the 
 cross, thrown to wild beasts ; — and all the power of 
 the Roman empire was exerted to exterminate them 
 from the earth. On the Legalization and paganization 
 of the church by Constantino, that monarch and a 
 large portion of the hierarchy themselves became 
 
 ferocious persecutors of the true worshippers ; and his 
 
 successors en the Byzantine throne continued t<> be 
 
 such, with hut short intervals, through more than a 
 thousand years, till the extinction of that line by the 
 Turks in 1 153. The churches of "Western Europe 
 also apostatized at the same time as those of the 
 Basl to the homage of saints, relics, and statues, con- 
 verted the established religion into a horrid system 
 of the most impious errors and debasing supersti- 
 tions, and became also cruel and insatiable persecu- 
 tors ; so that the Catholic churches themselves of 
 the West and the East have been the greatest cor- 
 rupters of the principles and morals of men the 
 world has ever seen, the most impious blasphemers 
 of God, and the most ferocious and remorseless op- 
 pressors and murderers of his children, through more 
 than twelve hundred years ; until in the East they 
 have nearly sunk into extinction ; while in the West 
 they have almosl universally passed from even the 
 nominal belief in Christianity into the most blank 
 and impious atheism and pantheism, and sunk, ac- 
 cording to the usual law of God's providence, to the 
 lowest depths of the most coarse and debasing im- 
 morality, and become inflamed with the most lawless 
 
88 G 
 
 ami Moody | Tin* omijianil .ill liuni- 
 
 of true worship] 
 
 1 !. in 
 
 Bpite of the moi 1 church 
 
 and tin* civil powers through s 1 
 
 \ iotimfl of thai c irho 
 
 rished by the 
 Mak in loath 
 
 worn oul at the gall* mount to millioi 
 
 • Diardi tlif lain I 
 
 been as ferooioiui in their pat 
 
 otln dl The natiom 
 
 Western Euro] i 
 
 d for tfa reive hnndn 
 
 bloody and malignant u other. Th 
 
 in their eultiv 
 
 mains that has not been a battL many of 
 
 iho \ 1 plains of lt,i! . I • 
 
 Spain, have frequently been drenched with the 1 
 ofth x ther part of even this fallen world, 
 
 probably, has been the theai nchtLirefol ambi- 
 
 tion, hate, and r with sueh a 
 
 train of Sighs and _ ted by the wan- 
 
 ton infliction of wounds and death by man on man. 
 Sueh is. in brief, the result of the experiment that 
 
 trt of man through • 
 
 hundred under tl < a more 
 
 i appalling demonstration l ived 
 
 that fallen, revolting, 
 rigible I 
 
ARE KADI PNDEB THIS DISPENSATION. 89 
 
 the work of redemption assumes him to 1"' ? thai Lefl 
 to himself, he instantly apostatizes from God, and be- 
 comes a debased and ferocions brute ; and that noth- 
 ing 1'iit infinite power and n renew, trans- 
 form, and save him ? 
 

 c H a p t i: B VIII. 
 
 THE mis TRIAL of THK i: 
 
 THAT FOLLOW. 
 
 Such is. in brief, tin- result of the experinn 
 lias made of the haman ln-art through oear six thou- 
 Band ami -till nr Iful display b of 11 
 
 ke place a- this dispensation dr se, in 
 
 the attempts which tin- civil powers and tin' man of 
 
 .-in will make t<» exterminate the true worshippers 
 
 and folio 1 I ' loUB and 
 
 appalling demonstratioD be conceived that man u 
 
 I Bnch a fallen, revolting, and incorrigible being, 
 a- the word of God repn ad as tin- work oi 
 
 demption assumes him to 1m-? Can it be doul 
 the worlds and beings that witness (.rare made acquaint- 
 ed with it. must feel that it forms sufficient pro* 
 the truths it exemplifies to cause the unii 
 know and realize from what it is that m< 
 even in i of < triumphant 
 
 :. when they are to he wholly fa 
 
TO BATE FUTURE GENERATIONS WITHOUT TRIAL. 91 
 
 hit ion of sin and its curse ? And how indispensable to 
 those who are then to be redeemed will these exem- 
 plifications be ? Sow else conld they so clearly 
 what the abyss of ruin is from which they are res- 
 cued] or realize the riches and sovereignty of the 
 
 grace to which they owe the BpOtleSS existence, and 
 
 the immeasurable glory and beatitude to which they 
 are exalted ? Bui as they gaze on this awful specta- 
 cle and trace its countless myriads through all their 
 history, they will Bee as clearly and feel with a- deep 
 
 a sensibility as those who are saved under the pre- 
 sent dispensation, what the sin and misery are from 
 
 which they are ex. mpted, and what the riches and 
 
 glory n\' the love, and wisdom, and might, are to 
 which they owe their blissful stations in the king- 
 dom of Christ. 
 
 The oftice the present economy is to fill to that 
 which is to follow it, is thus an explanation and a 
 justification of it. It furnishes an ample reason for 
 the administration God is now exercising, and invests 
 those of his measures which would otherwise seem 
 enshrouded in darkness, with the light of wisdom and 
 grace. That he Bhould overrule the rebellion and 
 perishing of such crowds through a long* series of 
 ages in such a manner as to prepare the way for his 
 saving the race at large that thereafter comes into 
 existence through eternal years, bespeaks a greatness 
 and grandeur of goodness and skill that transcends 
 the grasp of creature-, and must forever he contem- 
 plated by them with wonder and adoration. It is io 
 
op m iow n i 
 
 thia tli.it the ap an- 
 
 Bouncing tl. truth. I i l in th. 
 
 dispensation, oonelndee all, both J I ilea, 
 
 in anbel 
 
 Ohri i. be may 1 i m all of both claosoi 
 
 ever, u O the depth of tin both 
 
 Of t : in and < : ! i v un- 
 
 ohable are hie ju find- 
 
 . r who hath known the mind of I 
 or who hath been hi- Uor? Or who hath 
 
 d to him, and it shall be recompei him 
 
 again? For of him, ami throngh him, and to him are 
 all things: to whom be glory forever.' 1 ] 
 
 fulness ami glory of it BO tr 
 
 of creatures, Lie thus in the fact thai the blind] 
 unbelief, and perishing of .Tows and GentiL 
 
 ale onder tl anomy, are in i 
 
 y upon all of I that 
 
 o r. Take away tl. 
 
 ii i- to iill in coming dispensation, 
 
 all comprehensive intell 
 
 (loin vanish ! But that subserviency which is to 
 
 tch throngh etei id oontribnte to the 
 
 niption of >iuli COnntleSfl millions of tn 
 
 - it with a grandeur of love ami skill tfa 
 worthy of Jehovah, ami oommei with Um 
 
 terestfl of his boundless kingdom. 
 
 administrati the 
 
 momentous influ I iture 
 
 apart an awful Bignificanoe to the evil ao- 
 
TO SAVE PUTUBB GENEBATION8 WITHOUT TRIAL. 98 
 
 tiona of men under it. and a lofty dignity to their 
 obedience. With what immeasurable grandeur it 
 invest^ the humbleness, patience, meekness, Bubmis- 
 Bipn, love, faith, and Bteadfastnesa of the renewed, in 
 
 their seasons of sharp trial, that they are to prepare 
 the way for their pardon and acceptance, by the 
 
 proofs they present that God acts according to truth 
 in treating them as indubitably his children ! What 
 
 an august place is assigned them among the means 
 by which ho is to accomplish his purposes of grace, 
 thai by the demonstrations they exhibit of Ids power, 
 sovereignty, and love, and the reality of their recon- 
 ciliation to him whom he accepts, they are to supcr- 
 the necessity of subjecting the race in future 
 9 to such trials, and render it practicable and 
 wise to bestow salvation on all! This great truth 
 was understood and felt by the disciples of the first 
 age, and inspired them with fortitude under the af- 
 flictions to which they were called. It was the com- 
 mon sentiment of the apostles and early martyrs, that 
 trials were to be welcomed, rather than shunned. — 
 " Count it all joy when ye fall into divers tempta- 
 tions ; knowing that the trying of your faith work- 
 eth patience. But let patience have her perfect 
 work, that ye may bo perfect and entire, wanting 
 nothing." " Blessed is the man that endurcth temp- 
 tation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the 
 crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them 
 that love him." 
 
HI Tin: ■• } 
 
 (ha pt i: B IX. 
 
 TIIK AIM OF CI OH TIIK THBONI <»K HKAVKN. THE 
 
 DMIOM OF Al : u.l.F.N OBBfl WITH TB 
 
 IN' OHI EMFIBB UH] . I .W. 
 
 The administration Christ ; tisingon 
 
 throne of heaven, is designed, we are taught, to i 
 the Inhabitants of other worlds acquainted with his 
 work a R and is preparatory to ■ new dis- 
 
 pensation over this, under which all nati 
 redeemed. 
 
 Thi 1 1 1 is pursuing, the Scripts 
 
 represent, is to bring the whole universe of intellij 
 creaturee— with the exception of the fallen an 
 and those of our race who shall be lost — into one har- 
 monious and perfect empire under the scepta 
 Christ. Those of the unmflen worlds are placed under 
 his rule as Jehovah-man, and led to know and 
 knowledge bim in that nature, and yield a willing and 
 
 1 glorify him in his 
 work a< the Redeemer of men ; and those of this 
 world ale his institution ofa i 
 
 e raised to a level in hoi unfallen 
 
THE DNFALLBN AND REDEEMED IX ONE EMPIRE. 95 
 
 worlds, and do his will thereafter on earth as it is 
 
 done in heaven. 
 
 Thus Pail] says. M He has made known to Dfl the 
 mystery of his will, according to his own good plea- 
 sure which he purposed in himself, — in the economy, 
 cnliar plan of administration) of the fulness of the 
 
 times, to bring together again in one, (empire) all in 
 Christ— those in the heavens, and those upon the 
 earth." The all in the heavens and upon the earth, 
 are all the intelligent inhabitants of those worlds, to 
 the exclusion of the fallen angels and the lost of man- 
 kind, who will then no longer be inhabitants either 
 of heaven or of earth. This is seen from their dis- 
 crimination from the heavens — the heavenly orbs, in 
 which the one class resides, and from the earth iq/on 
 which the other dwells. It is shown moreover by the 
 explanation which is given Colos. i. 20, of the nature 
 of this union of the all in heaven in one under Christ, 
 as a conciliation of them to God under him ; that is, 
 bringing them to a filial acquiescence in his rule over 
 them in his human nature ; and Phil. ii. 6-11, where 
 it is exhibited as the bending of every knee of those 
 in the heavens and on earth and under the earth, and 
 the confession of every tongue — which are acts of in- 
 telligences — that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of 
 God the Father. Their being all reunited with the 
 inhabitant- of the earth in one, therefore, will be their 
 union in one harmonious empire under Christ, in 
 which all will recognize him in his complex nature, 
 and in his authority as Messiah, as their rightful King, 
 
THE .MM OF CHB 
 
 the ji tlieir homage and all and will 
 
 1 nature- ai. I 
 
 him a glad, adoring, and ; obediei 
 
 Tin- union of the inhabitant 
 onder Christ, tnplished by hia 
 
 ae of heaven, and investiture with - ■ au- 
 
 rerthem. llras, the apostle says that on his 
 
 I him at 1 lis o\\ n 
 ri t L r ht hand in t 
 
 principality, and and 
 
 named, in this age, but 
 
 in that which i- ! hath put all u: 
 
 him to I r all to the 
 
 church, which is his b( bin that 
 
 filh'th all in all* E}»li. i.L 2 , 
 supreme authority over them, t: 
 
 the most intima! ; with him m hi- 
 
 nature and (.Hie a- Redeemer; made ae ; 
 with his work a 
 
 serve him as their rightful Lord. This Bubjection to 
 him is m»t a change IV . hut 
 
 simply . in their relations, and a ition 
 
 of him in his new rel rtions to thi 
 nate, the R deemer of mankind, their I 
 rightful ruler, acquiescence in hi in that i 
 
 d glorification of him therefore aa having the 
 rights whicl - in the work of tion, 
 
 and tnplishing th- t which he aims in it 
 
 It w 
 
 th in behalf of mankind, i bt, that he is 
 
THE UNFALLEN AND REDEEMED IN ONE EMPIRE. 97 
 
 exalted to Buprome dominion over them ; and its ob- 
 jecl is to bring them to a knowledge and acknowl- 
 edgment of him in liis union to man and work as Re- 
 deemer, and love and adoration of him in thai office. 
 Though M being in the form of (2nd. and thinking it 
 do violent grasping— (no asurf>ation of the divine 
 rights) to bo equal with God, he yel made himself of 
 no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a 
 servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and 
 being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, 
 and became obedient unto death, even the death of the 
 
 - : Wherefon . i because of this assumption of m 
 nature and death for his redemption,) God has high- 
 ly exalted him, and given him a name above evefy 
 name, thai at the name of Jesus every knee should 
 bow of those of the heavens, and of those of the earth, 
 and of those under the earth, and every tongue should 
 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the Father.'' Phil. ii. 5-11. The very object of his 
 investiture with the sceptre of the heavenly worlds 
 thus is, to bring all the orders of intelligent beings 
 that dwell in them to a full knowledge and acknowl- 
 edgment of him the incarnate Jehovah as their right- 
 ful Lord, as possessing the prerogatives he claims, 
 and as adequate to the work he undertakes. And as 
 their recognition of him is willing, filial, and adorn 
 a glad acquiescence in his rule, and approval of his 
 work as Saviour, it is that union in one under him as 
 their head that is expressed Eph. i. 9-10, by their 
 being in the fulness of the times gathered together, 
 
98 thi: aim OP CHI 
 
 with mankind upon I mpire oi 
 
 him. The \\ bole nniver 
 
 the heavenly worlds, is thu lit int.. I 
 
 intimate relations t«. him, and made acquainted with 
 
 I, deity, hi ■ lequacy to I 
 
 ■ 
 
 yield an admiring anil rapturous snbmission t 
 
 1 justify and glorify ;ij. point- 
 
 ing him t-' the work. 
 
 This anion of the inhabitants of the I 
 worlds, with those of the earth, in one empire under 
 Christ, la exhibited in I ciliation, 
 
 ami has been thought by Borne t<» indicate thai a *\r- 
 
 of alienation from Q-od, or doubt of tho rectitude 
 and wisdom oi' hi- waj s, in the i f the 
 
 heavenly orbs. Bui that i- an error. The language 
 of the pi I God that in him all 
 
 fulness should dwell, and through him t. ile all 
 
 unto himself (bring tln-m to a knowledge of him as the 
 
 emer, acquiescence in his v, nch, and ado- 
 
 ration and love of him for it.) he having mad 
 through the blood of his cross — through him. 
 
 rth, or those in the h worlds." 
 
 Chap. i. 19, 20. This conciliation is plainly not a 
 ehange of character in tl. nly hosts, hut Bimply 
 
 of rel ' : »ns, and a Glial acquiescence in the new 
 mini- 1 ration under which they are placed ; an adoring 
 
 nition of its rightfulness and hone!' ad a 
 
 glorification of Christ ami the Father lor the 
 and j • which it display b. The verb tr 
 
THE UNPALLBM AND REDEEMED IN ONE EMPIRE. 
 
 Qcile, does do1 necessarily mean a change from 
 alienation to love, from revoll to obedience, but sim- 
 ply a change Prom one state, or relationship, to ano- 
 ther; and only denotes in this passage, so far aa 
 Bpects the inhabitants of the heavenly worlds, that they 
 
 nt with joyous and adoring affections to the new 
 relations in which they are placed by the exaltation 
 of Christ to supreme authority over them. And as 
 the elevation of the Word in union with the man 
 Christ Jesus, to that station, investiture with all the 
 rights of the deity, and requirement that all the or- 
 ders of intelligences should worship him in that union 
 with man, and yield obedience to his sceptre, are 
 among the greatest and most wondrous acts of the 
 divine administration towards creatures ; so their 
 bending in submission to him in that nature, worship- 
 ping him as Creator and Lord, and glorifying the 
 Father for investing him with authority over them, 
 are the greatest and most wonderful acts of allegiance 
 that holy creatures can be conceived to render ; and 
 arc lofty in beauty and resplendence in them, as well 
 fulgent in the glory they reflect on God. 
 This union of the inhabitants of the heavenly 
 worlds in one empire under Christ took place doubt- 
 less immediately after his ascension. A knowledge 
 of his investiture with supreme authority over them, 
 must have been then communicated to them, and of 
 the new and peculiar duties to which they were call- 
 ed by the new relations in which they were placed 
 to him. It was Bhewn indeed to the angelic orders 
 
]im) thi; AIM OF CHB 
 
 w bo Were in the di> i d it- 
 
 ition also. It most ; 
 know d also to all the the 
 
 ither bj 
 of a] by the apjx Christ himself to 
 
 them, and not improbably in each of It 
 
 en first 
 made known t i 
 
 Ohri n. Additional information 
 
 ing it and the event 
 
 commnnicated from time to time 
 
 often 1 onr world to m 
 
 the pnrj 
 
 9 iil. But Christ b 
 himself to the inhabitants of his innumerable worlds, 
 allowed them to behold him in his incarnate and 
 rified nature . them a direct horn 
 
 and given them to meet his smile, 
 i eptance and g from his li; 
 
 this \ rk,requi r its full accomplish- 
 
 ment, rather than merely a few may be 
 
 id that i period has intervened betn 
 
 torn to 1 he is 
 
 ring the family of man also into a like 
 and blissful subjection t<> hie 
 
 Tl . to the tin and 
 
 iliation <>t all tb 
 
 timuteh with ami prepar- 
 
 >nciliation of the inhabitant 
 
Tin: UNFALLEH AND REDEEMED IN" ONE EMPIRE. 1 1 • 1 
 
 oiii- world to him, is also clearly revealed in these and 
 other passages. For the intelligent beings who are 
 to be brought together in one empire under him, 
 consisi of two divisions: first, those in the heavenly 
 orbs : and Becond, those that dwell on the earth ; in- 
 clnding all intelligences in the universe therefore, ex- 
 cept the fallen angels, and the lost of mankind, who 
 are not comprised in those divisions, inasmuch ai 
 the time to which this passage, Epli. i. 9, 10, refers, 
 they will not he inhabitants either of the heavenly 
 worlds, or of the earth. The time when the reconcili- 
 ation of the inhabitants of the earth is to be accom- 
 plished, so that they will become a part of his obedi- 
 ent empire, is still future, and future to the present 
 dispensation over men ; for it is to take place under 
 the administration of the fulness of the times ; and 
 that is to follow the present dispensation over this 
 world, which is the time of the Gentiles, and dur- 
 ing which Israel continues in blindness and under 
 the curse of exile and dispersion. Most of the Gen- 
 tile nations remain nnapprized of the gospel and pay 
 their worship to idols ; and the church itself has in a 
 great incisure apostatized from Christ, instituted a 
 new sacrifice for sin, and pays its homage to crea- 
 tures. But the accession of the inhabitants of the 
 earth to Christ's obedient empire is to take place after 
 the blindness of Israel, and the apostasy of the Gen- 
 tiles have passed, and he comes the second time unto 
 salvation ; for it is then that he is to turn away un- 
 godliness from Jacob, and all Israel shall d ; 
 
L02 mi 
 
 and then thai t! 
 
 in. and he Bhall upon all; B 
 
 What the inhabit 
 
 earth to God 1 ( 1 
 
 mora fully explained by Paul, Eph. Iii. 2-11, ' 
 
 rd of t : oration of adminis- 
 
 < I 1 which is given (commu- 
 nical I : that b; tion lie 
 
 made known unto mi 
 
 written briefly (chap. i. ft-1 1.) whereby when 
 ye may see my knowledge (thai i ct and i 
 
 prehensive) of the d I orist, which in other 
 
 - doI made known onto tl of men 
 
 led unto his holy apostles and prophets 
 by the Spirit, (namely,) thai I 
 low i • rs of 
 
 ^whereof ] 
 was made a minister, thai 1 should preach am 
 
 ■ ilea the unsearchable ri I ad make 
 
 all men Bee what tl. my (the admini 
 
 plan,) of the mystery is which from the beginning 
 the world has been hid in God, wh II in 
 
 Christ, to the intenl that now unto the principal) 
 and the in the heavenly worlds might 
 
 known through the church, the manifold wisdom of 
 
 ternaJ purpose which he pnr- 
 I 1 in Christ plan which had 
 
 : revealed of Christ's administration over this 
 world in the fulness of t to be 
 
THE DNPALLEN AXi> REDEEMED IN i [RE. 10:j 
 
 the plan of making tin* Gentiles fellow hi I fel- 
 
 low partakers of the promise in Christ through the 
 gospel. Who then are those with whom they are to 
 be fellow heirs ; and what are the promises of which 
 they are to be fellow partakers? The answer is — It 
 Is with the Israelites that they are to be fellow heirs, 
 and oi the promises made to them in Christ through 
 the gospel that they are to be fellow partakers j and 
 thence it is by their becoming fellow heirs and par- 
 takers with them of the blessings promised them in 
 Christ, that the whole inhabitants of the earth are to 
 be restored from their alienation, brought into perfect 
 subjection to Christ, and incorporated in the ono 
 perfect empire under him. 
 
 What then arc the peculiar blessings promised to 
 the Israelites, of which they arc thus to become par- 
 takers? 1. The first great promise is, that God will 
 be their God, and they shall be his people. " The 
 Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the 
 Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect, 
 and I will establish my covenant between me and 
 thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, 
 for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee 
 and thy seed after thee." Genesis xvii. 1, 7. "And 
 all be my people, and I will be your God." Jer- 
 emiah xxx. '22. '2. That Christ should at length ap- 
 pear and reign over them as their King. "Unto us 
 a child is born, unto US a son is given ; and the gov- 
 ernment shall be upon Ids shoulder, and his name 
 shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty 
 
mi 
 
 her, the P .Of 
 
 the increase ofhia go\ ernmenl ai all be 
 
 ad upon the throne of D ind upon his kingdom, 
 
 it, and to establish it with judgm< with 
 
 ice from henceforth even forever m n ."' baiah 
 
 ix. 6, 7 : Jeremiah xxiii. dii. 11 ' Thai 
 
 under lit- reign over them they should all be perfectly 
 
 tified and crowned with ad hap] 
 
 " This ie the covenant that I will make with the fa 
 rael. Ailer tho die- 
 
 ion) — saitli tlic Lord, I will put my law in their 
 inward parts, and write it in th< ; and will 
 
 be their God, and they shall he my people. And tiny 
 shall teach no more every man his neighbor, ai 
 man hi- brother, Baying, Know 
 
 thall all know me. from tl. 'thrinuv 
 
 f them, saith the Lord : for I will i their 
 
 iniquity, and I will remember their ." — 
 
 miah xxxi. 33, 34; Lsaiah x i . *. » : lxv. IT :!•">. 1. 
 That they should continue in holiness ami b 
 under his reign through an endl< 
 tions. •"Then will I Bprinkle dean water upon 
 ami ye shall be (Iran : from all your lilthi: 
 
 from all your idols will 1 you. A new hi 
 
 1 ive you, and a new spirit will I put within 
 
 yon ; and I v. ill take away the stony heart out of y OUT 
 
 ! 1 will give yon a heart of fleSh, An<l I will 
 
 put my spirit within you, and i to wall 
 
 P my ju I do 
 
 them. Ami ye Bhall dwell in the land which 
 
THE (JNFALLEN a.nd REDEEMED i.\ ONE BMPIBE. 105 
 
 to your fathers ; and ye Bhall be my people, and I will 
 be your God." Bzek. xx.wi. 2-1-28. -And theyshall 
 dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob, my 
 servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they 
 shall dwell therein, they t and their children, and their 
 children's children POBBVBB ; and my servant David 
 shall be their prince forever." Ezek. xxxvii. 25, 20- 
 2-i ; 26-28. These are the great blessings that were 
 promised to the Israelites in the glad tidings in 
 Christ, and they are the blessings therefore of which 
 the Gentiles are to be fellow heirs, and fellow parta- 
 kers under him. That they are to share in them 
 under his reign is, accordingly, clearly taught in other 
 passages in the New Testament. Tims, 1st, that tho 
 (lent iles are to be his people and he is to be their 
 God, is foreshown Rev. xxi. 3. On the descent of 
 the New Jerusalem from heaven, a great voice was 
 heard, saying, "Behold the tabernacle of God is ^era 
 tuv di 'Opuvuv, with mankind, and he will dwell with 
 them, and they shall be his people, and he will be 
 their God." 2d. Christ is to reign over them as 
 their King. " And the seventh angel sounded, and 
 there were great voices in heaven, saying, The king- 
 dom of this world is become our Lord's and his 
 Christ's, and he shall reign through tho ages of ages." 
 Rev. xi. 15. 3. They are all to be perfectly holy and 
 blessed. " Who should not fear thee, Lord, and 
 glorify thy name? For thou only art holy; for all 
 the nations shall come and worship before thee, be- 
 cause thy judgments are made manifest." Rev. xv. 4. 
 
 r,* 
 
106 
 
 hall walk in the light ol 
 
 their glory and honor into it. And th< of it 
 
 shall imt be shut at all 1 night indeed there i- 
 
 and tlu-y shall bring the 
 hon- Etev. xxi. 2 1. — 
 
 ly and happy under his 
 i like the [sraelil •ration i 
 
 I ;..<! will dwell with 1 -hall 
 
 be his peo] I I be with t! 
 
 their God. \ L Ood Bhall i from 
 
 their eyes : and there shall 1m- no more death, neither 
 ing, neither shall there be any moro 
 pain : 1<T the former thi away. 
 
 he thai Bal npon tin- throne said, Behold, I make all 
 things new." B >v. wi. 
 pure river of water of life, ol< 
 
 nut of tin* thron< t. 1 and of the Lamb. Jn the 
 midst of the - I it, and on either Bide «•}' tin- river 
 
 there tl. f life, w hich ham twelve mai 
 
 of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the 
 
 rthe tree were for the healing of the nati 
 And there shall ho no more curse : bn1 the thron 
 
 I and of the Lamb shall he in it. and his servants 
 
 Bhall serve him. And they shall see his i I his 
 
 name shall It in th< i . and they Bhall reign 
 
 . xxii. 1 ."i. And Paul indi- 
 - in connection with tin- have qu 
 
 in respect t<> tin- purp I tod thus to maki 
 
 tiles fellow lairs with tl I 
 
Tin: ONFALLBM and REDEEMED in ONE EMPIRE. LOT 
 
 mises made to them, thai the glory of redemption is to 
 redound to God in the church through all the gener- 
 
 t ions of the age of tlio ages," in which he exhibits the 
 church as to continue in successive generations for- 
 ever. " Now nnt.) 1 1 i in who is able to do exceedingly 
 above all which wo ask or think, according to the 
 power which worketh in us ; to him be glory in the 
 church by Christ Jesus through all the generations 
 of the age of ages, amen." Eph. iii. 20, 21. 
 
 Of these great blessings then the Gentiles are to 
 be fellow heirs and partakers with the Israelites ; and 
 it i< by their being together thus freed from sin and 
 its penalties, and brought into one community of per- 
 fectly redeemed persons that the inhabitants of the 
 earth are to be reconciled to God, and admitted into 
 the holy and happy empire under Christ, into which 
 are to be gathered all the other orders of obedient 
 creatures in the universe. 
 
 Such is the great scheme of administration which 
 Paul calls the mystery of God's purpose, by whieh, 
 on the one side, all the hosts of the onfallen worlds 
 a re to become the willing, joyous, and adoring sub j< 
 of Christ's sceptre; and the inhabitants of this sphere, 
 on the other, are to be restored from their fallen con- 
 dition to perfect holiness and blessedness under his 
 reign over them, and the race again admitted as fit 
 members of his holy empire. No wonder the apostle 
 contemplated this great scheme of the redemption of 
 our world with such fervid interest ! No wonder that 
 he regarded the revelation of it, after having been 
 
i. TEE BOLT. 
 
 Kid id God from eternity, aa fonning 
 
 history of the earth and of heaven I N ider that 
 
 he fell that the knowledge of it 
 
 : ( 'hrist's work : thai it is only in the 
 • of it. tliat the riches oi 
 
 • w hich it displays can 1 j and that a glean) 
 
 f the bound] 
 results 1 1, : i 1 1 .lt from it. 
 
 It is thus seen that the administration Christ is now 
 cising <»n the throne of heaven, has 1 re- 
 
 ference to other orders ofintellig and is prepa- 
 
 ratory to a new dispensation over this world, under 
 which he is to reign here in person, i 
 from its fallen condition to holiness and happin 
 
 and admit it to a place in the and blissful 
 
 empire in which bis holy buI be anil 
 
Tin: ORDERS OF INTELLIGENCES INNUMERABLE. L09 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE VUMBERLESSNBSa 0* RANKS AMD nOSTS OVKB WHOM CHRIST IS 
 FXAl.TF.lt ; THE WHOLE CIRCUIT OF THE ORBS PEOPLED BY INTEL- 
 USES 
 
 Ark the inhabitants of the heavenly orbs, however, 
 
 of such rank and numbers as to invest the exaltation 
 of Christ over them with high importance ? Is there 
 reason to believe that the worlds generally that wheel 
 through the boundless realms of space, are the abodes 
 of intelligent beings ? This has of late been denied, 
 and under the pretext of science ; but against the 
 dictates of reason and the teachings of the divine 
 word. Though the Scriptures do not give us any 
 minute information respecting the natures and num- 
 bers of the intelligences that inhabit other parts of 
 the universe, they teach expressly and abundantly 
 that there are numerous orders of intelligences, be- 
 sides those of our race, and indicate that the orbs 
 generally are occupied by them. 
 
 Thus God in his answer to Job out of the whirl- 
 wind, represents that there were stars that were oc- 
 cupied by intelligences, and sons of God, the tenants 
 
IKl I! 
 
 probably of other worlds, I ha1 had a ki of 
 
 ition of our earth, thai loratioo and 
 
 thanksgiving to him for it, and probably a joyous 
 w elcome t<» the pair \\ 1 1 < » were m 
 aew-formed Bph< re. " Where wasl thou when I laid 
 
 foundations of the earth ? 1 1 if thou 
 
 understanding. Who hath laid the m 
 if thou knowest? Or who hath Btretched the line 
 u] m >ii it? Whereupon i foundations thereof 
 
 tied ? ( >r v< ho laid the cornei 
 when the morning Btars Bang together, and all 
 Bona of God Bhouted forjoyf 1 Chap, xxxviii. 4 7. 
 The morning Btars were the Btars in the eastern 
 when at the fial of the Almighty the earth leaped 
 into being, and met the first flash of tl. 
 They were a vaal host then, whether they I 
 to <>ur oloud of worlds, or to others stationed in the 
 distant realms of space ; and were peopled with in- 
 telligences who either witnessed, or were n 
 quainted with the birth of the new group of worlds 
 to n hich <>ur earth belongs. Here . 
 also, intelligences of different and perhaps inferior 
 orders, to whom information of the creation of our 
 heavens and earth may have been communicated by 
 
 lie messengers, and they also through all their 
 ranks shouted for joy. This passage breathed from 
 the lips of Jehovah himself, thus announo 
 that th«- materia] universe ii ante- 
 
 rior to the Creation Of OUr heavens and earth, ami 
 
 occupied by intelligences of various i thai this 
 
IN THE UNTVEB8E l.\MMi:i:.\i;i.K. Ill 
 
 06 w creation was made known to them, and thai they 
 Bang homage to the Almighty for the work, and shout- 
 ed congratulation to the happy beings formed in his 
 image who were to be its tenants ; and it Implies 
 that the Dumber of those heavenly intelligences was 
 immense. 
 
 That there were other intelligences besides our 
 first parents, both sinful and holy, in existence at the 
 fall, is shown by the fact that it was through the 
 agency of the great fallen arch-angel that Eve was 
 betrayed into sin ; and that holy beings of an order 
 called Cherubim were stationed at the gate of Para- 
 dise on the expulsion of Adam and Eve to prevent 
 their return there. 
 
 Of the existence of angelic intelligences, and of 
 their frequent visits to our w T orld on offices of mercy 
 or judgment, and agencies in the administration of 
 providence, wo have ample testimonies in the Scrip- 
 tures. They appeared to Abraham. They delivered 
 Lot out of Sodom. A host of them met Jacob on his 
 return from Padanaram. An angel destroyed tho 
 people ol* Israel with a pestilence, because of David's 
 sin in cumbering them. An angd destroyed the 
 army of Senacherib. When the king of Syria at- 
 tempted to seize Elisha, a host of horses and chariots 
 of fire filled the mountains around him ; and the chari- 
 ots of God, we are told by the Psalmist, are twenty 
 thousand, and thousands of angels ; and they encamp 
 round about them that fear him, and deliver them out 
 of their troubles. An angel announced to Mary that 
 
111! 
 
 should l • 
 
 of fti his 1-irth to the shejihi 
 
 mini aim after bis tempi 
 
 1 him in hi in the 
 
 ■ 1 rolled the om the Bepnlchre at h ii 
 
 sun. proclai] 
 
 his return from heaven i arth 
 
 at a future time. 
 Thai then 
 
 rank ! niimh. ; in the 
 
 Bible. Tims they are distinguished by the different 
 titles of principalities, authorities, p< 
 and thrones, Eph*L 2 : I .i.lt;: which that 
 
 they are of diffei - and bo] 
 
 And that their h - 
 
 vision of the Ancienl of d j s, Dan. vii. !», 10, an 
 the Father and the Lamb, Rev. v. En the former a 
 thousand th ministered onto him, and ten 
 
 thousands ten-thousands, that is ■ myriad <»i" myriad-, 
 hL :. Th( se numbers arc indefinite, in- 
 asmuch as the number of the thousands thai wen 
 
 posted a thousand 1: I the numhiT of Inv : 
 
 that peated a myriad of tunc 
 
 bed. They may have been many tli and 
 
 many myriad-. Taking the number of thorn 
 be multiplied by a thousand at the lowest number, 
 nd the thousand th 
 and taking the myriads thai oltiplied 
 
 by a myriad, in like manner 2 .000, 
 
 and multiplied by 10,000, tin _ i 
 
IX TlIK UNIVERSE l\'NTMFi;\:: 11:; 
 
 were at the lowesl number therefore thai the lan- 
 guage can express, two hundred and two millions of 
 angels present on that occasion. Bui in the vision, 
 Rev. \. LI, of the reception by the Lamb of the seal- 
 ed book from the Father there were thousands of 
 thousands, and myriads of myriads present, which at 
 the lowest numbers the terms ran express, wore four 
 hundred and tour millions; and they may have 1 
 many times that number : thousands and myriads of 
 millions. Great, however, as their numbers were, 
 they are not to be regarded as all the angels of God, 
 but only as representatives of the immeasurably 
 greater numbers of their orders ; in the same manner 
 as the four living- creatures, and the four and twenty 
 elders were representatives of all of our race who 
 had been redeemed out of every tribe, and tongue, 
 and people, and nation, amounting probably to many 
 millions ; and as other symbols in the Apocalypse, 
 such as the horsemen of the seals, the woman clothed 
 with the sun, the angel clothed with a cloud, the wild 
 beast often horns, the two witnesses, and the woman 
 Babylon, represent great combinations and BUi 
 Bions of men. And if used in that relation, how im- 
 mense the hosts to which they belong? The revela- 
 tion was made to them as truly as it was to the 
 -tie John, and they may have borno no greater 
 proportion to the countless millions of their orders, 
 than John did to the vast crowds of mankind to 
 whom through him the revelation ha commu- 
 
 nicated. 
 
1H th;. 
 Bui 
 
 in the heavenly worlds, rly indicated by 
 
 their titles, thn principalis 
 
 authorities! w bich are the names of p 
 inthority over other intelligei 
 and indicate therefore thai there I ber rani, 
 
 intelligences inferior to them in nature, that 
 place. l under thi ir i\* ■■■■ . And this 
 by the name angel: which is the name of their i 
 <»!• function. A; literally a m< 
 
 messenger, thai is an intelligence bearin 
 Buch as tin- will or oommand of God, is of cow 
 
 r to an intelligence or to u A 
 
 spiritual beii mmunicatioD from a 
 
 itual being, Lb not sent t" Btocks and si i un- 
 
 conscious unintelligent mat: . in tin- natii' 
 
 hi- offici i whom he ia a bearer of i 
 
 must be intelligent 1 T . that 
 
 there is such an order "1' intelli 
 countless Dumbers, i- itseli ^ direcj proof that there 
 arc other orders of intelligent beings <»t* inferior na- 
 tures, of infinitely ■ numbers ; and i 
 probable accordingly thai th ait of worlds 
 that lill the realm peopled by such r 
 
 and ranks. 
 
 And this is confirmed by sev< bich 
 
 exhibit the universe of WOr] 
 
 that worship God. Such i- Nciiciuiah ix. 6. u Thou, 
 thou an .' !i alone. Thou bast made 
 
 the heaven of be I ith all their irth, 
 
ix Tin: DNIYEBSE i\.\1'Mi:::ai:i.i:. 115 
 
 and all that are therein; the seas, and all that are 
 therein; and thou preserves! them all: and the host 
 
 of heaven worshippeth thee." " Heaven,'' and " the 
 heaven of heavens," are not Bpace : for Bpace is not 
 
 created; bui the material worlds, the countless orba 
 
 that till the immeasurable realms of space; and their 
 host is their intelligent inhabitants. This is seen 
 from their discrimination from the orbs themselves. 
 The creation of their host is exhibited as a different 
 act from the creation of the worlds themselves, in the 
 
 same manner as the creation of the organized and 
 living things of the earth and the sea. was a different 
 work from the creation of the earth itself. And their 
 host worships Jehovah, which is the act only of intel- 
 ligent beings. The passage thus teaches that the 
 vast train of worlds that wheel their circuits in the 
 heights and depths around us, considered as one, 
 have an intelligent population, that belongs to them 
 as one, that is distributed therefore throughout their 
 groups, and that worships Jehovah. In other words, 
 the vast circuit of worlds that surrounds us, is peo- 
 pled by intelligences, that vary in nature according 
 to the spheres which they occupy, and that pay a 
 joyous and adoring homage to God. 
 
 There i.- a similar indication of this great truth in 
 Psalm czlviii. 2—1, where the angels are distinguished 
 from the other hosts of Jehovah, and both from the 
 material worlds which they inhabit. "Praise ye him 
 all his angels, praise ye him all his hosts. Praise ye 
 him sun and moon ; praiso him all ye stars of light. 
 
1 L6 tui: ranks 
 
 • him yeheai ills that 
 
 \\ bee! in the rem 
 
 thai are above the ! ndfl thai float in 
 
 the I four atmosphi ■■ his hosts" thus 
 
 differ both from th< 
 
 from the . who l I 
 
 other ranks of hi 
 a different order fin 
 doubtlee ir familii 
 
 fitted for their 
 
 Tlii- is still more clearly intimated in Psalm i 
 l'.» 21: "The Lord hath prepared his throni 
 heavens, and hie kingdom rnletb over all. B 
 Lord ye hie angels that excel in e 
 commandments, hearkening onto the voice of 
 
 word, i 1 all hi- lis mini 
 
 that do bis will. 151 I all his works in all 
 
 places <>f his dominion. 11 Here I Is might; 
 
 strength are distinguished from his oth 
 ats, They are his mes i, who Li 
 
 the voice «,(' his command, and bear his will with 
 mighty energy to the orders of intellij horn 
 
 mis them. All his ]. a who do 
 
 will, arc distinguished not only from the a' 
 
 celling in Btrength who arc his ! 
 
 from all his works in all places of his dominioi 
 
 empire ; and they cither denote all the other 
 of intelli in the oi 
 
 ibable, I who arc intrusted with 
 
 authority in the different p the divine ki 
 
l\ THE UNIVERSE INNUMERABLE. 1 IT 
 
 dom over races of ranks of inferior natures, wh i 
 in thai relatioD his ministers and do bis will ; and are 
 the ranks denoted in the New Testament by thrones, 
 
 and principalities, and powers, and authorities, and 
 
 dominions, who probably never leave the Bpheres of 
 their authority and pass like angels to other orbfi 
 to the divine presence. And if that be the clae 
 
 which all his hosts of ministers belong, then all his 
 works, all lie has created, that is, all his creatures in 
 all places of his dominion, are all inferior orders of 
 intelligences throughout liis illimitable realms ; and 
 this is indicated by their discrimination from the 
 places, that i- the worlds in which they exist. The 
 passage thus clearly teaches that there are hosts of 
 intelligences of different orders from the angels, and 
 that they are distributed throughout the range of the 
 material universe. 
 
 We have thus the most ample proof from the word 
 of God that the whole circuit of worlds, that wheel 
 around us daily, is peopled by intelligences of various 
 orders, and that the exaltation therefore of Christ 
 over them, by which they are brought to recognize 
 and worship him in his union with our nature, is an 
 event of the utmost' significance, and bespeaks in a 
 most impressive manner the greatness of his work in 
 our behalf, and the vastness and grandeur of the re- 
 sults that are to spring from it. With what joy must 
 the hosts of those untallen worlds welcome his reign 
 over them! With what rapture must his presence, 
 if he visits their BUlless abodes in his glorified form. 
 
1 1 - mi; ui:i>i;i:> ur in n:i.Li«.i 
 
 nil their beartt I Wh * i b and i I 
 
 from their Upa as tl bliss 
 
 of hit ^template tl :' his 
 
 . w hich not only ill the holj 
 «,i* tl united in one happy empire, hoi 
 
 man himself u to l from the dominion and 
 
 corse of sin, and the earth again admitted to wheel in 
 harmony among the nnfallen worlds though 
 
ALL BEINGS ACQUAINTED WITH CHRIST'S WORK. L19 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE INHABITANTS OF THE HEAVENLY WOBLDS ABE MADE ACQUAINTED 
 WITH IHE WOBK OF REDEMPTION. 
 
 That a knowledge of the work of redemption is 
 communicated to all orders of intelligences, and that 
 they are greatly influenced by it. is clear from the 
 feci that Christ is exalted to the throne of the uni- 
 verse, and that all intelligent creatures are required 
 to recognize and worship him in that station as their 
 Lord and Creator. For in order to their acknowledg- 
 ment of him in his two-fold nature as Jehovah the 
 Word, and glorifying the Father for appointing him 
 to his mediatorship and investing him with authority 
 over them, they must be made acquainted with the 
 reason of his incarnation, the nature of his work as 
 Saviour, and the issues thai are to Bpring from it. — 
 Their homage to be suited on the one side, to their 
 rectitude and wisdom as holy intelligences, and on 
 the other, to the majesty of his perfections, and the 
 grandeur of the redemption he accomplishes, must be 
 founded do a knowledge of what he docs and is to do 
 in his office, in all its relations, and a sense of the infi- 
 nite wisdom and love and power which it displays. 
 
120 mi: im! 
 
 l. li impli< -. thei 
 quainted with the nature of the beii 
 demption he became iucarni 
 
 Ited to the throne of the universe. To in 
 work, they hum know the peculiarities of man a* 
 an intelligent ci • I be rank he hold \ the 
 
 •us ordi ' the law 
 
 under which be waa originally phv 
 the condition of alienation and misery to w liirli 
 it brought him, and the death and endless ruin which 
 it draws in its train. JI raid they appre 
 
 the depth of Chri lion; the wonder 
 
 his I 
 
 2. They most be made aware of the various forma 
 which sin assumes in mankind, the debasing in 
 it as them, and the mil ith which it 
 
 whelms them : and this requires that they Bhould 
 know the peculiarities ol man's nature by which he 
 has offspring : the relationships in which 
 Buch as those <»f the family and of social and civil - 
 
 ety. out of which bis duties Bpring : tin- laws that 
 
 imposed on him by God, and the pi 
 
 exercised over him. Sow else can they underst 
 
 what the duties of mm are, wl telii}>ta! 
 
 are by Which they ar ..I what the moti 
 
 are that Bhould restrain them from evil, and prompt 
 them 1? 
 
 are made acquainted with tie 
 
 I 'a administration over mankind. and th luct 
 
 under it ; their universal revolt from bis Bwai : the 
 
ACQUAINTED with CHRIST'S work. 1 J 1 
 
 awful senselessness and impiety of their false reli- 
 gions; the eagerness and passion with which they 
 have worshipped as gods the great objects of nature, 
 idols, demons, beasts and reptiles ; the ferocious pas- 
 sions thai have reigned in their breasts toward each 
 other, and the infuriate slaughters and miseries they 
 have inflicted on each other in battles, in the sack of 
 cities, in the devastation of fields, and in consigning 
 the conquered and helpless to bondage and toil; and 
 all the countless atrocities that mark their history. — 
 For how else can they understand tin 1 amazing de- 
 basement to which mankind have sunk ; the selfishness 
 and malignity oi' their affections tow T ard each other ; 
 and the boundless miseries they have inflicted on one 
 another for the gratification of their pride, their ava- 
 rice, their ambition, and their revenge ? Of all the 
 spectacles this world exhibits, there is none, perhaps, 
 that strikes the holy inhabitants of other orbs with 
 deeper astonishment and horror, than the ceaseless 
 wars which men wage with one another ; their thirst 
 for each other's blood, and the fiendish joy with which 
 they consign each other by thousands and millions to 
 slaughter on the battle field, and count their prowess 
 and skill in destroying each other of their chief glory, 
 li is in this pail of his history that it is seen what an 
 enemy man is to himself, M ii is in his worship of de- 
 mons, idols and reptiles, what an alien he is from God. 
 4. They must understand the scope of Christ's me- 
 diatorial work ; the reasois of his incarnation ; the 
 
 office of his death ; the principle on which jnstilica- 
 
 6 
 
[22 'llii: I\H AIM! 
 
 tion ted through him : I hich 
 
 him into which 
 the penevi ed and pai ; and the im- 
 
 morta] life of holiness and bl i which they 
 
 I that 
 
 the method ition is worthy : thai he 
 
 mail bains in it his right I truth, whil 
 
 :isea his mercy : tliat he secnres and advai 
 the well-being of all Lis unfallen subjects, whil* 
 
 COUntle : .11. n to holh 
 
 happiness ? 
 
 5. They must know what the reception is which 
 Christ's 1 1 1 * • < 1 i : 1 1 i « » 1 1 has nut from mankind ; the blind- 
 
 and aversion with which it I d disbelii 
 and : : the disdain and hatred with which jus- 
 tification and Life through his M 1 are spun 
 
 boldness and impiety with which tin- d 
 
 3 of his religion arc j 1. and blended with 
 
 worships, the pride and audacity with which his 
 
 office and rights ;i- mecliator arc usurped; and the 
 and malignity with which his followers arc h 
 and slain. For bo* an the} 
 
 what an enemy to God man is, and what i 
 to be me t-> accomplish hi- ition t<- 1 
 
 nhcdidicr. and hi 
 
 5. T v musl know something of the greal purp 
 of < I cting the redemption which is I 
 
 complished through Chrisl : the office of the 
 
 administration under which men are put t«» trial. 
 
 led t" aho* their ho] 
 
•' unted wnii Christ's work. L23 
 
 tioD thai is to follow tins, when Ohrisl is to come, 
 assume the cm |>i it of the world, and bring all nations 
 to partake of his salvation : and the endless round of 
 ii which his redemptive work Is to be con- 
 tinned. For how else can thej appreciate the riches 
 of the wisdom and love which it displays, and the 
 grandeur of the results thai are to spring from it ? 
 
 The homage, in short, of these august beings, ex- 
 alted in intelligence, delight in God. and interest in 
 the wonders <>t' his reign immeasurably above bis chil- 
 dren here, musl in order to accord with the dignity 
 of their nature and their relations to him, he founded 
 on a just and comprehensive view of Christ's work, 
 the ruin from which he rescues man, and the glory 
 to which lie exalts him. And the fulness of their 
 knowdedge and the glow of love and adoration with 
 which it inspires them, arc beautifully indicated in 
 the ascriptions of the angelic hosts on his assumption 
 in the Apocalypse of the oflice of revealer to the church 
 of the scheme of his administration over the world. 
 ! 1 beheld, and 1 heard the voice of many angels 
 in the circuit round the throne and of the living crea- 
 tures, and of the elders, and their number was myri- 
 ads of myriads, and thousands of thousands : Baying 
 with a loud voice. Worthy i- the Lamb who was slain, 
 to i power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
 
 strength, and lienor, and glory, and blessing/ 5 Rev. v. 
 11, 12. These ascriptions thus include every title to 
 authority and fa i;it belongs to God. They 
 
 are acknowledgments of the Lamb as Jehovah, and 
 
UI TBI IMl 
 
 I his 
 
 right* and displayed his love in a manner worthy 
 In- infill od that plac 
 
 nu intelligent subjectfl under obligation I 
 glorifj him. His worth ifl oommei with his 
 
 station and his claims. Be has ;i titl<- t-» all the bon- 
 they can render him. And this bespeaks a know- 
 o of his \\ hole work . mli- 
 
 tion of ' r \\ horn he di< lorn, 
 
 righteow I hod of then 
 
 demption : of t! r by which thej 
 
 rated; of the means by which they a bified 
 
 ami made to verify th< I ion in obedient 
 
 . the rewarda with which I 
 cn.v 
 to pnrsne through bis eternal reign. For how ol 
 
 can they kimw that there is no defect in his pro- 
 ire V Bow, if without t!, an actual 
 
 acquaintance with it : how, if left in uncertainty 
 dark] old they offer him such positive ascrip- 
 
 tions ol infinite worthi ad how could that 
 
 homage meet hi- their 
 
 intellects and hearts, prompted by an intimate in- 
 
 t i<>ii ami coin j ire hen-ion of his ways '! V><v I 
 
 are not merely spectators of his administration, but 
 
 .<1 a share in conducting it. ami 
 
 filled important . the protection of those who 
 
 1. and in the punishment of th 
 ish. 
 
 And thifl indi< office which the 
 
ACQU.\]\ti:i> with OHBIST'S WOBK. 125 
 
 emplifications thai have hitherto taken place under 
 the divine administration fill. For how could the 
 angelic orders have Buch a knowledge of the wisdom, 
 righteousness, and grace of Christ's work ; how could 
 they know what the condition of man is ; the depth 
 of His alienation from God ; and the greatness of the 
 power, and pity, and love that arc requisite to his 
 redemption ; and the holiness, wisdom, and gracious- 
 Q6S8 of all the methods that are employed for his de- 
 liverance ; if no sneh experiment as has been wrought 
 in the divine administration through the six thou- 
 sand years of his existence, had been made of man, 
 and of the means of his restoration to holiness, in 
 which all the great facts on which the work of salva- 
 tion proceeds are so shown forth and verified, as to 
 give those lofty intelligences a perfect comprehen- 
 sion of it ? Their information is real and direct ; not 
 derived and founded on testimony. It w T as obtained 
 by the actual observation of mankind and God's gov- 
 ernment over them, not received by revelation. For 
 they are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister 
 for them who Bhall ho heirs of salvation, Heb. i. 13- 
 11. "The Mosaic law was ordained in their hands 
 we are told," Gal. iii. 1'.*: and the world in the pre- 
 age, it Beems to be indicated, Heb. ii. 5, is sub- 
 ject to them, or the sphere of their special ministry. 
 They gather their knowledge accordingly by an ac- 
 tual presence in the scene, the exercise of a ceaseless 
 ministry of mercy or of judgment, and the direct ob- 
 servation of the great exhibitions which it presents 
 
L26 Tin: i.\HA!:n 
 
 of man and 
 
 • of this fact, thai a time will at L< 
 when th< iplificatioim of m 
 
 ind comp tli.it u ill be commi 
 
 w ith the of the oni saay 
 
 thereafter ) fcion end re- 
 
 ption be extended to all 1 1 j « - nations and families 
 <.i* the earth, without any danger that it will not be 
 justly understood, and 
 due for it given I 
 The exaltation of Chriai to the throne of the uni- 
 nbjection of all the orders of hoi; 
 to hi thus a most important feature ih his 
 
 mediatorial work, and 1 in a Bublime manner 
 
 infinite significance. Every holy being in 
 n 1 1 i \ sons! interest in it. holy 
 
 intelligence, whatever may } ::k. the wot] 
 
 inhabits, or the Bphere in which 
 quainted with it ; is brought into an intu 
 
 to t 1 - in his human nature : ami is call 
 
 cognize and adore him in it as Jehovah th< 1/ 
 Word, the Creator of all worlds and ci 
 
 the Saviour of sinful men. And in whit a daZJ 
 
 light it Bets forth it< spotless rectitude and the inii-. 
 oite riches of it- wisdom and love, that it is thus 
 submitted t-> the minute and Bearching in a of 
 
 all his mora] subj 1 that the moat piercing in- 
 
 tellig i tnpire — those I 
 
 whose glance is the ist and most oomprehen- 
 
 l'Ut only find in it fresh 
 
A<\TAINTKI> WITH CHRIST'S WORK. 127 
 
 19 of admiration of his boundless wisdom, and 
 new and more transporting signals of the riches of 
 lii< skill and love! And how glorious it is to him 
 that he thus makes it the means of advancing them 
 to a higher knowledge of his perfections, and bind- 
 ing thrm in a more indissoluble allegiance to his 
 
 throne. 
 
 And this indicates again that it is to have a great- 
 a far beyond what those who hold thai the pre* 
 is the last dispensation imagine. The salvation of but 
 a mere fraction of the human family ; the interception 
 
 of the work after the lapse of a few centuries more, 
 ami an administration like the present under which 
 hut here and there one i> redeemed, would seem dis- 
 proportioned to the attitude in which it is placed to 
 the whole body of God's m >ral creatures; and to the 
 personal interest which all the obedient subjects of 
 his empire are made to feel in it. It is only such a re- 
 demption as he has foreshown in his word : a redemp- 
 tion of all nations and all individuals through an end- 
 less round <>f ages and generations, that is in harmony 
 with the place it occupies in God'< government over 
 the universe, and that is commensurate with the office 
 it is to till in manifesting his -dory, and promoting 
 the intelligence, the piety, and the happiness of his 
 kingdom. 
 
 And finally, what 8 >ne of holy and blissful 
 
 ministries of the higher ranks of intelligences to those 
 of inferior orders, thi feature of Christ's work 
 
 unfolds! Angels are so formed that they can descend 
 
128 KTS OF ALL WORLDS 
 
 . their 1 in a 
 
 knowled I redemption by a di 
 
 ■ii of the condition and conduct of tfa 
 are under tl 
 
 which t! 
 an . and the 
 
 and l Liss. Bui in the \ { pire 
 
 • 
 like ours, confine them to their <>\\ i 
 must tl.' obtain their kn I 
 
 work directly from him, or through other beings. — 
 Be probably reveals himaelf in person to all his holy 
 
 them directly to bah 
 and i their allegiance to him. full 
 
 knowledge of his work .mni- 
 
 ! by fellow creatures who pain an acquaint 
 with the fail and ption of our 
 
 them to i 
 
 other pi i ■.■minimi 
 
 ■ the beij 
 they are sent. And what I 
 
 requi >rm thai work to all the worlds inha- 
 
 bited by intelligences through t : ircuil of his 
 
 empire ! That high held by the 
 
 their numbers are equal to the i 
 with the universe, which they are called to GIL T 
 1 in a circle round the throne at 
 
 v. 1 1. amounted, the 1 
 of tl. . indicai 
 
 thou '' million . 
 
ACQUAINTED WITH OHBIST's WORK. L29 
 
 fives of the immeasurably more numerous hostt 
 the orders, to which they belonged ; though perhaps 
 of those only whose Bphere lies within our nebula of 
 worlds. How infinite the armies then thai occupy 
 the orbs allotted to their order through the boundless 
 circuit of peopled Bpace ! Who can deem it improba- 
 ble that the holy dead may also after the resurrection, 
 be assigned a share in this august and blissful oi: 
 and may make known by their own voice to the inha- 
 bitants of myriads and millions of worlds, the won- 
 drous manner in which Christ raised them from the 
 thrall and curse oi" Bin, and show the grandeur of bis 
 
 love to them in the splendors in which t heir out ward 
 
 nature La invested and the dignity of the stations in 
 his kingdom which they fill! 
 
 6* 
 

 (' II A PT E II XII. 
 
 n in" in:.\ r the th; 
 
 Thi predictions of the old Testament respecting 
 Christ's Bway, m i rally exhibit him ss a K 
 
 who is to >it on the throne of David, and n 
 the house of Israel. Such is the promise to David, '2 
 Samuel vii. 16. Such ie the prophecy ol [saiahi 
 7 : •• ['■ r unto us a child is born : unto »n is 
 
 q : and the government Bhall be upon his shoul- 
 der: and bis name Bhall be called Wonderful, Conn- 
 sellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting r •' r,The 
 Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his govern- 
 ment and peace there Bhall be ne end npon the thi 
 of David, and upon bis kingdom, to order i 
 establish it with judgment and with justi 
 henceforth, even for ei er. The seal of Jehovah shall 
 perform this." Such is the prophecy of Jeremiah 
 xwiii. 1 1 L6 t and of Micah v. 2 ; and such al 
 annunciation to M ry, Luke L 80-33: "Behold thou 
 Bhall i e and bring forth a Bon, and Bhalt call his 
 
 nam* And he Bhall at, and Bhall be 
 
 called the Bon of the Highest : And the Lord Q 1 
 
IS NOT THE THBONB OP DAVID. L31 
 
 shall give unto him the throne of hie father David ; 
 A ix 1 he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever ; 
 and of his kingdom there shall be do end." It was 
 accordingly, at first, the expectation of Christ's disci- 
 ples that he would at onco institute his kingdom in 
 Jndea, release the Israelites from the power of their 
 enemies, and bring the nations into subservience to 
 his sceptre. In his lasi interview with them, as ho 
 was about to ascend to heaven, they asked him, 
 "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the king- 
 dom to Israel?" As then he immediately ascended 
 to heaven, and entered on a reign over the universe, 
 and instead of delivering the Israelites from the hands 
 of the Gentiles, left them to be conquered afresh, 
 driven into exile, and held in vassalage through a long 
 tract of ages ; it is inferred by many that these pre- 
 dictions of his reign on the throne of David and over 
 the kingdom of Israel, are not literal predictions, but 
 are mere representatives of the reign on the throne 
 of heaven he is now exercising. The fact, accord- 
 ingly, that those prophecies have had no literal fulfil- 
 ment is regarded as a decisive proof that they are 
 Dover to have such an accomplishment; and indeed 
 his reign on the throne of heaven is alleged as directly 
 demonstrating that he is never to be enthroned on 
 the earth, and that the belief held by Millenarians 
 that he IS yet to reign here, is mistaken. It is main- 
 tained, even that if the literal sense of those prophe- 
 cies were their true and only sense, their non-fulfil- 
 ment for sueh a series of ages would prove that they 
 
< ristt- 
 
 anil 
 
 Ti. in the i 
 
 I hat to maintain thai the thrOU6 of heftl 
 
 oa which Christ now 
 
 thai the predictions, that 
 I \ id and over the 
 loin of 1 i i'uliiln. 
 
 reby put ao instrument 
 Into the hand of the Bceptio by which he ran. in hit 
 own conviction, overturn the whole strut 
 
 Chi' 
 
 mplishmenl of those propheciefl is impossible, 
 on tl iption thai i illy to r< 
 
 on the throne and over the kingdom of I) 
 would of 1 with David, in 
 
 his pergonal condition and the - 
 which ifl witli his deity. 
 
 Both of these imprt r, arc wholly un- 
 
 anthorized and mistaken. That Christ 
 
 enthroned himself OD Mount Zi.-n. and : 
 
 | roof that he cannot 
 
 will not at a future period ; any more than the 
 
 that he has not yet redeemed Is 
 
 of their and recalled them to their am 
 
 lish them in their Own land; or than 
 
 I all the nations of the I 
 a proof that he ; 
 
 delaj urn and assume I tre of the world, 
 
IS NOT Till: THSON1 OF DAVID. 133 
 
 is no more irreconcilable with his promisee and pre- 
 dictions, and do more against the expectations the 
 church has very generally entertained, than hie long 
 delay is to come and overthrow the apostate pevi 
 
 that are making Avar on his saints. Bpread the liglrl 
 of the gospel thronghonl the earth, and bring all na- 
 tions to accept his salvation. Nor does it any more 
 follow that, if he reigns on the throne of David, lie 
 must be " a king on the earthly model of David," and 
 u possess the outward forms and trappings of Jewish 
 royalty." than it follows that ho mnst be a mortal like. 
 David, sustain precisely the relations he did, and 
 reign over exactly such subjects. Solomon's mode 
 of reigning differed greatly from that of David. He 
 erected a new and far more gorgeous throne; he set 
 it in a new palaco ; he was surrounded by a different 
 train of attendants; his whole administration of the 
 kingdom varied greatly from that of his father ; but 
 that did not prove that he did not inherit his father's 
 throne and kingdom. He reigned on his father's 
 throne, because he succeeded to his empire and his 
 authority. And so Christ will reign on the throne 
 of his father David, and over the house of ,Iae<»l> when 
 he reigns in person on Mount Zion as the special king 
 of that i 1 and redeemed people ; though he 
 
 reigns in glory as God-man, and over all other na- 
 tions and all other worlds. We might, moreover, 
 confute, by a variety of considerations, the the- 
 ory that the throne which is denominated David's 
 is the throne of heaven on which Christ is now 
 
. 1 1 rid' 
 which : 
 
 syllable i the 
 
 i that those kingdom 
 >ntradi< I 
 
 of h< t the thron< 
 
 of worl | • hii empi . N 
 
 r than t<> iin I>a\ id no ; 
 
 on the throi owned it and the 
 
 infinite I intelligence* tin in homag 
 
 Jehovah wh i it, than Saul i them, 
 
 reroboam, AJbab, < >r any other prince of IsraeL — 
 Thirdly : That there ii no figon 
 by which the predictions that Chriai should 
 throne oi D n id and r r the fa 
 
 should ] 
 heaven and n' rids and ci 
 
 two are wholly distinct, and wholly nnlike. — 
 
 righl to the throne of the univ. . the 
 
 a of his reigning on it in his complex nal 
 
 their gronnd exclusively in his <K-i: 
 
 only righl to a throne which is transmitted to him 
 
 from David, is s righl to the throne i I Israel; • 
 
 throne over that people in the natural li: . V ;rth- 
 
 thal these prop] 
 1 is wholly mistaken* They have 
 mbolixation. Tl 
 
 interpreted by 
 ordinary lawi To treat them as Bymboli- 
 
IB N.'i i.li: IHEONE OP DAVID. L85 
 
 cal, is to involve them in inextricable contradiction 
 and absurdity, and make it impossible to assign them 
 a credible meaning. For it" David's throne and king- 
 dom are mere symbols of a throne and kingdom thai 
 differ wholly from themselves, then David himself 
 mnsl also be a mere symbol of some other personage 
 than himself, and the house of .hic.il> nasi 1"- a sym- 
 bol of some other people than the descendants of 
 
 b. AVh<>. then, is it that David represents? — 
 No one, we presume, would quite feel justified in an- 
 swering — It \v;is God the Father : yet it was lie who 
 
 • Christ the throne of the universe. Eph. i. 19- 
 23; Phil. ii. «>- 11 : Col. i. 15-20. And whom d 
 the house of Jacob symbolize? Would anyone deem 
 it safe to answer — They are the holy inhabitants of the 
 countless worlds wheeling in the realms of space 
 over which Christ reigns ? Beside the revolting 
 solecism of such a construction, it would be to con- 
 tradict the interpretation that is placed on the house of 
 Jacob, as a symbol of the Christian church. It is to 
 confound and desecrate these prophecies to make 
 David, a guilty creature, the symbol of the Mosl 
 High, and the revolting, idolatrous, and debased Is- 
 raelites the symbol of the spotless hosts of the hea- 
 venly w.-rlds. 
 
 But it is not necessary to enter into these proofs 
 that the throne of David is not the throne of heaven, 
 nor the representative of it: nor the kingdom of 
 Israel, the universe of creatures, or the symbol of it, 
 over which Christ now reigns. The question is set- 
 
kind 
 
 Ited 
 
 to the tliroE 
 
 ■ 
 tering, Thi 
 
 ;it chin 
 
 • the M is'iah i\ 
 aid be i nt i 
 : that he should redeem them from their 
 
 ihonld recall them fi 
 . and re-establisl in their own lai 
 
 r them u . that 
 
 all oationj slum; that 
 
 inue without end. 1 
 the redempti louM be aocomplisl 
 
 that immediate!;. 
 
 rising from the dead. I. 1 t-> the 
 
 ffaroi a, and reign then.- through a 
 
 tract make himself known in 
 
 nature and office I B I .11 the i 
 
 rank- 1 ID the U!ii\ 
 
 their homage, and unfold t<> them his work 
 
 in the salvation of men — while, in the n. . the 
 
 i continue the a 
 • his professed : 
 -. much u I been through all preceding 
 
 Led in the divi: ; . till 
 
 I 
 
 The i I 
 
I- not IHE THHDNB OF DAVID. 137 
 
 of David and the kingdom of [srael, cannot h n 
 a promise of the throne an<l kingdom of the oniv< i 
 
 inasmuch as it' it were, it would have been a re\ 
 tion that he was to ascend to the throne of heaven, 
 and reign over the universe of worlds and creatures. 
 Bat do Buch revelation having been made, thfi can- 
 not have been a promise t h *t he should reign on that 
 heavenly throne, and over those worlds and creatures. 
 That no revelation was made in the Old Testament, 
 of the union of all worlds in one empire under Christ, 
 is expressly affirmed by Paul, Ephesians i. 8-10. 
 •• lie has abounded toward us in all wisdom and pru- 
 dence, having made known unto as the mystery of his 
 will, according to his good pleasure, which he pur- 
 posed in himself, in the economy (thai is, the peculiar 
 administration) of the fulness of the times, to bring to- 
 gether again in one (or reunite in one) the all in 
 Christ — those in the heavens and those upon the 
 earth." The all, u those in the heavens and those on 
 the earth." are all intelligent beings of those division- 
 of the universe ; as is seen from their being distin- 
 guished from the earth, the physical globe, and the 
 heavens, the 1 orbs in which they dwell ; and 
 
 from VS. 20, 21, in which those in the heavenly worlds 
 are defined as principalities and powers, and mig 
 and dominions, and every name that is named, both 
 in this age and that which is to come ; from Phil. ii. 
 6-11, where they are exhibited as beings that have 
 knees that can bow, and i that can confess that 
 
 Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father ; 
 
L88 in m:.\\ 
 
 and : tlier ii. 
 
 in Ohri • >pulationsof all w.ullv these infi 
 
 hosts "t" intelligences thai till t! ireie of 
 
 throughout the i to unite them in 
 
 one empire nnder him, the incarni rd, th«ir 
 
 ttor, upholder, and ruler, and ou I Eli - 
 
 [tie to bring them into a direct relationship 
 and subordination t<> him man. in which on 
 
 one hand he, in his two-fold nature, ii I 
 them in the rights, authority, and glory • J 
 and ou the other, they are to n 
 and glorify him as Jehovah the Word, in union with 
 man, and form in thai willing and joyous subordina- 
 tion, and that loving, adoring, and confiding horn 
 
 and obedience, through all their ranks and in; 1 
 
 one iini' mtaneous, and perfect kingdom. Jt 
 
 lingly, in Col. i. 19, 20, called a reconciliation 
 of all things in the l; nd nn the earth unto the 
 
 Pather through Christ— that is, a being brought t.» ;i 
 filial, joyous submission to God in Christ, acqui 
 in his ru] htt'iil and befitting in it- relatioi 
 
 them, and as holy, gracious, and .wise in its relatioi 
 mankind, and glorification <»(' the Pather for it 
 
 1 the Pather that in him all l'i. mid 
 
 dwell : and that through him all should 1 iled 
 
 unto himself, whether those in the earth M in 
 
 :" that i<. brought i ignition and 
 
 acknowledgment of him \.di incarnafc 
 
 acqui in his sway, an adoring approbatioi 
 
 work in the salvation of men, and a grateful I 
 
DB -\<>T THE THBONE OP DAVID. L89 
 
 «■!' tin* Father for it, and for his headship over 
 them. And the purpose of God thus to exalt him to 
 tin- throne of the heavens, and bring all ranks of holy 
 creatures into an intimate relation to him, and sub- 
 mission to his sceptre, was a mystery, the apostle de- 
 clares, wholly unknown to man until revealed to him 
 and others after their appointment to the ap os tie ship. 
 It was a part of "the mystery of his iriH. according to 
 the good pleasure which he had purposed in himself, 
 in the economy of the fulness of the times, to gather to- 
 gether in one ail in Christ, both those thai arc in the 
 
 heavens and those that are on the earth f that is. 
 
 that purpose was undisclosed to men ; it remained a 
 Becrei in the divine counsels, until it was revealed to 
 
 the apostles. lie accordingly refers to it, chap. iii. 
 1-11, as it contemplates the reconciliation of the Gen- 
 tile as well as Israelitish inhabitants of this world, 
 and represents it as not having been made known 
 unto the sons of men, but kept hidden in God. "For 
 this cause I. Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for 
 you Gentiles, since ye have heard of the dispensation 
 (or economy) of the grace of God which is given unto 
 me toyou-ward,how that by revelation he made known 
 unto me the mystery (the purpose before undisclosed >, 
 as I have just written in brief (chap. i. I), 10), by 
 which when ye read, ye may apprehend my under- 
 standing of the mystery of Christ, which in other gen- 
 erations was not made known to the sons of me; 
 it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets 
 by the Spirit, that the Gentiles are to be fellow-heirs 
 
1 1«> in hi:a\ 
 
 ami : 
 
 in OhriaJ through the gospel, of which I am m 
 
 a mil 
 
 \\ bich i~ to tin- inworking of 
 
 hii power— -to dm the h 
 
 1 1 
 
 trchable I ad to m 
 
 known to all what thi f a<lmin- 
 
 of the n ' be ondi 
 
 which was bidden from I 
 all things, tint now might le known to the prin- 
 
 Lities and tl in the heavenlj 
 
 through the church, the manifold wisdom of I 
 cording to the purpose of ti. irhich he 
 
 in Christ Jesus our Lord." ry — the 
 
 purp I before ondi le as 
 
 that of which he chap. i. 
 
 as a purpose to bring t" all w< 
 
 — those of the I 
 
 of the earth on the other — into one loving, obedient, 
 empire under Christ. Be ti 
 
 templated it chiefly in re I 
 
 tation over the inhabitants of ti 
 all principality, and power, ami might, and dominion, 
 and every name that is named in this age, and that 
 which is to come : h - it in its 
 
 (habitants of the earth, Ibits 
 
 - a purpose that all i I tile nations shall 
 fellow-heirs with the Israelites, of tb 
 fellow-partakers of the promise of th< ; oamely, 
 
Ifl not THE THBOHE OF DAVID. 1 1 1 
 
 a promise of a perfect redemption from the dominion 
 and cnrse of Bin : bo thai this world la in the fulness of 
 the times to be wholly reconciled to (in, Land brought 
 into a lull and blissful harmony with the other worlds 
 in their subjection to Christ. And this purpose, he 
 declares, " in other generations was not made known 
 unto the Bona of* men, as it is now revealed onto his 
 holy apostles and prophets;" "bul from the begin- 
 ning i^' tin' world had been hid in God." To the 
 Golossians, also, he represents it aa "the mystery 
 which had been hid from thi id from the gen- 
 
 erations, but now is manifest to his saints, to whom 
 God willed to make known what is the richea of the 
 -l,.ry oi' this mystery, in respect to the Gentiles, 
 which ia Christ in yon the hope of glory," chap. i. 26, 
 27. Th< ich, in the clearest man- 
 
 ner, that the great purpose of the exaltation of Cnrist 
 to the throne of the universe, the submission to him 
 of all the hosts inhabiting the heavenly orbs, and the 
 reconciliation of this world to him by a full and final 
 restoration of all the Gentile nation-, aa well as the 
 Israelites, to holiness, so that the whole shall form 
 one peaceful, loving, and blissful empire was not 
 made known to the ages and tin- generations that 
 preceded Christ's incarnation, hut was first revealed 
 to the apostles and prophets at the promulgation of 
 the gospel. 
 
 And this is repeated and confirmed in other pa- 
 ges. Thus Paul, Rom. xvi. 25, . mta this 
 mystery as having been kept silent through all pre- 
 
1 1-J 
 
 cedii tion, made mani- 
 
 while also it was made known through the 
 pin-tic writings by tin- command of God, in 
 an obedient faith among all I idles, 
 him who ii able to establish yon according to my 
 L r <>-|M'l and the preachii •' I conform- 
 
 ably to the revelation of the i lent, 
 
 • ternity, 1 >ut now made manii 
 
 and through the prophetic writu rding to the 
 
 command of the eternal God, made known among all 
 
 the nations, in order to an obediena th; w that 
 
 believing obedience. It is thus declared to I 
 
 tilent from eternity, bnl now to be mani- 
 I by revelation : while at th< 
 writings of the prophets of th< 
 osed in commnnicating it to all nations, in ord< r t<» 
 : them believingly and obediently to n 
 
 :t that time first made known by 
 lation, it had not 1 
 ancient prophets. Their writing a 
 
 having wn it. bnt Bimpl; 
 
 showing other el of the e 
 
 mption that ted with and confirm it ; 
 
 Bnch as the deity of the M , Isaiah ix. 6, 7 ; his 
 
 : '. [saiah liii. :: 10 ; his resurrection, Psalm xvi. 
 9 11 : tli.- full redemption at length i : [a 
 
 ih over thai 
 
 ii ii. 
 ticipation of Gent 
 
 "l* his reign, [saiah Ixvi. 19 23: Z . 1.'.. 
 
is \DT Till: THRONE OP DAVID. 1 l:j 
 
 17 : their BubjectioD to his sceptre, Zech«*xiv. 9 ; and 
 the creation of Dew heavens and a new earth, Na. 
 Ixv. 17-25, These and other great truths respecting 
 Ohrisl and his reign on earth were made known to 
 the ancient church, and they were adapted to concili- 
 ate the faith of those to whom the gospel was pro- 
 claimed, in those purposes of God respecting the ex- 
 altation of Christ to the throne of heaven, and the 
 ultimate full redemption of the Gentile nation- 
 well as the Israelites, which had before been con 
 ed from the Bons of men. 
 
 This is confirmed by the fact, thai there is no reve- 
 lation in the Old Testament prophecies that Christ 
 was to be invested with authority over the inhabi- 
 tants of the heavenly realms. It is. indeed, dearly 
 signified in Psalm ex. 1, that he would be exalted to 
 the right hand of the Father: " The Lord said unto 
 my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make 
 thine enemies thy footstool." But there is here no 
 intimation that in that exaltation he was to be invest- 
 ed with the sceptre of the universe, and reign over 
 all the hosts of the heavenly worlds, as well as over 
 the inhabitants of the earth. Instead, he is contem- 
 plated >itnj)ly as the king of this world j and this 
 world is exhibited as 1 mflicts with 
 
 and conquest of his enemies. "The Lord shall send 
 the rod of thy strength out of Zion : rule thou in the 
 midst of thine enemies. The Lord at thy right fa 
 shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath: 
 he shall judge among the heathen ; he shall fill pi - 
 
Ill 
 
 with the dead b dl iround tl. 
 
 many count] 1 
 
 blj that arc tO I 6 ID hil i" 1 1 1 . 
 
 Jn Psalm ih • 8, all l 
 
 -! this ii 
 the >'•'■!■• " Thine 
 
 e sharp in the bearl of the king 
 the people foil under thee. Thy thron< ,0 I 
 for ever and tre of thy 
 
 righl bc( ptre. Thou bveei righteon 
 wickedness; therefore God has thy G 
 thee with the oil of gladness above thy companions." 
 J' lm lxxii.. also, which celebrates his reign, exhib- 
 its the earth • " He shall jn 
 pie in righteoosness and thy poor with judgment 
 
 mountains shall bring forth 
 and the hill- bteousness. He shall judge the 
 
 poor of ih«' peoj • : ' the 
 
 ly,and shall break in pie< 
 shall fear thee as Long as lure, 
 
 throughout all generations. II*' shall have dominion 
 also from sea to Bea,and from the river n 
 of the earth: all kings shall fall down before him; all 
 nations shall serve him." And all ground for 
 supposition from tl thai though his 
 
 ., is to be over the earth, he is to be enthrt 
 
 in heaven, while moved by th< 
 
 nouncement by Christ, that in coming in the clouds 
 
 of heaven to judge and reign over men, he is * 
 
 jht hand of power. •• And the : 
 
l> HOT TIIH THBONE OF DAVID. 1 lo 
 
 priest sai.l unto him, 1 adjure thee by the Living I 
 that thou till us whether thou be the Christ, the Son 
 
 o[' God. Je8Ufl saith unto him. Thou basl said : hut 
 
 I say unto you ; hereafter ye shall see the Sou of man 
 ad at the right hand of power, and eoming in the 
 clondfl of heaven/' Matt. xxvi. 63, 6 I. And it is fore- 
 shown. Ke v. xxi. 22, 23, xxii. 1, 3, that the Father La to 
 be present in the new Jerusalem, the symbol of the ris- 
 en saints, on its descent to earth. "And I saw no tem- 
 ple therein, for the L >rd God Almighty and the Lamb 
 ihe temple pf it. And the city had no need of 
 the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the 
 glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light 
 thereof.' 7 » w And the throne of God and of the Lamb 
 shall be in it ; and his servants shall serve him." Afl 
 then the throne of the Father is to be among the 
 glorified saints on earth as well as the. throne of 
 Christ, daring that part of his reign represented by 
 the thousand years, which is to precede the final put- 
 ting of all his enemies under his feet, those passages, 
 in exhibiting him as God, and as Beated at the right 
 hand of Jehovah, during that period, do not imply 
 that- the throne on which lie is then to reign is, like 
 that on which he is now to be in heaven, and 
 
 not on the earth: and the revelation accordingly, 
 that he \ I at the right hand of Jeho- 
 
 vah, was not a revelation that he was to be exalted 
 to the throne of the universe, and invested with au- 
 thority over all orders of intellig* nt beings. 
 
 That no such revelation W8i made to the aneient 
 7 
 
1 16 Christ's throne in iikw 
 
 church, is indi< I d which 
 
 . died .i! I 
 
 that he would immediately enter on his rei 
 the bona l aeL Ti. 1 him but a few dso- 
 
 menl aded to heai • L >rd, wilt I 
 
 at this time 
 
 showing that tl irded tl :.t pro] 
 
 as foreshowing the the kingdom to 
 
 that people; and that they knew not hut he would 
 immediately declare himself their kit i 
 hi- reign over them on mount Zion. 
 
 This i- confirmed, moreover, by tin- fart, thai it 
 
 wholly unknown t<» the ancient church that the Israel- 
 
 continue in blin '1 onbeli 
 
 period after Christ came, during which the) 
 
 t«» he conquered by the Gentiles, ami driven 
 
 into exile; their city destroyed, and their worship 
 
 abolished. Paul Bays, "1 would not, bn that 
 
 should be ignorant «'t* tl, '- • should 
 
 be wise in your own conceits,) that blindness in part 
 
 ippened to Israel, until the fain 
 tiles 1m- come in : ami s.> all [srael > 1 1 ; 1 1 1 1'-- saved : 
 it is written. Then shall come out of Zion the De- 
 liverer : and shall turn away Bngodlinesfl froi •' 
 
 this i- niv covenant unto them, when I shall take 
 away their Bins." Ami he represents this pari ol 
 divine purpo depth which no one had known 
 
 mid have - arch< <1 out. " I' r I k>d hath conclud- 
 ed thriu all— Israelis in unbelief, 
 ho might have mere} on all. <> the depth «•; 
 

 is Not THE THRONE OF DAVID. 117 
 
 riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God I 
 How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways 
 past Ending oul ! For who hath known the mind of 
 the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?" Rom. 
 \i. 25, 26; 32 34. This is called a mystery, because 
 it had not been revealed by the ancieni prophets to 
 the Israelites. A.s, then, no revelation had been 
 matlr to them that they were to continue in blind- 
 
 0686 and alienation for a Ion-- Beries of agefl after 
 
 Christ came, and were not to be redeemed till his 
 >nd coming, and the redemption of the Gentiles, 
 but they were left to Buppose that lie would com- 
 mence his reign over them soon after his birth ; no 
 revelation was made to them that ere he began his 
 reign over them, he was to be exalted in his human 
 nature to the throne of heaven, and reign through a 
 long succession of ages over the inhabitants of the 
 heavenly worlds. 
 
 It is clear, then, from these various considerations, 
 that no revelation was made in the ancient Scriptures 
 of the exaltation of Christ to the throne of heaven, 
 and reign over the universe of unfallen creatures. — 
 The promise and prophecy that he should reign on 
 the throne of David, and over the kingdom of Israel, 
 therefore, Were not a revelation that he should be 
 
 exalted to that heavenly throne, and reign ovei the 
 
 Unfallen worlds. His present reign in heaven, ac- 
 cordingly, is not a fulfilment of the promise that he 
 should reign on the throne of David and over the 
 kingdom of Israel. Consequently the promise to him 
 
1 U CHB 
 
 of Da\ id's throne, and eu r his 
 
 fulfilled 
 in heaven and over other worlds 
 a fiiliiln. i- to be fulfilled by bii •dually 
 
 coming and reigning as the d 
 his throi 
 ed If 
 The fancy, therefore, maintained bo confidently by 
 • . thai the thn i Dai id is a bj mbol of the 
 
 throne of heaven, and i od the kingdom <»t* 
 
 1 bj mbolfl of the inhabitai 
 
 worlds, and that C'hri-' ktion t<» 
 
 he aniv< accomplishment 
 
 prophecies that la- .-hall reign on David's 
 and over his kingdom, i side. Jt i- not only 
 
 without authority, ami against the I 
 hut it is proved t<» be wholl) 1 in » 
 
 tion of the truth, by the fact thus expn 
 clared by the apostle, that no revelat 
 
 tncient prophecies, that Christ was to ascend to 
 the throne of heaven, and exert the administration 
 ling there over the populations of the 
 stial Bphei s, I I ihrisi in 
 
 vcn is thus shown to he • tent with his 
 
 future reign, according to the predictions of the pro- 
 el and the Gentile nations on the 
 
 earth : and tin- tact that those pred 
 
 bad any fulfillment, and that they cannot bai 
 
 that t!. 
 
is \<>T THE THRONE OP DAVID. 1 !'.i 
 
 to have their accomplishment in a Literal personal 
 reign of the Redeemer on the earth. 
 
 We commend this conclusion to the consideration 
 of God's people. There is do escape from it, by any 
 artifices of philology or exploits of logic. It confronts 
 those who would spiritualize the prophecies with a 
 direct negative from the greal Revealer himself j and 
 
 shows that it is those who deny that Christ IS vet to 
 
 reign in person on the earth — aot those who main- 
 tain that lie is — who in effect impeach the truth of 
 the prophecies respecting him, and till the quiver of 
 •• the adversaries" with arrows with which to as<ail 
 the truth of Christianity. 
 
•Ill 
 
 H A PT E B XIII. 
 
 Tin . I OF Tin: BOMAM I 
 
 One of the most importanl questions in regard to 
 the i'ntmv administration Clod u r our 
 
 world, respects the period daring which tl 
 of human generations and the work of redemption 
 arc to continue. It' the race is within a few centuries 
 to reach its term, and the number who art 
 completed, then the work of redemption is i 
 prised within limits thai seem very narrow, 
 proportioned to the greal i - by which | 
 
 oration to holiness is accomplish* !. 1 1 ' 1 b< . 
 mtinue forever to perpetuate themselves in 
 . and renovation is soon r 
 tended to all that come into existence, and couth 
 through eternal years, then the result of Christ's b> 
 
 ention is to be commensurate with the divin< 
 factions, and Buitable to the wonderfulneas of th< 
 diation by which it is to be achil 
 
 What then are tin' puxj ( I 
 
 perpetuation of our race? I- this world to continue 
 their abode, and are they to multiply in an • 
 
Tin: PERPETUITY OP Tin: iitmw RACE. LSI 
 
 less series of generations? Or are they Boon t<» reach 
 
 their destined Dumber, i ime into lit - '', be 
 
 sferred to sum.' other scene of existence, and the 
 
 earth, having filled its office as the place of their 
 
 birth and probation, be struck back into the nothing- 
 
 from which it was called ? 
 
 The latter is very generally supposed to be the 
 
 teaching of the divine word. It is maintained that 
 
 the end of the millenial age — which it is held is to 
 
 close a little over a thousand years hence — Is to be 
 
 the end of the world, as a physical existence j that 
 whim soon after that period closes, the last fesum e- 
 
 tion and judgment take place, the sanctified are to 
 be removed I repared for them in some 
 
 other part ^( the universe : the wicked consigned to 
 the abyss of punishment ; and the globe itself burned 
 by a fire that is either to annihilate it, or dissolve it 
 into its elements, and disperse them through the 
 realms i^i' >pace. 
 
 This view, however, though very confidently held 
 
 and taught, is not the doctrine of the Scriptures. — 
 
 There is no intimation in them that the earth is ever 
 
 to he annihilated, or cease to he the birthplace and 
 
 home of human beings. Instead, they teach that it 
 
 • continue for ever, and that mankind are for ever 
 
 icupy it, and multiply in an endless succession of 
 
 : and that it is to be the scene of Christ's 
 
 [•lasting kingdom and reign. These great futuri- 
 
 not simply implied or hinted in the word of 
 
 : they are revealed with such clearness, fre- 
 
1 52 
 
 quency, and amplitude, and the 
 
 whol : the di\ ' bem 
 
 among the m and indubil pur- 
 
 I 
 future admit world. 
 
 Thus it wa I that 
 
 neither the ground il animal tril 
 
 ever again to be Bmitten with a i 
 but thai -I time 
 
 liar\ U continue. M At. ■! I ' • Lord said in his 
 
 . I will nut again cum ■ the ground any i 
 man's sake ; neither will I again unite any m< 
 thing livi [ ] w done. Wliile the earth re- 
 
 maineth, seed time and harvest, and lummer and win- 
 
 and night, shall not • viii. 21, 
 
 not only thai th ia 
 
 ImaJ 
 
 tril" 
 
 but t ! . I i - i • inue buI 
 
 to its pr( und 
 
 un. and in a condition to and 
 
 i'rui; ted for tl mankind 
 
 in their natural li I implies, therefore, that i 
 
 in the natural, in contradistinction from a 
 
 to inhabit and cultivate the earth as Long 
 time when men, w I 
 
 .rth, plai 
 
 : and hai ben 
 
 ■ ber the ripened crops of the grains ai 
 
 they have s.iv. n. The proi 
 
Til i: PERPETUITY OF THE HUMAN RACE. L53 
 
 Pore, to a declaration that mankind are to inhabil and 
 cultivate the earth for their subsistence as !• 
 tarns on its axis and wheels ronnd the sun ; and thai 
 it is to continue those movements and pass through a 
 succession of seasons as long as it continues to exist. 
 
 It is a cleai- prediction, accordingly, thai mankind arc 
 
 to continue on the earth and subsist on its annual 
 crops as long as the earth itself continues in exist- 
 ence. 
 
 How long, then, is the earth thus to exist? And 
 
 how Ion-- an- men to propagate on it ? The answer 
 given by the Mosl High in the covenant with Noah 
 is — tor ever — through endless generations. "And 
 God spake unto Noah, and to his Bons with him, say- 
 ing: And [, behold,] establish my covenant with you, 
 and with your seed after you, and with every living 
 creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, 
 and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that 
 go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And 
 1 will establish my covenant with you, neither shall 
 all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood ; 
 neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the 
 earth. And God said, this is the token of the coven- 
 ant which 1 make between me and you. and every 
 livii | are that is with you, for tb"l2 trnilb per- 
 
 petual generations (generations of eternity). I do 
 my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token 
 of b covenant between me and the earth. And it 
 shall conic to pass, when 1 bring a cloud over the 
 
 ! i. that the how shall be Been in the cloud ; and 1 
 7* 
 
1111. 
 
 will remember my covenant, which 
 and yon and everj livii ire of all flesh; and 
 
 the l "'.\ • : 11 be in the cloud ; and J will look fepon 
 1 may rememb* r z: m ? r*~Z ; ''' 
 
 nit v ill. everlasting covenant between God and 
 
 is upon the 
 earth." Gen, ix. 6 L6. 
 
 Ti ml thai was made with Noah and ei 
 
 livii, ire, 18 thus I to be ant 
 
 tions of eternity . 
 
 erations of men and every 1 i \ i i i ^r creature, thai ai 
 tinne in an endless succession* It is eqnivi 
 to a declaration, therefore, that mankind and the ani- 
 mal trib< • • continue in an eternal - 
 erations. The covenant also between ('■• 
 living creature of all li ailed an 
 
 oant : which, as the parties with whom it is d 
 must continue to aul - 
 
 continuefl and Lb verified, — is equivalent to a 
 tion that the posterity of Noah and the earth it 
 are to continue for ever in the condil 
 
 oant contemplates; and therefore that the I 
 la for ever to appear in the clouds ; thai men an 
 
 to continue to behold it ; and thence that 1 
 
 are for evi r I I Bubsist here in the natural life. — in 
 
 which, and in which alone, that pledge would be 
 propriate to them. See also Eccl. i. -1 ; Ps. ch 
 
 Tl, - thus plainly teach that the earth is 
 
 to i list for < ver and under its present great 1 
 that mankind are to Inhabit it and multiply on il 
 
Till-: PERPETUITY OF THE in man RACE. L55 
 
 an endless Beriee i f generations ; and that they are 
 to continue through all their endless successions to 
 
 cultivate and 8ubsis1 on its vegetable crops ; and 
 thence are to continue in their natural corporeal life. 
 It ie qoI to be supposed thai risen and glorified human 
 beings will need the pledge 01 the rainbow thai they 
 are never to be drowned by a general deluge ; it is 
 not to be supposed thai they will cultivate the earth 
 and live on its vegetable productions. It is to men 
 in the natural life that these promises w\ 
 
 That the expression, generations of eternity, de- 
 notes generations that arc to continue in an end 
 Beriee, is clear from the frequent use in the Scrip! 
 of the continuous generations of mankind as a d 
 sure of eternity. Thus in the expression, [sa. li. 8, 
 M My righteousness shall be to eternity and my salva- 
 tion unto generation and generation" — ubl^b- to 
 eternity, is used as a parallelism with "unto genera- 
 tion and generation ;" and the declaration, "My sal- 
 vation shall be unto generation and generation," as- 
 - eternity as absolutely as the expression, 
 •• My righteousness shall be le olam, to eternity," as- 
 cribes eternity to that. This is confirmed moreover 
 by the incom of a different construction with 
 
 the divine peri It is as contradictory to 
 
 'a own eternity and unchangeable goodness, wis- 
 dom, and purpose :;y the eternity of hi- Salva- 
 tion, as it is to deny the eternity of his righteousm 
 The ex] used in a like parallelism, Dan. 
 iv. 3, 34, "■ 11 • his signs ! And how mighty 
 
L56 hb m m •-. 
 
 are tn ia an ting 
 
 doni, and his dominion onto gen 
 erati "And M 
 
 md honored him that lii 
 dominion is an everlasting dominion, and bis king 
 is in • ration and generation." Ti are 
 
 made indisputable I 
 the first, of the kingdom, and in the othi 
 minion, as 6Um i it is 
 
 the dominion, and id the lasl the kingdom, tli 
 " onto generation and generation.' 1 Th< 
 •• onto generation an .." is as 
 
 roivalenl to eternity, and assum 
 
 that Qeratione <»t' niankii. ; 
 
 another throughout the unending futi 
 In Ps. cxlv. 13, eternities, and every generation 
 eration, i 
 
 dom z"z'z m y :z ■ ' '' eternil 
 minion in ei ion and generati the 
 
 dominion corresponds in duration with the kingdom, 
 in every ■ eneration ami generation 
 of mankind Is Identical with it- continual 
 all eternities. ' <■ aeration to generation, 91 
 
 nana' and reign. "Jehovah, th] la z':'l': ' 
 
 :•• : Jehovah, thy i Is nut i tion 
 
 and generation:" Ps, "Jehovah shall 
 
 reigi nit3 ; th; I I I . j ition 
 
 :" Ps. cxlvi. 1<». Eere 
 generation is exhibit 
 
THK PBRPET1 liv OP THE ill'M.w BACB. L5l 
 
 nal reign, as absolutely as eternity is. This use of 
 the expression Is, in effect, therefore, as absoluj 
 declaration thai the generations of mankind an 
 continue to Bucceed each other for ever, as a direct 
 affirmation thai they are to continue in an endless 
 succession would have been. As they are to be com- 
 mensurate with his reign, they are to be as eternal as 
 his reign lb. And, finally, they are used by Joel iii. 
 % jn. as equivalents in predicting the perpetuity of 
 Judah's residence in their national land : " Bu1 Judah 
 shall dwell to oZoffl, eternity, and Jerusalem to gener- 
 ation and generation." These passages, like the 
 pro] K h, thus explicitly teach that the gen- 
 
 erations of men. are to continue to succeed one 
 another for ever, and are to be a measure in their 
 perpetual series of the round of eternal ages. To 
 maintain that this is not their meaning, is not only to 
 contradict the plain equivalence of the endless gen- 
 erations of mankind to eternity in theso delineations 
 of the Divine kingdom and reign ; but is to exhibit 
 God as having used a measure of the continuance of 
 his kingdom, his dominion, his name, and his memory, 
 that is wholly incommensurate with, and altogether 
 misrepresents them : which were inconsistent with 
 his veracity and wisdom. 
 
 This use. moreover, of the ever continuing succes- 
 sion of human generations, as a measure of God's 
 eternal kingdom and reign, was not far-fetched or in- 
 appropriate to the Eebrews, but was the mosl natu- 
 ral, the most graphic, and the most impressive that 
 
THE 
 
 I ; from the fact, thai 
 
 - in which il 
 
 had ( inaan to Abraham 
 
 sr>siuu, ; 1 1 1 « 1 
 
 pledged, in I Dumber of | - and predic- 
 
 tions, that they should dwell t 1 : joy it in 
 
 their H 
 
 thus the assurance by the ex] tioo and 
 
 ■ nant of God, that their nation it | bere 
 
 for ever, and in the • tampon 
 
 tile nations, the end tionsofthe race are 
 
 the most natural and the i aificanl m< 
 
 that could have been chosen by the Most Bigh, t«> in- 
 dicate t<> them the perpetuity of his dominion and 
 over them. 
 Thai the race is to oontinui spy the earth in 
 
 an endless su 
 
 shown and assured to the II n by t li- 
 Abraham and his posterity of the land of Canai 
 a posse88io] ity, and the promise and pn 
 
 tion that hia seed should inherit and enjoy it I 
 This gift of Canaan to Abraham and hi- 
 
 lasting inheritance, and pledge that his ; 
 Bhould continue in an ei 
 
 enjoy it. entered as a chief element into the 
 • G d made with that patriarch, and all 
 subsequent promises to the Israelites dowi 
 time of their dispersion by the B §, and has 
 
 equally prominent place in the predictions of their 
 
 >n and lishment in that la; 
 
: PERPETUITY OF THE HUMAN I: \ 159 
 
 chosen people. Thus, his language to A.bra1 
 11 Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the | 
 where thou art, northward, and southward, and i 
 ward, and westward: For all the land which thou 
 
 at, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, addam t 
 to eternity. And 1 will make thy Beed as the dust 
 
 of the earth : BO that if a man can Dumber the dust 
 of tin' earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." 
 (Gen. xiii. 14-16.) The duration of the gift is thus 
 explicitly defined as eternity ; and its eternity im- 
 plies, therefore, the everlasting existence of the earth 
 ami of Canaan, and the endless continuance by suc- 
 generations of the Eebrews. And the pro- 
 mise i< literal, not metaphorical : there is no metaphor 
 in the use of ad clam, to eternity. The supposition 
 is contradictory to the law of the metaphor, which 
 always ascribes to that to which it is applied, some 
 character, act, or condition that is not compatible 
 with its nature, but only in some relation resembles 
 what is true of it. But an endless continuance of the 
 Hebrews by successive generations, is not inconsist- 
 ent with their nature. Instead, it is precisely that 
 fur which their nature is fitted, and which will cer- 
 tainly take place, unless they aro intercepted from it 
 by some modification of their constitution, change in 
 the state of the world, their removal to another 
 scene of existence, or some other extraordinary mea- 
 sure of Divine providence. Nor is it hyperbolical, or 
 a substitution of an infinite for a finite period ; — as it 
 is not hyperbolical in reference to the nature of man, 
 
160 
 
 or ii itution of the world, t" p rnity 
 
 of ti. □ of human or 11 dj — 
 
 tnoch ;is their natuj 
 throi iod daring which God pl< con- 
 
 tinue them in exi r it- Length mag 
 
 ii ib literal, and not hyperbolical! is Bhown m 
 by the prediction thai Abraham 1 
 ai the dual of the earth, bo thai to number them will 
 a> much f a human mind, 
 
 number the dual of the earth does. Such ■ proa 
 would no1 be simply an extravagant h ; it 
 
 would stupendously miarepn senl man's p 
 meration ; if, rally held, I 
 
 to propagate only about one thousan Longer — 
 
 as the numbor thai at that time will hav< 
 being, will not, a1 a very large estim 
 bly, above 700,000,000 — the work ofnuml bom 
 
 would hear no compariaou in i 
 to an enumeration <»!' the duf 
 
 supposition, however, that they continue t<> multiply 
 through eternal ages, their ; te will at Length, 
 
 from their multitude and from the indeterminate 
 
 of" the hOStfl that will rVi.T -till he to COm 
 
 dividual'! 
 of enumeration, as it but] number 
 
 the dual Of the earth. 
 
 This gifl was renewed in the covenant 
 made with Abraham, of which circumcision w 
 the 
 
 •• Ti.\ name in Q iham ; for i 
 
Tin: PMPETUITT OP THE m'.M.vx BJ 161 
 
 many nations have I made thee. And I will make 
 thee exceeding fruitful, and will make cation - 
 and kings ahal] come out of thee. And 1 will estab- 
 lish my covenant betwixt me and thee, and thy 
 after thee in their generations for a covenant, dam, 
 of eternity, to be a God unto thee and thy Beed after 
 thee. And I will give onto thee and to thy seed after 
 thee, the land wherein thou art a Btranger, all the 
 land of Canaan tor a p q, <J<<m, of eternity. 
 
 And I will he their God," Genesis xvii. 5-8. 
 Thi .ant of eternity with Abraham and his 
 
 I after him in their and the gift to 
 
 them of Canaan Bfl a | 
 
 plainly implies that their generations arc to continue 
 
 t.» succeed each other for ever, and that the earth 
 and Canaan also, are for ever to be their res 
 For how can Canaan be the possession of Abraham's 
 seed for eternity, if it does not continue for ever to 
 is generally imagined, after the lapse of 
 a few hundred years more it is to be annihilated ; or 
 to cease from being, as the land of Canaan? How 
 can God's covenant with his seed in their generations 
 to he their < I covenant of eternity, if at the 
 
 end of a few hundred their generations reach 
 
 a limit, and the whole of his posterity assume another 
 form of being, and pass to anoth e of life, in- 
 
 volving a total abolition of that covenant ? For God's 
 promise to multiply his seed, and make a covenant 
 with them of eternity as their God, of which circum- 
 cision was the seal, and his gift to them of Canaan as 
 
LC2 
 
 • 
 and covenant of eternity, if after a fewhundr* 
 do more of bis line come in t the 
 
 of thai covenant, and none of his posterity have 
 I maim as their inheritance and home. 
 The Bame prom ( ' maan fi 
 
 Bion was made to Jacol G I Almighty appe 
 anto me, ami Baid unto me, Behold I will make thee 
 fruitful, and multiply thee, and will make of tfo 
 multitude of people ; and w thia land t 
 
 : for a ; id — oiam — of « ■!■ 
 
 xlviii. 1. It wae 1 to by Rf< see in hifl 
 
 1 1 r a promise to Abraham, I Jacob: — 
 
 " B ■'.'.:■ ml er Abraham, I- I] 
 
 to whom th 
 
 unto them, I will multiply your seed u I 
 heaven, and all this laud that 1 1. ■,•, ill l 
 
 . and they Bhall inherit it, 
 ■ In- xxxii. L3. It was repeated by 
 M 
 Burely the land whereon thy feet h;. 
 den shall be thine inheritance, and thy child: 
 . to eternity," Joshua xiv. 9. 
 The gift and ]> q of the land are thus in all 
 
 these covenants and pron frequently r< 
 
 ternal. No other period ia m< 
 no intimatioi • rni- 
 
 v \ 
 em] 1 bich repi I ha1 the earth is not to 
 
 • . and that imply therefore tl 
 
Tin: PEBPETUm OP THE BUM \.\ RACE. h'.:; 
 
 ty is a mere measure of a temporary continuance of 
 the thing given. The supposition thai Canaan lb to 
 continue in being but for a few generations, and thai 
 their possession of it is to reach its end at the dis- 
 tance at the utmost of forty or fifty centuries after 
 M »ses, is as contradictious to the language of th — 
 promises, as a similar supposition would be in respect 
 to God's dominion, reign, and existence. 
 
 That supposition, moreover, is precluded by ex- 
 press assurance b, that Zion, Jerusalem, and the laud 
 are to continue for ever, and that God is for ever to 
 reign there. " They that trust in the Lord shall be 
 a- mounl Zion which cannot be removed hut abideth 
 to otom, eternity," Ps. cxxv. 1. "The Lord hath 
 chosen Zion, lie hath desired it for his habitation. 
 This is my rest for ever. Here will I dwell, for I have 
 desired it," Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14. " The Lord appeared 
 to Solomon, and said unto him : I have heard thy 
 prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made be- 
 fore me : I have hallowed this house which thou hast 
 built, to pur my name there, ad olam, to eternity : and 
 my eves and heart shall be there (all days) perpetu- 
 ally. And it thou wilt walk before me, as David thy 
 father walked, in integrity of heart, and wilt keep my 
 statutes and my judgments, then will I establish the 
 throne of thy kingdom upon Israel — olam — to eterni- 
 ty." 1 Kin-- ix. 3-5. "The Lord lias said. In Jerusa- 
 lem shall my name l»e — olam — to eternity. ,? 2 Chron. 
 xxxiii. 4. These, and a great number of other pas- 
 ts, thus explicitly teach that Zion, Jerusalem, and 
 
I til 
 
 the poeaoaaion throa din- 
 
 I d to the r 
 
 Oidy tin: 
 
 iiaiit with Abraham, and the 
 
 ■nd .v.ii to the tin*- 
 
 lishmenl there, 1 in it wu with 
 
 ] distin< in a ll t ], 
 
 ,lirI I . i: kiel, 
 
 and others, of their exile for a period, -heir 
 
 1 I -1. and of their ultiinat 
 and re-adoption pie, 
 
 ••Tiirv shall call ti. .', hovah, I 
 
 lie Holy 1 1 1. Whereas thou 1. 
 
 iken and hated. ><» that n m through • 
 
 I 
 
 . VI »1 il no 
 
 r.l in thy 1 
 within thy borders : hut thou ahall call thy 
 
 i. and ; The sun -hall 1 . 
 
 more thy light by day, neither for brightneas shall 
 the moon give Light unto thee ; hut Jehovah shall he 
 thin.- lasting • and the thy 
 
 mourning BhaO he ended. Thy | 
 
 all H ihal] inherit the In. —to 
 
 aity f M [saiah lx. 1 1 21. 
 "Thus B ith th< Lord I boldlwillt 
 
 child 1 from i the heathen, whit] 
 
 they ' I ther them on 
 
Till; PEBPETUITI OF THE HUMAN RA( E. Hi.) 
 
 and bring them into their own land. And I will make 
 
 them one nation in tin' land upon the mountains of 
 [srael, and "no king shall be king to them all; and 
 they shall be no more two nations, neither Bhal] they 
 
 be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. And 
 
 David iny servanl Bhall ho king over them, and they 
 
 all shall have olio shepherd. They shall also walk in 
 
 my judgments, and observe my statutes and do them. 
 
 And they shall dwell in the land that 1 have given 
 unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have 
 dwell : and they shall dwell therein, they and their 
 children, and their children's children, n<l clam, to 
 eternity : and my Bervant David shall be their prince, 
 l> cHa/m, to eternity. Moreover, I will make a cove- 
 nant of peace with them : it shall be a ( ovenant, clam, 
 of eternity with them ; and I will place them, ami 
 multiply thoin, and will set my sanctuary in the 
 midst of them, h olam, to eternity. My taberni 
 also shall he with them : yea, I will be their God, 
 and they shall be my people. And the nations shall 
 know that I the Lord do consecrate [srael, when my 
 ■niary shall be in the midst of them, le clam, to 
 eternity." Ez< kiel xxxvii. 21 28. 
 
 " In that day, saith the Lord, will 1 assemble her 
 that halteth, and 1 will gather her that is driven out, 
 and her that 1 have afflicted; and 1 will make her 
 that halteth a remnant, and her that was cast tar off 
 a Btrong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them 
 in mount Zion henceforth, and ad "hint. to eternity. 
 And thou, tower of the flock, tho stronghold of the 
 
L66 i'i:i;i'i:ii 
 
 bter of Zion, onto thee shall it come, even the 
 first dominion : the kingdom .-hull come to tb 
 i usalem," aficah iv. 6 8. 
 Ti, imilar predictioi 
 
 . Notwithstanding their 
 ins, they are al l< agth to 
 be restored, and their possession of the land to eterni- 
 ty i- pledged to them after their return, as absolutely 
 aa it was anterior to their banishment. T tthey 
 
 have been bo bng driven from it, ii 
 theii - it would have been had it i. 
 
 d wrenched from their pe of their 
 
 revolt. 
 In accordance with this, the continuance also to 
 aityofthe Bebr< aation,and in their land, 
 
 i> promised n ith equal explicit™ 
 
 ••Thus Baith the Lord which givetfa the son t 
 light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and 
 Btars for s light by night, which divideth the 
 when th( thereof rear : the Lord of Eos! 
 
 oame ; if those ordini - pari froi 
 Baith the Lord, then the - 
 
 from being a nation before me for ever. Thus Baith 
 the Lord, if heaven above can be measured, and 
 foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will 
 also cast off all the seed of [srael for all tl 
 saith the Lord. Behold the daj a 
 Faith the Lord, that the city .-hall be built to the 
 Lord, from the tower of Bananeel anto the 
 the corner. And it -hall not he plucked ap, nor 
 
THE PEBPETUn J I L67 
 
 throwo down any more, le <» ! <ni/. to eternity," J 
 
 niiah wxi. 85-40. 
 
 Bare the continuance of the Israelites as a nation 
 before Jehovah, is declared to be as sure as the con- 
 tinuance of his ordinance that the Bnn shall give light 
 by day, and the moon and .-tars by night. As the 
 sun. moon, and Btars were ereated, and are upheld by 
 Jehovah ; as it is his ordinance that they Bhall give 
 light to the earth : and as there is no cause either in 
 them, or any other created thing, that can prevent 
 them from filling that office; it is certain that they 
 will for ever continue to shed light on the earth. — 
 
 So in like manner, a- God creates and upholds the - 
 
 Israelites, and ordains the laws by which they con- 
 tinne their national existence by new births from 
 to age ; and there is no cause either in them, or 
 any other part of the created universe that can pre- 
 vent their continuing in that manner by success v. • 
 gei ie rations for ever : it is sure that they will so con- 
 tinue as a nation before him for ever. The decree of 
 Cm<\. which no created power can intercept from ac- 
 COmplishment, makes the event in one case as certain, 
 as hi- decree which cannot he intercepted from exe- 
 eution, renders it in the other. And again, as it is 
 impossible lV.au our peculiar nature that heaven 
 above can be measured by us. or the foundations — 
 the central depths — of the earth beneath, be search- 
 ed out by us ; — inasmuch as they are wholly inacces- 
 sible to us ; bo likewise God's promise makes it im- 
 possible that he should cast off all the seed of Israel, 
 
rebeilio 
 old be tu incoi .ttri- 
 
 ■ 
 of heaven al arching of the deptl 
 
 h beneath, are b at with our phj 
 
 1 that i : 
 
 : nation befoi 
 •• Then Bhal] the B 
 them thai turn from trai th the 
 
 t me, this i< my covenant with then, 
 saith the Lord. My Spirit that is apon I I my 
 
 words which I have put in thy month, shall not depart 
 out of thy month, nor out of the month of thy - 
 nor out of the mouth of t! 
 L 1. from now and to eternity," Isaiah 21. 
 
 Ti specific a pie 
 
 that I 
 
 turns, Qtinne I ity. 
 
 •• For aa the ne* heavens and the new earth which 
 I will make Bhall remain before in-', saith t' 
 
 iall voc remain. And it 
 
 shall from one new moon to alio! 
 
 and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come 
 
 to worship before me, saith the Lord, w I-aiah lwi. 
 
 • T ! Zion,and utter his 
 
 id the heavens and the earth 
 
 Bhall .-hake; hnt the Lord will be the hop. 
 I.-! tli-' strength of the children i 
 
THE PERPETUITY OF THE BUMAH i:\< B. L69 
 
 ihall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwell- 
 ing in Zion, my holy mountain. Then shall .Je: 
 lem be holy, and there shall do strangers pass through 
 
 bef any more. And it shall OOme to paSfl in that day, 
 
 the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the 
 hills shall llow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah 
 shall llow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth 
 of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley 
 of Shittim : Egypt Bhall he a desolation ; and Edom 
 shall ho a desolate wilderness. But Judah Bhall dwell 
 ternity, ami Jerusalem unto generation and gen- 
 eral : 1 iii. 16-20. 
 
 The perpetuity of the Israelites, as a nation, and 
 their residence in Canaan for ever, is thus made as 
 certain, as the fulillinent of God ? s ordinance is, that 
 the earth and the sun, the moon and the stars, shall 
 exist for ever. As the new heavens and the new- 
 earth are to remain before him for ever ; as the Jeru- 
 salem he is to create a rejoicing, is to be an excellence 
 of eternity, a joy of generation to generation in an 
 everlasting succession ; so their seed and their name 
 are to remain for ever. They are to dwell in Jeru- 
 rnity. They are to people Judea through 
 the round of unending ages. 
 
1 7 1 1 TH 1 
 
 c ii a PT i: B xiv. 
 
 TllK 1'KHrKTLITY 01 THK HUMAN I 
 
 The covenant with Noah and his posterity, 
 pron Abraham of an ever oontinui 
 
 the everlastii in by them of the land of < 
 
 naan, indicate, as we have Bhown in th< 
 chapter, that the earth is forever I 
 bode of human bein 
 < »:, the institution of a monarchy i \ >i It 
 tin elevation of David to the throne, these pl< 
 and predictions of t! atmnao 
 
 nation and j >n of the Land I 
 
 and confirmed by n< 
 tions that the kingdom oi [an 1 should continu 
 
 lity. and its throne be filled by the Beed of David. 
 
 Thus hie promise to David was : — "I will Bet ap thy 
 
 ; after thee, and I will establish the throne of his 
 
 kingdom, ad 61am, to eternity* Thy hoi I thy 
 
 dom shall be establish 
 And it was interpreted bj D 
 perpetuity of his family, his throne and the nal 
 t«»r in his praj er in i to the | 
 
Tin; PBBPETUITX OF THE HUMAN Bi 171 
 
 u For thou lnist confirmed to thyself thy people [srael, 
 to be a people Qnto thee, ad olam, to eternity, and 
 thou Lord art become their God. And now, Lord 
 God, the word thai thon hasl BpokeD concerning thy 
 servant, ami concerning his house, establish it. ad 
 clam, to eternity. Ami let thy name be magnified, 
 ad olam, to eternity, Baying, the Lord of Hosts is the 
 
 Qod over Israel. And Mess the honsfi of thy servant 
 
 thai it may continue before thee," 2 Samuel vii. 12- 
 15 ; 2-1 29. That the Israelites are for -.ever to con- 
 tinue as a nation, and as God's chosen people, is thus 
 expressly recognised by David, and it is od that pur- 
 pose that die promise La made to him of the establish- 
 ment of his throne over them to eternity, and the 
 everlasting reign on it of his seed. 
 
 This promise is frequently renewed, and the eter- 
 nal reign of David's posterity on his throne exhibited 
 as one of the most essential and glorious of God's pur- 
 poses of mercy to that people and the world. Thus, 
 the author of Psalm lxxxix. 4, 29, 36, 37, in singing 
 of the mercies of Jehovah to eternity, and making 
 known his faithfulness to generation and generation, 
 cites, as an exemplification of it, this promise to David : 
 — '• I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have 
 Bworn unto David ; thy Beed will 1 establish for ever, 
 and build up thy throne to all generations : my mefoy 
 will 1 keep for him, ad olam, to eternity: and my cov- 
 enant shall Btand fast with him. His seed also will I 
 make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days 
 of heaven. His Beed sh;dl endure le olam, to eternity, 
 
172 
 
 and his throi 
 
 the 
 
 an<l tl human [ 
 
 • 
 !. and hi 
 
 I i >W that • 
 
 whom these pro fulfil- 
 
 rael, but the King of all ki; ! . f all 
 
 is. 
 •• Onto us a child La born ; ant 
 
 rnment shall be upon hie Bhould 
 
 his ; . < 
 
 i: ernity, t: 
 I' . of tin- IncTi t and ]•• 
 
 there Bhall I 1 upon I 
 
 apon his kin bliah it with 
 
 judgment ami with justice 1. 
 eternity. The zeal of th Lord of 1 $te will ] 
 this/' Isaiah i.\. I 
 
 Bere both his humanity and hi 
 ami his reign en tlu' thron . rid, and oyer bis 
 
 kingdom, an I I the fan Fa right 
 
 arch, it i -hull be 1 
 
 prediction i: iah. 
 
 •■ B h ' : • dth the Lord, tl. 
 
 ! 
 
 I an 1 t" 
 
tii;: .11: n 1 • m a x RACE. 173 
 
 the house of Judah. In those days, and at thai time 
 will 1 cause the Branch of righteousness to gro% up 
 unto David ; and he Bhall execute judgment lil "' 
 righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah 
 be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this 
 i-; the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our 
 Righteousness. For thus Baith the Lord : David shall 
 never want a man to sit upon the throne of the lion-'' 
 of [srael : neither shall the priests, the Levites, want 
 a in r burnt offerings, and to kin- 
 
 dle • and to do sacrifice continually, — 
 
 Ami the word of the Lord eame nnto Jeremiah, Bay- 
 
 : Thus Baith the Lord : If ye can break my cove- 
 nant of tin' «lav, and my covenant of the night, and 
 that there should not be day and night in their season ; 
 then may also my covenant be broken with David my 
 
 . ;iit. that he should not have a son to reign upon 
 his throne, and with the Levites the priests my minis- 
 Ajb the host of heaven cannot be numbered, 
 neither the Band of the sea measured ; so will I mul- 
 tiply tli David my servant, and the Levites 
 that minister unto me." Jeremiah xxxiii. 14-22. 
 
 It is thus not only promised most expressly that 
 there shall never be a period after their restoration, 
 when a 1 :it of David Bhall not sit upon the 
 
 throne of the hou . but it i - 
 
 - impossible that that purpose of Jehovah should 
 be prevented from i mplishment, as it is that 
 
 men slnaiM annul his ordinance respecting the - 
 
 'on of day and night. A- to put an end to the 
 
17 1 THE 
 
 mplishm 
 purpose, thai th< I rut- 
 
 . the throne of Israel, is oul man 
 
 and ;i " other on .11 
 
 .r the descendant ■ D inlti- 
 
 plied, so that their multitude shall I 
 
 :' enumeration, as tl.- . in- 
 
 finite hosts of which lie prholly beyond th< 
 his vision. It is to impossil 
 
 tlu-ir hosts thai are 
 
 in the hulk of the sands of tl iring 
 
 them ; ilt that is infallibly if they 
 
 t i ime and multiply in an endle 
 
 but that other* i iainly c con- 
 
 tttly with the laws of nature. 
 Tl. ition an<l p] I oity of 
 
 and the 
 
 al the annunciation 
 • brist's birth to Mary. " B ihold thou shah 
 d 1 bring forth a son, and shah call his n 
 Jesus. He Bhall . 1 shall be called the S 
 
 of the High< at A- . : ; I Lord G I shall g 
 him the tin- bii father David : and he shall 
 
 i over the 1: J >b through tfc 
 
 Of his kingdom there shall 1. • 
 All tl: 
 
 contemplate the continuance through eternal 
 
 ■. and his rule ovei tin i 
 the i ial in >narch, in 
 
THE PERPETCITY OF tin: iitmax i:.\< i:. 175 
 
 tinctioD from other nations. It is everywhere pre- 
 sented as an essential feature in his purposes; an 
 (.•lenient of the greatest significance in the adminis- 
 tration under which ho is to rescue the world from 
 ruin, and raise it to the beauty and glory of an obe- 
 dient empire. 
 
 Accordingly, in all the great prophetic representa- 
 tions of his reign over the earth alter he assume 
 
 tre, his kingdom here is exhibited in the most 
 express and emphatic manner, as to continue for ever, 
 and over mankind in their division into nations, and 
 in their natural life. Thus it was declared to Daniel, 
 that on the destruction of the fourth kingdom repre- 
 sented by the legs and feet of the great image ; " the 
 God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall 
 never bo destroyed ; and the kingdom shall not be 
 left to other people ; but it shall break in pieces and 
 consume all other kingdoms, and it shall stand to 
 eternities," Daniel ii. 44. It is to be a kingdom 
 therefore in this world, and thence a kingdom over 
 human beings. It is to extend itself over all the 
 other kingdoms of the world, and therefore embrace 
 the whole territory and population of the earth. It 
 continue to eternity, and it is to be the king- 
 dom of heaven, which Christ is to establish, and over 
 which he is to reign. 
 
 In the vision, accordingly, in the seventh chapter 
 of Daniel, of the institution of this kingdom, on tho 
 destruction of tho powers of the fourth empire de- 
 noted by the wild beast, it is expressly represented 
 
thai ith \\lii< 
 
 minion 
 
 irth, 
 
 stural ];. that 
 
 i oyer I 
 i 
 like a Bon ol una in the cloud 
 
 came to the Ancient of days, and they bron 
 
 him, and tin 
 and glory, and a kingdom, that all pe 
 languages Bhonld Berve him. Hi- dominion ii 
 minion of eternity, which shall 
 his kingdom that which shall n< I 
 18, 1 I. 
 
 \ i language could m I hat the 
 
 dominion with which he is thus to be invested on the 
 
 if the rulers oi the fourth kingdom, i 
 dominion of this world : thai the rule he i 
 
 mankind in the natural life ; I 
 stand to all the | . nations, and lai 
 
 unto which they are divided ; and tl 
 tinue niiv. T 
 
 • interpn 
 Spiri of the vision, in which it 
 
 judgment and destruction of ti. 
 : by the wild be 
 minion, and the the kingdom under 
 
 iven to the Baint 
 m is a kingd eternity, 
 
 all dominions BhaU bim," r. 26 27, 
 
I hi: PERPETUITY OP THE HUMAN l: \< i:. 
 
 The Bcene of the kingdom is thus represented to be 
 under our skies ; all thai lies beneath the circuit ui' 
 our atmosphere: it Is declared to be a kingdom of 
 eternity, and a kingdom in which the Baints of the 
 Ifosl 1 1 i,-li shall reign ; which slmws again that the 
 
 people, nations, and tongues, over whom Chri-l [g bo 
 
 reign and exercise an eternal dominion, are human 
 beings in the natural, not in a glorified life : lor how- 
 can the saints of the Bfosl II igh have human BUb- 
 jects over whom they can reign? The kingdom which 
 
 the saints are to take on the destruction of the fourth 
 
 Bt, and | i-r ever, i- to be a kingdom of 
 
 human beings, as much as the kingdoms of the be 
 
 were. Hut if all the human beings who are then to 
 
 dwell on the earth are to be glorilied, and all are to 
 
 reign, they can have no human subjects. For if all 
 
 reign, and thence are of equal authority in respect to 
 
 each other, what can be clearer than that they will 
 
 have no authority at all over one another, but will all 
 
 1 on precisely the same level? But the saints of 
 
 the Most High who are to possess the kingdom, are, 
 
 the prophecy teaches, the saints whom the little horn 
 
 had worn out and slaughtered through a long succes- 
 
 :.d. as is shown in the vision in the 
 
 of the Brsl resurrection, are risen and 
 
 re, as they are all to be 
 
 kings unto God and CI. 1 are to reign with 
 
 him, the Bui . r whom they are to reign are 
 
 indubitably I >ple, nations, and tongues, over 
 
 whom Christ is to receive dominion ; and thence 
 
. 
 tini; 
 
 I 
 
 • 
 
 T tthei nii*l 
 
 .th trumpet, th< 
 heaven, thai prodaii 
 
 i . I 
 
 p. zi. 1 ■' dngdom 
 
 of the world which is then to become his, i- the king- 
 dom rw soop < «i* human 1 
 some other sphere, bni of I . the birth] 
 
 residence of mankind. It is ]. irdingly 
 
 and over liuniaii subjects that he li 
 rule. This is Bhown, 1 by 
 
 the i > ho fell rshipped, m 
 
 I by him : pro- 
 
 claimed, " hi - tile nati 
 
 time ken th; and the 
 
 time to reward those who fear hi —the In 
 
 — both small an I putably 
 
 human I nd in the natural life. Tl 
 
 ruK-rs and peopl and implacable enen 
 
 lient children who inhabit I 
 
 od coming. And the period daring which 1. 
 
 ; through 
 b, — thai 
 
 with equal explicitnees, tl 
 Ohrisl b . imenced 1 
 
 earth, the nation atinue h 
 
Tin: raRPETUlTI OF tin: him w &AGB. 170 
 
 to be sanctified and save.]. For the apostle dec] 
 in reaped to tho New Jerusalem, which ho saw 
 Mending out of heaven : — 
 
 "And I saw do temple therein ; for the Lord God 
 Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And 
 the city has no Deed of the sun nor tho moon, that 
 they may li.^ht it : for the glory of God lights it, and 
 the Lamb is its lamp. And the nations shall walk in 
 its light, and the kings of the earth .-hall bring their 
 glory and honor to it. And its gates shall not bo shut 
 by day (for there is do night there), and they shall 
 bring the glory and honor of the nations to it. And 
 nothing shall enter it that is unclean, and that works 
 defilement and falsehood ; but they only who are writ- 
 ten in the Lamb's book of life. 
 
 " And he showed me a river of water of life pure as 
 crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the 
 Lamb. In the midst of the broad place, and on each 
 of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve 
 fruits, according to each month yielding its fruit, and 
 the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the na- 
 tions. And there shall be no curse any more. And 
 the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it ; 
 And his servants shall serve him. And they shall 
 ; ;is face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. 
 And they shall rale as kings through the ages of 
 bap; xxi. 23-£7 ; xxii. 1-5. 
 
 It is thus as clearly revealed here, that the Lord 
 God and the Lamb are to bo visibly present with 
 those on the earth whom the city represents, as it is 
 
I BO 
 
 thai the citj th from 
 
 o, th.it those wh 
 by the city, who ad whom God Lights with his 
 
 be lighl 
 . the cations ; for the latter walk in the li.u r ht of the 
 city and bring their 
 bj mboliz< -1 by the city and 
 
 • '1 in the vision I L ml - ife- whi 
 
 the denominative of the i 
 
 9, 10. The oati therefore, the literal nations 
 
 of the earth ; the people and I 
 Chri ived dominion at his coming in th 
 
 to the Anci< 1 1 aiel vii. 13, 14, thai 
 
 Bhonld mtv*' him. This is shown, also, by their 1 ■ 
 healed by tl< 
 maki that th( 
 
 rth in the natural 1 
 Chri ad coin:. during i and the 
 
 :i of the sail:; 
 
 that he himself ie to be visibly \ i by 
 
 the risen and glorified saints denoted by the city, and 
 that tlu-y a: through the 
 
 Th thai mankind shall i 
 
 tinue to inhabil the earth, and multiply through an 
 endl( ngh.1 in 
 
 Scriptur 
 
 inwoven # in the whole web of revelation. It is indi- 
 i in the command to the firsl pair, to be fruitful 
 
 
THE PERPETUITY OP Tin: HUMAN RACE. 1 51 
 
 and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue ii ; 
 — a command which lias never been rescind* d, and 
 which implies thai the earth is to be the birthplace 
 and dwelling of the human race as long as it exists. 
 It is revealed in the covenanl with Noah and his sons, 
 for generations of eternity. It is expressly predicted 
 and pledged in the covenant with Abraham, l» 
 and Jacob, and the Hebrews on their establishment 
 in Canaan. It is revealed and promised in the pie 
 to David, t lie firsl monarch ancestor of Christ, thai his 
 
 1 shall reign to eternity on his throne, and over 
 his kingdom of Israel. It is revealed in the predic- 
 tions that the Son of the Virgin, the God-man, WAS to 
 be the descendant of David who should for ever, reign 
 on his throne. The prophecies of Christ's coming in 
 the clouds and receiving the dominion of the earth, 
 foreshow that mankind in the natural life — people, 
 nations, and tongues, — are to be the subjects of his 
 eternal reign on the earth. And finally, it is fore- 
 shown in the visions of his reign on the earth after 
 his Becond coming, that the nations are still to exisl 
 
 . and are to continue in an endless series of gen- 
 be subjects of his sway. It i- thus 
 presented in a conspicuous manner at each of the 
 iges of the revelations God has made ; it en- 
 it into all the covenants ; it is woven 
 into all the greal predict] I delineations of the 
 
 kingdom and reign of Christ. It lie- at the basis, as 
 it were, (A' the work of redemption, and was contem- 
 plated in all the measures that were preparatory to 
 
Jin. 
 
 Chri • ion ; it • 
 
 ing himself for the wfa it ii 
 
 contemplated in hi- eternal priesthood, and the ii 
 
 r for those coming unto God by 
 him, through the round And tl 
 
 tations in tl. : 
 
 there ii not i hint in them that 
 : to be annihilated, or thai tl. 
 h a point beyond which 
 tione or individuals are to come into 
 
 This great purpose of the Most II •• of the 
 
 most important that he h aled to ni : and 
 
 knowledge of it is essential in order to un 
 irefl of hifl administratioi 
 pecially the incarnation, sacrifice, and reign of Christ. 
 Without it. no adequate impression can 
 
 his aima and the grandeur od 
 mptdonheisl mplish. Those who imag 
 
 that OUT earth is the only World that that the 
 
 other planets, the sun and the - 
 
 littering pointa set in the arch of th 
 
 iter hulk than the ODJ& 
 
 that arc of the same apparent dinicnsiui - .t in 
 
 a greater error in respect to the illimitabli 
 
 .[•ire, than they are in respect to t:. 
 
 < let's] . 1 the infinite crowds who 
 
 . by him from age to age, who imagine 
 that the race has already nearly 
 that within about a thousand y< whole num- 
 
 t' human beings that an 
 
THE PERPETUITI OP THE HUMAS B LCI. 1 33 
 
 oome in!" life : and thai the work of redemption, 
 cordingly, Is to be circumscribed within those narrow 
 limits. 
 
 This great purpose of God respecting our race, con- 
 futea the theory of Anti-millenarianism. Thai narrow 
 Bcheme, the creature of human speculation, contem- 
 plates no such everlasting work of redemption. It 
 has no place for bo vast and glorious a display of the 
 Divine wisdom and goodness. Instead, it holds thai 
 the work of Baving man is soon to reach its end ; thai 
 the redemption of a small part of those who come 
 into existence, is all that God designs; and that the 
 grand measures by which a further extension of the 
 evils of the tall is to be prevented arc, the intercep- 
 tion of the race from a further multiplication by a re- 
 moval of them to other worlds, and the annihilation 
 of the earth 
 
1*1 
 
 i a pt i: B x v . 
 
 CHB hjh. 
 
 The most important question l 
 
 and Auti-milk-nana: 
 
 nature of ; the 
 
 th dnringthe millennium. Pre-millenniali 
 
 that 
 
 sainl lb t - » reign in | 
 
 during thai 
 mUlenariane hold that hie 
 
 olj snch . in- 
 
 (faiences, laws, ami provi and that he 
 
 raise the judge the living till . 
 
 the millenninm I It i-. 1. 
 
 ■r insufficient and arbitrary grounds. There 
 few future events predicted with such clear 
 and amplitude as that I 
 
 that 
 
 r it in : 
 
 rth. 
 
CHBI8T is TO COME BEFORE THE Mil. I. i:\.\irM. L85 
 There la no prophecy thai either expressly dec] 
 
 Or naturally implies that his BOCOnd advent is to fol- 
 low, instead of preceding the thousand years. There 
 is no declaration, nor hint, nor any thing that can 
 consistently with the laws of language be construed 
 ing that his reign on the earth is not to be a 
 reign in person and visible glory, but only by the 
 Spirit, by laws, and by providences. It is by an ar- 
 bitrary rejection ^[' the natural sense of the predic- 
 tions rting his coming and reign, and substitu- 
 tion in their place of a fanciful meaning by a process 
 of spiritualization, that Anti-millenarians force them 
 to yi.dd ;i Beeming attestation to their theory. 
 
 •J. It is consonant to Christ's nature as Jehovah- 
 man, and the ends of his mediation, that he should 
 ;n here in person in accomplishing the redemp- 
 tion of the race. He is himself in his finite nature 
 of our race. What so natural and appropriate as 
 that he should reign in that person over our race, 
 rather than in some distant realm that is the habita- 
 tion of a different order of intelligent beings ? The 
 work of redeeming men is the most important mea- 
 sure oi' his administration, and is to exert a vaster 
 and more momentous influence on the other orders of 
 his subjects than any other act of his government. — 
 How natural and fitting that this world where he is 
 to make the most glorious display of his per! 
 and whence the most powerful and beneficent influ- 
 ences are to emanate to all other parts of his empire 
 
1 v ''» • !i . HE MILLENNIUM. 
 
 ■herald be n 
 
 But it sled tint his naming in 
 
 th<- clouds of heaven and n the dominion of 
 
 the earth, ii to take pla 
 
 the nations, and thei : 1 1 i 1 1 « - 1 1 1 1 i - 
 
 uni. Alter the vision of the i m and 
 
 tion of the fourth b< prophet Daniel says: ' I 
 
 inned to Look in the 
 hold one like the Son of man came with the cloud 
 heaven, and he advanced toward the An- 
 and they brought him near before him. And tl 
 
 given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, 
 that all people, and d and tong 
 
 him : his dominion ifl rlasting dominion which 
 
 shall not pass away : and his kingdom o shall 
 
 not be destroyed. 71 Chap. vii. 13, 14. B - ming 
 thus in person in tfa 
 
 of divine >\ mbole iifl really 
 
 in person in the clouds at the epoch of the 
 tion of the powers denoted by the fourth 
 which the vision relates ; and is 1. 
 he himself has Bhown in hi lion to the high pi 
 
 that he was '• the Son of Gk>d t M and declarat 
 u hereafter shall ye see the Son of man aittin 
 right hand of power, and coming in the clouds 
 
 M ••. .31. 
 
 Thai it ifl to precede the conversion of the u 
 
 from it- being of the epoch of the destruction 
 ofthi \ ail 
 
cram is 10 come bbfoi [illenniuic. I ^7 
 
 against the saints till the time of Christ's coming ; 
 and from the consideration thai it Is then thai the 
 empire of this world is to be first given to Christ, 
 and that his reception of it is to be in order that ;ill 
 people, nations, and Languages may Berve him, which 
 they will never previously have done. There are 
 Bymbolizationa also in the A.pocalypse of his coming 
 with his heavenly h<»ts in power and glory at the 
 destruction of the beast and its armies under the 
 sixth seal and the seventh trumpet, which are indis- 
 putably to precede the millennium, Rev. six. 11-21; 
 xi. 15-18; v i . 12—17. These visions admit of no other 
 construction. They determine the time of his second 
 coming t<> be that of the overthrow of tin.* anti-chris- 
 tian powers, with as absolute certainty as it could 
 have been expressed in a language prophecy. It is 
 revealed also with equal clearness in the language 
 prophecies. Thus, it is foreshown that the destruc- 
 tion of the man of sin is to take place at the time of 
 Christ's coming, because that usurper is to be con- 
 sumed by the spirit of his month, and destroyed by 
 the brightness of his coining, 2 Thess. ii. 6, and that 
 the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with 
 his mighty angels in flaming fire, when he takes ven- 
 geance on them that know not God, and that obey 
 not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall 
 be punished with everlasting destruction from the 
 presence of the Lord ami from the glory of his power, 
 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and 
 admired in all them that believe, 2 Thess. i. 7-10. 
 
188 ci 
 
 •I to thrones in I 
 dom. 
 
 1. I; ; '1 that i 
 
 Burrection of the hoi; 
 
 at the commencement of the the 
 
 this we say onto yon by the 
 
 I them which 
 
 the Lord himself BhaU d d with a 
 
 shunt, with tin- \ 1 and the tramp 
 
 < . and the dead in Christ .-hall 
 Thess. iv. I".. L6. " For as in Adam all 
 in Chrisl BhaU all be made alive. J) in in 
 
 bis own band ; Christ 
 they that are Christ 1 
 
 !..;." i i 
 
 2 1. Bui the r «nrrection of the hoi; 
 place before the thoi 
 shoi ut. 4 «•. wh 
 
 tion to I n to thr 
 
 the Spirit to be Bjmbota of th 
 ami it is declared that th Chrisl 
 
 daring the thousand A- then th 
 
 tion is t.» precede tin- thousand 
 
 with Christ, and as Chri- 
 
 plac 
 
 to precede the thou of their with 
 
 him. 
 
OHBIST tS 10 COME BBPOl I u. i:\.\iim. I 39 
 
 This is confirmed also by the fart thai those who are 
 to I"- raised are to be divided into bands, and that 
 those bands are to be raised at differenl periods. 
 
 Now as the resurrection foreshown, 1 Cor. xv. 22, 
 is the resurrection of mankind universally thai die ; 
 and as those who an> to rise are i" be distributed into 
 
 irate bands and according to their character, i 
 shown by the resurrection of those who are Christ's 
 in a band by themselves at his comii lear thai 
 
 the unholy are to form a banoj by themselves. And 
 as the bands are to rise in bq d at different pe- 
 
 riods, it is clear that the band of the unholy isto] 
 at a different and later time than the holy. 
 
 That the unholy are to form a hand by theiic 
 en from the declaration, " - All shall be made alive, 
 hut every one in his own hand ;" and the definition 
 of the firsl hand as Christ, perhaps including those 
 who rose with him ; and of the second as consisting 
 of those who are Christ's. As the unholy are not in- 
 cluded in the second band, they must of course form 
 another band by th< - : and this is indicated 
 
 by the term vim — his own band, which doubl 
 means the band to which he belongs by his charac 
 and the nature of the resurrection he is to receive, 
 livery one who is Christ's belongs to the band thi 
 to be rai ' ,r . v :111, 1 admitted to immortal life in 
 
 his king ! that band is his own band ; that in 
 
 which his character and relations to Christ place him. 
 y one who is not Christ's, belongs to the band 
 whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of 
 
190 < I 
 
 and who are to i mpt. 
 
 in which hii characfc 
 I 'hrist place bim. i\ 
 
 Ibntion of them which is t<> taki 
 
 to their cha ml the i. 
 
 the i tion of n bich tl 
 
 tli.tt the unholy are to form s band l 
 it Is t h;tt the holy are, who it la expi 
 
 ! as ■ band by th< 
 coming. 
 
 Jt i> equally certain, also, from the 
 time, that the resnrraction of tin 
 different periods. The terms 
 
 - of timei - they ai I, of 
 
 times thai are in ■ series. The first, Christ : which, 
 as the event has shown, * - that next in order, 
 
 more than • 
 
 they that are Christ's at his com thai 
 
 — that i- still later 
 
 the Apocalypse Bhows, ofa vast rem: 
 the last band in the train. I 
 a time that iqnenl to thai den< I 
 
 when those who are Child 
 
 tee a time that is rahsequenl to Chris;' 
 snrrection. The 
 
 show that the resurrection of the holy dead is to I 
 place at a di from Christ's n 
 
 that distance ia defii ^tending to I 
 
 and the in like manner, 
 
 shuw that the reaun :' the last hand i 
 
OHBIST is to COME BEFORE THE KILLENNH m. 1 ( .)1 
 
 place ;it a later period than the resurrection of the 
 holy; and its period is defined aa that at which 
 Christ, having put down all his enemies, is to deliver 
 up to the Father the Bceptre of the universe which 
 
 he received at his exaltation, and commence his ever- 
 lasting reign, exclusively, over this world and race. 
 
 Ivra is used in this Bense, Mark i\\ 28 '. " For the earth 
 
 spontaneously brings forth fruit, first the blade j 
 
 then, thai LB, next, the car; bIto, afterwards the full 
 
 grain in the ear." It is used in a like manner, 1 Cor. 
 xii. 28, to denote ail analogous gradation in a series 
 of miraculous gifts. "And Qod has placed some in 
 the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly 
 teachers, feretro, next after, miracles, dra after them, 
 gifts of healing, helps, governments." They are used 
 in the same manner in this discussion respecting the 
 resurrection. " He was seen of Peter j dra, next after 
 by the twelve; fireiro, afterwards by more than five 
 hundred brethren at once ; i-eira, after that by James ; 
 eha, next after that by all the apostles ; eaxarov de n-ovrwv, 
 last of all by me." To deny, then, that these terms 
 ased to denote successive times, and that dra 
 (v. 24) denotes a later time than t-eira (v. 23), and 
 treat it as though it were Tin, then, and stood for the 
 same time as ferna, is to deny its clear and indubitable 
 meaning, and assign it one that is foreign to its usage. 
 It is to disregard, also, the structure of the sentence 
 of which dTUToriXoc is a continuation. Elra is not the 
 beginning of a new sentence and a new subject. Had 
 a new sentence begun after nn P ovaia J Christ's coming, 
 
102 
 
 onld li.t\ 
 
 1 anoth- 
 
 with Christ'f ming. 1 
 
 • iiiuatiM . ,1 in 
 
 f which 
 1 finally, 
 »nfirmed by the specification which foil 
 of the time to whi< hen 
 
 Christ Bhall deliver up to the Father the ' 
 which b< 
 
 cation also, of that I wheo he shall i. 
 
 j.ut down all his enemies, of which the last that ic 
 be pat d loath, which is to be after the period 
 
 denoted by the millenninm b 
 
 whil ' which his own j 
 
 D .n. vii. 13, 1 1 : Rev, \i. 15 : 
 
 time of the i 
 cilicallv defined as the 
 
 the rc>t of t : w h- ► art- not t" live till .. 
 
 thonsand y< . \.\. 
 
 1 5, 1 1 : !•: 
 
 the second hand is defined, as the time ( 
 It is cleai then beyond the possibilil 
 
 that tho-<' who arc to 1 
 
 into bands according to their character ami the nature 
 of the resurrection they 
 the resurrection 
 
CHRIST IS TO < <> ii: mii.i. i:\.\ir-.M. 193 
 
 sively at times that are to be separated from i 
 other by wide intervals. The resurrection of* 
 holy dead is to be at a distance of al Least Dear nine- 
 after Christ's resurrection. The 
 surrection of the unholy is not to take place till after 
 the period denoted by the thousand years of Chri 
 
 :i on the earth with his saints, and is to follow 
 Christ's coming, th. at the distance of three 
 
 hundred and sixty thous rs. 
 
 5. Hi- coming is to take place at the close of the 
 tribulation of the I that followed their con- 
 
 quee d by the Etonians. Thus Christ 
 
 rhey shall fall by the edge of the 
 sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; 
 and Jerusalem shall be trodden by the Gentiles, till 
 the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; and there shall 
 be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the 
 
 '8 : 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 1. shall be shaken. And then shall 
 
 they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with 
 power and great dory. And when these things be- 
 gin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your 
 head- ; for demption draweth nigh;' Luke 
 
 xxi. 'i of that people there- 
 
 fore C iming in 
 
 the clouds. This is foretold also'byPel - iii. 
 
 20, 21, wher< a when the tin* 
 
 9 
 
l'.il CB 
 
 h, he 
 shall 
 
 — whuMi the heavens must retain until th of the 
 
 all things which God hath spoken by the 
 
 month of his holy prophets. Bui the times of the 
 
 • full things which God has pron 
 
 • imefl of the restoration of the I to their 
 
 ancient land and t«> their relation t I 
 sen people. Chrisl is to return from I 
 the!' • that epoch, 
 
 the earth. 
 
 This is foretold also with equal explicit 
 xiv. 1 LB, where it is declared that when in the 
 of Jehovah he shall gather all nations agaii 
 Balem to battle ; the Lord .-hall go forth and ii;_ r ht 
 
 insi those nations, and hie 
 dav uj mi i themounl vi' < Hives, and the Lord 
 Bhall come and all thi withthi that then 
 
 I shall be king over all the earth ; and tfa 
 after there Bhall be no more utter destrucl 
 
 :u Bhall ly inhabited ; and " 
 
 are left of the nations that I .leiu 
 
 shall gO Up from Year U) year I i\ili.L r , 
 
 Jehovah of hosts, and to keep t 
 nacles." There is a like prediction ale . 1- iafa 
 2. Bui the restoration of the Israelis 
 
 • the time of tli- sion of ' 
 
 18 to be at the time when the fa] 
 
 1 i in, that the Redeem* 
 
 and turn aw 
 
CIIIMST IS TO COME BEFORE THE MILLENNIUM. L95 
 
 it is then that God Is to have mercy on all, both Gen- 
 tiles and .lews, who are previously to be Bhul up in 
 unbelief. The restoration of tin- Israelites is to take 
 place also at the time of the creation of the new hea- 
 vens and the new earth : for then God is to " create 
 Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy; and he 
 is to rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in her people, and 
 the voice of weeping is no more to be heard in her, 
 nor the voire of crying ;" hut they arc to be freed 
 from the curse, and crowned with unmixed blessed- 
 3 and peace, Isaiah l.w. 17—25, and the creation 
 of the new heavens and now earth i> to take place at 
 the time that " the tabernacle of God" descends from 
 heaven and ''is with men and lie dwells with them, 
 and they hecome Ins people, and God himself shall 
 be with them, their God." For that is the time when 
 he is to ■• make all things new," Rev. xxi. 1-5. It is 
 therefore at the commencement of the millennium. 
 For that is the time of the resurrection of the saints, 
 whom the new Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God, sym- 
 bolizes, who are to reign with him during- the mil- 
 lennium. Rev. x\. !-<>. and the time of their marri 
 as the bri le to the hind). Rev. xxi. '.) ; xix. 7-9, and 
 that is to take place Boon after the destruction of 
 
 ►abylon under the seventh trumpet and - 
 enth vial. Rev. xix. 1-6. 
 
 Such are the cl ific and uniform teach i: 3 
 
 of the Scriptures. The revelation they make is, be- 
 yond all room for debate, that the second coming of 
 Christ is to take place before the conversion of the 
 
LOG I HBIS1 1- 1 
 
 nations and his reign ofa thou ith the i 
 
 • Dumer w ith- 
 
 uut meaning that that i- their Kmpoi 
 
 also to impeach the wisdom and truth < Why 
 
 did 1m- emp] • numer - 
 
 >nfl and definitionfl oftb ( 
 
 id coming, if the time oi hu oomin that 
 
 which they denote ? Why i 
 
 1? Why are all the predictions of h at in 
 
 harmony with these? Among all 
 
 is m rly and frequentl; more in- 
 
 dnhitably certain than that Chri aing 
 
 take- place under the seventh tram] 
 I bis thou 
 
 of the world. 
 
Christ's reign on the eabth. 19' 
 
 CHA PTER XVI. 
 
 CHRIST 18 To ELXIGN IN" PERSON ON THE EARTH DURING THE 
 
 MIU.KXNir.M. 
 
 ]>ut Christ is not only to come at tlio commence- 
 merit of the miHenninm ; he is to reign here in per- 
 son during that period and for ever thereafter. 
 
 First, This is seen from the fact that the earth is 
 then to become his kingdom, Daniel vii. 13, 14, Rev. 
 xi. 15. It is then to become his kingdom, not simply 
 in contradistinction from its being the kingdom of 
 the beast and of Satan, but in distinction from all 
 other parts of the universe. It is to be distinc- 
 tively and peculiarly his kingdom as Christ, the 
 King of kings, and Lord of lords ; and it is the scene 
 therefore in which he is to reign in person. Be ie 
 surely to reign whore his kingdom is: not where it 
 is not. To maintain thai he is not to reign in person 
 here after his investiture with the dominion of the 
 earth, is equivalent to maintaining that it is not in 
 fact his kingdom in the highest Bense, his peculiar 
 dominion as tl. ih — but is only subject to 
 
 his legal and providential sway, like other worlds 
 
that . 
 
 , mpire.and u the n 
 
 : ■:,. The] 
 
 of the m 
 nth iron 
 
 m of this world (the earth 
 
 . To maintain that I 
 
 1: 
 
 . For whei 5° il1 
 
 dom 
 
 Chat he IB 
 
 from th< 
 
 f him by Isaiah: 
 
 urn ll l,e 
 
 boulder ; and hie klledi 
 
 Wonderful, C 
 
 : 
 apon the th apon hia kingdom, to 
 
 ■ tbliah it withjadgm 
 
 .it the annm 
 
DUBHTG THE MILLENNIUM. 1 '.»'.» 
 
 Be shall be great, and shall be called the Sou of the 
 Highest : and the Lord God shall give unto him the 
 throne of his father David, and he shall reign over / ; " 
 Jacob forever : and of his kingdom there 
 ahall ho no end," Luke i. :;i :;:;. Hut the house of 
 • a kingdom is the family of the descendants 
 of Jacob in this world : nol in gome other part of the 
 Universe. The denial that it is in this world thai 
 
 i- to reign over them, implies that they form a king- 
 don by themselves in some other orb. Where have 
 Anti-inilleiiarians any authority tor such a virtual re- 
 futation? And what do they gain by den; 
 that Christ's throne is to be in this world, where 
 kingdom is to be ; if in order to it, they are to imply 
 that he reigns in person over the descendants of da- 
 cob as a kingdom in some other part of his domin- 
 ions? The throne and kingdom of David also are in 
 this world. His subjects were the J- 3 ; and it 
 
 was over them that it was promised that his - 
 should reign for ever. " I took thee from the sheep- 
 . from following the sheep, to be ruler over my 
 ■I . . . and I will appoint a place for 
 my people Israel, and will plant them that they 1 
 
 U in a place of their own, and move no more : 
 neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them 
 any more. . . . And thine house and thy kingdom 
 shall be established for ever before thee; thy throne 
 shall be established for ever."' And to this David 
 answers : w Thon hast confirmed to thyself thy peo- 
 ple Israel, a people unto thee for ever, and thou Lord 
 
;:tm 
 
 I. 
 i that t! . ant, 
 
 and i bis hou lish it i 
 
 i tliMti h I let thy naj 
 
 : ] Lord of I 
 
 David 
 liahed before tl 
 
 thnfl i 
 1. and i: r them that his tin- 
 
 I leny 
 then b Christ » to i a in this 
 
 world, ifl eitl bat he i them 
 
 at all. or imply that they are to form a 1 
 
 dom by themselves in boi 
 
 them th< of which ia in di 
 
 . to the teaching! 
 bur i As I - . firmed hi ■ I -- 
 
 unto him, : 
 they are th< 
 
 distind p< ople, to deny thai th i I rid's 
 
 . and thai Christ ia to reign 
 offer a point blank denial t 
 ■ 
 They mu if the Israelites wh 
 
 tinne a people in this world 
 tinne i of D rid, 
 
 . if D \ i l'a 
 his tin- 
 . Ther 
 
DUBING TOE MIU.KWirM. 201 
 
 tnitli they bo clearly proclaim, that Christ is for ei er 
 to reign here in person on the throne of David over 
 the people of Israel. 
 
 Thirdly. His throne is to be on Mount Zion. The 
 Lord proclaims in answer to the rage of the nations 
 who take counsel against his anointed — "Yet have I 
 set my King apon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare 
 the decree: Thon art my Son: this day have I be- 
 
 ten thee. Ask of me, and I Bhall give the heathen 
 for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
 
 th for a ] in. Thou shalt break them with 
 
 a rod of iron ; thou shalt dash them like apoti 
 
 I. Be wise now therefore ye Kings; be in- 
 structed ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with 
 fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest 
 1: • be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his 
 wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they 
 that put their trust in him. 7 ' Ps. ii. 6-11. Can any 
 tiling be clearer, than that the hill of Zion on which 
 the King is to be enthroned, is the literal Zion of Je- 
 rusalem, and that the reign here depicted is to be in 
 this world and over human beings? It is predi* 
 
 by Micah that on the restoration of the Israelites 
 the Lord Bhall reign over them in Mount Zion to eter- 
 nity. " In that day" — when all nations are to be con- 
 verted, and to beat their swords into ploughshares 
 and their spears into pruning hooks and learn war no 
 more — " saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halt- 
 eth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her 
 
 that I have afilieted ; and I will make her that halted 
 
 9* 
 
202 
 
 ml her thai n* 
 
 tioo : and the Lord shall I rant 
 
 Zion from thii time to i ■■■ chap. iv. 6, 7. 
 
 Lord □ then over the Israelii 
 
 from the time of their restoration to eternity. 
 
 I • be Lord n bo is to reign ov< r th< 
 
 to reign there in person in bis complex natun 
 
 man : other* ise he will not n m in 
 
 Zion. [f he wei 
 
 but only by laws, infra and provide 
 
 would no more reign over them on Mount Zion, than 
 he would in any other place where he made known 
 In- laws to men, breathed the influences of his Spirit 
 on them, and exerted over them a providenc , 
 prediction that he ifl to reign in Zion, in contr 
 tinction from other places, is a nullity, ui 
 a there in person. 
 
 I lurthly. Be 
 
 n : and they are to i ■■ the earth. " Bl< 
 
 and holy is he that ha- part in the first ti 
 
 on Buch the second death has no power; but they 
 shall be prie Gk>d and of Christ, and Bhall n 
 
 with him the thousand years/ 1 B But they 
 
 are to reign on the earth ; The Living creatures and 
 elders sang, '•Thou art worthy to lake the book and 
 to open the Beals bl : for thou wast slain, and 
 
 bast redeemed us unto ( ; o<l 1 »y thy blood out 
 
 kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation : and 
 hast made US unto OUT Gfod kinj> and pri I we 
 
 shall ," Ete\ . v. 9, 10. And it is 
 
DURING THE MILLENNIUM. 
 
 shown. Daniel vii. L3, 14, I s . 22, 27, thai when on the 
 destruction of the powers denoted by the fourth beast, 
 
 Christ is to receive the dominion of the earth, thai all 
 people, nations, and tongues may Berve him, ''the 
 
 saints of the Most High also shall take the kingdom 
 
 and possess the kingdom to eternity, and to eternity 
 of eternities/' and that " the kingdom and dominion, 
 and the greatness of the kingdom/- which " shall be 
 given" to them, is "the kingdom under the whole 
 heaven;" that is the whole circuit of the earth which 
 lies beneath the atmosphere. As then the saints are 
 indisputably to reign on the earth, and nowhere el 
 as far as we are taught, and SB be is to reign with 
 them ; — he is as indisputably to reign on the earth ; 
 and in person ; as otherwise he will no more r< 
 with them, than the Father will, or the Holy Spirit. 
 But that is in contradiction to the revelation. IV 
 vii. 13, 14 ; Ps. ii. 6 ; Rev. xi. 15 : xix. 16, and others, 
 which exhibit Christ as constituted the King of the 
 earth by the Father, and as reigning over it as his 
 peculiar kingdom. 
 
 Fifthly. And finally he is exhibited in the Apoca- 
 lypse as reigning over the earth in person after his 
 :.d coming, raising the holy dead, and establish- 
 ing his kingdom on the earth. Tims we are told that 
 on the descent of the New Jerusalem, the symbol of 
 the risen saints. " the throne of God and of the Land) 
 shall be in it. and his Bervanta shall serve him, And 
 tltcij shall see his /"" . ami his name shall be in their 
 foreheads : And there shall be no night there ; and 
 
RTH 
 
 the 
 mall 
 
 be ami 
 
 face is 1 
 
 all ,l i en the earth, 
 
 .me in the cloud 
 the thou rs,and it I 
 
 li.istln; 
 with a directness, a tnl tainty with 
 
 which few other measures of his admini 
 
 1 cannot 1- I, without a pal] 
 
 Important predi< virtual butt 
 
 wordof I a arbitrary construction thai 
 
 its indisputable teachings, and substitul 
 theory In its pla 
 
 that if applied to human writings thai 
 the rights and well I ' • would 
 
 I mable. 
 But why. it will perha] ' lllls 
 
 mii the earth, did h< kablish hie tl 
 
 here immediately af ' : - at fl 
 
 he deparl from the earth to b 
 through bo man;. administration over mankind 
 
 Like the 
 
 l. He ascended to hei down at tl 
 
 hand of the majesty on high, and assumed tb 
 . thai all ord( 
 
 b the 
 
DUMNG THE MILLENNIUM. 
 
 rnal Word in anion with man. and of the nature of 
 his work as Redeemer ; and might acknowledge, wor- 
 ship, and glorify him in that union and Btation, and 
 that tin- wisdom, righteousness, and grace displayed 
 in tin' Balvation of the guilty might thereby be made 
 the means of blessing to all his holy children through- 
 out his illimitable realms. This end, as we have seen, 
 i- of infinite significance; and it has been accom- 
 plished, doubtless, far more effectually, than it would 
 had he reigned since his resurrection on the earth. 
 
 he has not only horn beheld by the angelic orders 
 in his exaltation to the throne of the universe, the 
 
 of his administration wit I and a knowle 
 
 of his sway doubtless communicated by them to ;i ll 
 other ranks of intelligent beings ; but not improbably 
 lie has revealed himself in his incarnate nature to all 
 the holy inhabitants of his empire, whatever their na- 
 ture may be. and received their direct homage 
 God-man. their creator, upholder, and ruler, and the 
 Saviour of mankind. Many of them may have beheld 
 him. knelt in adoration in his presence, and rccei 
 the smile of his love, many times. As he reigns in 
 visible glory in the presence of the angels and the 
 spirits of just men made perfect, why should it not be 
 
 med likely that he reveals himself also in his hu- 
 man nature, to the inhabitants of other worlds, re- 
 ceives their homage, and them with the tokens 
 of his favor? The instruction of his boundless king- 
 dom by these and other means in the wonders of his 
 incarnation and death, and the aims of his everlasting 
 
I 1!!: 
 
 nd momentous work, ind 
 period through which be continui - 
 in heaven. 
 2. Sil withdrawal from the eartb 
 • 
 men like the present, in which they should 1 
 
 and lefl • >ut theii 
 
 ward him with little restraint. Had he ; 
 in the dazzling Bplendors in which i 1 in 
 
 heaven, how could men have doubted his 
 deity? How conld they have question right 
 
 ami power to reign over them? How eould they 
 have rejected his salvation, and attempted to buI 
 tute another in its place? How could they hav< 
 dertaken to usurp his throne, constitute th< 
 Baviours, and lead men to look to them for 
 tion? How could they have paid their homag< 
 i«l« 'U. and demons, and reptiles? 1 1 ^v conld they 
 have forgotten him, I him, and turned to the 
 
 I pleasures of this world for happin 
 Bow could they have made war on one another ii 
 
 d wreaked their ferocion • 
 turing and slaughtering one another ? The restraints 
 under which they would have been placed, the 
 of truth that would have been poured on them, would 
 have rendered it impossible. It was an 
 dition to their being lefl to ad out their la-arts in all 
 the forma of evil they now do, that they should 
 
 apted from the overpowering realu with 
 
 which hu old impress them; — 
 
DUBING l HE MILLENNIUM. 207 
 
 thai they Bhould be placed in a Bphere like the pre- 
 sent, in which he is to be Been only by the eye of 
 faith and through bia works and word. As then the 
 exhibition which La now taking place of the heart of 
 
 man, is, as we have shown, an essential preliminary 
 to the redemptive dispensation that is hereafter to 
 be instituted, and continued forever ; so Christ's reign 
 in heaven during the present economy was doubtless 
 
 necessary in order to that trial and exhibition of the 
 human heart ; and therefore to the gracious dispen- 
 sation that is to follow through everlasting years. 
 
 3. It was necessary that Christ should reigU in hea- 
 ven during the present economy, that Satan might 
 continue his kingdom here, and exert the vast agency 
 he has in tempting mankind, and Leading them to the 
 various forms of sin to which lie lias prompted them. 
 It is inconsistent with the dignity and majesty of 
 Christ that Satan should carry on his war against him 
 in his immediate presence ; deny his being, impeach 
 his character, resist his rights, misrepresent his work, 
 and assail and pervert the doctrines of his word to 
 his face, as it were, and tempt and betray and destroy 
 hi> subjects amidst the unveiled glories of his deity 
 and throne. Jt is incompatible with his sanctitude, 
 and would involve his holy subjects in perplexity and 
 horror, and overthrow his authority. Even men when 
 they have directly affronted him in the seene where 
 he revealed himself, have been instantly stricken with 
 his avenging power, as Xadab and Abihu and Korali 
 and his company. 
 
(Ill: 
 I.. will 
 
 1. and he w ill come and 
 the earth ai hi - special kingdom 
 of kii i Lords : and it will then 
 
 -niti.il thai he Bhould reign here in person and visible 
 ii now is thai he should reign in person in 
 en ; his visible | will donl 
 
 inch to the instruction and imj mankind, 
 
 as the visibl tion of himself i i the 
 
 instruction and impression of the inhabitants of other 
 worlds : and the supposition thai h< 
 
 lly and \ isibly, i 
 nature his glory, and th tion, 
 
 as the supposition is that his reign in li - not 
 
 visible : bul thai he Bhrouds himself from th< 
 his holy creatures, and allows them to know him only 
 through his works and his word. 
 
 We Bee in his purp pi in p< r 
 
 on the earth and enter on the redemptive disp< 
 tion he has foreshown, the reason thai the 
 and early believers Looked with so much desii 
 the hour of his second coming. Ji is 1 only 
 
 the epoch of their complete redemption ; bu1 of the 
 mption of the world. It is to 1"' an era of inti 
 aificance to the whole uni 
 
 id man arc then to : 
 
 ted in their career of war on him and his kingdom 
 and consigned to judgment. Death, Buffering, Borrow 
 and sin, are to be brought to a pause i irth 
 
 and mankind rescued from their thraldom : Christ 
 
DURING 'i in: Mii.!.::\\ir.u. 
 
 is to display the grandeur of bis omnipotence, his 
 wisdom, and his love in the redemption of men from 
 the debasement and curse of sin, and transformation 
 into righteousness and love. The earth is to become 
 a vasi paradise of holy and rejoicing beings, and be 
 Glled with the glory and praise of God. Who can 
 look with indifference on such a spectacle ? Who 
 can withhold himself from the wish of the apostle to 
 whom the Bcene was revealed in vision, '"Come Lord 
 as, come quickly ?" 
 
'Jin cm 
 
 CII A PT E B X VII. 
 
 nsi i- at his conn 
 
 Tin: Scriptures indicate th and momenl 
 
 changes are t.» take place in I ttion 
 
 over the world, ;it the commencement of Christ's mil- 
 lennia! reign, when all \ ■• 
 are to become obedient to his sceptre. T 
 where represent, in s Bpecifi 
 thai the days thai are immediately that 
 
 »n, during which Satan, the prince of the power 
 of tl lominatii 
 
 the . - : J » and : < 
 
 anity prevail ; the evil continue mixed with tl 
 like tares with wheal : and the malign pi 
 
 ions of the * at their 
 
 r and fruits, and s] men are in reality in 
 
 that alienation from ' 
 
 ich Christ's int. 
 round of mptive 
 
 former 
 
TO INTRODUCE A XKW DttPENSATl 211 
 
 and all things arc to be made new ; and specify 
 among the former things thai are thus to pass — the 
 reign of the apostate and persecuting powers of 
 
 Christendom, the systems of idolatry and other I 
 worships, the tempi ing agency and presence of Satan, 
 ignorance, and delusion j and they indicate also a 
 number of the new*things that are then to take place 
 — Buch as the personal coming and reign of Christ in 
 glory, the resurrection of the holy dead and reign 
 with him, the restoration of Israel, the communication 
 to all nations and individuals of the knowledge of 
 Christ, their universal conversion, and the discon- 
 tinuance (»f wars, violenc ivils of every form — 
 which show that the administration that is then to be 
 instituted, will differ very widely from the present, 
 and may be justly denominated a new dispensation. 
 
 What, however, is meant by its being a new dis- 
 pensation ? Not, as disbelievers in Christ's reign 
 sometimes represent, that a new method of redemp- 
 tion is then to be instituted, or a new method of de- 
 livering men from sin. No statement could be more 
 taken. The object of the new administration is 
 not to supersede the work of Christ by some other 
 method of atonement or justification, but to apply 
 bis redemption on a vastly greater scale ; to extend 
 its < - to the whole population of the globe, 
 
 efficacy to the means of exempting 
 men from temptation ; enlightening, convincing, and 
 renewing them : transforming them to wisdom and 
 righteousness ; and elevating them in every excel- 
 
212 
 
 v. h;it the 
 church 1 with the 
 
 I individual! 
 
 . 
 them b) 
 
 Ifil will thru 1 
 
 . iii ■ 
 
 far high< 
 
 dtherto been ; the Spirit will still be I 
 
 and far i 
 
 ioii.-ly ; I with l'ar n. 
 
 displays of hi 
 
 el will still 
 a truths the great instrument, in the in- 
 fluences of the Spir >nvincing, eiiliglitei 
 
 and purifying the 1 ad kindling it with 
 
 holy which ai 
 
 it will I 
 
 tioo whi 
 then to enjoy from I 
 and of cruel and wicked met 
 
 the presence of Christ : in- 
 
 . and the immeasnral 
 i of t 
 and sanctifying Spirit, by which those m 
 illumination and t: 
 it will 1 
 rally tion than cither tl 
 
 Chrie which i 
 
TO [N1»0DUCE a m:w DISPENSATION. 218 
 
 portent ; its influences will be far more extensive. 
 The Mosaic dispensation was confined in its design 
 and effect almost exclusively to the Bebrews. The 
 Christian has, in fact, been confined almost absolute- 
 ly to the nations living within the limits of the 
 ancient Roman empire, and those that have inter- 
 mixed with or sprung from them. On the vast 
 population of Central and Southern Africa, of East- 
 ern and Northern Asia, of the islands of the Indian 
 and Pacific oceans, and the numerous aboriginal tribes 
 of this continent, BCarce a r;iy of its light lias ever 
 fallen. The new dispensation is to pour its effulgence 
 on every part of the globe ; is to exert its life-giving 
 power in every human breast. 
 
 That the most important changes are to be intro- 
 duced in the administration of the world, at the time 
 when it is thus to become the scene of Christ's king- 
 dom, in contradistinction from the kingdom of Satan 
 and of apostate and hostile men, is taught in a great 
 number of passages. Thus it is shown in the follow- 
 ing vision o[' Daniel, that at the time that the nations 
 of the earth are to become the subjects of Chi ' 
 
 . he is to come in the clouds oi' heaven, and be 
 
 invested with the 'dominion of the world ; the p"\. 
 
 denoted by the bea>t of ten horns are to be arraigned 
 and ed : and the saints of the Most High, 
 
 whom the little horn had prevailed against and worn 
 out by persecution and martyrdom, are to take the 
 kingdom, and reign with him for ever and ever. 
 "And I continued looking until the thrones were 
 
21 1 
 
 placed, 
 
 hair of i like the 
 
 pun- wunl ; : be fiery flam< 
 
 burning fit e. a ii< 
 
 him, thousand thou 1 to 
 
 iiim. ami ten thousand tiraefl ten thou 
 : the judgmenl 
 
 i tinned Looking then be< I the 
 
 - u huh the horn spa] 
 ing until the i his body d< 
 
 and it was committed to the burning fiai 
 
 " J continued to look in the visions of the night, and 
 behold one like the Son of Man came with th 
 of heaven, and he advan he Anci 
 
 and they brought him near before him. And th 
 
 • n him dominion ai and a kingdom, 
 
 that all people, and nationa, and t 
 
 him : \n- dominion i- an everlasting dominion, which 
 
 .i one that Bhall 
 
 "• And I 
 
 and asked him the truth (the true import) of all 1 
 bo he told nir. and made me know the interprets! 
 of the things. ' ; which i 
 
 : >ur kings (dynafl hich arise in the earth. 
 
 Jim the saint- of the Most High shall take the b 
 the kingdom l- 
 
 "Then •. raid I know the truth (the meaning 
 the fourth beast, which was di from all the 
 
TO [NTBODUOB A XKW DISPENSATION. 215 
 
 others, exceedingly dreadful^ and of the ten horns 
 that were in his head, and of the other which came 
 up and before which three feH; even of thai horn 
 
 that had eyes, and a month that spake very v/iv.it 
 things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. 
 1 continued Looking, and the same horn made war 
 with the saints and prevailed against them, until the 
 Ancient of days came, and jndgment was given to the 
 s.iints of the Most High, ami tin- time came that the 
 —•••I the kingdom. Thus he said : The 
 fourth beast snail he the fourth kingdom upon the 
 earth, which shall he diverse from all kingdoms, and 
 shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, 
 and break it in pieces. And as to the ten horns out 
 of this kingdom, ten kings >hall arise, and another 
 shall rise after them ; and he shall be diverse from 
 those that preceded, and three kings shall he subdue, 
 and he shall speak Avords against the Most High, and 
 «hall wear out the saints of the Most High, and 
 think to change times and laws, and they shall be 
 given into his hand for a time, and times, and the 
 dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and 
 they shall take away his dominion to consume and 
 destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and do- 
 minion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the 
 whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the 
 saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an ever- 
 lasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and 
 obey him." — Chap. vii. D--2T. 
 
 Here the great events that are symbolized, are re- 
 
211 CM :iN,; 
 
 period when all 
 
 I ,i rule and im, is tl 
 
 of t!, o of the • 
 
 tnent and destruction of the civil bj 
 tica] powera symbolized by the wild 
 
 the 
 
 with the dominion of the world, that all il 
 
 nations ahonld serve him. It u like 
 
 same epoch aa the reception of I 
 
 paints of the Moat High, \ h i an ; ; . d t rwi 
 
 . The inatituti 
 rule on which Chri bitiire 
 
 with the dominion of the earth, b 
 
 • anterior to the deatrnction of th 
 by the wild for the • 
 
 horn, which made war with tl. 
 against them until the Ancient 
 judgment, thai is, judicial authority, 
 Bainti of the II ad the time arri 
 
 they an : ■>• r; ' ' - :i (,f 
 
 Christ and the reign i i* the beast are d 
 : bul the 
 
 . l like m uu 
 
 role ifl nut to precede his coming in the 
 clouda of heaven and investiture with the domii 
 
 ., ,il.l. Why should he be inv< ai< d with the 
 
 
TO [NTBODUCB a NEW DISPENSATION. -1 t 
 
 sceptre of the earth ages after* it has been his king 
 dom and yielded to his sway ? Bui he is to receive 
 the earth as his kingdom and be invested with au- 
 thority over it as the Son of Man, in order that all 
 pie, nations, and tong y serve him. Their 
 
 to be the consequence and work of his 
 sway : not his dominion and sway the consequence 
 of t heir conversion and obedience. 
 
 Sere is then a clear and indubitable revelation that, 
 at the time that all nations are to become Bubject to 
 Christ, he La to institute a kingdom on the earth that 
 is to be unlike any that previously existed, and enter 
 on an administration that, in form and efficiency, will 
 differ very e isentially from any that preceded it. It 
 will be ushered in by the destruction of the powers 
 denoted by the wild beast, and by his coming in the 
 clouds of heaven, receiving the earth as his kingdom, 
 and causing all its people and nations to submit to his 
 >tre : and it will be marked by his personal reign 
 over them, by the reign with him of the saints of the 
 I Eigh who had been persecuted and slain during 
 the power i^i' the ; by the ion and obe- 
 
 dience to him oi' all nations and tor. :,d by a 
 
 continuance for ever ; and these and other greal mea- 
 realed in other prophecies, which are to be 
 adopted at the same period, are emphatically to con- 
 stitute his adminie a new and peculiar one. 
 
 It is to be new and peculiar, because Christ is to 
 reign over the nations in person. As the earth is 
 then to be hi.- kingdom, he is t<> be its King, in place 
 
 10 
 
<>f the usur] 
 
 Byml •• four n il«l I be \& to r< 
 
 of the uiii\ erse beyond tfa \ 
 
 should be be constituted the kin. 
 exhibited as entering w and eternal reign 
 
 it. if he is then to 1"' no d in,L r than he 
 
 before, and reign over it in i ent form? If he 
 
 \E DOl then in tart on the earth any more than he now 
 not reign over it in person and vie 
 
 any more than he now do68, how will he any inn: 
 
 its ting, to the exclusion of all others, than he 
 [f earthly monarchs are then to n r the nal 
 
 and as absolutely aa they do now, though more * it 
 why will th«- . earth, in contra- 
 
 distinction from Christ, enthroned in a different and 
 nt world, as much monarch 
 
 the earth ar 
 
 will be i in w and peculiar administration, he- 
 will then be no conspiring and M 
 monarchs, not only in the ten kit ruled by the 
 
 st, but, as v e Learn from other prophecies, in no 
 part of the world, Isaiah ii. 1 l v . who will employ 
 themselves in mating war on their fellow ogh- 
 
 tering them, crushing them with oppression, and 
 ticing or forcing them I 
 pay their homage to idols and false deitii 3. The uni- 
 
 i .\ abolition of other worships : .~ 
 in the subjection of all nati < rist T 
 
 religions thai have prevailed in the world for four 
 
TO INTRODUCE A Ni:w DISPENSATION. 219 
 
 thousand years, have been mainlj instituted, sustained, 
 and propagated by the arbitrary and cruel rulers of 
 the nations. Their priests have been the instruments 
 of those monarchs, and their bloody and profli . 
 rites the means of augmenting their power, and i 
 bag the people in submission to their will. The idol- 
 atries of Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Borne, w 
 all instituted and fostered by the governments, and 
 1 to them their authority and perpetuation from 
 _ . What a stupendous change in the con- 
 dition of the race will the extinction of all those false 
 religions form ; and their extinction by the pers 
 presence of the Son of Man in th - of his deity, 
 
 as the Creator and the Redeemer of men, and the 
 only proper object of their homage! How infinite 
 the influences that are to spring from it ! 
 
 It will be a new and peculiar administration, be- 
 cause i lie saints of the Most High are to take the 
 kingdom along with Christ, and reign with him for 
 ever and ever. The saints who are thus to receive 
 judicial authority and to possess the kingdom, are 
 not saints in the natural life, hut those who are at 
 Chi! oing to be raised from the dear! and ex- 
 
 alted to thrones, and reign with him, as is foreshown 
 in t ! of the first resurrection. Rev. xx. 4-6. 
 
 This i- Been from the consideration, that they are the 
 identical saints on whom the eleventh horn of the 
 beast made war, prevailed over, and wore out byper- 
 ition and slaughter during the long period of its 
 reign symbolized by a time, times, and the dividing 
 
That. 
 
 the} 
 
 from t! ' ion thai all the nations, that 
 
 I] in the natural I ■ 
 
 inta in the natural . LI iii thi 
 
 v.niiM be no subji 
 w bom they could reign. T be the i 
 
 and glorified foreshoi 
 
 .w. 1 6, who are then to be invi 
 thority, and given to reign with Christ. that 
 
 will be a measure that has no parallel in the ■ 
 administration of the w< 1 will be fraught un- 
 
 doubtedly with immense ami propitious infl 
 
 It will 1m- a Dew and peculiar administration, be- 
 cause all people, s, and tongues will be obedi- 
 ent to Christ, 'lie oly will not be any tj 
 nicaJ ami bloody monarchs, any ap< 
 cuting church, nor any false religions; but there will 
 m>t be any Irreligious and demorali 
 any deceitful ami deluding teachers, nor any wi 
 families nor individuals. All people, nations, and 
 .tic to bi rve the Son of Man, and all domin- 
 under the whole heaven be obedient to his - 
 tre. What a stupendous change I Everyfah 
 
 ht from existence] Every Belfish ami ferocious 
 passion hushed in eternal Bilencel Every b 
 I by rectitude, w i - 
 
 i ho intelligence, purity, virt 
 1 others, and findin 
 I ml his kii .:•; -m ! 
 
TO INTRODUCE A NEW DISPENSATION. 221 
 
 These are the plain and indubitable teachir 
 the vision. The constractioB we have put on it, in- 
 deed, is in a -rcii measure given by the Spirit of in- 
 spiration himself] it is in accordance with the laws 
 of the Bymbols, and of the language in which it is ex- 
 plained and unfolded ; and its teachings interpreted 
 in this manner are confirmed by many other passages 
 in the Scriptures which predict the same great events, 
 at the Bame epoch. Thus it is foretold by Christ that 
 men are to continue in blindness, unbelief, and devo- 
 tion to worldly pleasures and sin, down to the time of 
 his coming in the clouds of heaven. " And as were 
 the day- . N . - i : . shall the coming of the Son 
 of Man be ; for as in tho days that were before the 
 flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and 
 giving in marriage, until the day that Xoe entered 
 into the ark, and knew not till tho flood came and 
 took them all away ; so shall also the coming of the 
 Son of Man be." (Matt. xxiv. 37-40.) " Likewise also 
 as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, 
 they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded : 
 but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it 
 rained lire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed 
 them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the 
 
 <>f Man is revealed." Luke xvii. 28-30. So I 
 it is shown in the parable of the wheat and t, 
 that the children of the wicked one are to continue 
 intermixed with the children of the kingdom till the 
 end of the age, when he is to come and establish his 
 throne on the earth. Both are to grow together 
 
an til 
 
 ': . 1 forth his 
 
 gather all those who tempi to Bin, and all that do 
 iniquit j . and cast them in* 
 
 that in 
 
 the latter times of the I dispen 
 
 shall be an apostasy from th< irits 
 
 and the doct i i ami in the ! - >till 
 
 more perilous times shall come, when men, m 
 
 of piety, hut denyi r, shall - 
 
 the monstrou maintaining that ongodli 
 
 itself is virtue ; the vilest and mosl atroci 
 and principles, and the mosl base and impious ; 
 
 and highest form, 
 .Imii of reason and of Christianity : and will ad- 
 dict themselves t<> the mosl lawless indulgence of 
 their brutal appetites and fiendish pride and 
 lignity. 1 Tim. iv. U3 ; 2 Tim. iii. ! 7. At 
 
 time, also, BCoff 
 
 prediction that Chi i . jtroy his 
 
 enemies, and mock at the faith - pie in it. 
 
 |- is foreshown, also, thai Christ i- to descend I 
 heaven in infinite glory and pomp with all his an 
 at the 1 the wild 
 
 prophet and their hi ist him, and i- l 
 
 them : and immediately after, enter on his millennial 
 :i. and bring all natioi 3 I 
 
 - will. Rev, xix. 11 21 j w. 1 6 : 2 T 
 
 l. 6 -1". And.linall; Id that theholy 
 
 then t- a with him, B 
 
TO tNTEODUCE a Xi:\v DI8PENS LTION. 228 
 
 1-6; 1 Cor. xv. 23 57 j 1 Thess. iv. 1 1 17. and that 
 h.' Is to <h\cll with men and manifest his presi 
 and glory to thnn. Rev. xxi. 1 ( ,t ; xxii. 1 5. We 
 :t cite a great number of other passages in which 
 
 it la foreshown that these events arc to take place at 
 the Bame epoch. Jt is the representation everywhere 
 given of thrin ; it is the voice of the whole prophetic 
 Scriptures respecting them. 
 
 Not only arc these the plain teachings of the vi- 
 sion, but no other construction can be put on it, 
 without involving the prophecy in the grossest con- 
 tradictions. Thus, it cannot be maintained that the 
 a of the saints i- t<> precede the coming and reign 
 of the Son of Man, without such a contradiction ; as 
 it i< expressly declared that the blaspheming and 
 persecuting horn " made war with the saints ami pre- 
 vailed against them until the Ancient of days came, 
 and judicial authority was given to the saints of the 
 Most High, and the time came that the saints pos- 
 1 the kingdom," v. 21, 'I'l. And it is at that 
 ion of the Ancient of days, and gift of judicial 
 power to the saints, that the Son of Man is to come 
 in the clouds of heaven, and receive the dominion of 
 the earth, that all people and nations may Berve him ; 
 ami that reception of the earth as his kingdom, and 
 the glory of dominion over it as his empire, is to bo 
 his absolute and final reception of it as such : not a 
 merely preliminary and lower investiture with au- 
 thority over it : for it is added, that the dominion 
 With which he is then to be invested is an everlasting 
 
that which Bhall 
 kin.. 
 
 . 
 fthe 
 
 • till tl. '. 
 
 and the 
 and 
 
 r, that ; • lod in which CI 
 
 iome its king in a different I 
 
 it a different domini 
 notion be more expn d of 
 
 the aainta La to \ the judgment bj 
 
 of days, and tin- i that 
 
 his personal reign i- i their 
 
 of the .-.tin!- [a oontemporaneona with th< 
 of tl. bout a Lik 
 
 time when 1 1 
 in. is thi 
 the Ancient of daj b, when tl 
 ed ami d ad until thai the pen 
 
 power i- t" n. c en them, vail 
 
 bat thai power i - 
 
 Buprem the times and law8, until 
 
 judgmeni Bhall -i: which 
 and i 
 
 I- i • t Christ 1 
 
[NTB0D1 I 
 
 g with that of the beasl ; for on the 
 one hand, th ie to be supreme, hold the t i 
 
 and laws in its power, and make war on the saints 
 and prevail againsl them, down to the time when it. 
 is to be arraigned at the tribunal of the Ancient of 
 days and destroyed; and on the other, it is not till 
 
 that s.'<>i«>n of the Ancient of days and dot ruction 
 of the beast, thai the Son of Man is to receive the do- 
 minion of the earth, and bring the nations into obedi- 
 to his sceptre. The reign of the saints, more- 
 over. Is to commence with the reign of Christ, and 
 contemporize with his. But their reign is not to 
 commence till the judgment and destruction of the 
 wild beast. Hi- reign accordingly is not to comm< 
 until that epoch. 
 
 It cannot he maintained that the reign of Christ 
 over the world, after his coming in the clouds of hea- 
 ven and assumption of its dominion, is not to differ 
 from that which he now exercises ; for that would 
 imply either that he is not in reality to receive any 
 authority, glory, or kingdom, at his coming in the 
 clouds, or else that he is not to exercise any of the 
 power and dominion which he is then to rece' 
 
 I of which is contradictions to the prediction, and 
 treal ^ether unmeaning and deceptive. To 
 
 rt that he is not then to be invested with the do- 
 minion of the earth, and he constituted its king in a 
 that he had not before been, is to contradict 
 the prediction, for it is expr id that there 
 
 given him. as he stood before the Ancient of days, 
 
 10* 
 

 
 dominion and thai all 
 
 nations, and I and thai the 
 
 dominion with which he was then invested, u 
 
 1 bifl kingdom one that >hall not 
 1 by all domini 
 AVill any one in the | 
 
 tion, and this r< -\ Kplanation «»l" its imp 
 
 to maintain that they arc an onmeaning j 
 
 : thai th ii<>n 
 
 that the Boe of Man la at bifl coming 
 with a dominioD of the earth he Q< 
 
 • become it- king, in a relation and a 
 glory he will nol have been? Can amor 
 
 -•rant contradiction to the prop]. 
 more direct impeachment of the truth of tl 
 Were it a m ramptuoiu 
 
 ult od the prophi that tin 
 
 of the Ancient of days, the judgment and destruction 
 of the beast, the coming <>f the Son of Man in the 
 clonds, the reign of I 
 
 the n iti ( hich 
 
 they rep OF imply that any l. 
 
 any kind are to enter into the divine administration, 
 or new and extraordinary ocenrr 
 under it ? That Christ is to be invested with a new 
 
 and peculiar dominion over the earth at bifl 
 
 must then be admit 1 thence it must b 
 
 mitted that the new dominion with which li- 
 on which he is ' 
 ja ti. reona] king, * bo 
 
TO INTRODUCE a .v:\v DISPENSATION. 227 
 
 tablish bis throne here, and appear visibly to men ; 
 inasmuch as to Buppose it otherwise, is either to Bup- 
 thal he had no dominion whatever over men be- 
 fore : or else thai he had Identically the same in kind 
 as he is theD to receive ; each of which is to contra- 
 dict the prophecy, and the teachings of every other 
 part of the Bible respecting his millennial and ever- 
 lasting reign. For if lie is not, in virtue of the do- 
 minion lie is at that epoch to receive, to reign in per- 
 son over the earth, then the power he is to receive is 
 simply a power to reign over men invisibly on his 
 throne in heaven, as he now does, and as he perhaps 
 reigns over other distant realms of his empire. But if 
 his reign is to be simply an invisible one, by laws, 
 providences, and the influences of his Spirit, then the 
 gift of that power to him at his coming in the clouds 
 implies that he had no such power before. For if he 
 has it now, why is it to be given to him then? But 
 to suppose that he has not that power now, is to con- 
 tradict the clearest teachings of the sacred Avord. He 
 himself declared after his resurrection that all power 
 in heaven and earth was given to him ; and the apos- 
 tle avers, that on his ascension the Father "set him 
 at his own right hand, far above all principality and 
 power, and might and dominion, and every name that 
 is Darned, nut only in this world, but also in that which 
 Is to come, and hath put all under his feet." On the 
 other hand, to admit that he has that power now, and 
 yet to maintain that he is not to be invested with any 
 higher authority or kingship at his coming, is to 
 
I DVTE0D1 
 maintain thai no then t«> 
 
 ing ami deceptive pageant 
 
 ( 
 
 and commencemenl of his kingly 
 
 of the Bainte on the earth, than that of the judgment 
 
 and destruction of the powers denoted by the wild 
 
 • : r exhibit his rei d in per- 
 
 mere reign by laws, influi 1 provi- 
 
 Le the plain b 
 
 phecy, and involve it in the gr If-contradic- 
 
 tion. This great vision thus mak< rtain that the 
 
 rersion of the nations is to follow the coming 
 Christ in the clouds and establishment of his thr 
 on j^he earth — not to precede it \ ami that his coming 
 and the commenoemenl of his reign here, and 
 
 the Baints with him, I the 
 
 jndgmenl and destruction of th 
 bv the wild 
 
 
T BE D A IE F T 1 1 1 •: NEW DISPE N S ATION . 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 HE is TO in si : rrn: this NEW DISPENSATION and enter on his 
 
 REIGN HERE AT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOURTH EMPIRE UNDER 
 Till: SEVENTH TRUMPET. 
 
 The contemporaneousness of Christ's coming, and 
 the commencement of his reign here and the reign 
 of the saints, with the judgment of the powers sym- 
 bolized by the wild beast, is revealed also in the 
 vision of the Apocalypse under the seventh trumpet. 
 
 " And the seventh angel sounded, and there were 
 great voices in heaven, saving, The kingdom of this 
 world has become our Lord's and his Christ's, and 
 he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four-and- 
 twenty elders, who sat before God on their thrones, 
 fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, We 
 thank thee, Lord God, the Almighty, who is, and 
 who was, that thou hast taken thy great power and 
 reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath 
 is come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and 
 to give the reward to thy servants the prophets, and 
 to the saints, and to those who fear thy name, small 
 
and and t<» destroy those who the 
 
 eartl .. ri. 15 L8. 
 
 1 1 investiture i I Ith the kingdom 
 
 irld, and the comm< 
 of hi> ever! r ii as the M< ssiah, i 
 
 1 as taking place nnder I oth trumpet, 
 
 when the Last plag the wild prophet, 
 
 and their vassals are to be inflicl Btile 
 
 powers are I stroyed. Th ty of the 
 
 world with which he is then to be invi j un- 
 
 doubtedly one thai he had not b< 
 
 relation in which he La to be its king, and i 
 over it. is one in which he had not bei d its 
 
 monarch. To maintain that he is not, then, to rc- 
 
 e any dominion he did and 
 
 exercise, and that he is not then to become the mon- 
 arch and ruler of the earth in any i than 
 
 that in which he UOW IB, >ntradict tl 
 
 and make the proclamation by t. from 
 
 heaven empty Bounds, uttering no prophecy, and 
 veying no information. No one who r the 
 
 vision as divine will be so rash ihibil th. 
 
 But if tli . and 
 
 Christ as 
 and the commencement of his reignii it. then 
 
 it must be a revelation that he is at that epoch t 
 - his kingdom, in which he u 
 i in person and visibly; for othen will 
 
 oor in any other the monarch of 
 
 the earth than 1. D 
 
231 
 
 at the righl hand of the majesty on high, and 
 
 in-- all power in heaven ami earth, reign over our 
 world by laws, influences, and providences? And if 
 he is only to reign in thai manner after the seventh 
 trumpet, will he possess anymore dominion, or reign 
 • >vcr it in any oilier way than lie now does? The 
 prophecy that lie is then to receive the world as his 
 kingdom, and commence an everlasting reign over it, 
 is thus demonstratively a prophecy that he is then to 
 come to the earth, receive it as his peculiar kingdom, 
 and reign over it in person. 
 
 But the reception of the world as his kingdom is 
 t<» take place at the time of the destruction of the 
 wild beasl : lor it is to be at the time of the seventh 
 trumpet, and the time of the Almighty's wrath, when 
 he is to destroy those who destroy the earth ; and 
 those destroyers are the wild bjast,the false prophet, 
 and Jiabylon, the symbols of the apostate and perse- 
 cuting civil and ecclesiastical riders of the ten king- 
 doms of the Apocalypse, on whose subjects and 
 throne the first six vials are poured, and whose de- 
 struction is to take place under the seventh. 
 
 The time of this reception of the world as his king- 
 dom, and destruction of the wild beast and false pro- 
 phet, is also to be the time of the holy dead, that 
 Christ should judge and give reward to his servants 
 the prophets, and to the saints, and to them among 
 the living also that fear his name, both small and 
 great ; and that is the time of the resurrection of the 
 holy dead, therefore ; for it is at their resurrection 
 
that : 
 
 and | 
 
 i with Christ. I 6 ; l ( k>rin. xv. 51 
 
 . \!i. 1 B; Matt liii. 37 43. The tin 
 I eptioD of the world as his 1 
 
 dom, and destruction of irth, 
 
 the time of his coming in the clouds of 
 in greal and power : and hu 
 
 the earth is accordingly I 
 
 son. For he is to come in person at the i stion 
 
 of the h<»ly dead, and thejndgm 
 
 reward of the living saint-. II 
 uds of h 
 
 his 1; mi \b. Thus, "The I- >rd himself 
 
 n with a ahout, with the 
 archangel, and with the trump oi 
 
 < : wards * 
 
 survive, BhaU be caught up together 
 Lord in the air ] er with 
 
 : :." 1 Theas. iv. 16, IT. •• We ah II not i U b! 
 but we ahall all be changed, in a moment, in 
 twinkling of an I the last trun 
 
 trumpet Bhall sound, and the dead shall be r 
 corruptible, and U be changed/' 1 Cor. xv. 
 
 '• When the Son of Man shall come in 1 
 and all the holy BAgels with him. then shall h 
 
 upon re him - 
 
 all i ia, the living — u 1 
 
 • 
 herd divideth hie From the Bhall 
 
 
UNDEB THE SEVENTH TRUli 233 
 
 Bel the Bheep od his right hand, but the goats on I be 
 left : and these shall go away into everlasting pun- 
 ishment, but the righteous into life eternal," Matt. 
 
 x.w. 31 lt>. " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from 
 heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking 
 
 vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey 
 not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be 
 punished with everlasting destruction from the pre- 
 sence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, 
 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and 
 admired in all them that believe," 2 Thess. i. 7-10. 
 All these passages thus teach, in the most expr 
 manner, that Christ is to come in person and visibly 
 at the resurrection of the holy dead, the acceptance 
 of the living saints, and the judgment and destruction 
 of his enemies. As, then, at the seventh trumpet, 
 when he is to receive the world as his kingdom, he 
 is to judge and reward the holy dead, and the holy 
 living small and great, and destroy his enemies — acts 
 in which he is to be personally present, — it is clear 
 that he is then to come in the clouds of heaven in 
 person and visibly, and thence that the everlasting 
 reign on which he is then to enter over the world is 
 to be a reign in person and visibly. But that is to 
 be the period of the conversion of the nations of the 
 world. For immediately after the infliction of the 
 . it was chanted before the throne by 
 those who had gotten the victory over the beast and 
 over his image, that "All nations shall come and wor- 
 ship before him, because his righteous judgments," 
 
in destroy ing hi M have Knaai- 
 
 . l. 
 [| is from this prophecy, as well as from 
 
 that of Daniel, that the epoch of the i 
 oati be the epoch of Christ'i comii 
 
 : he dominion arth 
 
 aa his kingdom, raising I in j_ r l"r. . 
 
 ganiged enemies, and enterii 
 rlasting reign here in person and visible glory. 
 There; ■..■ml other pat hidi show with 
 
 equal cl< in i — I hat the Son of Man is to com 
 person, in power, and in glory, al the destrnction of 
 the enemies and pen f his kingdom ; and that 
 
 that coming and extermination of bis foes is I 
 preparatory to his n its king, 
 
 and ' Lience <•!' the cations t<» his Bway-. Thus, 
 
 when at the redemption of Zion, M the hand of the 
 I. ! is i" be made known towards I 
 
 adignation towards his enemies," h< 
 with fire, and his chariots like a whirlwind, I 
 Dger with fnry, and bis rebukes \\\\\i i 
 
 r r by fire and by his Bword \\U\ the 1 
 1 with all Ik-sli : and the slain of the Lord shall 
 • ." [aa. lwi. 15, 16. That this coming ii 
 I •• in person and visibly . from its being with 
 
 and with chariots, and that flames of li: 
 be instruments <>f hi on his i 
 
 vn also by the comparison of his with 
 
 and chai the rush, tl and 
 
 ling flashes perhaps of a whirlwind : as it is 
 
0NDEB THE SEVENTH TBUMPET. 235 
 
 fche l;;w of thai figure, that the things compared are 
 identically what their names literally denote — their 
 names always being u<cd in their proper sense, doI 
 by a metaphor. As he therefore Is to come with real 
 
 fire and real chariots, he is to conic in person and 
 visibly. For it is htS coming with fire and chariots, 
 not the mere coming of fire ami chariots, that is com- 
 pared to such a whirlwind. l»u t tin's coming is to be 
 at the epoch of the conversion of the nations ; for it 
 IS added. •• It .-hall come that I will gather all nations 
 and tongues, and they shall come and sec my -lory ; 
 and I will set a Bign among them, and I will send 
 those th.it escape of them unto the nations, to the 
 isles afar off that have not heard my fame, neither 
 have seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory 
 among the Gentiles." And that is to be followed by 
 the restoration of the Israelites who still remain in 
 dispersion, and the conversion and obedience of the 
 whole race, "And they shall bring all your brethren 
 for an offering unto the Lord, out of all nations ; and 
 I will take of them for priests and for Levites, Baith 
 tin 1 Lord. For as the new heavens and the new earth 
 which 1 will make shall remain before me, Baith the 
 Lord, so shall yonr seed and your name remain. And 
 it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to an- 
 other, and from one Babbath to another, shall all flesh 
 come to worship before me. Baith the Lord," v. 18—23. 
 These Gentile nations cannot before have been con- 
 verted to God : for how then could it be said that 
 the nations of Asia. Africa, and Europe, nearest Pal- 
 
[ales afar off, \\ ill not until tl 
 
 , his glorj '.' 1 ' 
 
 I tion of t b atmosph 
 
 Dew earth, and establishment 
 ■ i. not before, thai all i. 
 re him. 
 Th< like prediction, also, in Zechariah : U B - 
 
 hold the day of the L meth, and tl. shall 
 
 livided in the midsi of thee. For I will gather 
 all nations again* battle ; and 
 
 shall be taken, and half the eit\ rth into 
 
 captivity. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight 
 against those nations, as when he fonght in I 
 of battle : and hit 1 in thai 
 
 Mou ilives, which is I Jem on the 
 
 and the Monnl i Bhall cleave in the □ 
 
 thei' 
 
 L >rd my God Bhall a 
 
 all the saints with tli' A L Lord shall be king 
 
 all the earth : in that day shall tin.". 
 
 h, and hi 
 
 is ] hich 
 
 ip from ; 
 rship tl the Lord 11 
 
 tabernacles," xiv. 1 
 ■ 
 u ii by the fact that his 
 Olives, which it 
 
UNDER THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 287 
 
 I i8 Bnown, also, by bis bringing all the saints, thai 
 is, the holy dead, who will then have been raised to 
 life, with him. Thai he is then to receive the domi- 
 nion of the earth and commence his reign over it, as is 
 also shown in Daniel and the Apocalj -n from 
 
 the prediction, that "in that day Jehovah shall bo 
 king over all the earth ; and there shall be one Jeho- 
 vah, and his name one/' — an announcement that would 
 be wholly nugatory and meaningless, if lie is not then 
 to be the F the earth — the Jehovah alone, bear- 
 
 ing one name. — in a manner he had never before b 
 And that the conversion of the nations is not to take 
 place previously to that visible coming and destruc- 
 tion of the enemies of his kingdom, but is to be con- 
 sequent on his presence and his judgments, is ^ccn 
 from the prediction that the nations are, at the time 
 of his appearing, to be gathered in array against Je- 
 lem, in order to prevent the establishment of his 
 chosen people there, and that he is to fight with them. 
 It is not until he has enthroned himself there, that 
 all nations are to come there to worship in his pre- 
 sence. 
 
 In like manner it i- own in the Apocalyps . 
 
 that Chrisl Is to come in person at the destruction of 
 the wild prophet, and is then to enter 
 
 on his reign over the nations as the King of kings 
 and Lord of lord-. 
 
 "And I saw I Opened, and behold a white 
 
 horse ; and he that sat upon him was called faithful 
 and true, and in righteousness doth he judge and 
 
emu 
 
 make war. I fire, and 00 
 
 his bead were many 1 he had a nana- writ- 
 
 ten that n«» man knew but In; himself. An-! 
 clothed \\ ith a vesture < 1 i ] » j »« -< 1 in blood, and his name 
 Ued the Word of God. And the ami 
 
 followed liim upon white DOI bed in line Li 
 
 white aii.l clean. And "in of his month goeth a Bharp 
 sword, that with it he should Bmite the i and 
 
 hall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth 
 the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of the 
 Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture, and on 
 hi> thigh, a name written, Bang of kings and Lord of 
 lords. And I saw the beast and the k 
 
 earth and their armies gathered t "-ether to make war 
 
 against him on the white horse, and against his army. 
 And the beast was taken, and with him t] pro- 
 
 phel thai wrought miracles before him, with which 
 
 lie deceived them that had n the mark of the 
 
 i. and them that worshipped his image, 'i 
 
 both were east alive into a lake ol' lire and brimst 
 And the remnant were slain with ti him 
 
 that >at upon the horse which p: : hi- 
 
 mouth."— Rev. xix. 11 21. 
 
 The pi ■ on the white horfl I tred to 
 
 he the Word of God, and his appearing in the vision 
 
 denotes that he i< to appear in person in ti 
 
 which it foreshows *) it being a law of Bymbolizat 
 
 that if the appearance of the deity in person i- t 
 foreshown, he appears in person in t a which 
 
 foreshows it ; ami of necessity, inasmuch as no oiler 
 
tJNDEfi THE BBVENTH TBUMPET. 28 I 
 
 being can properly represent bis personal appearance. 
 Thus the Ancienl of days, in Daniel, appeared in the 
 vision foreshowing his session in the judgment of the 
 civil rulers of the fourth kingdom, which the vision 
 symbolizes ; and the one like a Son of Man, coming 
 in the clouds of heaven, appeared in the vision, which 
 was employed to foreshow his real coming in the 
 clouds at the judgment of the powers denoted by the 
 beast, and reception of the dominion of the earth; in 
 the same manner as his appearance in the vision of 
 the last judgment, Rev. xx. 11-15, foreshows his real 
 personal presence in the great scene of the resurrec- 
 tion and judgment which that vision symbolizes. It 
 lies us, therefore, in the most indubitable and 
 impressive manner, that he is to come in person at 
 the destruction of the civil and ecclesiastical rulers 
 denoted by the wild beast and false prophet. 
 
 The coming with him of the armies of heaven 
 clothed in white robes shows, also, that it is to be at 
 the epoch of the resurrection of the holy dead ; for 
 white robes are symbols of the righteousness of the 
 saints and indicate that those who wear them are the 
 redeemed >aints, and therefore have been raised from 
 the dead ; as otherwise, their being borne on horses 
 would he unnatural. It is proper to corporeal beings 
 only, not to mere spirits, to be borne on steeds, and 
 to make war with corporeal beings. It is foreshown, 
 also, in tic vision preceding this, that the marriage 
 of the Lamb had come, and his wife had made herself 
 ready, being clothed in fine linen, which is the righte- 
 
mbol 
 i of tl. to thai relatioD t<» 
 
 ( they 
 
 ii \\ i 1 1 1 him ; and impli< 
 . that thej are then * 
 their glorious and immortal forms. Ii 
 epoch, also, of Christ's becoming the i. 
 
 proclaimed immediately 
 the I T Lord God ( Omnipotent n 
 
 I [( \\ appeared, on his doscent from 
 
 with the title on hi 
 
 I of lords :" and it was predicted th raid 
 
 nations with his Bword, and rule them 
 with an iron rod. w Jle is then, ther< 
 the dominion of the earth, i 
 
 vii. 13, 1 1. and B ■ '. it his 
 
 eternal reign. It is after his pen 
 ingly, that the nations ai I his 
 
 coming they arc rrayed in war i him, 
 
 and vast multitudes of them are to b< at)yhim 
 
 in the win.--j.re-- of his w rath. 
 
 Th are tin: ther in 
 
 this ad exhil the .-ana- j - 
 
 are grouped together in the prophecy oi l' : .• ■!. of 
 
 i ih, and of Zechariah, and the vision of the seventh 
 
 trumpet of the Apocalypse, and foreshown ac 
 
 j. lace at the >;iine epoch. They can no mor< 
 
 arated from each other and assigned to differi 
 
 than the apj I be Judge on the 
 
UNDER TIIK BEVBNTH TRUMPET. -11 
 
 throne, Rev. xx. 11-15, and tho resurrect ion and <loom 
 of the dead and their judgment, can be separated 
 from each other, and referred to different epochs and 
 ages ; or any more than tho separation of the right- 
 eous from the wicked in the judgment of tho living 
 nations, Matt. xxv. 31-46 ; the placing of tho right- 
 eous on the right hand and tho wicked on tho left; 
 and the welcome of tho one to tho kingdom prepared 
 for tlicm, and tho doom of tho other to fire, can be 
 disjoined from each other and referred to widely dif- 
 ferent epochs. 
 
 This vision of the personal coming of the Word of 
 God, with his risen saints, at tho destruction of tho 
 powers denoted by the beast and false prophet, is 
 followed by a vision of tho resurrection of the dead 
 saints, and their exaltation to thronos to reign with 
 Christ during tho thousand years. 
 
 " And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and 
 judgment was given unto them ; and I saw the souls 
 of those who had been beheaded for the witness of 
 Jesus, and for tho word of God, and whoever had not 
 worshipped the beast, nor its imago, and had not 
 received the mark upon their forehead and in their 
 hand ; and they lived and reigned with Christ the 
 thousand years. Bnt tho rest of tho dead lived not 
 until the thousand years were finished. This is tho 
 first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he "who has 
 part in the first resurrection : over them the second 
 death lias no power, but they shall be priests of God 
 
 11 
 
and I _- n with him a thoue I 
 
 This vision is thus declared by the i Spirit 
 
 himself to I j mbo! of the fii Lion j 
 
 ami • resurrection it 
 
 clared to be holy and I And this, and 
 
 whole Bpectacle itself, showe that it 
 real corporeal n m of the holy de I. I 
 
 not, as many have supposed, be a Bymbol of the 
 moral resurr< r the renovation of men ; for 
 
 would imply that no renovation of men by the Spirit 
 lia<l ever taken plan-. Bow can this vision foreshow 
 the first renovation of men, if thousands and millions 
 of renovations had before been wrought by I 
 rit : if the martyrs and witnesses for J then 
 
 whu appeared in the vision i I from th< 
 
 had themsel an renewed, myriads and 
 
 millions of them, ages bei vision it tits 
 
 mplishment ? That absurd notion 
 the bj mbols them* ' pre- 
 
 11 of them that is given by the Spirit. Th< 
 sentative pen the holy dead ; those who had 
 
 not worshipped the beast nor it- image, but had 
 resisted their Bway, and maintained allegiance to G 
 TIm' representative events and acts are their resur- 
 rection in glory, investiture with judicial — thai 
 kingly — authority >n on th ad reigning 
 
 with Christ a thousand years, in holiness and blea 
 But such holy persons are not propei 
 : unrenewed men in the natural 
 
I NDER THE SEVEN! II TRUMPET. 2 Yd 
 
 Their characters and relations to God are direct op- 
 posites, in place of resembling each othtfr. The 
 resurrection of those Baints in glory is no proper sym- 
 bol of tlif renovation of men, in the natural body, who 
 arc al enmity with Clod. It were to make bul one- 
 half of the nature, the body, of his risen saint-, the 
 representative of bnt one-half of the nature, and the 
 opposite one, the mind, of the renewed sinner, which 
 
 mtradictious and absurd. Whatever the risen 
 saint is the symbol of, it is in his whole being, body 
 and Bonl, that he is the Bymbol of it. It can no more 
 be claimed that only his body is a Bymbol, than it ran 
 that the l»»>dy is the only part of the being which he, 
 as a Bymbol, represents. It is impossible, therefore, 
 that the risen saints, perfect both in mind and body, 
 and freed from the curse of sin, can be the represen- 
 tatives of the whole nature of men in the natural life. 
 both in a state of mental non-renovation and renova- 
 tion, and continuing after renovation under the do- 
 minion in a la rge measure of sin, and, without mitiga- 
 tion, under the sentence to corporeal death. No two 
 beings, no two conditions, can be more devoid of the 
 
 mblance which must subsist between symbols 
 and that which they symbol: 
 
 In a like manner, the gift to the risen saints <.f 
 judicial or kingly authority, their elevation to thrones', 
 and reigning with Christ a thousand years, has no 
 
 aterpart in the natural life and condition of d 
 
 i, who are simply renewed. With what kingly 
 authority are those «<I* tl. a re- 
 
•J 11 CHI 
 
 their sul 
 them pn to any judicial authority over th< 
 
 tioui I * w hat thrones are th 
 
 ign with (' that 
 
 the : tion of men ini m n ith such 
 
 a u lt 
 
 and influent <ntradi<-- 
 
 tion t.» tli«' consciousness and conditions of tin- * hole 
 people i ny further refutation. It i> 
 
 tin- fanatical ami impious oiriy, like Munzer and his 
 followers of tin- sixteenth cento claim 1 
 
 clothed with such power and lill such off 
 The events symbolised by the vision, then, an 
 oreaJ resurrection of the holy dead, inv 
 tore with judicial powi r, elevation to thn 
 
 ing with Christ a thousand years; and tl 
 be saints th 
 pearing in the vision, being raised from the d 
 
 I authority, ami reigning with Chr 
 
 cans could repn 
 
 them in I : it being a law of Bymbola 
 
 when no rej ■ :it kind can be 
 
 found to Bymboliae the person or pei 
 shown, either in their nature or in the conditi 
 
 that arc t«> I -nitcd. then the being or Ik 
 
 t" be r< pi' 9ented, appear in their own persons in 
 
 \ !i representath as. Thus the An- 
 cient Son of Man, the Lamb, the W 
 God I th- mselves in 1 in which 
 
 
DKDBB TH1 SEVENTH TRUMPET. 246 
 
 there was a representation of their real appearance 
 in the Bcenee that were foreshown. 
 Bnl this resurrection of tin- holy dead i- to be at 
 
 tin' epoch of Christ's second coming ; as is shown by 
 the passages we have already cited, which declare 
 that ho is to descend from heaven at the resurrection 
 of his saints ; and by the vision of the preceding 
 chapter, of his descent from heaven with the armies 
 at the great battle with the beast and false prophet. 
 His second coming, therefore, and this first resurrec- 
 tion, arc to take place before the millennium : as it 
 lb expressly declared that the thousand years of the 
 saints' reign with him are to follow their resurrec- 
 tion, not precede it. And it is also to precede the 
 conversion of the nations ; for it is not until after the 
 resurrection of the saints, and investiture with crown-, 
 that all nations become obedient to Christ's sway. It 
 is after the descent of the New Jerusalem, the sym- 
 bol of the risen saints in their relation to Christ as 
 the bride, that is, in their stations as kings and prie 
 which they are ever thereafter to fill, that the nations 
 are to be healed by the leaves of the tree of life, which 
 is to grow on the banks of the river flowing from the 
 throne of God and the Lamb in that city : and not 
 till then, that they are to walk in the light of that 
 city, and the kings of the earth are to bring their 
 glory and honor into it. Down to the time of Christ's 
 coming, they are to continue in alienation ; and are 
 at that crisis to rise to a climax of rebellion, and unite 
 in an attempt to confute the predictions of his word, 
 
• 
 
 Lnstitati 
 
 millennial kingdom there. Tim-, again, in these pro- 
 
 ! afl of the same 
 ch — the coming of the Word of God is 
 
 ion of the saints, I ring on 
 
 bis reign on the earth, the reign of th< with 
 
 him, and, consequent thereon, the conversion of the 
 natio 
 Bui n.it only are th t change admin- 
 
 tion of the world to be introduced at that pei 
 another evenl of the utmost Bignificance to the con- 
 version and sanctificatioD of men is I that 
 in and his legions are to I led from 
 the earth, and intercepted during the thousand j 
 from tempting the 1 
 
 Aii'l I saw an an. down from I hav- 
 
 ing the key of the bottomless pit, and b bain 
 
 in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old 
 • lit. which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him 
 a thousand years, and cast him into the bottom 
 pit, and .-hut him up, ai I np.ui him, that 
 
 bould deceive the nations no more, till the thou- 
 sand bould be fulfilled ; and after that he most 
 be loosed a li B . w. l 3. 
 
 The bindii ban, the 
 
 phecy thus declares, is in order that he Bhould de< 
 men no more, till the thousand ould be fin- 
 
 l. 11 therefore, the total ption 
 
 of his tempting on them. He i 
 
QNDEB Tin: BBVENTH TRUMPET. 2 17 
 
 or i atice them no more ; he is nol to exerl any tempt- 
 ing agency on them whatever during thai .period. 
 And this is signified also by his binding and impri- 
 sonment, which indicate thai he is to be debarred 
 from access to them, and banished from their pre- 
 sence. To suppose him capable of influencing them, 
 when held a prisoner at a distance in a deep abyss, 
 would be to suppose him omnipresent, omniseicnt, 
 and omnipotent, which would be to regard him as a 
 god, m»t a creature. This measure of the divine ad- 
 ministration will contribute to distinguish thai epoch 
 from the present age, and will exert the most mo- 
 mentous influence on the condition and conduct of 
 the nations and of individuals. How vast the influ- 
 ence is which Satan exerts, is seen from the predic- 
 t ion which follows, that immediately alter he is loosed 
 again, he is t<> go out and prompt the nations, which 
 are in the four quarters of the earth, to gather them- 
 selves together to battle with the saints. He is now, 
 the Scriptures represent, the tempter of men to all 
 the great Bins which they commit. We are directed 
 to pray, M Load us not into temptation, hut deliver us 
 Prom the Evil One." He is exhibited as reigning in 
 the hearts of the children of disobedience j as betray- 
 in-- the nations into all their false religions ; as going 
 about Booking whom he may devour; and as cease- 
 lessly hurling fiery darts, to protect himself from 
 which everyone needs the shield of faith. To bo 
 freed, i: . at once from all his assaults, to bo 
 
 exempted from all the vasl enginery of his direct in- 
 
Ml 
 
 QoenoeB, and the mj nd millions of evil men 
 
 whom !.. 
 
 will be a momentoua change in the condition of i 
 and will remove a most formidable barrier to their 
 conversion and Bubseqnent obedienc . 
 
CHRIST is TO HEIGH IN PERSON ON THE EARTH. 219 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THAT CHRIST IS THUS TO COME AND REIGN IN TERSON ON THE EARTH 
 IS THE UNIFORM TEACHING OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 The prophecies adduced in the preceding chapters 
 thus, in the clearest manner, exhibit this group of 
 momentous events as to occur at the same epoch. It 
 is not, however, the teaching of those passages alono 
 — it is the representation of the whole series of the 
 prophecies that relate to the subject. There is not 
 a single passage in the word of God that declares 
 that tho nations are to be converted before the 
 second coming of Christ. Let those who think other- 
 wise produce one, if they can. There is not a passage 
 that clearly implies that their conversion is to pre- 
 cede his coming. So far from it, all the predictions 
 that are usually cited as teaching that their conver- 
 sion is to take place under the present dispensation, 
 be lore he comes to raise the holy dead, and new cre- 
 ate the earth and air, either expressly indicate that 
 it is to take place at his second coming, or else sim- 
 ply announce that it is to take place, without a speci- 
 fication of the period : and are, therefore, in harmony 
 
 11* 
 
250 i Hi 1111: i:\ 
 
 With the Qumer h is thai 
 
 «il* bj i : 1 1 1 • 1 commencing i □ tin* 
 
 earth. Thus the proph iah ii. 2 L, ften 
 
 quofc bat all i re to be 
 
 d by the mean I to Chi 
 
 them, and anterior to Christ's comii 
 
 \ \i<\ it shall come to pass in ti . the 
 
 mountain of the L "d'fi itablished in 
 
 the top of the mountains, and Bhall be exalted al 
 the hilla : and all d mall flow unto it. And 
 
 many people shall go and say: I e, and 1 
 
 go up to the mountain of the Lord, to tin- I 
 the God of Jacob, and he will teach as of his v. 
 and we will walk in his patbi it of Eon shall 
 
 : -rtli the law, and th< ■ L ■: ■■! : 
 
 lem. A' 1 he Bhall judge among the nations, and 
 shall rebuke many people ; and they shall heat their 
 Bwords into plough-shares and tl. into 
 
 pruning-hooks ; nation shall not lift .-word against 
 nation, neither shall they learn war any moi 
 This is alle tion that all nations 
 
 I from idolatry, and enter the Chris- 
 church anteri >r to I tning ; but it is 
 clearly by a gratuitous assumption. Then hint 
 in it. that the exaltation of the Lord's h I the 
 flowing of all oal ; ;. is to | 
 advent. Instead, the time when tl 
 
 cpressly declared to be the " 1 
 which arc sometimes indeed employed in the prophe- 
 
 >f the pn it usual* 
 
CHRIST [S TO l;!*i«.N i.\ PERSON ON THE EARTH. 251 
 
 \\ the time when Christ is to come in the clouds ef 
 heaven and receive the dominion of the earth, that 
 
 all people and nations may serve liini. Thus they 
 
 sometimes denote the day of the resurrection ; as 
 
 when Martha said in respect to Ln/anis, "I know- 
 that he shall rise again at the last day," John xi. 24, 
 and vi. B9, lo, 4 1. 54. Sometimes they denote the 
 day of judgment, as in the expression, "The same 
 shall judge him in the last day," John xii.48. Some- 
 times they denote the great and terrible day of 
 Christ's coming, immediately before which the sun 
 is to be turned into darkness and the moon into 
 blood ; and when he is to pour out of his Spirit on 
 all flesh, and convert the nations universally by his 
 mighty influences, as Joel ii. 28, 32 ; Aets ii. 16, 21. 
 The period to which the prophecy refers is thus 
 shown, by that designation, to be that of Christ's 
 coming : and this is confirmed and made indisputa- 
 ble by the latter part of the prediction, in which it 
 is foretold that "the day of the Lord." when that 
 shall be accomplished, " shall be upon every one 
 that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is 
 lifted np : and he shall be brought low, and the loft i- 
 - of man shall be bowed down, and the haughti- 
 of men Bhall be made low. and the Lord alone 
 shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall 
 abolish utterly. And they shall ge into the holes of the 
 rocks, a ml into the ceres of the earth, for fear of the 
 /. .■■/. and for the glory of Li* majesty when he ariaeth 
 toahoh terribly the earth" ii. 10-21. Their attempt- 
 
of the moontaii 
 
 for the his majesty, showi that I 
 
 • limi of 1 thai will 
 
 strike them irith terror. Why should I k t<> 
 
 if th 
 
 the Aim Dm the period ii Mill fa 
 
 l.y Micah in 
 
 in nearly tl. language . '.\ . 6 LO, 
 
 as, th 1 of the restoration of the Israelii 
 
 of the Lord's beginning to reign oter them in II 
 ZioD for ever and ever. •• Iii thai kith the 
 
 !. will I assemble her that halteth, and I will 
 r hi r thai is driven out, and her that I fa 
 afflicted : and I will make her that halted a remnant, 
 and her that w ; (he 
 
 I. 
 
 forth even for ewer. And thou, o tower lock, 
 
 daughl a, onto thee .-hall 
 
 it oi o the fij inion ; the k' -hall 
 
 como to the daughter uf Zion." This renders it in- 
 disputable that the last days, when all nati«>. 
 . the Lord at Mount Z 
 I \ ent, when 1. 
 
 i- hia n ign there for ever an the 
 
 peril d \> hen he id I \ e the dominion of 
 
 nter on it as bis everlasting kingdom, is 
 ■ - defined in Danii 1. as that of his coming in 
 the i : I j Zechariah 
 
CHRIST is TO RHGU in P1BSOB 08 tiii: k.wtii. 
 
 descending on the Mount of Olives, and delivering 
 his people from the hostile nations ; and by John, in 
 the Apocalypse, as that of the seventh trumpet, when 
 tho kingdom of the world is to become his, and the 
 time of the dead arrives that ho should judge and give 
 the reward to his servants tho prophets, and the 
 saints and all that fear his name, both small and great. 
 and reign for ever and ever. Christ is not to com- 
 menee his everlasting reign on tho earth antecedent- 
 ly to his receiving it at his coming in the clouds, ae 
 his everlasting kingdom, that is not to pass away or 
 be d !. Dan. vii. 14. How can it be then given 
 
 him as an everlasting kingdom, if it is as much his be- 
 fore as it will be made his by that gift ; and if he is 
 to reign over it as much, and in the same manner be- 
 fore, as he will after that reception of it as his? These 
 prophecies thus not only present no intimation that 
 the eon version of the nations is to take place before 
 Christ's coming, but they define its period by the 
 most indubitable marks, as that of his coming in 
 power and glory to judge the nations, redeem his 
 people, and commence his reign, which is to continue 
 for ever. 
 
 An attempt is often made, however, to get rid of 
 this great feature of these prophecies, by the pretext 
 that they are altogether figurative ; that the Lord's 
 house, Zion, and Jerusalem, are only representatives 
 of the Christian church ; the going of the nations 
 there to worship, representative of the accession of 
 the Gentiles to that church ; and the glory of the 
 
26 1 CHRIST IB TO 
 
 majesty of the Lord, from which men are 
 to hide themselves, the moral glory of his admini 
 tion ; thai all, therefore, thai it meant is, thai the 
 Gentiles are to be Christianized and enter the church ; 
 and thai God is to display the glory of his perfections 
 in his administration overmen. Bnt this, in the 
 place, is wholly arbitrary and absurd. There ie 
 
 • e by which tin' prophecy can be rej 
 in thai manner ; the whole pretext is groundless 
 :tn<l contradictory to the laws of the hypoa 
 and allegory, the only figures in which things of one 
 kind are uaed- as representatives of things of another. 
 Next, it makes the prophecy a Benseless jumble of in- 
 congruities and contradictions, if the Lord 1 
 as authors placing this construction on the prediction 
 maintain, signifies the Christian church, and that 
 church comprises all cations, whal is meanl by all 
 nations flowing onto it. and gou - rship in it '! 
 
 Can any aonsense be grosser than to talk of nations 
 going />> themselves as a bouse, and worshipping 
 themselves as such? If. moreover, the Lord's h 
 is a mere representative, musl not the nations that 
 go there to worship be representatives also? Bui if 
 
 i f what ? Nbl of themselves, certainly. That 
 would be to make the prediction literal instead of 
 representative; for, if the Gentiles denote them» I 
 why i< no1 the house representative of the house : 
 and their going np to the Lord 1 
 tive of their really going there ; and the whole pro- 
 phecy Literal e ? But, if no1 thus 
 
literal, 1 > 1 1 1 representative of things different from the 
 honse, Zion, Jerusalem, and going there — which it 
 must be, if figurative — then the nations, also, must 
 represent some other order of beings than them- 
 selves ; ami their going to Jerusalem, as representa- 
 tives, to worship, cannot denote their own conversion, 
 but only the Christianization of the agents whom 
 they represent. This construction, therefore, de- 
 feats itself, and excludes from the prophecy the very 
 signification which it attempts to fasten on it ; and 
 turns it into a prediction that some other order of 
 beings besides mankind are to go to worship God at 
 the place signified by Jerusalem. On the same prin- 
 ciple, the idols that are to be cast to the moles and 
 the hats, the caverns of the earth and the clefts of 
 the rocks to which men flee to hide themselves from 
 the glory of God's visible majesty, and that awe-in- 
 spiring majesty itself, are mere representatives, and 
 the whole prophecy is thus made to refer not only to 
 a different order of beings from mankind, but a differ- 
 ent world from our earth, and to the majesty of a dif- 
 ferent deity from our Jehovah : and is thus made a 
 IS and impious mockery of both him and man. 
 What more preposterous notion can be conceived, 
 than that the moral majesty of God displayed in his 
 ordinary administration of the world, should strike 
 Christianized and converted nations with such dread 
 and terror, as to had them to flee to caverns and dens 
 to hide themselves from it? Is it with terror in- 
 1 of adoration — is it with fright and despair, that 
 
I ki.KN i\ PBB80B1 OB THE i:\i:rn. 
 
 the glory of G perfections and .-way impr< 
 bis children? B bow would b retread to the 
 
 clefts of the rooks and the tops of the ragged rocks 
 serve to hide thai glory from their perception ? it 
 the majesty thai is to awe and overwhelm them is to 
 be discerned by the intellect simply. u«»t by the out- 
 ward eye, will it not be as perceptible in the gloom 
 !i«l in the darkness of midnight, as in the 
 glare of noonday ? 
 
 Bncb arc the open contradictions to the plain teach- 
 ings of the prophecy, Buch the repulsive absurdities 
 in which they involve themselves who attempt to in- 
 it with a figurative meaning, by treating il 
 representative of objects, persons, and acts of a di£ 
 ferent das- from those which its language denol 
 
 Another passage frequently alleged as Bhowing the 
 
 conversion of the nations under the present system 
 
 .cans, and anterior to the coming of Christ, is the 
 
 prediction, Isaiah xi. ( .» : M Fur the earth shall be full 
 
 of the knowledge of the Lord, as the a 
 
 " But this declaration, taken by itself d 
 not present any indication when the event it an- 
 nounces is to occur. To assume from the mere lan- 
 guage that it is t<> DC accomplished antecedently to 
 
 Christ's advent, is to take Ear granted the point it is 
 employed t" demonstrate. Nor is there anything in 
 
 the context that indicate- that that Universal diil'u- 
 
 sion of the knowledge of the Lord is t<> take pi 
 under the present dispensation, and be the result 
 is in. who thus misapply tb 
 
CHRIST IS TO REIGN IN PERSON ON THE EARTH. 257 
 
 tion, of missions and other agencies, like those now 
 employed by the church to communicate the gospel 
 to the heathen. Instead, it is shown in the clearest 
 manner, that its period is to ho that of the reign of 
 the Messiah, and tho redemption of Israel. Thus it 
 is to bo at tho period when "a rod out of the stem of 
 Jesso shall judge the poor with righteousness, and 
 reprove with equity the meek of tho earth ; with the 
 rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, 
 shall he slay the wicked ;" and that, we are shown in 
 tho Apocalypse, is to be at his second coming, as the 
 King of kings and Lord of lords. In tho vision of his 
 descent to the great battle, in which the beast and 
 false prophet wero destroyed, out of his mouth went 
 a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the na- 
 tions ; and the remnant of the armies of his enemies 
 were slain with it ; and it is declared that ho is to 
 rule the nations with a rod of iron, Rev. xix. 15-21. 
 It is to bo at tho time, also, when " the wolf shall 
 dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down 
 with tho kid ; and tho calf, and the young lion, and 
 the fading together, and a little child shall lead them," 
 v. (>. But that, we are taught, Isaiah lxv, is to be 
 after the creation of the new heavens and earth ; and 
 that we learn — Isaiah lxvi. 15, 16, and Rev. xxi. 1, 9 — 
 is to follow Christ's coming in tho clouds of heaven 
 with fire and chariots like a whirlwind, to render his 
 anger to his enemies with fury, and his rebuke with 
 flames of fire. It is also to be at the period of the 
 restoration of the Israelites, which, it is foreshown in 
 
III. 
 
 , prophi I 
 
 and the commencement of 1> Mid it is 
 
 licated here thai h<- is then visibly t«> 
 reveal himself in his glorj to the nations. " And in 
 thai daj there Bhal] be a roo1 
 
 I for an ■ lpL : onto him Bhall 
 
 ek, ami his rest 91 — t i of his 
 
 throm — '• shall be glori 
 thus to I mally present in the glory of his 
 
 . [saiah ii. 19,21 ; lw. IT 25; lwi. 
 I." 28; Z ':. xi\. 1. «.». 16, 21 : for how can In- stand 
 for an ensign — a visible Bignal like a banner waving 
 in tin- sky— like a beacon flaming on a monntain 
 — ii' In- is no more visibly present than In- no* 
 Bow * - ; 1 1 1 hi- residence, his thron i the 
 
 3 of the Gentiles who &eek onto him, it' do rach 
 \ isible, if do external glory indi< 
 .' To deny that this is the meai 
 of tl o, and attempt to make it re] 
 
 ia Dot only to divest it of its trne import, bnt i 
 make it the vehicle of a and m 
 
 hood! Forifth B leemer, his standing for an 
 jii. ami the glory of his abode <>r ] 
 6 representativi a mething different from 
 
 themselves; then, in the first place, the Savionr i- 
 oxclnded from that which i< predicted, and he i 
 n-» place in the mown : ami i 
 
 and the Israelites, and the 
 affirmed ofthem, mnst 
 
 ■ from themg prophe< 
 
CHRIST m TO RBIGN IX PERSON ON THE EARTH. 259 
 
 to have any relation to the inhabitants of this world, 
 and to the world itself, and some other Bphere and 
 some other order of beings are its subjects I There 
 is no from this monstrous perversion of the 
 
 prophecy, bul by rejecting the ootion that it is re- 
 presentative (gol up for the very purpose of ascrib- 
 ing to it a meaning to suit tin- fancy of the interpre- 
 ter), and receiving it in its Bimple character, as a lan- 
 guage prediction thai is to be understood accord ing 
 to tin 1 usual and established laws of speech. And, 
 interpreted by those laws, it presents indisputable 
 indications thai the period when the knowledge of 
 the Lord is to fill the whole earth as the waters cover 
 the sea. is the period when the Sou of God shall come 
 in person and -lory, reveal himself to, the nations, and 
 enter on his visible millennial reign ; when the earth 
 and the atmosphere are to be renovated, the animal- 
 are to be divested of their ferocious and noxious na- 
 tures, and all mankind are to be renewed, and become 
 willing and joyous subjects of Christ's sceptre. 
 
 Another j alleged to prove that the world 
 
 is to become Christ's anterior to bis coming, is the 
 promise in the Becond Psalm, "Ask of me, and I Bhall 
 give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the 
 most parts of the earth tor thy possession." But 
 there i^ no intimation in this promise, nor in the con- 
 text, that he is to receive the gift anterior to his ad- 
 vent and assumption of the sceptre of the earth. On 
 contrary, that Psalm expressly >ho\vs that the 
 period when the nations are to become his inherit- 
 
.TIT. 
 
 hat of I hill 
 
 of Hon : an<l ti _■ in the 
 
 clou I traction <>f • 
 
 the dominion of the earth. Thus, at the time at whi< h 
 
 ii to 1"- constituted king, the nation 
 gathered together to intercept him from hifl thi 
 and exempt themselves from bis dominion: uf \ 
 kings of the earth Bet thi , ami the rnl 
 
 ooonse] together against the Lord, and against 
 Ohri ig, Let ns break their bands asnn 
 
 cast their cords from os, w v. •_, :;. X iracy ii 
 
 that of the great battle, doubtless, Bymbolis 
 a xix« 11— 21, and that foreshown Iso /■ 
 •i Christ is 1 '1 from heaven and 
 
 the hostile ! He that aitteth in I 
 
 shall laugh, the Lord Bhall have them in derision. 
 Then shall h< onto them in hifl wrath. 
 
 them in hifl Bore displ . V 
 
 upon my holy hill of Zi >n. I will declare th< 
 
 The Lord hath Bflid mil N art l this 
 
 day have 1 begotten thee; 
 
 thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the ul 
 
 most parts of the earth for thj don. Thou shalt 
 
 break them with a rod of iron ; thou shalt dash them 
 
 like a]...: neVv.4-9. It is thus clearly tan 
 
 that the time when the inheritance of the heathen 
 
 and most distant part- of the earth ar 
 
 him. is the time when he ifl I iblished 
 
 : and that we know from Isaiah, D 
 /. . iriah, i- to be at hifl coming in the cloud 
 
CHKIst is TO REIGN , ; ON nit: BABTH. 201 
 
 heaven, and receiving from the Ancient of days the 
 
 dominion of the earth, thai all people, nations. and 
 tongues should serve him ; and from the Revelation, 
 that it is to I"- at the Beventh trumpet, when the 
 kingdom of this world is to become his, and he is to 
 reign over it for ever and ever ; and it is then that 
 he is to break them with a rod of iron, and dash them 
 as a ]> 'iter's vessel. Rev. xix. 15. The Psalm, thus, 
 instead of indicating that the nations are to be con- 
 verted before Christ's coming, teaches as in the clear- 
 manner, that it is not till he comes in power and 
 glory, and assumes the dominion of the earth, that he 
 is to conquer the hosts that are arrayed against him, 
 and bring all the tribes and nations that survive his 
 avenging judgments into obedience to his gracious 
 sway. 
 
 In like manner, the song of Moses, the servant of 
 God, and the song of the Lamb, M Great and marvel- 
 lous are thy works, Lord God Almighty : just and 
 true are thy ways, thou king of saints. Who shall 
 not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name ; for thou only 
 art holy ; for all the nations shall come and worship 
 use thy judgments have been made 
 manifest." Rev. xv. 3-4, are often cited as showing 
 that all nations are to be converted under the present 
 administration, anterior to Christ's coming. The 
 song, however, contains no intimation that the reno- 
 vation of the nations is to precede his advent. On 
 the contrary, the passage shows in the clearest man- 
 ner that the judgments, in consequence of which they 
 
.III. 
 
 I rship him, arc I 
 
 Is immediately before hi- 
 i;illv tl • th trumpet, under which 
 
 in the clouds, dest roy 1 1 1 * - \\ ild beast and false 
 phet, and establish his millennia] throne on the 
 • It. 
 
 Tl. other pi w bich foreshow that 
 
 whole world is at length to become Bubject tu Jiis 
 . and rejoice in hi- dominion, ma \<\ i. 
 
 ami xcvii : but they all. it* they indicate the period 
 when it is t«» take place, show in the plainest manner 
 that it is wh< ii In- comes t<> judge the earth, and t«» 
 d over it as its king. Not a solitary prediction 
 represents the renovation of the nati precede 
 
 . dvent. 
 Thi futurity, then, i- presented t" as in the 
 
 and most impressh e manner en th. 
 
 lit in every variety of form that could 
 contribute t" give it certainty, and preclude the no- 
 tion that the conversion of the world La I lace 
 under th I administration, and precede Chi 
 
 ad coming. It is I the whole pro- 
 
 phetic word on tin* subject, that the civil ami ecclesi- 
 astical enemies of Christ 1 corrupt 
 
 of the nations, denoted by th< 
 
 and the systems of idol worship, are to continue in 
 
 the predominance to the end of the present age : that 
 
 at th 
 
 of being victors mid reigning in per- 
 
 .I'd and slaughtered, down to the time in v. 
 
CHRIST is TO BEIGN IX PERSON ON THE EARTH. 
 
 their persecutors are to be arraigned al the tribunal 
 of the Ancienl of days, and consigned to destruction j 
 thai at the period of their destruction, tin- Son of 
 Man i^ to come in the clouds of heaven, receive tho 
 dominion of the earth, and enteT on a reign over it in 
 
 -mi as its king, and exercise an administration 
 very unlike that of the present age : ami that it is 
 under his reign in person over tin- world, that all na- 
 tion^ are :■> be brought to obedience to his sceptre. 
 The time and the great attendants of their renovation, 
 are thus placed as absolutely beyond doubt, as they 
 can he by any revelation that could have been given 
 of them. Its epoch is woven into the whole web of 
 the prophecies respecting Christ's kingdom. There 
 is not one of the predictions of his Millennial or ever- 
 lasting reign over the world in which it is not a con- 
 >]>ieiinus element. And there are no countervailing 
 predictions ; there is not a syllable in the sacred word 
 that is not in harmony witli them. 
 
 Let us receive it, then, with the awe, the confidence 
 in its wisdom, the j<>y, which his gracious will should 
 inspire. It i- the method of procedure he has chosen, 
 
 rase best adapted t" the great ends he i- pursuing, 
 most glorious t<> himself, most benignant to men ; i j- 
 Bential, indeed, doubtless to the redemption of the- 
 world, and the just understanding of it by tho uni- 
 Aml to whom but to him does it belong to de- 
 termine what the administration shall be, under which 
 the nations are to be converted? Are men wiser 
 than he ? Are they his counsellors? A humble and 
 
.III. 
 
 brok< t will ] h in 
 
 • of the mul- 
 titude of tl. 
 
 with white rohei and palms in their hai 
 \ ho ritteth apon the thn 
 the Lamb." Ii- song will be that of 11 
 
 and the Lai . Q 
 
 marvel! thy works, Lord God Aln just 
 
 and true arc thy w;i\ B, tlmii K 
 
 nliall in»t fear thee, L !. ify thy name, as 
 
 : 'or all nations shall come i 
 jo thy jud 
 manifest." [ta prayer will be that of 
 who beheld his coming in the clouds of I 
 ' • « e quickly." 
 
EVENTS THAT ABE TO FOLLOW CB OMING. 26S 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 cnmsr's COMING. — the first great events that are to follow 
 
 IT. THE RESURRECTION OF THE HOLY DEAD. THE TRANSFORMA- 
 TION OF LIVING BELIEVERS. 
 
 At the moment of Christ's coming, the earth is to bo 
 shrouded in total darkness, by an interception of the 
 light of the sun, moon, and other heavenly orbs : the 
 effect of which will be, to invest his approach with the 
 utmost conspicuity and resplendence. " 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 
 Bign of the Son of Man in heaven : and then shall 
 all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see 
 the Sun of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with 
 power and great glory r " Matt. xxiv. 29, 30. LIow 
 immeasurably will the spectacle transcend any con- 
 ception we can form of it ! In what dazzling splen- 
 dors will he be arrayed to be visible at such a distance 
 i be beheld at the same time by the inhabitants 
 
 of a whole hemisphere ! He is to be attended by the 
 
 12 
 
I and all the armies of hi 
 and myriads of millions; hosts coon un- 
 
 til, in could be grouped in the arch of hei 
 d bounded by the i tant horizon 
 
 In what effulgence musl they be clothed, I 
 li\ visible] With wh 
 3 will the spectacle strike the natioi ' Bi 
 
 will know that it Ifl he, and will n 
 
 of his coming : and held generally 
 
 th will still be, in the thrall of idol-worship, and 
 sunk to the Lowest depths of moral and social del 
 ment, they will be taken . and filled with 
 
 ■nation. 
 The fii * act he is to exert on his comin 
 
 the i if the holy dead. " For the Lord hin 
 
 1 from heaven witli a BDOUt, with 
 
 trump i 
 the dead in Christ shall rh I . L6. 
 
 His approach thus with shout tion from the 
 
 infinite hosts of his attendants of power and wi~ 
 to recall his holy deadto life ; and of utter won- 
 
 der and joy, at the graci and beauty of hie 
 
 Bign, and his victory and triumph over death, is u 
 
 ■I 1. BKs hovering armies are not to be 
 silent B] »ne. Thai were unbefitl 
 
 the greatness of the moment. Their h 
 swell with an irrepressfl of the grandeur 
 
 his attributes and purposes, and are to breathe their 
 fervid homage in ascriptions of might, lorn, 
 
 and h»ve ; in bursts of adoration and 
 
THE RESURRECTION OF THE HOLY DEAD. 267 
 
 demptioo he is to accomplish for his saints. What 
 BD epoch will it bo to the conscious universe ! What 
 a moment to the rising dead 1 What a manifestation 
 will it present of Christ's deity j of the fulness of his 
 perfections; and of his dominion over his works! 
 No other display of the beauty of illimitable power 
 and knowledge, all-perfect goodness and grace, can 
 transcend that which the instant summons of myriads 
 and millions of human beings from the ruins of death 
 to a glorious and immortal lite will form. They are 
 to be raised incorruptible and spiritual. " It is sown 
 in corruption ; it is raised in incorruption : it is sown 
 in dishonor, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weak- 
 iscd in power : it is sown a natural body, 
 ir is raised a spiritual body." 1 Corin. xv. 42-4L 
 " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 
 resurrection ; on such the second death hath no 
 power.'' Rev. xx. 6. By this nature they will be 
 freed from the laws of our present bodies, and be fit- 
 ted like the transfigured saints to ascend into the 
 atmosphere to meet the Lord, Thess. iv. 17, and of 
 passing like Christ, if need be, from this world to 
 others. It is not intimated that their resurrection 
 is to be known at the time to living believers and 
 others. It Beems rather that it is not. For a voice 
 from a great multitude proclaimed that " the marriage 
 of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself 
 ready." before the descent of the Word of God with 
 his armies to the great battle with the beast and his 
 hosts: and it is added that to her was granted that 
 
Tl: 
 
 • should be arraj ed in fin 
 tor the fine linen is the righteonsi ints." I 
 
 xix. 5 •'. This implies, that ti 
 
 I, and ad- 
 mitted to tb ma the} 
 
 priests in hi lom — which is symbolized by his 
 
 marriaf e to tfa strnction of the 
 
 by the wild beasl and false prophet. 
 
 :i saints accordingly clothed in fine linen and 
 
 d white hoi exhibit Ling 
 
 him in his descenl from heaven to destroy the i 
 
 mies Bymbolized by the and bdi armi is, who 
 
 gether in war i him. 
 
 B r. -\i.\. 11. li is foreshown also, Zech. \i. 
 that when he oy the hosts w]. 
 
 ': J< rnsalem for the pm • 
 prevent] 
 he is to bring all hi with him. They ar 
 
 ititnted fed 
 Christ, and are to reign with him the thousand 3 1 
 Those offices, and the beauty and glory of their na- 
 ture, indicate thai the Bphere tl. I 1 fill is I 
 
 great dignity and power. It Is to I ially 
 
 in this world, it would seem, and in th< the 
 
 nati they ar< a with Christ, and are — 
 
 it is foreshown in Daniel vii. 18 27— to take the N 
 dom, and p g with him I 
 
 minently suitable thai Christ should 
 unfold to them such a if activity, in which tl 
 
 lofty powers may find ample scope for exertion, 
 
THE CHANGE OF THE LIVING r.r.i.n;\ 269 
 
 they may testify their love to him, and joy in the re- 
 demption of the race by taking a share in the instruc- 
 tion and government of the crowds thai arc to come 
 into existence, and be made partakers of his grace 
 from age to age. They may, also, not improbably fill 
 important offices of authority and love to other orders 
 of intelligences, and cany the knowledge of the work 
 of redemption, as it advances from period to period, 
 to all the countless worlds that wheel in the realms 
 of space. They are not to be idle spectators of the 
 greal scenes Christ's kingdom is to present. They 
 are not to be debarred from testifying, by an active 
 service, the sincerity of their allegiance, and the fer- 
 vor of their love. A theatre of activity is to be 
 opened to them commensurate with the greatness of 
 their powers, and the intimacy of their union to 
 Christ ; and they are to fill offices and render obedi- 
 ences that will form a fit expression of their gratitude 
 and devotion to him ; and carry to the universe who 
 witness their allegiance, indubitable proofs of the 
 reality of their restoration to holiness, and fill all 
 hearts with a sense of the grandeur of the redemp- 
 tion Christ accomplishes. 
 
 The living believers also arc at Christ's coming, to 
 be freed from the sentence to death, and rendered 
 immortal. " Behold, I tell you a mystery : We shall 
 not all Bleep, but we shall all be changed, in a mo- 
 ment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 
 For it shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incor- 
 ruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corrupti- 
 
Til THK LIV1 i:s. 
 
 ble must put rruption ; and th 
 
 immortality. And when this corruptible .-hall i. 
 }>ut oo incorruption, and this mortal shall have put 
 <»n immortality, then Bhall be brought to past- 
 • hat i- m in* h is swallowed up i:. 
 
 Wh( • by Bting : where, Og - thy 
 
 victory '!" 1 Corin. w . 51 55. Th I the 
 
 living, i: not like that of the 
 
 corruptible, hut only to imm from 
 
 the ad from th< Their 
 
 tranfifiguration to glory is probably I 
 
 B later } told that it 
 
 bat they are _ht op in th< 
 
 ■ • '.. L !<1. B* -.-. •• afterwards" — that is 
 time Bubsequent to the resurrection of the h< 
 
 the living who 
 gether with them in th 
 
 the Lord in the air: shall 01 with 
 
 Lord," 1 Th< B8. IV. IT. h a eh; 
 
 •le indicates Christ u iplish for 
 
 the livi: 11 as the dead : '" V 
 
 Saviour, the I. i ho shall cha 
 
 vile body, th.it it may be fashioned like unto hi- 
 rious body, according rking wherehy 1 
 
 able even to subdue all thingfl to him>elf."' Phil. iii. 
 20. 21. i not declare, 1 Corin. 
 
 _ ' :iat the living an- to DC ch 1 at 
 
 moment a- the dead are raised in Lncorrup- 
 
 tion ; he only affirms that their el. take 
 
 the last nth trumpet, which un- 
 
 doubtedly from | r numrx 
 
Tin: CHANGE OF THE LIVING BELIEF 21 I 
 
 to take [dace under it. \\ ill Bound for i 
 Nor is it certain that all the living believers will be 
 changed at the same time. It ia doI improbable 
 that th«' first who are to be rendered immortal, are 
 those who arc represented by the hundred and forty- 
 four thousand, who are said to be "redeemed from 
 among men, the first fruits unto God and the Lamb," 
 Rev. xiv. I. That ( .tlicrs are not to be changed till 
 a later period. Beema indicated by the prediction 
 that it is not until after Christ has come, that he is 
 to "send forth his angels with a great sound of a 
 trumpet, and they Bhall gather together his elect 
 from the four winds, from one end of heaven to 
 another," Matt. xxiv. 31 : and that some who arc to 
 be invited to the marriage feast, are not to be ready 
 till a later period. Matt. xxv. 1-13. The living be- 
 lievers are to be gathered together before Christ and 
 judged also before they are to be admitted to his 
 kingdom, Matt. xxv. 31-40. These transactions 
 may occupy very considerable periods. The re- 
 • • from the sentence to death is at length — after 
 the judgments of the seventh trumpet on the wicked 
 have been executed, to be extended to all, at least all 
 the regenerated. For on the making of all things 
 new, it is declared " there shall be no more death, 
 neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be 
 any more pain ; for the former things are pat 
 away.'* Rev. xxi. 4. What momentous changes in 
 the condition of the race ! What a display they 
 will form of Christ's power ! What an exemplifica- 
 tion of the graciousness of his purposes ! 
 
272 the i roN of the • 
 
 (' J I A PT i: B XXI. 
 
 STB THAT ABE IMMEDIATELY TO FOLLOW CK KING J THK 
 
 DESTRUCTION OK THK ANTI-CHRISTIAN POWERS J THE HINDI N 
 SATAN. 
 
 The next great act of the Saviour will be the 
 BtractioD of the civil and ecclesiastical powers 
 noted by the wild beast of ten horns, the false pro- 
 phet and their armies. The monarchs of W< b1 
 Europe with other kings and the pope, that arc I 
 in league with them, are at that time to I ibled 
 
 in war against him. Three unclean spirits like fir 
 arc to go out of the mouth of the . and out of 
 
 the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the 
 
 prophet. For they are the spirits 
 working miracles, which go forth to the king 
 whole inhabited world — the whole Roman emj 
 rn and western — to gather them to the battle 
 that great day of Cud Almighty," Rev. rvi. 18, 14. 
 And tli«' ten horns of tin* beast in its last form, which 
 are to receive power tu kings at the same time with 
 the bra-i. it is foreshown, u shall make war with 
 
 .-hall 01 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN POWERS. 273 
 
 Lord of lords, and King of kings," Rev. xvii. 12-14. 
 Their aim is to be to prevent the establishment of 
 his throne and kingdom on the earth ; and by cap- 
 turing Jerusalem, which is to be the metropolis of 
 the new Eebrew kingdom, and dispersing the Israel- 
 ites who will have returned and re-established them- 
 selves there ; as is seen from Zechariah xiv, where it 
 is foreshown that " in the day of the Lord all nations 
 are to be gathered against Jerusalem in battle," and 
 are to take and sack the city, carry half its population 
 into captivity, and seem for the moment to have 
 achieved their object. This indicates that they will 
 understand distinctly that it is the teaching of the 
 Scriptures and the expectation of those who look for 
 Christ's coming, that the kingdom of Israel is again 
 to bo established in Palestine, and that the Son of 
 God is to reign over it in person. Their war is 
 therefore to be directly a war with him, for the pur- 
 pose of falsifying his word, and preventing his as- 
 sumption of the world as his empire. It will be 
 eminently appropriate therefore that he should in- 
 terpose in person, confound their impious schemes, 
 and dash them to destruction. And he is to go forth, 
 the prophet foreshows, and fight against those na- 
 tions, and destroy their hosts by a storm of devour- 
 ing fire. " Their flesh shall consume away while 
 they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall con- 
 sume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall 
 consume away in their mouth," v. 12. That they 
 
 are to be destroyed by fire is foreshown also Daniel 
 
 12* 
 
vii. 11 : Lsaiafa l.wi. 15, L6 
 
 li u Indicated also in tl 
 great battle al which ti 
 
 i ' The nnclean spirit 
 
 gather the kings of the earth in a place called in 
 Eebrew tongue, Armageddon, the battle field on the 
 
 : plain of E 3 .ted. 
 
 Judgi b v. L9 21, and Josiah was alain, - Kingfl xxiii. 
 iO. Jn the vision of the bail . xix, 11 21, 
 
 " the beast was taken and with him the false prophet 
 
 that wrought miracles before him, and they •.. 
 alive into a lake of fire burning with brims! 
 
 and the remnant were slain with the BWOrd which 
 proceeded from the m<>nth of him who Bat upon 
 
 Such is to be the end ot* their impious usur- 
 pation of his throne, their attempt t" substitute an 
 idolatrous worship in place of his, their tyranny i 
 
 nations, and their merciless ; and 
 
 slaughter of bifi faithful followers I What a just vindi- 
 cation of himself] What an appropriate retribution 
 
 for their crimes ! It will he the m08t fearful Bp< 
 
 clc of which the world is to be tl. . till the 
 
 l hour arrives when the revolterfl after the I 
 
 of tin- thousand re to meet a like destruction 
 
 by lire ami the unholy dead are to | | and re- 
 
 ceive their final doom : and it will doul I all 
 
 - who witness it, or learn it- occur- 
 
 G and character from the lip- of wi; with 
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE AXTI-CI1PJSTIAN POWERS. 275 
 
 a resistless sense of God's wrath at sinners, and the 
 guilt of sin. 
 
 And what a deliverance to the surviving popula- 
 tion of the world ! These usurping powers and thcii 
 predecessors have been the great corrupters of the 
 nations of Christendom for fifteen centuries. It was 
 they who intermixed the worship of saints, angels, 
 idols, and relics with the worship of God in the 
 church. It was they who instituted the sacrifice of 
 the mass, in place of Christ's sacrifice. It was they 
 who claimed the right of legislating over the church 
 and Christianity itself, annulled the laws of Christ, 
 and substituted a false and corrupt system in their 
 place. It was they who set up the pope as Christ's 
 vicar, claimed for him the rights and honors of an 
 absolute dominion over the word of God, and over 
 the church and the world, and compelled their sub- 
 jects in effect to worship him. It was they who de- 
 nied the word of God to the people, and held them 
 in the thrall of ignorance and superstition, that they 
 might make them the instruments of their avarice, 
 their sensuality, and their ambition. It was they 
 who persecuted the true worshippers from age to 
 age, and consigned myriads and millions of them to 
 torture and to death, for their allegiance to him! 
 What a riddance to the world to have them swept 
 from its bosom, never more to recover their place 
 here ; never more to resume their work of debasing 
 and corrupting mankind ; never more to wreak their 
 infuriate passions on the holy ! There will be no 
 
276 the IMI . 
 
 more corrupters of the race by wicl 
 
 here will he DO mOl 
 
 : by false <1 R and lying miracles. Christ 
 will be the only law- laws will be uni- 
 
 versally received and obeyed. 
 A aother great act he isl the 
 
 itntion of his kingdom! is the banishn 
 and Is from the earth, an 
 
 from their tempting influences. This is forest 
 under the Bymbols of the binding i with a 
 
 chain and shutting him in an abyss. Th a] 
 
 1 come down from I hav- 
 
 ing the key of the bottomless pit and a hain 
 
 in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that 
 old Berpent, which is the I >♦ \ il and Satan, rnnd 
 
 him a thousand 
 
 -lint him up al upon him. that 
 
 mould deceive tin- nation ill the thou- 
 
 sand mould be fulfilled : and after that he I 
 
 1 a little 7, x\. 1 here 
 
 the Bymbol of himself and all the fallen an. 
 demons, w ho are hifl 
 
 and deluding the nations. His I and by a 
 
 .1 chain, cast into the bottom] I shut in 
 
 it by closing and Bealii 
 
 being debarred — by ren and 
 
 held there under restraint. — from access to mankind 
 and precluded from assailing them with a temj 
 
 -hows th 
 
 be delivi 1 his 
 
THE IMPRISONMENT OF 8 \T.\ \ . 277 
 
 angels during the period denoted by the thousand 
 years, and exempted from all influences from him and 
 his agents, by which he now deludes them and excites 
 them to evil. This will be a far greater riddanoe 
 than their deliverance from the usurping rulers and 
 apostate ministers symbolized by the wild beast and 
 false prophet. .We can form but very inadequate 
 conceptions of the vast and benignant change it will 
 cause in the condition of the race. Satan now reigns 
 in the hearts of the children of disobedience, and 
 moulds them to his will ; and exerts all his powers to 
 disturb, seduce, and drive the renewed into sin. He 
 strives to deceive the intellect, to inflame the imagi- 
 nation, to rouse and exacerbate the selfish affections, 
 and impel mankind to all the forms of sin of which 
 they are capable. The misery and madness with 
 which lie would smite them, were it in his power, 
 were exemplified in the maniacs whom he and his 
 legions possessed and tortured in the time of Christ's 
 ministry. He is the author and prompter of all the 
 false religions in the world, of the tyrannical govern- 
 ments, of the corrupt principles and maxims that pre- 
 vail ; and of all the vices of ranks and communities, 
 and the crimes and sins of individuals. How vast his 
 influence i-. is seen from the prediction that immedi- 
 ately on his being released from prison at the close 
 of the thousand years, he is again to seduce the nations 
 and lead them into open revolt and war on God's 
 children. He is especially the great enemy of Christ's 
 kingdom, and contriver and prompter of all the apos- 
 
I III- i M 1 " 
 
 gainst it. I ! kby 
 
 his temptations todefeal Chris! .-it thecomme 
 of his work : and si rove in I ! a the 
 
 whelm him by the- jury and terror of hie 
 i ! ited the •' 
 
 scute the apostles and firsl converts. Be ii 
 
 1 false teachers to misrt | its doctrini 
 
 disturb the church by dif ad to obt 
 
 every form the Bpread and influence of the truth, tie 
 
 cially prompted the greal apostasy of the Man of 
 sin, whose coming we are told, is after the working 
 of Satan, with all power and signs and lyii 
 ders, and with all deceivabh nnright 
 
 in them that perish." i^ These, ii. «.'. l<». A:. 
 fierce and restless are hi- assaults on believers, that 
 Paul represents each oi I i be clothed 
 
 in the whole arm.tr of God, in order to I 
 from his fiery darts. Ii about as a roaring 
 
 lion, seeking whom he may devour; and all are the 
 objects of his malice ; all feel the fury of hit 
 saull 
 
 Into what silence will the world sink, when the 
 \\hirlwiml of his tempting agency is arrested in its 
 infuriate career, and he is dashed into the depths 
 the abyss, and it- mass] >hut over him and 
 
 sealed] [nto whal a calm will the passions of men 
 subside! What a stupendous deliverano I 01 bow 
 
 • an element in the curse of revolt, will that 
 I I A suitable when Ch -ses- 
 
tin: imprisox.mi:.\t OF BATAH. 279 
 
 sion of the earth to redeem ita tribes and nations, 
 that Satan Bhould be banished from his presence, and 
 unobstructed access to their hearts be opened to the 
 enlightening, renewing, and sanctifying influence of 
 the Boly Spirit! 
 
280 the jn 
 
 (HA PT i: B X XII. 
 
 TO THAT ARE IMMEDIATELY To FOLLOW CHRIST'S COMING. — THE 
 
 Ji: the i.ivim; K1XI0X8. — the rest, -ration- OF the 
 
 ;:ljtes. — the EFFUSION oe the holy BPBff, 
 
 Ahothsb art that is to mark the commencement 
 Christ's -ii. is the judgment of the Living nati 
 11 When the Son of Man shall come in hie and 
 
 all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon 
 throne of his glory : And ; I be 
 
 gathered all nati 1 he Bhall » 
 
 . another as a shepherd divideth his sheep I 
 the . and he Bhall set the ight 
 
 hand, but the goats on the left. Then Bhall I 
 say nnto thoni on his right hand : C 
 of my Father : inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world. . . Then shall he 
 say also unto them on his left hand : Depart 1 
 
 g fire, prepared for the devil 
 
 and his angels. And these Bhall go away i: • 
 
 ng punishment, hut I 
 mil." Matt. xxv. :;l 
 Ti. stent are the living na- 
 
Tin: JUDGMENT OF THE LIVING NATION8. 2S I 
 
 tions of the earth al thai epoch: the term *£ kdwi, the 
 nations being always used in the Scriptures to denote 
 
 the living* population of the globe in the great divi- 
 sions by which they are distinguished, as peoples un- 
 der separate governments, kindreds or tribes de- 
 scended from the same ancestor, or tongues, speak- 
 ing the same languages. Many hold it to be the general 
 judgment ; but that is an error. The reasons of the 
 awards assigned them are represented to be their 
 conduct toward Christ's disciples in wants, sicknesses, 
 and imprisonments to which they had been subjected. 
 " Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 
 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I was 
 thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger, and 
 ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was 
 sick, and ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye came 
 unto me. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye 
 have done it unto one of the least of these my breth- 
 ren, ye have done it unto me." But unto them on 
 his left hand, he will say : " Inasmuch as ye did it not 
 unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it 
 not unto me." This indicates that the disciples of 
 Christ arc immediately before this judgment to be 
 overwhelmed with poverty and suffering, and be cast 
 into prison ; and doubtless in the persecution that is 
 to rage at Christ's coming ; and that the nations are 
 then to be divided into two great parties, one of 
 which shall take the side of Christ's suffering disci- 
 ples, and endeavor to relieve their necessities and 
 
282 Tin. 
 
 the their 
 persecutors, and n fuse all aid and sympathy to 
 Christ's brethren. It won! thai 
 
 : e then to be judged, are th who 
 
 bave acted in a direct relation to Christ and bis 
 in those circumstances, and whose oondo 
 sympathizing friends, or merciless and I 
 
 in index of their 
 toward Chri 
 
 All the open and relentless enemies of Christ 
 his kingdom are thus to be swept from the earth. 
 The restoration of the Israelites and reorganization 
 people, is to take place soon after Christ's com- 
 ing. A portion of that people are to return and at- 
 temj Bstablish themseh 
 
 from Zech. xiv. L,2 ad it i- I 
 
 the aim of the nations in assailing them to disj 
 them again, and prevent th< 
 tiah kingdom there, conformably to the prediction* 
 the prophets. The chief re-gathering of Jhat nation 
 however, and reorganization 
 
 take place after Christ's advent and destruction 
 of Ins and their em ter lie 1. 
 
 with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to 
 render hi with fury, and his rebuke with flai 
 
 of fire, that he is to gather all nations and I 
 and they .-hall come and Bee his glory : and 
 •i among them, and Bend those thai 
 of them to the nations that have not heard h 
 to declare his glory among the Gentiles j and tl 
 
THE RESTORATIOH OF THE ISRAELII 283 
 
 are to bring all the Israelites an offering onto the 
 Lord out of all nations to Jerusalem, and he is to 
 take of them for priests and for Levitcs ; and as the 
 
 new heavens and the new earth which he is to create 
 are to remain before him, so is their seed and their 
 name to remain. Isaiah Ixvi. 15 22. 
 
 This will in every relation be a great and wonder- 
 ful event, and fill the world with awe and joy. Their 
 regathering from the four quarters of the globe into 
 which they are dispersed, division into the tribes to 
 which they belong, and reunion as one people in their 
 national land, will accomplish a long series of pro- 
 mises and prophecies respecting them of the Old and 
 New Testament, and will involve majestic displays of 
 God's knowledge, faithfulness, and power. The co- 
 operation of the Gentiles in their return, indicates 
 that they are to understand the purpose of God in 
 their exile and their restoration, and know the great 
 scheme of his future reign over the world. Their re- 
 adoption as God's chosen people, and the resumption 
 over them by Christ of a theocratic government, will 
 be a sublime event : and their intimate relations to 
 him, and the offices they are to fill as priests and Le- 
 vites in his kingdom, will invest them with a high 
 and sacred influence over the nations. What wit- 
 will they forever be of the truth of God's 
 covenants and promises! What monuments of his 
 grace and faithfulness ! With what a dazzling glory 
 will his justice shine in the records of their lineage! 
 Who will ever doubt that their redemption is the 
 
'-> 1 m ;:it. 
 
 work of ! ad t hat the wisdom, 
 
 truth, ami right* wholly I 
 
 Thai in their rebellion and a] 
 
 three thousand and five hundred 
 of the most awful exemplification* 
 of what man ifl. Their restoration to holii 
 elevation from the physical degradati< hich 
 
 they bave sunk, to the dignity and 1 
 
 will form one of ti. 
 which the earth is to be the grandeur 
 
 • kni'a thoughts ami purposes of love in the work 
 of redemption. 
 
 And finally, Q lis then to pour out his Spirit in 
 effusions immeasurably transcending any which his 
 people bave hitherto enjoyed. u And it shall i 
 to pass afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit upon all 
 flesh, an<l your Bona and your d 
 phesy, your old men shall dream dreai your 
 
 young men shall see \ i 
 
 ! upon the handmaids in thot I will 
 
 pour out my Spirit." This is to I 
 and terrible day of the Lord/' when fhis 
 
 coming, "wonders are to appear in the I 
 
 in the earth, blood and lire, and pillai 
 
 bud shall be turned into darkness, and the moon i u t - » 
 
 bl 1." And he is at Length to appear for tic 
 
 li\ nance of those in Zion who call <>n his nam* . 
 ii. -J- 22; Zechariah riv. 1 11. The influei 
 
 the Bpiril arc tl 
 
 of l.oth ; all ranks, and endow them with 
 
THE EFFUSIOH 01 THE SPIBIT. 
 
 prophetic gifts as weU as renew and sanctify them ; 
 and they arc all to be filled with the knowledge of 
 him, and all have his law written on their hearts. 
 "This is the covenant 1 will make with the house, of 
 Israel: after those days" — the days of their disper- 
 sion — " saith the Lord, 1 will put my law in their in- 
 ward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be 
 their God : and they shall bo my people. And they 
 shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and 
 every man his brother. Baying, Know the Lord; for 
 they shall all know me, from the least to the great- 
 est of them, Baith the Lord ; for 1 will forgive their 
 iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." 
 Jerem. \.\xi. 32-34. The measures in which they 
 are to bo crowned with the gifts of the Spirit, ai 
 much to surpass those which men now enjoy, as the 
 blessings of their external condition are. The dis- 
 pensation Christ is to institute, is then to be suited 
 in all its relations to the redemption of mankind from 
 the sway and enrse of sin, and elevate them to the 
 rectitude, the intelligence, the dignity, and tin' bless- 
 edness that befit a race restored from revolt, and 
 n to dwell under the direet rule, and to enjoy tho 
 immediate presence and smile of the Divine Re- 
 deemer. 
 
iN OF II" 
 
 (HA I'T i: B X X I 1 J. 
 ra that a:. llow cii the 
 
 n i REATION OF T1IK HI W ENS AND EARTH. THE EARTH U 
 TO DK ANNIHII.ATr.K BY A CONITJj 
 
 Christ ia thru by a new creation, I 
 and earth from the curse with which they w< 
 ten by the fall, to a condition much like that probably 
 in which they originally existed, and fitting then 
 be i be b< ■ ae of his reign, and the r< - holy 
 
 and immortal b< ings. That this restitution or b 
 formation of them ia to be wroii 
 
 is Been from 2 Peter iii. 7 13, where it is shown 
 that it is to take place immediately after the firii e 
 the earth and atmosphere at hia advent, by which 
 the ungodly are to be d< I, and that it is I 
 
 that new creation which is promised I-aiah l.w. IT. 
 
 ■ the restoration of the Israelites to their national 
 land. •• We according to his promise the 
 
 heavens and b rth. 
 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness :" and thai ia the pro- 
 mise of their new creation at the recall of th< I 
 
 doption I , Isaiah lxv. 17 
 
nil: \i:\v CREATION OF THE HEAVENS LND EARTH. 287 
 
 25, when the curse on the earth is to be repealed. 
 " For behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth, 
 and the former shall nol -be remembered nor come 
 into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in 
 that which I create : for behold I create Jerusalem a 
 rejoicing, and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in 
 Jerusalem, and joy in my people, ; and the voice of 
 weeping shall be no more heard in her. nor me voice 
 of crying. There shall l>c no more thence an infant 
 of days, aor an old man that hath not filled his days : 
 for the child an hundred years old shall die : and tlio 
 sinner an hundred years old shall be accursed." This 
 indicates that the change to be wrought is Buch, that 
 the race will he restored to a vigor of life like that 
 of its primitive inhabitants : so that infancy shall not 
 be confined, as n<>w, to a short period, nor the season 
 of maturity pass prematurely into the decrepitude of 
 old age. The expression, " the child an hundred years 
 old shall die ;" is perhaps hypothetical, and means 
 that should a child die, it might die a hundred years 
 old ; but a sinner of that age would be accursed, or 
 reprobate ; and therefore that the supposition that 
 he Bhould exist is inc. insistent with the righteousness 
 and bliss that are to reign in the new earth : as in the 
 
 parallel passage, Rev. \\i. -1. it is expressly foreshown 
 that after the descent of the \ ■ .-. J ■rusalem. there is 
 not to he any more death. "And God shall wipe 
 away all tears from their eyes : and there Bhall be no 
 more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall 
 there be any more pain : for the former things 
 
;.\i:th. 
 
 I that tli' 
 ruaalem ia to take place at the marriage Biippx 
 I. after the destruction 
 
 the prophets falling down to worship tl 
 which, though narrated by him I .. 1", 
 
 1X11. 
 
 it took place «'ii the proclamation from thai 
 
 the marriage of the Lamb had come, chap. six. LO, 
 
 . ision of the destruction of the wild-b< 
 it indicates, in conformity with the prediction of Isa- 
 iah and Peter, thai the creation of the i 
 and i isen saints ia to take plac 
 
 period soon after Christ comes. The earth is thus 
 to be prepared by its new creation for tl 
 mankind in their rei 
 
 ingdom and visible reign. " The wil 
 and the solitary place Bhall be glad ; and th< 
 
 shall rejoio hall 
 
 blossom abundantly and rej 
 
 ing : the glory of Lebanon shall 
 the excellent I rmel and Sharon : they BhaU 
 
 the glory of the Lord, — the excellency v\' on 
 b 1 1 \ . 1 . 2. 
 It is generally maintained indeed by Anti-mill 
 rians that the earth is to be annihi 
 coming. That belief is founded on the predict! 
 
 L3. Th( uich 
 
 i> there foreshown, is to destroy tl 
 
 ihilate the earth, as is Been from the follow 
 translation and exposition. 
 
THE i:\i:ill IB NOT TO H ANNIHILATED. 
 
 - Knowing this first, that there shall come in the 
 Lost of the days mockers, walking according to their 
 own inordim tnd saying, WTiere is the pro- 
 
 mise of hi- coming ? For since the fathers fell asleep, 
 all things continne as from the beginning of the crea- 
 tion. Vov they are willingly ignorant [or inconside- 
 rate] of this : that by the word of God tlio Leavens 
 were of old, and the earth standing out of water and 
 in water, through which [that is, the heavens from 
 which the rain fejl, and the land which w. ssed 
 
 beneath the ocean] the world of that time was de- 
 stroyed [that is, made a waste.] But the present 
 heavens and earth are by the same word treasured 
 up for lire ; reserved to the day of judgment and de- 
 struction of the men that are impious. But let it not 
 he unknown to [or escape] you, beloved, that one 
 day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thou- 
 sand years as one day. The Lord is not dilatory re- 
 tting the promise, as some count dilatoriness ; but 
 is long Buffering toward us; not desiring that any 
 should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
 
 •• But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in 
 
 which the heavens will pass with a rushing noi 
 
 and ting kindled will melt ; and the 
 
 earth and the works on it will be burned. A.8 then 
 
 all these are (to be) 1 K>sed [let loose], what manner 
 
 <>1 persona ought ye t«> I ■• In holy deportment and 
 
 v. looking for and earnestly awaiting- the coming 
 
 of the day of God, in which the heavens 1 > e i n lc in- 
 
 13 
 
THE WVIIIILATED. 
 
 flamed shall be ! i ash in fiery whirlwi] 
 
 and • i fired shall melt 
 
 . howei 
 
 k for, in which right 
 This translation gn 
 
 'I in th( . t he 
 
 the an 
 winds, clouds, and reflected ligfc 
 
 ] 
 Koofio, the f rid of that 1 
 
 plj thai it v. bab- 
 
 itabL not that it was annihilated, or subjt 
 
 to a total dissolution of its part-. I 
 
 . inhabitable world, : f all its 
 
 land beneath th< on a 
 
 quicksand is ed when it sinks 
 
 ad a houi rthrown 
 
 by a tempest, thotigh the that takes pla 
 
 a mere chang jition, by which it is onfitted for 
 
 the purpose for which it ihi- 
 
 Lation, or even a <li~ "1* its | 
 
 tli'- men that are eminently wicked, the 
 Impious : not the sinful simply, for tin- renewed 
 Mill sinful : nor tli*- men unregenerate, for man 
 them, a' ially the young, are not impi 
 
 - 
 the atm -hall pass with a rushin 
 
 limply that it shall rush by in the f<>rni • 
 
 wind, like a tornado: not that it shall be annihilated, 
 
THE EARTH is NOT TO BE ANNIHILATED, 291 
 
 or vanish into space, and Leave the earth in a vacuum. 
 Tin 4 Literal meaning of the verb is, to pass along by : 
 and that it is Qsed in its Literal sense, is clear from the 
 consideration that the movement which it denot* 
 t,» In- piiftdov, with a 1< >inl noise, as of a rushing wind. 
 1 1 is employed, therefore, literally to signify an 
 tual movement of the atmosphere along the surface 
 oi' the earth; not metaphorically, to express some 
 analogous change, such as annihilation, which would 
 involve no motion in space, and produce no n 
 If instead of being employed literally, it were i 
 by a metaphor to denote some change that merely 
 resembles a motion in space, or the effect of such a 
 movement, such as a disappearance like that of a 
 body that by its motion passes out of sight, or a . 
 ing to be ; then the idea of motion in space would 
 be dropped, and only the analogous idea of ceasing 
 to be, be retained. But the idea of motion is not 
 here dropped, but is the identical act which the verb 
 describes, as is seen from the fact, that the act it de- 
 notes, is to produce a loud noise, as of a rushing wind ; 
 which could not be, except by a real, ami a violent 
 and agitated movement. Xo terms could have 1 
 I that would have more absolutely defined the 
 at denoted as a movement of the air accordii 
 its ordinary laws, as in a whirlwind or tornado ; and 
 excluded the idea of cessation from being or vanish- 
 ing into distant space. As then the event which it 
 denotes, would have its full accomplishment in furious 
 blasts and rushing whirlwinds, like those that result 
 
verb 
 
 to i:. • 
 
 - anphilosophical ind 
 
 I radictory to the lanj I 
 
 writer- suppose, the atmosphere 
 the earth, it would i ly by il 
 
 id from tlir for it by 1 
 
 . ith a positi ■ 
 jeci werful attraction from 
 
 body : for if .-imply ri from tl 
 
 gravity, it would be tfu i arth ' 
 the > that v, 
 
 from the earth. ould dn 
 
 power of producing Bound, no d 
 motion might b deprived of v. 
 
 would be as incapable of vibrati 
 ami even it' still susceptible of vibr 
 duce qo impression on the ear; as wei I im- 
 
 pulse are necessary to give motion to the drum of the 
 
 ite the sensation of Bound. U could 
 e, produce the loud rushing noise that 
 
 V supposition im- 
 
 bued with a repellei . by which it Bhould 
 
 • qually incoi with it- 
 
 old i qually divi 
 ducing by rture the 
 
 What can l anphilosophi 
 
EARTH I- HOT TO BE ANNIHILATED. 293 
 
 that the laws of matter are thus to 1"' wholly re- 
 ■d, or the earth and air invested with a new na- 
 ture in order to their destruction ! Arc these wril 
 aware of the existem y Buch repellenl for© 
 
 the uni\ if transfused into the atmosphen 
 
 earth, would instantly drive them asunder? [s nol 
 gravity a property of all matter, and is not its law 
 demonstrably from the movements of the heavenly 
 bodies, the Bame in all other spine 
 What right have th thai 
 
 that power is to be struck from the air, and a di- 
 !v opposite pri: substituted in its place, 
 
 in order that they may give a color of authority to 
 their theory of the annihilation at that crisis of the 
 atmosphere, and the destruction thereby of all the 
 human beings then dwelling on the globe ? They 
 Burely cannot have considered what their assumption 
 involves. But the supposition of the atmosphi 
 being endowed with such a repellent force, is equally 
 I to their scheme ; as it would divest it of its 
 ver of producing ition of sound as it re- 
 
 d from the earth : for as it would then fly off at 
 every point, in a line perpendicular I irface of 
 
 the earth, as Boon as it had risen above the ! 
 men — which would be as quick as thought — it would 
 mi thei ad be u of pro- 
 
 ducing i of the rushing noise which is to at- 
 
 tend the movement that is predicted in this ; 
 }\ '.i, moreover, left in such a vacuum, and struggling 
 on the one hand with the agonies of suffocation, and 
 
Tin: ■ 
 
 on Hi*' other with the still gi 
 
 pansion of their bodies and the effusion of blood from 
 nt on their being freed from the 
 e of the atmosphere, would have little Leisure 
 for, or pi m er of gn i ation to the 
 
 atmosphere aa it receded into rei 
 
 thai its rnsh m re per* 
 tible by the ear. Had these write Fully 
 
 ed what their construction involvi 
 would have Bhrunk from ascribing to I 
 Buch a tissue of impossibilities and absurditi ■ 
 
 i- | . are the elements or Bimple buI 
 which the world or its different parts consist. T 
 have been supposed by some wri 
 chiefly of the atmosphere, and the vapors ai 
 material Bubstanoes that ordinarily float in it. T 
 Is no ground, h< in the language for such a 
 
 limitation : and in v. 10 they undoubted! the 
 
 inflammable buI - thai are th< 
 
 from the earth into the air. Neither the atmosphere 
 in fact, nor the water that floats in it. in the form of 
 vapor and clouds, is capable of fusion by he t. They 
 are naturally fluids, not made rach in distinction from 
 solids, by the application of heat. TJ 
 them of a high measure of I limply to 
 
 them into a greater volumt : avert them 
 
 thinner fluids ; not to divest them of Bolidity, which 
 
 to theirnature. Melting is a pr< 
 of which Bolide alone are susceptible, li is the min- 
 eral Bubstancea of tl 
 
THE EARTH is NfOT TO BE ANNIHILATED. 295 
 
 that are to be ejected into the atmosphere at the 
 period, that are denoted by oroixeia, elementary Bub- 
 Btances, v, 10, thai are to be kindled and let lo 
 
 Kaveovfieva, signifies being Bet on fire, kindled, put in a 
 blaze. The elements that are thus to be enkindled 
 are doubtless those that are naturally inflammable, 
 such as carbon, sulphur, and gases of which they or 
 other inflammable Bubstances are ingredients. AvOfj- 
 covrat is used in the sense of let loose, as the burning 
 elements of a volcano are when projected into the at- 
 sphere, and driven by furious Masts, they become 
 the means of assailing and destroying men. The 
 verb literally denotes, to untie, to loosen, to unbind, 
 to Bet tree from a physical restraint, like a bond or 
 fetter. It does not involve the idea at all, therefore, 
 of the cessation or annihilation of that which is let 
 loose. Instead, it implies that it continues in its 
 state of release, and that if there has been any cessa- 
 tion of existence, it is of the bond or force from which 
 i: is released. In like manner, a sense of annihila- 
 tion, or ceasing to be, is not involved at all in its use 
 when employed by a metaphor to denote a resem- 
 bling release of persons or things from a condition 
 like that of being tied or bound with a fetter ; as the 
 loosing a slave from bondage, which is a political 
 change ; the freeing the body from pain, which is a 
 change of sensation ; and the release of a person 
 from death. In all these metaphorical uses of the 
 verb, the continued existence of that which is re- 
 1 d, and in its proper nature, is implied in its be- 
 
THE 
 
 continuity i imply, do1 to annihil 
 chemicaJ dissolul ; and to < 
 
 down a building, is merel; 
 
 ad other elements, from thai 
 menl and connexion with each other, by which it ia 
 
 . a buildin t 1 
 
 of w bich it c e the form in which I 
 
 • 
 ill timber, and all the other elem 
 what t' 1 
 
 therefore, in m invob anni- 
 
 hilation or absolute destruction of that 
 
 • 1 : but, trily im] tinu- 
 
 . Jn this in-' 
 liify that the elements of the kindled earth are t<> 1 
 ! ■ from ti. by which thi ituraUy I 
 
 in a condition that is COmpal 
 
 enjoyment of m luid matt 
 
 1 into t b phere, at 
 
 ish upon them and become the i 
 destruction. I I involi 
 
 notion of their chemical dissoluti annihilat 
 
 more than the ] * ». » ^ i 1 1 lt of tl. 
 
 Luke xiii. 15, i r the 
 u 1 at the k \i. I. Implied 
 
 aical dissolution and annihilati 
 aniii: 
 
 lrttii ;int from 
 
 clemi of a different kind fi 
 
Tin: EARTH [6 NOT TO BE ANNIHILATED. 297 
 
 from which the animals were released by antyin 
 removing their fastenings. 
 
 '•And the earth and the Works On it KaTweavaeTtu shall 
 
 be burned." The earth and the works on it are not 
 
 the same as the kindled elements which arc to be lei 
 loose, l>ut are combustible things on the surface of 
 
 the earth, such as crops, grass, trees, and structures 
 erected by men, on which those burning element-. 
 projected into the atmosphere and borne off by the 
 winds, will fall, and kindle, and burn them. To sup- 
 pose that the burning elements, and the natural and 
 artificial objects on the earth are the same, would be 
 to treat the passage as tautological. If the elements, 
 and the earth, and the works on it, are the same, and 
 the prediction that the kindled elements shall be let 
 loose, means, as the common construction represents, 
 that they shall be dissolved and reduced to a chaos, 
 or annihilated, why is it added that the earth and the 
 works on it shall be burned? It would imply that 
 the earth and the works on it are to continue to be 
 the earth and the works on it, and therefore to con- 
 tinue to Bubsisl in their natural state, after they have 
 undergone a total dissolution ami passed out of exist- 
 ence. Instead of such a contradictory sense, the re- 
 presentation of the passage i-. that the burning of 
 h and the works on it is to be consequential 
 on the letting loose of the kindled elements. The 
 combustible matter with which the surface of the 
 earth is to be covered — grass, crops, tree-, buildings 
 
 — is to be seton fire bv the kindled elements projected 
 
 13* 
 
THE 
 
 into the atmosphere, an<l burnt tsually i 
 
 place in volcanic erupti< 
 
 then all 
 anloosed [to 1" 
 wh.it manner of pew 
 
 means nol only the kindled elements and th< 
 phere, bn1 the bnrning Bubsl 
 of the earth, which the elements falling from tl. 
 mosphere are to kindle. 
 ii - 
 
 'I ■ taction l holy 
 
 deportment and piety, is, thai the 01 
 reference to men, the other to God. I 
 
 . . n ell as are governed : ■ i 
 
 and tin 1 is ;— all these then — the 
 
 kindled elements, the atmosph< the bnn 
 
 Bubstances od the Burface of the oartb thus 
 
 to be anloosed from their naturt •• in- 
 
 struments of destruction to the impious; how holy 
 oughl y<»ur deportment to be towards men, and your 
 heart.- towards (J ...l. that you may not be amoi 
 who are then to perish ; and how ought you to live 
 in t! station of th> \ of that day, an I 
 
 alixatioii that the kindled atmosphere is then I 
 Lei Loose, and the burning elements of the earth to 
 melt, and carry terror and death to those who a: 
 
 rtainty thai thes 
 L< ss In -' rui Lents oi d< ith are to I e 
 
 truction of the impious, is thus made the 
 by the apostle of enforcing the duty on the one h 
 
THE EARTH is Not To BE ANNIHILATED. 299 
 
 of a life of uprightness towards men, and piety to- 
 wards (\o>\. and on the other of an habitual looking 
 for and earnest contemplation of the day of God, as 
 
 to be marked by those awful evolutions of the powers 
 of nature, and employment for the destruction of the 
 impious who are then to perish. 
 
 "New heavens, however, and a new earth, we, ac- 
 cording to his promise, look for, in which righteous- 
 ness dwells/' and which therefore, the implication is, 
 are never to be made engines of destruction, as men 
 are never again to become impious. 
 
 Such is indubitably the philological meaning of 
 this passage ; the simple, full, and only sense it will 
 bear. Not a hue of the pencil, in the explication 
 we have given of it, is either raised above, or de- 
 pressed below the color of the original. And not a 
 trace appears in it of the universal conflagration, dis- 
 solution, and annihilation of the earth and atmosphere, 
 which commentators generally have supposed it to 
 foreshow. The notion of such a catastrophe has no 
 just foundation in the passage, and has sprung entirely 
 from a misconception of the import of the terms, a 
 sequent misjudgment of the phenomena which 
 they describe, and a neglect to consider the incom- 
 patibility of a genera] conflagration and dissolution 
 of all things with the descriptions that are given in 
 other parts of the Bacred word, of the s:ime event. 
 
800 
 
 i a pt i: a x x i v. 
 
 TIIK EASTS KOI T<> BE ANNII 
 
 Tin-: truth of tl 
 chapter of the pro] 
 still more apparent by a 
 
 and grounds of tl itrnctionl rdinarilyput 
 
 wholly i kible 
 
 with the survival 
 natural life : and by i 
 BnppositioD 
 
 Ii results, 1. from th< 
 
 of th 
 
 »y, which the 
 
 of commentatoi 
 
 plain 
 
 ration of th( 
 univt - . \ onld 1"' : 
 
 11 the in. the jnd 
 
 tion i are in.. 
 
Tin: GLOi . to r:i: annihilated. 301 
 
 an<l earth are reserved for fire. Bui how would 
 conflagration of the Bun, the moon, and the plai 
 be necessary to thai destruction, or in any manner 
 contribute to it? And muoh more, how would the 
 
 lagration of all the other as of worlds that 
 
 iill the boundless realms of Bpace, that have no phy- 
 sical connection whatever with our Bystem, be need- 
 ful to that end? Do those persons suppose the un- 
 (10 are then to perish, are to be destroyed 
 by the flames of the distant part< of the unive 
 
 it, if they are to be id by the fires of the 
 
 earth, what need can tl of a more e.\ 
 
 conflagration? But the word ol oipavoi, the heav 
 instead of the sun, moon, planets, and the starry 
 spheres, denotes simply the atmosphere of the earth ; 
 the region of the air above us, in which "the fowls 
 of heaven" fly, and " the clouds of heaven" float. This 
 is clear, not onlyfrom the subject itself of the pass 
 but especially from the prediction that olovpavoi, the 
 heavens, shall pass away, or rush with a crash, or 
 loud noise ; which Bhows that the rush or rapid mo- 
 tion producing- the crashing noise, is to be within the 
 limits of our atmosphere, inasmuch as it is only with- 
 in the region of the air that the motion of ob; 
 can produce a sound. To suppose that a rush of Ju- 
 piter, Saturn, ai.d Berschel, from their orl 
 
 •<>, would produce a crash which, would be heard 
 in our world, is to assume that the whole region 
 through which the sound would i filled by an 
 
 element susceptible of vibration, like our atmosphere, 
 
302 THE GLOBE K 
 
 which is contrary to fact. No bucIi 
 
 in the space thai Burrounds our atm . which, 
 
 a been determined by astr 
 tends only to a heighl of fortj fifty d 
 
 Beyond thai limit, as al the distance of the moon and 
 plan< lv could no more prodii - 1 j i i j ,lt vi- 
 
 bration in our atmosphere by dashing tl. 
 than it could by remaining stationary. The c 
 trophe, then, which the prophecy foreshows is un- 
 questionably to be confined to our world. 
 
 < i rard the showing thai 
 
 earth al leasl is to be completely consumed, or redn 
 Inders, and perhaps struck from existence. T 
 derive that impression probably from tl 
 in the common version, thai u the earth also, and the 
 works thai are therein, shall be burned uj»." 
 house, or other wooden structure, a field of 
 
 grain, or any combustible mi I 
 up when it is completely fired, divesl 
 
 tion, and reduced | 
 
 that the language implies that the whoL earth is in 
 
 like manner to be consumed by the fire, divested of 
 
 all its organized structure. averted, al I 
 
 into a mass of ruins, if not bw 
 
 Bu1 this, the original t warrant. All thai 
 
 verb means is thai the earth— that is, the combustible 
 
 things on its surface, in the 
 
 trophe occurs, shall 1 -hall bun 
 
 i sample, in a volcanic explosion, when the burn- 
 ing lava fires and consum inflammable obj 
 
THE GLOBE ES NOT TO BE ANNIHILATED. 
 
 imim diately around, with which it comes in contact. 
 Jn like manner, when a violent apheaval and agita- 
 tion of t he Bnrface of the earth in a particular dial rid 
 
 is produced by interior tires, the earth, without limita- 
 tion, is said to shake and quake, although the move- 
 ment is confined to a narrow region and to its mere 
 surface. So also the earth is said to be wrapped in 
 darkness at night, although the darkness is confined 
 to one hemisphere, while the other is basking in the 
 full light of day. And it is predicted that at the de- 
 st ruction of the antichristian hosts, "the mountains 
 shall be melted with their blood,' 7 Isaiah xxiv. 3 ; 
 though those mountains only are meant which are to 
 be the scene of their slaughter, and not all the moun- 
 tains of the globe. That all that this language means 
 is. that the inflammable matter on the surface of the 
 earth will be set on fire and will burn, in the regions 
 where the destruction of the ungodly is to take place, 
 is shown still more clearly by the fact, hereafter to 
 be adduced, that even the wicked themselves, who 
 arc to be destroyed by the flames, are not to be ab- 
 solutely consumed, but are to remain in such a condi- 
 tion as to be devoured by the birds of the air, and to 
 require a burial. 
 
 Others seem to suppose that the conflagration in 
 the atmosphere is to be universal, and is to take 
 place at the same time over the whole surface of the 
 globe ; and that the survivance of any of its popula- 
 tion must therefore be impossible. This notion, 
 however, has no ground whatever in the p 
 
804 
 
 The prediction is simpl; 
 
 be kindled, and tall rush with 
 
 the whol 
 phere of the i be kindled b in that 
 
 man w ill be accomplish d, if that 
 
 takes place in tl. I be impious, \\ b< 
 
 to perish, are assembled. A 
 
 ibustible, ami cannol 
 BtitutenJ aade inflammable 
 
 plication of ber chemical fori 
 
 rate from itself, it is apparent thai the firii 
 air, or Glling the air with fire, must 
 if wrought as it doubtless will be, by natural m 
 — by the infusion into il 
 
 ment, Buch as an inflammabl< sulphur. 
 
 The fire by which thai combustible element 1 
 inflamed and i into the air, is probably I 
 
 that which is to issue from the thr< Dan. 
 
 vu. 9, 1": the flaming fire in which he is I 
 vealed when be cornea to take s i 
 mies, [saiah Ixvi. L5, L6 . 7. >. It then 
 
 inflammable element is to be introdn the 
 
 atmosphere at the time — unJ mo- 
 
 ment, which will not be deemed likely, 
 ample Btores of combustibles exist inl 
 - \\ hit ia bo probable as that it will be 
 from th at the time, by the earthquakes which 
 
 olse the globe, Zech. liv. 1. 
 1 the firing of the interior by the lightni 
 flashed from the divine pn by which th 
 
GLOBE 19 Nor TO BE a 
 
 earthquakes are to be generated and the mount 
 
 i mell : which, it is predict 
 to take place al ring to reign on the earth? 
 
 ■• A G g eth before him and bnrneth up I 
 mies round about. His lightnings enlightened the 
 world ; the earth Baw and trembled. The hills melt- 
 ed Like wax at the | the Lord, al the pre- 
 rd of the whole earth." But if that 
 is id be the source of the inflammable materials with 
 which the atmosphere is to be kindled, and the fusion 
 of the earthy matter on which the volcanic 6 
 
 ■ be the melting of the elements which the pre- 
 diction foreshows, it is not to he supposed that it is 
 to extend at once through the whole mass of t!, 
 
 sphere around the whole globe. It will naturally, 
 and without a miracle necessarily, be confined to the 
 regions immediately round the scenes of the earth- 
 quakes and volcanic fires, and thence to the portions 
 of the atmosphere over the regions in which the un- 
 godly men are assembled, whom its office is to de- 
 stroy. And such a firing of the earth, and conflag 
 tion of the air, in those regions in which great num- 
 3 of the antichristian party live and are to be 
 mbl< d, will fully equal the import of the pn 
 . and form an ample verification of it. This view 
 will be rendered still more indubital I nsidera- 
 
 hereaftei 
 If it is held that the conflagration, i f being 
 
 produced by natural means, is to be the work exclu- 
 sively of a miracle, then no explanation of the exemp- 
 
. \NI!I1!.\ 
 
 bo are living on the earth it 
 : inasmuch as if the conflagration is altogether 
 miraculous, the oxemption of the nations is ju 
 t with the miracle as their destruction * 
 be. The whole supposition that the Living popula- 
 tion of the globe are to perish by the conflagration, 
 proceeds on the assumption thai the fire is I 
 cording to the laws of nature It" th< 
 of nature nave no place in it. but it i lere 
 
 work of the divine volition, the the 
 
 nations is jusl a U nt with it as their 
 
 tion can he 'I'm maintain, accordingly, that the 
 burning <»f the atmosphere must naturally 
 the inhabitants of the earth, i- t«» maintain I 
 
 lire i< to ad according to the natural and invari. 
 
 Laws of thai element ; and that implies that it 
 lie produced by natural mean-: tint is, by the in- 
 flammation nt' naturally combustible That, 
 h<>\\ rily implies that thoc 
 
 to he drawn from the earth it-el;', in which i 
 
 hie matter exists in ample quantity : for why Bhould 
 it l»e bu] ( combustible 
 
 ments t<> fire the earth, when such i 
 • in the earl ' nd only 
 
 to kindli I hem into tl 
 
 Bui the supposition that tin; 
 drawn from the earth itself, implies that they art 
 
 be developed and emitted into the atmosphere only 
 in certai - and in limited quantities : for that 
 
 resul partial distribut 
 
THE GLOBE l> NOT TO BE ANNIHILATED. 'M)'i 
 
 those elements, and their agency as far as ii has hith- 
 erto beeE exemplified ; and thence it follows thai the 
 conflagration, instead of being universal al the same 
 moment, is to be confined to limited regions : and aa 
 will hereafter appe'ar, Is to take place in those region ; 
 successively. 
 
 Others assume that none of the nnsanctified are to 
 escape that conflagration, from the fact thai it Is de- 
 signed to destroy " the men that are impious." That 
 term, however, rvraoi .•. the impious, is used, there 
 is the most ample certainty, not to designate the nn- 
 sanctified generally and promiscuously, bn1 only the 
 open, organized, and peculiarly guilty enemies of 
 Christ, who are directly g his kingdom, or at 
 
 giving their sympathy and concurrence to its 
 opposers. For they are in several prophecies ex- 
 pressly designated as the parties who arc to be de- 
 stroyed by fire at Christ's coming. Thus the ten- 
 horned beast, that is to be slain at the judgment at 
 which the Ancient of days is to preside, is the sym- 
 bol of the kings and subordinate rulers of the fourth 
 great monarchy ; and it is they only wh trac- 
 
 tion is symbolized by its death, and the giving of its 
 [y to the burning flame. That the subjects of that 
 empire are promiscuously to perish along with the 
 rulers denoted by the beast, not a hint is given in 
 the vision : nor is the supposition compatible with 
 the revelation which it makes of the catastrophe of 
 the monarchs, the false prophet symbolized by the 
 eleventh horn, and their subordinates in the govern- 
 
TBI 
 
 •:' which I 
 
 it thai they apj 
 immediately foil 
 the dominion of the earth, . 
 
 they, who are mosl certainl; .: people, 
 
 nations, and lai 
 
 throi continue 
 
 and ever ? 
 Jn like manner I battle of Ann. 
 
 and the I 
 I of the papacy alone, thai alive 
 
 and bri ; and the ki 
 
 and armies thai are to be 
 
 N i intimati 
 population of th hich thoc 
 
 and pri< with th 
 
 ; i . 
 der by tl 
 >u1 of the mountain, and blown away by the wind 
 like i im the thresl 11 is the chief rulers 
 
 and their subordinates alone who I 
 ganL 
 
 I 
 hown by the crushing of the image. In 
 prediction oi 
 
 - !. while it is »wn thai ill plead 
 
 .. and that th 
 many, and thai t] 
 open idolafr n ; it v 
 
THE GLOBE IS M>r T< I BE ANNIHILATED. 809 
 
 ther all nations ;iud tongues, anfl they shall come and 
 his gidry, and he will set a Bign among them, and 
 those of them, that escape, he will send to the nati 
 ;,t a distance t hat have m » t heard his fame nor seen 
 his glory, and that they shall assist the return of the 
 [sraelitea to their land, and shall afterwards come 
 there to offer worship,— -which indicates that the de- 
 struction is to be confined to the open and incorrigi- 
 ble enemies of Christ. The nations at large arc to 
 Survive. Jn like manner the prediction of the great 
 battle at Jerusalem, Zech. xiv, exhibits the destruc- 
 tion which is then to take place, as confined to the 
 armies that are amy insl thai city, and endea- 
 
 voring to prevenl the establishment there of Christ's 
 throne. For those alone who are to perish are " the 
 pie thai have fought against Jerusalem." The 
 remainder of the nations to whom those " people" bc- 
 longed, are expressly represented as surviving and 
 going up " from year to year" to Jerusalem " to wor- 
 ship the king, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the 
 feast of tabernacles.'' What can more clearly .-how 
 • the destruction is to be limited to the armed 
 hosts that are to 1 2 <1 in open war against 
 
 Christ? 
 
 But that the phrase " the ungodly men," " the men 
 that are impion st whose judgment and per- 
 
 dition tin' burning of the atmosphere and earth is re- 
 served, denotes the open, organized, and incorrigible 
 enemies of Christ and his kingdom, who are engaged 
 in an attempt to defeat him. and prevent the verifr 
 
BIO 'i hi: globe i 
 
 cation of his wo] _ I 
 
 ml the parallel prediction, 2 I ' 
 those then I h who 
 
 as not G 
 
 of onr Lord J ( be of 1 1 
 
 is indicated, as thoi who ha 
 
 1 - donian belii four patii 
 
 and faith in all your persecntionfi and tribulati 
 that ye endui M a manifest token of tl 
 
 ' God in counting yon worthy ol 
 kingdom of God for which ye Buffer: Bince it is 
 righteous with God to recomj ibulation to 
 
 those who trouble you" by persecution ; 
 who arc afflic I with us at the : 
 
 L IJ< ras from heaven with the 
 in flaming fire, takin ance on them thai know 
 
 not G pel of our L I J 
 
 Christ." A ad faith of the i 
 
 under persecution are to be tl. a of their ac- 
 
 ceptance and reward when Chri - in flaming 
 
 fire, bo, the repr< >n is, the disowning of I 
 
 and rejection of the gospel, 
 
 :: of the 
 tion of those who are to perish by the fire. F 
 
 filict 
 \ ou, it is '. whom God is then to n 
 
 by afflict 
 
 That the terms, " the men that are impi< 
 whose judgment '\u> firii - 
 
 the air and eartl d, are tb 
 
THE GLOBE [S NOT TO V.K ANNIHILATED. 811 
 
 nate the openly apostate and persecuting enemies of 
 Christs kingdom, not the unrenewed promiscuously, 
 is confirmed also by the denomination in the next 
 chapter, 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4, of the great combination of 
 false and persecuting teachers of the Catholic church, 
 11 the man of >in," the Bon of dmtXeitu perdition, and the 
 antagonist and rival of all that is called God or enti- 
 tled ti) homage : and the announcement that it is the 
 party which he represents, who are to be consumed 
 by the breath of Christ's mouth, and destroyed by the 
 effulgence, that is the flaming lire of his advent. 
 They are further described as a body in whom the 
 inworking of Satan appears with all power ami si 
 and Lying miracles, and all the deceit or falsehood of 
 unright< . They arc to be persons, therefore, 
 
 who profess to act with divine authority, and to work 
 miracles in proof of their commission and the truth 
 of their doctrines ; hut whose miracles are to be false, 
 and their show of piety a mere deceit or counterfeit 
 by unrighteousness. They are to be false religious 
 teachers, therefore, counterfeit disciples and ministers 
 of Christ, who usurp his name, authority, and thr 
 A- these are the class denominated the man of .-in 
 and son of perdition, who are then to perish by the 
 lire of Christ 9 ace, and as no intimation is given 
 
 that any others Living in the same Bcenes arc to he 
 
 involved in that catastrophe, it indicates that P 
 phrase, " the ungodly men." " the men that are impi- 
 ous, M who are to perish at the same juncture is us< d 
 
312 
 
 I Ml. 
 
 Ti, 
 
 I, in which 1 1 
 
 nd th<- wheat and tar 
 under hi- rn 
 
 - w hom Christ introduces into hi- ! 
 hut tin- : ooting tfa !. v> bom Satan u 
 
 I irist's true di 
 I., profess hi- aarne, and assume 
 I it is th( 
 
 kingdom at his 
 the furnace of fire. Th 
 some, Dot improbably, wh 
 
 : 
 
 ofined to t] 
 aim an 
 . of the Red 
 I . Like manner those, in the 
 shown Matt. 
 the left hand of the judge, and c 
 ing punishment, are exhi 
 those who fa 1 in a direct relation I 
 
 true people in tl persecution which i 
 
 [y to pi his comi 
 
 :i an open part with the 
 with them I 
 
 Bufferings. Th< 
 thai th- :11 in a condition, if they bad 
 
 had a dispositioi 
 
THE GLOBE is not TO BE ANNIHILATED. 313 
 
 not only by giving Pood, clothing, Bhelter, and medi- 
 cine, i" those who were at Large and might be ap- 
 proached without obstruction, but to those also who 
 were confined in prison ; and thai tlicy took the Bide 
 therefore, and in their sphere acted the part of per- 
 secutors, as really as those in official stations by whom 
 the persecution was originated and carried on. They 
 are probably different persons from those who are to 
 perish at Armageddon ; bul arc of the same genera] 
 class, the open and merciless enemies of Christ's true 
 people. 
 
 These various descriptions of the parties who are 
 then to be destroyed, all of which exhibit them as 
 
 open, organized apostates, and relentless enemies of 
 God, not the unsanctified generally, make it clear that 
 it is the antichristian, idolatrous, and persecuting 
 host alone, that is then to perish by the fires of the 
 divine vengeance, not the unrenewed nations gener- 
 ally of the earth. 
 
 U 
 
8 1 I tin: earth 
 
 CII A PTB n x x • 
 ran 
 1 1 idditio • ,ti<»n< alleged in • 
 
 ceding chapter, it i< apparent that the fire thai 
 
 roy " tin- Kmpioni be whole 
 
 earth and reduce it I :k,from1 'hat it is 
 
 Fen to burn np the bodies of the antichristian I 
 
 rally that i.- I h at that crisis, hut tl. 
 
 Dsnmed, tolx -1 by the hi: 
 
 air. and in many infll oriaL 'i 
 
 at tl. battle i ' 
 
 armies of the kings who an 
 v. il-1 re t<> be -lain by f 
 
 . the month of Christ, the t«»\\ la 
 • 1 t.. gather themseh ther 
 
 t.» tin- supper of th • 1 1 1. that they ma] 
 
 ii of kings, and the flesh of captains, and 
 of mighty men, and th< 
 
 thrin that >it on them, and the ! 
 and bond, both small ai; 
 
 prophet that wrought mir 
 
Till-: EABTB IS WOT M ME ANNIHILATED. 315 
 
 it, were taken and cast alive into tin- lake of lire burn- 
 ing with bri : the remnant were -lain with the 
 Bword of him that sat upon the horse, which proceeded 
 
 out of his month, and all the fowls were tilled with 
 
 their flesh," Rev. xix. IT 21 j which indicates thai they 
 were merely killed by the flaming breath of the I: 
 deemer, ool devoured by it. nor by any conflagration 
 of the atmosphere or earth that was kindled by it. or 
 
 by any other Cause. For why Bhould the fowls have 
 
 been invited to Bup on them, it" they were wrapped 
 in a devouring lire and consumed by it? And how, 
 
 it' they were dispatched in that way, could all the 
 
 fowls, or any of them, have been filled by their flesh ? 
 
 In like manner GrOg, who is to invade the land of 
 
 Israel. after the Israelites have returned and resettled 
 
 there, and whom God is to destroy by raining upon 
 
 him 'and upon his hands, and upon the many ] pie 
 
 that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hail- 
 stones, fire, and brimstone, is to be given unto the 
 ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the 
 field to be devoured ; and their bows and arrows are 
 to remain and Berve as fuel for the Israelites for seven 
 years, and their bones are to lie on the surface, and 
 in such numbers and scattered over BO wide a region, 
 require .-even months to complete their burial, 
 .. xxxviii. xxxix. Can a stronger proof be im- 
 agined, that though they are in a measure to be killed 
 by the fire and brimstone showered on them, they yet 
 are not to be burned and reduced to ashes by it, or 
 by a general conflagration ? If they are to perish by 
 
main 
 
 ■ 
 annihilal 
 by the b 
 
 abostibl 
 fiiel to ' 
 could tin- Israelites them 
 
 ii a universal fin 
 ■ ban that the wh . all- 
 
 without 
 liable with 1 1 
 
 pr i rer indication I 
 
 ■ I in this prophecy, thai t!. 
 rained apon ( 
 though kindled ly by th 
 
 from the thi 
 
 with which P 
 fired and convulsed ? For I 
 with which it is predicted the land i then 
 
 1 from the explo- 
 sion of < tible matter beneath the i that 
 
 \- n t itself by the projection of its burnii 
 and La into the atmoe 
 
 ir and l 
 elements, which it is foreshown by P 
 
 L 
 ousy. ;.::'l in tii«' tip wrath hnvt ! 
 
Tin: BABTB : NNIHILi 817 
 
 Surely in thai day there shall be a great shaking in 
 the Land of [srael : bo thai the fishes of the Bea, and 
 the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, 
 and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, 
 ami all the men that arc upon the fate of the earth, 
 shall shake at my pi\ . and the mountains shall 
 
 he thrown down, and the Bteep places shall fall, and 
 every wall shall fall to the -•round," Ezek. xxxviii. 10, 
 20. A great earthquake is to take place there, 
 at the time of tie' rain of the lire and brimstone on 
 Gog and his hosts : and as such Hoi 
 of the earth usually, and probably in all install 
 issue in volcanic eruj id which sulphur i- a li 
 
 ing element, what is bo probable as that the lire and 
 brin. ith which the invading hosts are to be 
 
 overwhelmed, are to be projected from the kindled 
 earth into the atmosphere, and by emitting a yasf 
 volume of inllammable gas along with them, fdl the 
 heavens to a great height with flame, and in the rush- 
 ing whirlwinds and crashing noise which usually at- 
 
 1 the explosions of great volcanoes, verify the pre- 
 diction that the heavens or atmosphere shall rush with 
 a loud roar, or thunderi The phenomena 
 
 xibed by th< are pre ich as attend 
 
 the eruption of th do, Kilauea Hawaii, as 
 
 scribed in pi - 1 in the Thcol. and Lit. Jour- 
 
 nal, vol. v. pp. 1 39, L99, and :T> ( .>. from which we tran- 
 scribe the followi 3. "The Btream plunged 
 into the sea with loud detonations. The burning 
 lava, on meeting the wal - duvered like melted 
 
:;1 - mi: BABTfl I 
 
 - into million- of particlei which were thrown up 
 in cl . «m« 1 ifll liki 
 
 of bail over the surrounding country. \ 
 
 I and vapors rolled off D< hirl- 
 
 ition, and th 
 
 the lava- formed a fiery firm I." — 
 
 D ' »■ l.U. 8. i: ; L lition, pp. L8fl i 
 
 -• The intense heal of the fountain an I m of 
 
 lava caused an iniiiix from <\ 
 
 This created U rrifi rotly 
 
 ring about, Like - atinels, 1 
 
 tn [thr< tlif daring visitor. 'I 
 
 the most dangerous of anything aboul the 
 Clouds approaching the volcan driven 1 
 
 an«l set moving in wild confusion." I. II. 
 
 Kinney, \ i . J Sept. 1852, .21 
 
 A-. then, volcanic phenomena— the fill 
 with flan whirlwind rush of the air, a ] 
 
 and crash, and the fusion of the earthy idem 
 
 d from the crater, and decomposition of the v. 
 and air with which they come in contact— thu 
 with thof 1 by the ap( 
 
 judgment and destruction of u tha impious 
 why Bhould it i. ur thai the firin 
 
 the air and earth, and melting of the el. i] hich 
 
 he foreshow s, are to be of the same kind. 
 from the sam V e he empkr 
 
 - 
 iture, th - depicted in I 
 
 p 
 
Tin: BABTB tfl BK)T TO BE LXNIHILATED. 819 
 
 it lb predicted also, Isaiah Ixvi. 24, thai ther 
 to l"' carcases of men, who are to be slain at that 
 
 epoch, that nut only are not to be consumed by the 
 
 fire, hut are to remain visible at least lor a time, and 
 
 it would Beem from the description, in a vulcanic lo- 
 cality : and arc to he gazed at by survivors. "And 
 it shall conic to pass, that from one new moon to an- 
 other, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh 
 
 • in worship before me. saith the Lord ; and they 
 shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men 
 
 that have transv.Tc~-.-rd against me: lor their worm 
 shall not die. neither >hall their fire be quenched J 
 
 and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. 11 
 
 This view oi' the catastrophe i> corroborated by 
 the description given by Zechariah of the mode in 
 
 which the antichristian hosts are then to be destroy- 
 ed. '• And this shall be the plague wherewith the 
 Lord will smite all the people that have fought 
 against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away 
 while they st;lnd upon their feet, and their eyes shall 
 3Ume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall 
 3ume away in their mouth." "And so shall be 
 the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, 
 and of the ass, and of all tin- beasts that shall be in 
 their tents, as this plague." — Chap. xiv. 12, 15. 
 
 This is not the effect that would naturally be pro- 
 duce. 1. if they were absolutely enveloped in a devour- 
 ing lire, as they then could not remain on their feet, 
 nor would one part of their bodies be more exposed 
 to injury than another ; but it is precisely the effect 
 
. 
 
 should reflect an into 
 
 and general and whirlwii with 
 
 b d particles that Bhonld rush in all dii 
 filling t] 
 
 5 few mom< inflammation, and - 
 
 •oy the pari I, while I 
 
 would Mill he al 
 
 It i- corn also by the pr< in- 
 
 Instantly destroyed by the i 
 are t<> be thrown into a tumult, and in thi 
 
 and terror are to i 11 on i ich ether. u And it .-hall 
 
 thai (! ' ;lt from the 
 
 ! shal] he among them ; and they shall lay | 
 y oia 1 On tie' hand of hi- Q61gh1 
 
 shall rise nj. the hand of hi- I 
 
 xiv. 13. This might naturally i 
 
 eruption, that, threatening them with destrucl 
 
 Bhonld prompt them to fly in 
 
 blinding them with ashes and bid 
 
 them from distinguish] b ether. In bu 
 
 flight they would naturally run 
 
 and n<»t improbably mi 
 
 and each endeavor I 
 
 who 'd in hi- b tumult 
 
 an atm< : 
 
 1m- ini]. 
 
THE BABTH I- BE ANNIHILATED. B21 
 
 ered by his Buff ind have aeither motive nor 
 
 h to contend with his neighbor. Who i 
 heard of persona enveloped in the flames of a burn- 
 ing building fighting with each other, 
 it possible ? 
 
 is accords also with the prediction, Psalm xi. 6. 
 ••Tlu' wicked," the impioi lefined, v. -. as th 
 
 who plot the destrnction of the righteous. " For lo, 
 the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their 
 arrow upon the string, that thev may privily shoot 
 at the upright iii heart." "The Lord is in his holy 
 tempi.' : the Lord's throne i< in heaven ; his i 
 behold, his eyelids try the children of men. '. 
 I. 1 trieth the righteous ; hut the wicked, I nd him 
 that loveth violence, his soul hateth." And these he 
 is to destroy by a >torm like those which are often 
 rated by volcanic eruptions. ,; Upon the wicked 
 shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an hoiTi- 
 the portion of their cup." 
 Ti. siderations make it clear that t : 
 
 trophe which the apostle foreshow id of a 
 
 universal conflagration of the atmosphere and 
 earth, that is to blot them from existenc luce 
 
 them to a mass of ruins, is to be but a local and par- 
 tial firing of the earth and air, that is to be the 
 means of ter I h to the impious 
 
 hosts and their co-operators who tyed in open 
 
 war against Christ ; not >ying the nations of 
 
 the earth a: 
 
 A: ly, this is confirmed by the events that 
 
 14* 
 
THI 
 
 i tlu» 
 
 ClOU ; t ) 1( . 
 
 livi: .. bich BO 
 
 confl world la to taki 
 
 li but i. traction of the impious, who 
 
 h by hifl avengii 
 
 rely, and in di i 
 
 i i" suppose that ti :i be 
 
 the wicked universally d< 
 mediately on Christ's arrival. Bat that n 
 both wholly onfonnded, and I with d 
 
 events that . 1 and follow his advent 
 
 ifl it ifl apparent that his advent its 
 appearai Id by all the inhabit 
 
 direction may be in which fa 
 
 «»nly be \ 
 
 one hemisph ptibleat 
 
 ronnd tl 
 
 an a tion on 
 
 Ive hours a>: by all : 
 
 >ther hemis] while if he ifl not visible till 
 
 polation 
 aly a narrow region. 
 
 lightnin 
 on hi ad kindle the earth and atmospfo 
 
 with hia armed I in- 
 
 o| bis becoming visible, 11 - 
 
Till: EARTH I I Willi LA 
 
 being immediately enveloped in fire and devonred, 
 are to flee to the mountains and crags, and endeavor 
 to hide themselves from his wrath. " Ami the kings 
 of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, 
 and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every 
 bondman and every freeman, hid themselves in the 
 dens, and in the rooks of the mountains, and said I" 
 tlm mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from 
 the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from 
 the wrath ol the Lamb ; for the great day of his wrath 
 has come, and who Bhall be able to stand." Rev. vi. 
 1 "» IT. The same terror, flight, and attempt to secrete 
 themselves are predicted by 1 saiah ii. 10—21 . ' ; Enter 
 into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of 
 the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty 
 looks of men shall be humbled, and the haughtiness 
 of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall 
 be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of 
 hosts Bhall be upon everyone that is vnd \ofty y 
 
 and upon every one that is It) ; and he shall be 
 
 brought low; and upon all the cedars of 1. 
 high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan ; 
 and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the 
 hills that are lifted up, and upon every higl 
 and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships 
 urshish, and upon all the pleasant pictures. And 
 the loftiness of man Bhall be bowed down, and the 
 ghtiness of men shall be made low ; and the Lord 
 alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols 
 shall be utterly abolished. And they shall go into 
 
B24 
 
 arth, 
 for fear of the L >rd, 
 
 when he arii Tibly the earth. lo 
 
 day Bhall a man cast hifl idoh of silver and I 
 
 »ld, which they i 
 ship, to the molee and to I 
 clefts of the rocks, and into the 
 rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the 
 majesty, when he ariseth to Bhake terribly th< 
 i indicates thai the v< ! a to 
 
 jially directed against tfu 
 ad that a terrible earth 
 means by which it is 
 that the guilty 
 
 Btroyed, but are to have opportunity 
 mountains, and hide then 
 
 Theevenl foreshown in these] - the 
 
 battle of An 11. when the usurping and p 
 
 cuting powers d 
 
 prophet, and their armi< A 
 
 still Longer period Is to into rvene ; I 
 
 :it, and the judgment of th 
 Bcril 
 
 ther after ! rally 
 
 Bupposed, at 
 
 . 
 louds of heaven, 1 Lfannon 
 
 ith a 
 trumpel 
 from tin- four winds. 
 
BE ANNIHILATED. 
 
 other ; and i; is Btill later, it is Indicated in th 
 of the vintage, Rev, liv. IT 20, th.it the wicked are 
 to be gathered and destroyed : and probably neither 
 is to be assembled at one time and in 
 The language does not imply i 
 representation will be perfectly verified by th 
 bling of the nations before him, though it be indiffer- 
 ent g and successively. And why should the 
 
 illation of Europe, A nerica, and the P 
 
 fie and Indian i- '. I i Ajsia I 
 
 judged? — a process that ui lomplished by a 
 
 miracle. CCUpy many years, more indeed far 
 
 than an ordinary lifetime even of the I I de- 
 
 mand extraordinary provisions for the subsistence 
 and shelter of those collected at the scene, while the. 
 gathering was in prog Such a voyage and march 
 
 of nine hundred millions of human beings to a single 
 point on the globe, would involve, in truth, an array 
 of miracles, compared with which all that have hith- 
 erto been wrought in the government of the world 
 would sink into insigni : and is not to be 
 
 thou The judgment of the nations will doubt- 
 
 in their Beveral territo I in 
 
 succession. A i ble period t'. 
 
 impossibly ■ impleted. The 
 
 supposition, accordingly, that the earth and atmos- 
 phere are t d throughout and utterly 
 sum atradictious and 
 absurd. 
 
 It i> equally inconsistent with the resurrection of 
 
TBI K AIM II I 
 
 the unholy from the 
 
 of the \ moted by the thooi 
 
 3 eai I and the n of 
 
 the right the an tii 
 
 led in I d of the 
 
 resurrection of the holy dead at 
 of the thousand years, thai " the rest of 
 not i" live again until the thousand 
 ed :" and there is immediately after a vision of tl 
 resurrection from the sea, tfa 
 of the onburied, and their judgment soon aftei 
 
 • of the thousand years. But their tion 
 
 at thai late prri.Ml. after Oh] aing and 
 
 tion of the impious hosts, symbolized by the 1 
 Babylon, the false prophet, and their confeder 
 Bhowa that the earth and air cannot in the m* 
 
 been reduc ruins by 
 
 tion, and th< rack froi 
 
 as then, to make it possible, it would 1 
 that the earth ai Lould be 1 from I 
 
 dissolution to essentially the Btate in which they Bub- 
 
 ! before their destruction ; for how can \'. 
 and tin- sea at that epoch give ap th 
 in them, if there are do graves, nor Bea, in which the 
 
 • lead are buried? But who will venture to maintain 
 
 h and th be repr 
 
 nonn . in th( ad that 
 
 I they once containi 1 in 
 
 them, in i their i stion in the mai 
 
 D ? 
 
Tin: i:\kth i - LNNIHILATED. 327 
 
 Such are the stupendous contradrctions and absur- 
 dities which the notion of the conflagration and di 
 lotion of the world at Christ's coming involves. It 
 
 iini only lias no authority whatever in the pass 
 
 from which it has been drawn, and no countenance 
 from any other part of the word of God, but it is en- 
 tirely inconsistent with the views which are presented 
 
 in the prophets of the events that are to attend and 
 
 follow Christ's coming, destruction of the impious, 
 
 judgment of the living population of the world, and 
 
 a over the nations through the ages that are to 
 
 follow. 
 
 It is nut the Millenari.m. therefore, hut the Anti- 
 millenarian, whot a it is impossible to reconcile 
 
 with th« 'a language, and the teaching 
 
 rally of the Scriptures on this budj 
 
 On the whole, then, the notion almost universally 
 entertained of the conflagration and dissolution of the 
 heavens and earth at Christ's coming, is without any 
 ground whatever in the 8 's words, and sprii a>a 
 
 wholly from attaching to them a meaning which : 
 i\o not involve. The tire- by which the impious 
 then to | be hut local and tempo- 
 
 rary, and are to offer, there is reason to believe, no 
 more • to the f the population of the 
 
 globe at largd', than the volcanoes have that fa 
 already raged in the depths of the earth, and ejected 
 their burning elements into the a1 re. 
 
. 
 
 C II A PT E B X X V j . 
 
 THE EUPHRATES, OR ALIENATION OF Til 
 TIONAL HIEBi . 
 
 <: Tin: KINGS TO Tin: GBIAX BATTLI 
 
 Hit Christ's advent i> still at a c 
 tancjft, and is t<» be preceded by i I ami 
 
 momentous events, both in I 
 
 world and in the church. What are tin- triumphs 
 or <! 
 
 cun. his iVicixls. that an- to mark t!. 
 
 that la- comes and . 
 
 earth? Wh bich 
 
 mplisliment of the Apocalypse ha- advam 
 Tin- lir-t tour vials are justly i 
 
 i ired in I lution i 
 
 that followed it from 1789 to L815, and in a meat 
 still lati-r: and tin- fifth a£ red od the throi - 
 
 the 1 rtially in 1 s l") ai 
 
 ' bholic th 
 for a time in i Bed overtu 
 dom of I I Glled with darkni 
 
THE DRYING OF THE BUPHB ' 
 
 has I ling through Dearly as long a period, 
 
 and Is Btill pouring. The Euphrates of thai \ ial b< 
 the same relation to the Babylon of the prophi 
 thai tlu 4 real river bore to the literal Babylon, the 
 metropolis of Ghaldea thai Btood on its banks. The 
 symbol is taken from the drying up of the Euphr; 
 by Cyrus, by diverting its waters from their channel, 
 and by that means entering and conquering the 
 city; and it foreshows an analogous change in that 
 which the symbolic Euphrates represents, and as the 
 means of a similar conquest and destruction i >f thai 
 which the Babylon of the prophecy denotes, Bui 
 the waters of the Euphrates symbolize peoples^ anti 
 nations, and multitu the rivers and fount 
 
 of the third vial are expressly interpreted, as di 
 ting human being's, communities, and nations. "The 
 third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and 
 fountains of waters, and they became blood. And I 
 heard the angel of the waters say : Thou art right- 
 eous, Lord, who art, and who wast, the holy, be- 
 se thou hast judged thus : For they i I the 
 
 mints and prophets, and thou kai 
 
 I to drink: for they are worthy" Rev. xvi. 4, 5. 
 
 There is a similar exposition of the waters that were 
 
 .umt vision surrounding the seven 
 
 ic " And he said unto me, The waters 
 
 which thou E here the harlot sitteth. are peo- 
 
 3, and multitudes, and nations, and tongui 3." 
 
 . xvii. 1"). The waters of the Euphrates, there- 
 are thus shown by the revealing Spirit, him- 
 
T!!i 
 
 and multitudes, and nat 
 Thai In- li t; 
 
 phecy repr< tanda in a relation na- 
 
 ti«.ns and multitudes, thai resembles thai 
 literal Babylon to the Euphrates ; and is the I 
 archy of the Catholic church especially, or the 
 whole body of it- eccl< aiza- 
 
 tion, nationalized by the state ; as ia indicated 1' 
 Btation of 1 B ibylon on the wild 1 • 
 
 Bymbol of the en il rulers of the I em- 
 
 pire. The drying up of the watei a of the Euphi 
 
 - to prepare the way for Oyrua .. i Darius, the 
 kinga of the Bast, to enter and conquer i; 
 the separation in a resembling manner of the nati 
 and multitudes of the kingdoms of Eur< . the 
 
 irchiea of the nationalized church* - tally 
 
 the Catholic. And thi is air. 
 
 wrought on a lar agdom to which 
 
 In [taly, Spain, P 
 in»l. and Germany there ia a 
 alienation of the Catholics from tl 
 An equal dee T the churcl d to 
 
 the ministei rils in the F at nati 
 
 establishments of Belgium, Eolland, P and 
 
 while i I Britain mo 
 
 population i i dissenters from tl. tfsh- 
 
 ment, and a 1 ire of those who still belong to 
 
 it, regard it with indifferent n. 
 
 Tl. mi l>y this vial i 
 
 • 
 
THE EMISSION OP THE tJN< LEAN SPIBITS. 331 
 
 carried still farther, doubtless, and ere it reach* 
 completion, it is probable from the symbols of Chap- 
 ter xvii. thai t ho Protestant national churches of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, France, Switzerland, 
 Belgium, Eolland, Prussia, and Saxony, will be de- 
 nationalized, and the Catholic be reinstated in the 
 
 supremacy Bhe formerly enjoyed throughoul the ten 
 kingdoms. The woman Babylon, borne by the wild 
 beasl in his Last form immediately before going to 
 perdition, is the Bymbol of a hierarchy, or combina- 
 tion of hierarchies, that drinks the blood of the 
 saints and the martyrs of Jesus. She denote* 
 persecuting hierarchy, or combination of hierar- 
 chies then, that agree in the hatred of Christ's doc- 
 trines and disciples. They all, therefore, it seems 
 probable are to be Catholics. 
 
 When this alienation of the people from the hierar- 
 chies lias readied its consummation, the way will be 
 for the parties whom the kings of the earth 
 symbolize, to assail them and deject them from their 
 station, as nationalized establishments, sustained and 
 ruled by the Bta 
 
 Another important event thai i- to take place under 
 the sixth vial, is tin' Bending forth of the unclean spi- 
 rit > by tl ,. wild beast and false prophet. "And 
 ;' the mouth of the dragon, and out 
 oi' the mouth of the wild beast, and out of the mouth 
 ol the false prophet, three unclean Bpirits like fr 
 For they are spirits of demons working Bigns, which 
 go forth to the kings of the whole habitable earth, to 
 
■l\' 
 ber them to the i I I the 
 
 All:. I . 18, 14. 
 
 like mua1 have had bod 
 
 doul thai animal. 'I 
 
 • groveling and i 
 ■ 
 address themselves to the ki 
 ble earth — thai is, of the Roman 
 from tin* North sea to the Euphrates, and should 
 Boade them to enter into a war againsl Christ and his 
 kingdom, implies thai they will have Bunk to th< 
 
 ble degn 
 impiety. A mure unlikely b! 
 
 iial and religions influence could oo1 be - 
 A.8 they are intelligences and in 
 whom they denote mnsl be in:* ' 1 in 
 
 bodii it u- 
 
 alitv. 
 
 demon frogs thai r< A 
 
 wrought omplish their i . hu- 
 
 man beings are to w 
 miracnlons, and shal] pass them 
 
 they art- the mil I 
 
 athority for the comman bich 
 
 they demand obedience. Ti 
 show- thai the dragon, the wild n 1 the t 
 
 I 
 
 human beil 
 
Tin: i:\n-- PHE [JNCLEAN BPI1 
 
 to go to the kings of the whole ancient Roman em- 
 pire- Btretching from the Euphrates to the Shetland 
 Isles — and professing to be ministers, an 
 
 work Bigns before them, and are to gather them to 
 the battle of the great day of God Almighty, when 
 he is to destroy them. As thai battle is to take place 
 in the great plain of Esdraelon in Palestine, and i 
 have for its object the dispersion of the Israelites 
 who will have 1 return* 1 to Jerusalem, and the preven- 
 tion of a Hi brew kingdom there over which Christ 
 can reign, it is apparent that the agents of the dra- 
 gon beast ami false prophet, are t<> gather the kin.^s 
 there for the purpose of preventing the institution 
 kingdom. And this implies that at the 
 time when they are Bent forth for that purpose and 
 commence their work, the Israelites will have began 
 to return to their national land : and that the expec- 
 tation will prevail among Christ's true people that 
 lie is soon to appear for their redemption, that his 
 advent is to take place in Palestine, and that it i- to 
 ■ for its iirst object, the deliverance and reorgani- 
 zation of the Israelites, and destruction of their and 
 his foes. .This prediction therefore indicates that 
 during the pouring of the sixth vial, and alienation 
 of the population of the West of Europe from their 
 persecuting hierarchies, the Israelites are to begin 
 to return to Palestine in the expectation of reestab- 
 lishing themselves ae God's people there; that the 
 faithful disciples of Christ will generally I 
 persuaded that the time of his adv< at is at hand, and 
 
thai he i« to appear b his 
 
 throu and thai th< 
 
 the wild 
 prophet, \\ ill each send I 
 most ble character, who .-hall 
 
 1 1 and .-hall j> the kings of tin* 
 
 u hole Roman empire E and W{ I le in 
 
 Palestine to disperse the I i who have retm 
 
 and thereby to intercept the institution then 
 Christ's kingdom. Thia showa that the sixth %; 
 
 to pour for a considerable time, and th 
 changes are to take place in the faith of the people 
 of God in respect to hie a the slaughter 
 
 and resurrection of the witn 
 before I he seventh trumpet, and as they will nndi 
 edly carry a resistless conviction to all ( 
 ciplea that his coming ia at hand, it ia probable that 
 the • "i* the agents 1 by tfa 
 
 - will not take place till after th 
 The prophel adda tin- warni 
 
 thief. Blessed ia he that watcheth and keepeth his 
 garments (on), lest he walk naked and theysee his 
 shame. And he 1 them I 
 
 called in the Hebrew \ , 15, 
 
 16. Th: I cning will th< 
 
 hand, that he will apprise his people of it. and thai 
 will watch for Ids approach like one who, \ 
 
 thai he may do! be obliged to meel him ui 
 
 and with di .What 
 
CHANGES IX THE VIEWS OF BELIEV1 
 
 The church of true believers are to I"- w holly waked 
 ere then from the dreams which they are now Indulg- 
 ing. They will cease to pervert and deny his word 
 under the pretexl of assigning it a spiritual meaning. 
 Their ryes will be opened to discern its plain teach- 
 ings : and they will turn from their mistaken theories 
 of the regeneration of the world, to welcome the com- 
 ing and reign of the Lamb ; the King of kings and 
 Lord of lords. 
 

 
 CHAPTJ \ VII. 
 
 EVENTS Til AT ftfi . T|JK 
 
 l'l:: 
 
 THE CATHOLIC BHSABCB 
 
 A REVOLUTION 
 
 kingdom take place probably at 
 
 ;!i vial, in which 
 [] ami DC 
 
 an elective or militar 
 empi 
 
 the \ ifli 
 led from tin- head 
 The wild bap. xiii. 1 l<». 
 
 civil and military rulers of I \l 
 
 rigin down to tl. | by 
 
 • The I • asl of ch ip. rvii, i- 
 Bvmbol also of the civil rnlera of thai empire 
 
 a I.U 
 
 and in an altered form. 
 
 xiii. - i 
 
PALL OF THE GOVERNMENTS OP WE i: i: ■ . 337 
 
 to ascend out of the abyss, hades, the invisible world, 
 where the devil la to I"' casl and imprisoned, chap. 
 xx. 3, and where the spirits of the onsanctified abide. 
 This indicates that before assuming the form which 
 it is t<> wear at the period to which chap, xvii rei 
 it ia to perish, and ia to return to life in its last Bhape, 
 as it were by a resurrection. The angel Baid of it 
 accordingly, " The beast that thou sawest, was, and 
 i> not, and shall ascend out of the abyss — hades — and 
 go into perdition ;" and he represents its reappearance 
 after its destruction, as exciting the astonishment of 
 the nations over which it is to nil-'. " And they that 
 dwell on the earth shall wonder (whose nam 
 not written in the book of life from the foundation of 
 the world) when they behold the beast that was, and 
 is not, and yet is. ,J This beast differs from that of 
 chap, xiii in its hue. It is scarlet colored ; signify- 
 ing that it is to be steeped in blood. No such d\ 
 
 ibed to the beast that rose from the sea. It ia to 
 be full, or covered throughout with names of blas- 
 phemy, indicating that it is to be pre-eminently impi- 
 ous in its pretensions and acts. The beast from the 
 
 only had mimes of blasphemy mi its heads. On 
 the ten horns of the beast from the sea there v. 
 ten diadems. Bhowing that the rulers whom the horns 
 Bymbolized were to be independent, or absolute mon- 
 archs. Nothing is said of diadems on the horns of 
 the beast from the abysa : and it would seem from 
 the description of the kh hieis whom they re- 
 
 present, v. L2, th.it they are not in reality to be inde- 
 ' 15 
 
\ t ill m 
 
 the 
 D of nil- 
 rank, as daring the I 
 
 • he }i«»nis. as dm Ive bun 
 
 of their power, it lb t<> be an 
 
 r imperial chief, much li 
 ] 
 ii mountains, where 1 
 
 i . : 
 
 l when he ooi 
 
 t i in : • . And the which wi 
 
 nut. even he zhtli (king), and is of th< 
 
 — in irdition. And the ten horns which 
 
 thou - which Lave nol 
 
 a kingdom, bat n authority as kii ._ 
 
 with ihail lia\ 
 
 give their power and authority to 1 1 
 
 war with the Lamb, and the L 
 conquer them : for he ia Lord lords, ai I K 
 kings, and they who arc with him are called, and 
 I faithful." chap. xvii. 9 1 L Thai the i 
 
 luin, but only have authority 
 a with the beast, and thai thej their 
 
 power and authority to him, that thej 
 
 to be absolute monai 
 
 onder the eighth king, who like 
 1 by th< beads i 
 
 _. or chief of the whole empire : 
 
THE G0VERNME3 I I HAT IS PO 6U< I BED. 
 
 La called the beast, it would seem, because the whole 
 power of the empire will in facl be beld by him. 
 
 Thia visi.m thua clearly shows thai the beast of ten 
 diademed home thai rose i ul of the sea is. at the end 
 of its twelve hundred and sixty years probably, to 
 perish in Borne great political convulsion ; and is 
 again to rise from the abyss of hades to a new life in 
 a modified form, and after a brief career go to perdi- 
 tion. In that revolution the old monarchies arc to 
 fall, and be succeeded by an imperial chief who shall 
 reign ever the whole empire, with absolute sway like 
 the emperors of the old Roman empire ; and by ten 
 subordinate chiefs who shall receive authority much 
 aa though they were kings; bu1 who perhaps after 
 rising to their stations, by popular choice, or usurpa- 
 tion, shall give over their power to that imperial 
 chief, and hold it thereafter as his subordinated. A ad 
 in thia relation, they are to make war on the Lamb, 
 and to be conquered by him. 
 
 This great revolution in the governments of the 
 ten kingdoms is clearly yet future. Though the mon- 
 archa of several of the Catholic kingdoms lost their 
 power for a Bhort time in 18 I s1 . and tin- beast appeared 
 to have perished, and to he followed by elective 
 chiefs; yet the old monarchi i recovered their 
 
 former power in all the kingdoms except France, 
 
 where a now rule was established. That may perhaps 
 prove the beginning of the change. The other mon- 
 archies may Dot fall together but in Bucceaaion : as 
 they originally rose, not simultaneously, but at differ- 
 
• '» I 1 • TI1K CllAMlE HI a I.. 
 
 cut it is 
 
 not clearly revealed, but certainl 
 
 ixtli vi.il : ; 
 9, that it Lfl the ! 
 
 ..'i the witnesses and ovefcoi and that 
 
 loody hue, and the intxn 
 woman whom it bean, with th<- I 
 nd of the wit And their 
 
 ■ 
 as already to be a preparation for it in I* 
 many, Spain, and Portu one wonld be ror- 
 
 revolntioi 
 that Bhonld overthrow the old dynaati 
 demi . or military de< on th< ir n 
 
 Nor would it be deemed Btrange, should Buch i 
 ere long take place in Great Britain. 1 
 
 that arc in action, it Is universally felt, must naturally. 
 
 sooner or later, issue In Buch a ohs 
 
 in this Last form may. perl iupy the thirty 
 
 9, that are to follow the twelve hun.L I 
 
 Th< utinir hierarchy 
 
 ii i- Bhown by this vision, when the from 
 
 the abyas i" i exalted t<> Bupremacy 
 
 throughout the ten kin. I ition "1* the 
 
 woman Babylon on the I - that the hierar- 
 
 chies which she repr he nationalised, and 
 
 this implies that the P stablishn 
 
 « I .t Britain and the continent will then have fallen. 
 and ' I hurch hi 
 
 power. Th( oaly 
 
THE OATHOLIO CHURCH A<;A1.N TO BE IX POWER. '■'. W 
 
 in that direction. Ber holding tin- cup of her abom- 
 inations in her hand, indicates that Bhe ifi to be active 
 in the dissemination of her false doctrines and super- 
 Btitions and idolatrous rites ; while her intoxication 
 with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jeans, 
 foreshows that she is to pursue and slaughter them 
 with an infuriate joy. Jhit her triumph will be short. 
 The demonstration of her impious character, and con- 
 futation of Iter pretences that will be wrought by the 
 resurrection of the witnesses, will disenchant the mul- 
 titude, whom she has duped, from her sorceries and 
 prompt them to assail and destroy her. 
 
B42 mi 
 
 OHi PTBB X xviii. 
 
 EDI CIIRI 1ITKR 
 
 am' of m wmm 
 
 I; 1b under tin- sway of the wild betel fi 
 m that the persecution, slaughter ami r< 
 ti«>n of tin' witn< and probably 
 
 soon after its return t<> power. " Ami I will give to 
 my cwo witi ad they shall prophesy 
 
 Band two hundred and threescore d 
 And when they shall have finis! 
 the beasi tl, leth out 
 
 war upon them, and -hall < . them, and shall 
 
 kill thnn. And their dead body BhaU lie in t : 
 place <>f the great city which spiritually is called 
 dom and Egypt, wh< their L r I •' as cm 
 
 And they of the peoples, and tribes, and I 
 nations (gathered there) look on their dead body three 
 
 and a halt*, and they do li"t Buffer th 
 
 bodies to 1"- put into a sepulchre. \ I thej that 
 
 dwell Qpon the earth ri VQT them and exult, 
 
 shall Bend j another, becaue 
 
 I thnn that dwell en 
 
 :h. 
 
OF THE WITNESSES. 843 
 
 '" And after three days and a half the Spirit o(* life 
 from God entered into them, and they stood upon 
 their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw 
 them. And they heard a greal voice from heaven, 
 Baying nn to them, Ascend here. And they ascended 
 into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them. 
 And in the same hour there was a greal earthquake, 
 and the tenth pari of the city fell ; and in the earth- 
 quake were slain seven thousand names of men (men 
 of name), and the rest became fearful, and gave glory 
 to the (iod of heaven." EteV. xi. '■) -13. 
 
 The two witnesses are representatives according 
 
 in the third law of symbols, of men that are witnee 
 like themselves; not agents of a different nature. 
 This is seen from the consideration that their death 
 cannot symbolize any other event than a real death 
 of witnesses for Christ. Their death cannot repre- 
 sent an apostasy from God, for his witnesses do not 
 apostatize : nor would lie raise apostates from their 
 apostasy to his presence in heaven as a public vindi- 
 cation and reward of their revolt from him. The 
 death which their dying symbolizes is a real corpo- 
 real death, therefore, of witnesses like themseh 
 and this is confirmed by the consideration, that, if a 
 real death and resurrection of witnesses for Jesns 
 were to he foreshown symbolically: there are no 
 symbols that could represent it but a real death and 
 resurrection of witnesses like themselves. The death 
 of animals could not represent it. for they cannot die 
 as witnesses. Nor is there any other event of which 
 
'lis: 
 
 men 
 it. i 
 like 
 
 nd theii 
 
 • 
 ion and ion t«» 1. 
 
 whom they BymbolL . 
 
 sixth 1/ 
 doubtedly r< My hun- 
 
 Is, perhaps thou 
 .en they have finished tb 
 hundred 
 
 out . — that i 
 
 make war on them, an<l conquer 
 
 ity which spiritual! 
 
 (.all. 
 
 y in 
 which I 
 
 D, with the temj 
 a by th( 
 the i 
 
 minion i 
 in which the Christian chun 
 • 
 
 —which 
 
 ten kii. 
 
of Tin: wn \ 346 
 
 business. It may therefore be the leading city id 
 England ; it may be the capita] of Prance ; it may b§ 
 a much frequented city of Italy. 
 
 The time of the bodies remaining there — three 
 days and a half -is the symbol of three and a hall* 
 years. The preservation of the bodies unburied, and 
 in a locality where they were accessible, and were 
 continually inspected by people from different parts 
 of the empire for three days and a half, signifies that 
 the bodies of those whom they represent, are in like 
 manner at the instance of the people, to be kept un- 
 buried in a place where they are to be open to in- 
 spection by all who wish to see them : and that they 
 are to be continually visited and viewed by persons 
 from the different districts of the empire : and that 
 treatment must undoubtedly be prompted by some 
 peculiar and powerful motive : and what can it be, 
 but a wish to test and confute, if possible, the truth 
 of this prophecy, that the witnesses are at the end 
 of three years and a half to be raised from the dead ? 
 The measures to be taken arc precisely such as would 
 naturally be employed by the civil powers, if the 
 witnesses and their friends entertained and prof. Bsed 
 the belief, that according to this prophecy, God would 
 raise them to life and take them to heaven : and the 
 riders and people disbelieving and deriding it, re- 
 solved in the most effective manner to test, and if 
 confute it. That accordingly is the object 
 undoubtedly oi' their preserving their bodies un- 
 buried. and in a form in which thev will be prevent- 
 
 1 5* 
 
Tli: 
 
 • : Mm dissolution, and can be identifii 
 the • for which the b 
 
 where the) will 1 pen to inspection bywhoi 
 
 w Mi them. T. it is 1 thai they 
 
 are to be ol 
 
 mtinuonsly by | of the diffi 
 
 peoples, and kdndre* . and na1 
 
 • mpire through the whole of the thn - and 
 
 i half of their lying dead : and that is th< 
 that on the day of their resurrection, their enemies 
 arc to be present, and are to witness theii ition 
 
 to life and assumption to heaven. Why arc their 
 
 cm-iii : - to be | at that juncture, if it if 
 
 that they are to be aware that that is the day on 
 which, according to this prophecy, their r< snrrection 
 
 lake ]»1 ; 
 
 This vision thus foreshows that the wild b< 
 after its return from hades, is to attempt to confute 
 this prophecy, and the persuasion of the martyn 
 -. and their friends, that they are truly his wit- 
 
 • v putting them to death in the manner 
 3 uteil in this vision, and complying with all its 
 predictions in the preservation of their bodies mi- 
 buried in a ; chief COnCOUrse, in the empire, 
 
 and in a form in which they can he identifii 
 allowing them to be continually visited and i: 
 by whoever wisl them ; and that this 
 
 cause a crowd ci* their enemies t.> he pn Benl at 
 time whi ' ding i" the prophecy, tin 
 
 to their non- , should 
 
OF Tin: WITNESSES. 847 
 
 they Dot riso ; lint who, instead of triumphing over 
 the victims of their rage, arc themselves to meel a 
 defeat. At the great moment, the cloud of the di- 
 vine presence is suddenly to iill the heavens over 
 Bcene, and doubtless to flash its glory on the crowds 
 upgazing in Burprise and terror. The Spirit of 
 life is to descend from Jehovah, and entering the 
 dead witnesses, they are to rise to their feet, and a 
 loud voice from heaven calling them to ascend there, 
 they are to pass up through the air and enter the 
 cloudy pavilion in which the Almighty is concealed. 
 No wonder their enemies who witness the spectacle 
 are to be struck with fear, and give glory to the God 
 of heaven ! Xo wonder that the whole population of 
 the empire are to be thrown into commotion at the 
 news of the event ! A great political agitation and 
 revolution, symbolized by an earthquake, is immedi- 
 ately to follow, and a tenth part of the empire, that 
 is one of its ten kingdoms symbolized by a tenth of 
 the city, is to fall, and thousands of the most con- 
 spicuous and influential in it, are to perish. 
 
 What an impressive proof this revelation presents 
 of the error of the notion that is generally entertain- 
 ed, that the days of persecution are over ; that the 
 church hereafter, instead of being assailed and van- 
 quished by the antiehristian powers, is itself to con- 
 quer them, and is to carry the gospel victoriously to 
 all lands, and BWeep from the earth all the forms of 
 false religion by which the nations are now held in 
 

 
 ' 
 
 
 
 of inspiration aiil 
 
 the i 
 
 od the 
 
 chinch at the : tin- p] 
 
 that in the 
 peri : he wild beast — 
 
 the ruL : d Roman empire— th< 
 
 .ful wit- 
 I Ihrist by martyri 
 this prophecy of their resurrection, a. oing 
 
 and kingdom on the earth, and then 
 found and extinguish the faith of * ople in 
 
 Lis predictions; and promii I 
 
 a: and justify their usurpations of Ins th] 
 : one. 'I 
 
 furiously 1 
 after, than they 
 
 :d theme inly 
 
 triumph bis followers an ! to 
 
 more abusive denuuciati I cutting 
 
 and an« to be swept from the earth by a nana- bl 
 and inating ition than at any other 
 
 f their conflicts I 1 1 heir 
 
 dan. adiously shut their i 
 
 I futurity proclaimed to as by such im- 
 1 pictured in thi 
 a form that the wh 
 
of 349 
 
 wciv t«> as, and the glorious victory to the martyrs 
 in which it ia to terminate I '^Blessed Is hi thai 
 Ufctcheth and keepeth hie garments fesl he walk 
 naked and they - shame*' 
 
Tin i 
 
 C II a p t i: B X XIX. 
 
 !AT AHF. I '- OOMDTG. THE CLOSE OF 
 
 THE TIRKI-H ImMINATInN OTKB THE i —THE 
 
 ran 
 
 Tn resurrection and ascension of tin- wit: 
 t.» be followed by tin- termination of the 
 and the commencement of tin* third. 
 woe i- pasl : behold, tin- third v. eth quickly." 
 
 I! . . \i. 11. Tin- second woe is the domination 
 tin- Tori the chui B man 
 
 empire. Under their cruel and deb 
 churches l»>n,L r nnmei dthy. and of a comm 
 
 Influence in the state, have du 
 many once flourishing cities and populous disti 
 and have every where dwindled into feeblei 
 decrepitude, and sunk t 
 
 ranee and superstition. What the way is in which 
 the woe they are suffering from the llohamme 
 is t" terminate, whether by tin- Gall of the Turkish 
 power, an<l the institution of new governn 
 by the i itricatioE churches from 
 
 their dominion and influent it ion 
 
THE THIRD w«.i;. 861 
 
 the prophecy does imt Indicate. It seema most pro- 
 bable it will be the overthrow of the Turkish rule, 
 ;ui(l the substitution of Christian governments in its 
 
 place. 
 
 The third woe is that which is to be inflicted under 
 the seventh Vial and seventh trumpet. "And the 
 seventh poured his vial into the air ; and there came 
 a great voice out of the temple from the throne, Bay- 
 ing, It is done! And there were lightnings, and 
 voices, and thunders ; ami there was a great earth- 
 quake, such as there was not since men were upon 
 the earth, so mighty an earthquake, 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 oi' the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And 
 every island fled away, and the mountains were not 
 found. And hail great as talents in weight fell out 
 of heaven upon men ; and men blasphemed God 
 because oi' the plague of the hail, for its plague was 
 very great.*' Chap. xvii. 17—21. These symbols 
 show that the nations are now to be shaken by the 
 most violent convulsions and smitten with inflictions. 
 Lightnings, thunders and other sounds in the air, 
 and the vibration and upheaving of the earth, be- 
 speak analogous commotions and outbreaks in the 
 world of men. and show that the whole structure of 
 society is to be thrown into agitation and revolution. 
 The great city is Babylon, the symbol of the Catholic 
 nationalized hierarchies, and its separation into three 
 
pari thai tboi 
 
 Into 1 1 1 : • 
 
 Bjmbols of the nationalized hierarchy ither 
 
 churches oul B man empire, such as 
 
 the Lutheran of Denmark and Sweden, tl G k of 
 
 la and 1 1 I he Armenian, Syrian, and ot 
 
 of the i B ad their fall 
 
 their denationalization, or Lose of their ; hich 
 
 derive from the cii hich 
 
 they exist. The crushing hail 
 and torturing infliction from God, under which i 
 
 ad of repenting, are to be inflamed h it i 
 him, and arc to blaspheme his name. All ti. 
 Bymbolized under ti nth vial arc thus inflic- 
 
 tions; plagues : the lasl plagues; and the vial :. 
 which they are poured is a vial of wrath. 
 
 Tl. >wn under tl :li trumpet 
 
 which is to be blown simultaneously with the 
 of ti. ill vial, arc more extensive, an I 
 
 ifts and deliveranoes to God's peopl and 
 
 dead, as well as judgmei 
 
 the seventh angel Bounded. And there 
 voices in heaven Baying : The kingdom of the world 
 come our Lord's and his Christ's, and 
 r and ever. 
 •• And the twenty-four elders who 
 on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshi] 
 
 ing : We thank thee, 1 1 L >rd, the Almighty 
 thai thou b thy 
 
 And i: 
 
i:\ EXTS UNDER THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 
 
 angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the 
 dead to be judged, and to give the reward to thy 
 servants the prophets, and the holy, and those who 
 fear thy name, small and great, anld to destroy those 
 v\ ho destroy the earth. And the temple of God was 
 opened in heaven, and the ark of his covenant was 
 Been in his temple. And there were lightnings, and 
 aid thunders, and an earthquake and great 
 
 hail. v Chap, xi. 15-19. 
 
 The lightnings, the voices, the thunders, the earth- 
 quake and the hail, which are the only symbols of 
 that elass that accompanied the sound of the trum: 
 are the same as those of the seventh vial, and den 
 the same political agitations and revolutions. The 
 voices from heaven and the song of the elders are not 
 symbolical, but are direct announcements of other 
 events that are to take place under the trumpet — the 
 first that the sovereignty of the world has become 
 Christ's : the other that God's wrath is come, and the 
 time of the dead that he should judge and give re- 
 ward to his servants the prophets and the holy, and 
 all who fear his name, and should destroy his enemi 
 A- these are uol represented by symbols, and are not 
 expressed in . but in the most simple and une- 
 
 quivocal language, there is no room for the fancy that 
 the events which they announce are not literally those 
 which they foreshow. All pretext lor spiritualizing 
 them is cut o[}\ They cannot be spiritualized, indeed, 
 
 ting them in1 msandnonse] 
 
 What can God's wrath mean, spiritualized? Is any 
 
CHI 
 
 such tiling kno* • piritualized wrath of (I<»<1. in 
 
 contradistinction from hi I wrath 7 What 
 
 rewarding b 1. and the holy 
 
 who are living, mean spiritualised? li the passage 
 spiritualized, th< ( pro- 
 
 phets, the holy, and the d th must 
 
 present! I of different 
 
 orders. Who then are they who are rej I by 
 
 the holy who are to receive the spiritual:. 
 Not human beings certainly ; for they must 1 
 of a different order from those who represent tl. 
 Who are the parties whom the d 
 be destroyed, represent? And what is it tl. 
 
 traction symbolizes ? [s there a spiritual destruc- 
 tion that i< t<> he inflicted <>ii those whom the wild 
 -: and false prophel n t, in distinction from 
 
 that literal destruction which 
 
 ■ into the la!, • and brimstone? Will 
 
 anyone thus involve himself in contradicti 
 absurdities in oi 
 signification which cannot he defi 
 There i- no consistent medium 1 • that 
 
 prophecies, and admitting that they f 
 the coming of Christ, the resurrection andju 
 of the holy dead, and the judgment and reward ol 
 holy Living. X<» legerdemain, ho* 
 it. .-in w rest from them that meanii 
 ' brisl then, it is indisputable, i- undei 
 trun - :• . ■ • ' I union ol 
 
 world : he is then to inflict his wrath on t' 
 
OHDEB Tin: BEVENTB TRUMPET. 355 
 
 enemies of his kingdom, and sweep them to destruc- 
 tion : he is then to judge and reward aU who fear his 
 
 name, both .-mall and greal ; and as they include the 
 living, he Is then to judge and reward all those who 
 are living that are holy. And these predictions, it is 
 apparent from what follows, will then be understood 
 by the people of God, as revealing these great events, 
 and their verification will be regarded as at hand. 
 
Tin: kJtGEL in mii-ii; 
 
 I II A PT i: R X X X. 
 
 EVENTS THAT ARK TO FBBCEDI CHH — I 
 
 : I. IN MIIHIKAYKV, THAT THK BODB 
 JUDGMENT IS COM!. — THK FALL OF 1; 
 . To FAY HOMAGE T«» THK CIVIL 
 
 ■ 
 
 IMA' 
 
 :h tnim 
 the angel flying through mid-heaven havi 
 
 el, will announc that 
 
 the hour I l's jadgmenl has come. " And 
 another :ni.Lr»'l flying in said-heaven, having the < 
 1 to proclaim to those who dwell on 
 iry nation, and t 
 peop ing with a loud \ 
 
 ry, fur tlie hour of his judgment i 
 ami worship ye him \\ li« > made the heaven, and the 
 
 earth, and sr;t, ami fountains Of ' 
 
 The hour - jadgmenl of the lii 
 
 tions t«» whom this announcement is t<> be ma'! 
 time in which 1 judge them, 
 
 . -nth trnn 
 
ANNOUNCING THE HOUB OF GOD'S JUDGMENT. '■>■>! 
 
 31-46 ; and is to accept and reward those of them who 
 are obedient, and condemn and destroy those of them 
 who are his enemies. The angel vestured in Light, 
 ; flying through the high regions of the air where 
 all eyes can see him, is the symbol of an order of men 
 who are in a conspicuous and impressive manner to 
 proclaim the everlasting gospel to the nations of the 
 earth, and warn them that the time has arrived when 
 God Is to judge them, and assign them everlasting 
 rewards, according as they are or arc not his worship- 
 pers, and to exhort them to fear and adore him. 
 This indicates that the ministers of the gospel, or at 
 Least a Large and conspicuous body of them, will at 
 that time understand the predictions under the sev- 
 enth trumpet, as announcing the Bpeedy coming of 
 Christ to establish his throne on the earth, to 1 
 and glorify his dead saints, to judge and reward his 
 Living eleet, and to destroy his incorrigible enemies. 
 The perversion of the Scriptures by spiritualization 
 will then have ceased. The great revelations God 
 lias made of his purposes, will he received in their 
 natural and true meaning : and the dreams of a re- 
 demption id' the world by human instrumentalities, 
 and of a millennial kingdom without its king and its 
 
 o 
 
 risen Baints, now so fondly cherished by multitudes, 
 will have given way to the joyous expectation and 
 I'lur's coming and reign in power 
 and glory, ami continuance of his redemptive work 
 through everlasting a 
 
 This proclamation that the hour of God's judg 
 
:;> Tin. 
 
 lias c >me, is Boon to b€ followed by the annouj 
 
 of men i 
 in the fall of Babylon. " Ana there folio 
 
 I ibj Ion is {alien, ifl fallen, t 
 < in . 11 nations drink of I 
 
 of her fornication." Chap. xiv. 8. And an 
 
 ems from chap, sviii. 1 id of flyii 
 
 the high of the air, i 
 
 and : aouncement. 
 
 things I saw another ang ■■■. n from heaven 
 
 having greal power : and the earth waa Lighted with 
 his glory. And he cried mightily with a - 
 saying, Babylon the great ifl fallen, ifl fallen, an 
 
 ime the habitation of demons, and the hold of 
 every foul spirit, an unclean and 
 
 hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine 
 of the fury of her fornication, and the b the 
 
 earth have committed fornication with her, and the 
 merchants of the earth arc waxed rich through the 
 abundance of her delicacies.' 1 T / like that 
 
 with the everlasting gospel, are Bymbolfl of l 
 men, who ar< and proclaim to the nations the 
 
 fall of Babylon, by the judgment of God be< 
 
 great Bins. She ifl Bpoken of chiefly as a woman. 
 Her artfl as such, and her seduction of the nations 
 
 kting cup. arc Bymbols of h 
 from her covenant with God to the h< 
 an<l i«l<»l<. and allurement and compulsion of the 
 tions b) her to join in li« wor- 
 
 ship. II< i fall •.' cordingly is her dejection from 
 
THK PALL OF B kBl l. 
 
 staii. ut t.n ilu' wild beast, chap. wii. :'», and signifies 
 the tall of the hierarchies which Bhe symbolizes from 
 their position as nationalized by the civil govern- 
 ments; not their annihilation j for they are to snl 
 after their fall, and be a station for demons and mon- 
 sters, as the literal Chaldean Babylon on its overthrow 
 became the abode of the mosl hideous and detestable 
 animals. Her destruction is to take place at a later 
 period, and by the hands of the people, not of the 
 rulers. The splendor of the angel who lighted the 
 earth with his glory, indicate- that those whom lie 
 represents are to be persons of great distinction and 
 influence : and their proclamation of her fall from her 
 connection with the states that have sustained her, 
 given her power to tyrannize and persecute, and exe- 
 cuted her bloody decrees, shows that the people of 
 God will regard it as an event of the greatest moment, 
 and deem it essential that it should be contemplated 
 as the act of God's vengeance in retribution of her 
 sins. 
 
 This public and emphatic announcement by thoso 
 whom tlu- angel represents that she is hurled from 
 her lofty station, because of her infidelity to God and 
 
 .-eduction of the nations from his worship to the hom- 
 age of demons and id.»l-. seems eminently proper, 
 both as a vindication of God, and justification of th 
 who have resisted her -way. and as a confutation of 
 her Impious Usurpations and claims. Her vas-als are 
 not to be left to regard her fall as a mere natural 
 event that presents no index of her character. The 
 
Tli 
 
 natu • in doubt what the judgment 
 
 . 
 
 the fall of Babylon i 
 followed by a warning to the nation 
 more the homage t-» the beast and it- rhich 
 
 they * ill Btill endei ' d anothi 
 
 third angel, followed them, saying with ■ loud \ 
 orship tin- wild nd its in 
 
 a mark on bis forehead, or on his hand, he 
 drink of the win • wrath of I 
 
 poured out unmixed into the bia indignation, 
 
 shall be tormented in fire and brim 
 the holy angel8, and before the Laml , 
 smoke of their torm 
 
 And they have no rest day and night \ 'ship 
 
 wild beast and its image, and whoever receives 
 the mark of its nam< , 1 1 
 
 saints, who keep th< faith 
 
 And I heard a voice from 
 
 Write. BleSSed are the .lead, who her 
 
 Lord : yea, saitb the Spirit, that they may r< 
 their toils, and their works follow with them."' < 
 
 MY. 9 \->. 
 
 This angel, like those that pi 
 
 a body of eminent men who are in a public and iin- 
 
 manner to utter tl ing against wor- 
 
 shipping tli- and its image ; and pr 
 
 on those who sutler martyrdom rather 
 than Bwerve from their allegi I wild 
 
 i i- i he symbol of the civil rulere 
 
HOT TO WORSHIP Tin-: :. R its imaoi:. 361 
 
 •an empire : Tin 4 image is the symbol of the Ca- 
 tholic hierarchy of thai empire, or whole body of Qa? 
 tholic clergy with the pope as their head, which is 
 modeled after the imperial menl at the time 
 
 of the vision, and is for thai called the lb 
 
 of the wild beast. To worship the wild beast and its 
 image, Is to acknowledge and Bubmit to the claims 
 and commands of the civil rulers and the papal eccle- 
 in which they usurp the prerogatives of God, 
 and legislate <>\ er his laws as though they hadsupreme 
 authority over religion itself, and could determine 
 who or what men shall worship, and what acts or ser- 
 in he the means and conditions of salvation: 
 — a submission to which is equivalent to an ascription 
 to the beast and image of the rights of God. Any 
 one who after this warning deifies and worships them 
 in that manner, and thereby in effect denies that God 
 is his supreme lawgiver, and that it belongs to him 
 alone to determine the method of salvation, is to drink 
 the unmixed wine of God's wrath. He is not to be 
 1 from that doom by being led by the Spirit to 
 repentance. lie is not to be forgiven. The only 
 measure God will take with him will be to present to 
 him the cup of his indignation ; to consign him to the 
 - in which the incorrigible are for over to be tor- 
 mented. The warning indicates that the powers 
 symbolized by the boast and its image will still per- 
 sist in their impious claims to dictate the religion of 
 the people, and that there will 1 ::s who will 
 
 be tempted to vield to them : And the announcement, 
 
 16 
 

 \ l:l 
 
 
 •■ II. 'iv is the pati< 
 
 I the 
 
 I ; an • tli< 
 
 atu-r die in the Lord ; • . \ 3] 
 
 m their toil eir works follow 
 
 then A the civil j -mi the Catholic 
 
 >n8train obedience to 
 their impious dictation. Th( jnnc- 
 
 tnre, aa well as al the period when the witnei 
 slain, to Bhow their Bteadfaal all- 
 persecution rather than unite in rship ol 
 
 church, and t them i 
 
 their lives for Chric 
 
 the two parties is thus to continue to the last. T 
 antichristian po\ not to I 
 
 ance by the judgments with which they are Bmii 
 T si and false prophet mtinue I 
 
 ind mak< th< Lamb and b 
 
 till he inter] 
 
Till: SEALING OF THE BEBVANTS OF GOD, 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 EVENTS THAT ARE TO PRECEDE CUEIST'S COMING. THE SEAI.IX 
 
 THE SERVANTS OF GOD. THE DESTRUCTION OK BABYLON. SHINS 
 
 OF I HONG IN THE HEAVEN J AND ON THE EARTH. 
 
 It is at this period of persecution, it is probable, 
 that the sealing of the servants of God which is ! 
 
 mi under the sixth seal, is to take place. "And 
 after this, I saw four angels standing at the four 
 corners of the earth, having power over the four 
 winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on 
 the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I 
 saw another angel ascending from the sun-rising, 
 having the seal of the livii . And he cried 
 
 with a loud ' the four angels to whom it 
 
 'i to hurt the earth and the sea ; sajing, Hurt 
 not the earth, nor the Bea,nor the trees, until kre can 
 • ants of our God on their foreheads. And 
 I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred forty- 
 four thousand w< - at of the whole race of 
 
 the son< of Israel." Chap. vii. 1- -l. The angel from 
 the sun-rising is the symbol of a body of meu wfto 
 are to exert the agency which is denoted by his 
 

 THE SEALING OF 1 
 
 ing the bun rnr thousand oT the Bona of 
 
 I. Th< 
 od their forehi not to constitute them 
 
 I. hut to make it 1 1 1 : 1 1 1 i t ■ that 
 
 the. m.Ii. 1: 
 
 weir marked by tin* impr< 
 
 that which ' is in like' 
 
 tier t<> be i 1 
 
 re to b< \ isibly and <! ibly such, to 
 
 ■ w bo behold them. The tiweY . the 
 
 - of Israel, are symbols of the denominatioi 
 bodies of th< ( tian chnrch from which tl 
 
 to be taken, on whom the agency 
 
 :. A- i 
 
 ing I I 
 
 bators thai they were I I - 
 
 that whi.h the symbolL 
 
 i make i: manifest that I 
 
 - of it arc the Bervan I hat 
 is, is Indicated in the d ion «'i* the hundred 
 forty-four thousand, aa they app< with 
 the Lamb on Mount Zion, having his name, and 
 
 name of hlfl Father written on their 
 
 where it an as their chi "1 
 
 they wen- not defiled with women ; for r 
 
 ." Chap. liv, 1. Being defiled with 
 i> the Bymbol of being Bednced to the false worship 
 of the a; thood r. ted by the harlol 
 
 l..n and her daughters. That which i- 
 ally t<> distinguish those re] 
 
THK SEALING OF Tin: BEBVAHTS Of OOD. 365 
 
 then, is, thai it is to be made manifest to all i 
 that they are the servants of God by their maintain- 
 ing a Bpotlesa allegiance to Christ, and refusing to 
 yield to the seductions of the idolatrous hierarchies, 
 ami the compulsion of the civil rulers to sanction 
 their usurpations of authority over the church, and 
 to join in their superstitious and idolatrous worship. 
 The office of those whom the sealing angel symbol- 
 . is accordingly to be to prompt or cause them to 
 give that public proof of their allegiance to Chrisf. 
 It may be by instruction, counsel, exhortation, un- 
 folding their duty to Christ, depicting the guilt of 
 apostasy, pointing them to the rewards with which 
 their fidelity will be immediately crowned. That 
 reward is not improbably a transfiguration to glory. 
 For '• these," it is added. " have been redeemed from 
 men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb, and in 
 their mouths was found no falsehood ; for they are 
 blameless." Chap. xiv. 4, 5. As they are to be dis- 
 tinguished from others by the indubitable proofs they 
 exhibit of their allegiance to Christ, so they are to 
 be distinguished by him from others by being the 
 first of living men who are to obtain a perfect re- 
 demption. The Bong they an; to Bing accordingly, 
 it is said, no one can Learn but themselves — Bhowing 
 that there i uliarity in God's dealings with 
 
 them, with which no othi to be distinguished. 
 
 - eminently appropriate that the first of the 
 living who are thus transformed to glory and raised 
 to the most intimate relations to Christ. Bhould be 
 

 . 
 
 wliu I,; 
 
 of their inflexible allegi tn, 'I 
 
 Lisplay do Buch al< Lity, l»ut 
 
 ontinue und< of the 
 
 r their denationalizatioi a from the Bum- 
 
 mons to them to come out i t B fill. 
 
 * \ 
 
 < pie, ih.it ye be i 
 
 of li and thai 
 
 Chap, xviii. 1. 
 This warning of tl. 
 
 ►on to be follow* n. — 
 
 and annihilation 
 a city by a conflagration : but tin 
 which the hierarchies I : 
 Bwepl from the earth, arc want, sorrov 
 
 instruments with which ti 
 pie to i' 
 
 able 
 i her works. Enfc i tfie cup aich 
 
 has poured, pour to her doable. As much 
 glorified herself and lived luxuriously, 
 bo much torment give her and Borrow. B 
 in her hcari 1 i a queen, and am 
 
 a widow, and I cannot sec Borrow : therefore in 
 <iiic day her plagues Bhall death and - 
 
 and famine, and she Bhall be burned with 
 : for mighty Lb the I- I God who has jud 
 
 ( 'hap. xviii. li S. And i .icliuii ifl 
 
 be the work of the people whom - deluded 
 
Tin: DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON. 3G7 
 
 her sorceries, and crushed by her tyranny : nol the 
 civil rulers ; for they are to stand onresisting spec- 
 tators^ of her overthrow, and lament it. "And the 
 kings of the earth who have committed fornication 
 and lived luxuriously with her, when standing afar 
 for Tear of her torment, they see the smoke of her 
 burning, shall lament and mourn, saying : Alas, alas, 
 thegreal city Babylon, the mighty city : for in one hour 
 lias thy judgment come I" And the destruction is to be 
 complete. " And a mighty angel took up a stone like a 
 great millstone, and east it into the sea, saying, Thus 
 with violence shall the great city Babylon he casl 
 down, and shall not he found any more." "Rejoice 
 over her, heaven, and the saints, and the apostles, 
 and the prophets, for God has avenged your condem- 
 nation by her!" v. 21, 20. The apostles and pro- 
 phets wh<»m .-he has condemned, the martyrs on whorn 
 she has wreaked her vengeance from ago to age, will 
 
 in the storm that sweeps her to ruin a vindication 
 
 mT themselves. The angels who have witnessed her 
 
 career will rejoice in her end as a fitting display 
 
 of God's righteousness and a just retribution of her 
 
 sins. What a verification it will form of his supre- 
 
 y. his holiness, and his truth ! And what impres- 
 sions will it make in\ those of God's people who sur- 
 vive ! What a confutation of her impious claims that 
 she is the church of Clod, the bride of Christ, and of 
 supreme authority in religion, will the avenging 
 thunderbolts by which she is dashed to perdition 
 
TH! 
 
 form ! A ill wh.it a rid >rld will her 
 
 extinction l • 
 
 II truction, accordii 
 
 to the i , ; ( (hap. n 1; -- - ^telj 
 
 followed riptions of righteou 
 
 Bommoi inhabit 
 
 of the earth and praise him. i 
 
 a loucl \ multitnd 
 
 ing, Alleluia : i I vat ion, 
 
 glory, and i G ' 
 
 righteous arc his ju I the 
 
 i harlot, that corrupted the earth with her t 
 cation ; and 1 the I I i ■ ■! of 
 
 from her hand. And again 1 I, AUelui I 
 
 tli.- four and and the lour In i 
 
 fares, tell and worshippi 
 
 . : Alleluia. 
 
 from the thro: 
 our God, all him, 
 
 small and great. A 
 
 ■at lnultitll'i . • of l.iali 
 
 thunders, saying : Alleluia ; 
 the Lord God Almighty I 
 
 and emit, and give I ihim; for the mar: 
 
 of the L unh b I hia bri 
 
 * .. i 7. As 1 
 
 I 
 into tli. :aall and • bich an 
 
 culiaritiea of human beings, it is 1 
 
SIGHS OF CHI, PBOAOH. 
 
 Their response therefore implies thai the people of 
 God universally are, at this epoch, to know thai Christ 
 has assumed the Bceptre of the world, and that he is 
 about to raise his saints from the grave, and exalt 
 them to their stations as kings and priests in his 
 kingdom, which is the event denoted by his consti- 
 tuting them his bride. They will look accordingly 
 for 1 lily appearing to destroy the wild beast 
 
 and its armies, who will he gathered to contend with 
 him at Armageddon. " Behold I come as a thief. 
 Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, 
 he walk naked and they see his shame." 
 Before his advent, however, there are t.> 1 
 in heaven, that are to indicate his approach. " I will 
 show wonders in the heavens and on the earth. M 
 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 comes." Joel 
 ii. 30, 31. '" And there shall be 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 -hall he sha- 
 ken. And then shall they see the Son of Man com- 
 ing in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 
 xxi. 25 27, Matt. xxiv. 29, BO. At length the light 
 of his glory 18 to flash on the world, and all eyes are 
 to see him descending with his infinite train of atten- 
 dants, and all hearts tremble at his majesty and 
 
 16* 
 
'.< II. 
 
 powi : i are tl 
 
 and herald Christ's coming : inch ii I 
 tainty thai it ii 
 
 trompel and seventh via] at the commencemei 
 hii thousand 
 
PROPHETIC PERIODS OF DANIEL AND JOHN. 871 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE PROPHETIC PERIODS OF THE APOCALYPSE AND DANIEL. 
 
 NBABLY all the recent expositors of Daniel and 
 John, whether Millenarian or Anti-millenarian, re- 
 gard the times of the domination of the powers de- 
 noted by the ten-horned wild beast, the testimony 
 of the witnesses in sackcloth, and the wearing out of 
 the saints by the eleventh horn of the beast, as to 
 terminate not far from the present period. Some 
 writers, twenty or thirty years ago, assigned their 
 end with great confidence to 1843 and 1847, and have 
 not only been confuted by events, but have thrown, 
 by their misjudgment and rashness, much discredit 
 on the study of the prophetic Scriptures. A far 
 greater number have referred their close to 1864, 
 L866, or L868,and others Btill to 1880. The near ap- 
 proach of those periods, renders it peculiarly impor- 
 tant that the grounds on which they are held by their 
 adv . be the time when the twelve hundred 
 
 and sixty years shall end. should be carefully exam- 
 ined, and the people of God — if that view is mista- 
 ken — put on their guard against a disappointment. 
 

 
 
 
 of the • the fall of 
 
 in L864, L866, l •• - 
 would [ <1 drive 
 
 tin in into perplexity, di 
 
 ■ rrora in th< 
 fix on i which it ifl \m\ hould be 
 
 I. Some "t" them found their calcu] 
 
 en pi abolicaJ of time, 
 
 and haw 
 Thus M r. Pal - that a prophetic } 
 
 .il>olixii;_ _ ' _ 1 iii 
 
 Daniel as the duration of the four g 
 Darchiea re] 1 by tin 
 
 and makes thai assumption the basis of his pi 
 i 
 
 He point, and B] 
 to it. as though it w< of the most indubil 
 
 and important el 
 gether, b 
 
 iod is i.. I by the prophet. T 
 
 mcein which 
 l.vhim.i- in \ 
 and 
 
 during which thai monarch wi 
 driven from bid throi nd live with 
 
 . ] 
 
 i reveal L1 D iniel, which exhibits 
 \ buchado 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL PRH 378 
 
 of his and the other great Gentile dynasties ; the 
 hewing down of the tree as representing his being 
 driven from bia throne and people to dwell with the 
 beasta of the field : the seven times aa signifying the 
 running in that degraded state ; 
 and the preservation of the stump of the tree, as de- 
 noting the preservation of bis kingdom, for restora- 
 tion to him, on his recovering his reason, and recog- 
 nizing his subordination to Jehovah. Mr. Fabcr's 
 theory is therefore a sheer invention, without any 
 authority from the prophecy. The effect CO] 
 qucntly of his asserting it with conlidenee, and giv- 
 ing it a conspicuous place in his Calendar of Pro- 
 phecy, has been to discredit his judgment, and Lead 
 the critical reader to feel that, without a careful ex- 
 amination of his grounds, little reliance is to be placed 
 on his constructions. The Rev. E. B. Elliott also 
 falls into the same error, and founds it expressly <>n 
 the seven times, that were the measure of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar's deprivation of his throne and reason. 
 
 Erroneous chronological calculations have also been 
 founded on the hour, and day, and month, and year, 
 Rev, ix. 15, on the assumption that they are symbols 
 of the duration of the Turkish woe : they, however, 
 simply denote the commencement, or at most the 
 period of the slaughters, which were to be inflicted by 
 the armies under the command of those denoted by 
 thc "And the four angels were loosed, who 
 
 had been prepared for the hour and day. and month 
 and year, that they might slay a third of the men." 
 

 
 Bui the slaughters were not commei 
 
 They were chiefly confined to the four j»< - : 
 of invasion and conquest, ui 
 
 l'\ the four angels. tinned without 
 
 intermiasion for * * i lt 1 1 1 cental 
 II. Writers have £allen into im also 
 
 which they regard i 
 mining the commencement of the 
 Bixty 3 ears. 
 
 Thus Mr. Cunninghame and manyothe 
 period from the letter of Justinian in A. D. 
 which he addressed Pope John II. as th< ;' all 
 
 the holy churches and all the holy pri 
 
 imption that it then ad to the Roman 
 
 bishop the supremacy which it ascribed to him. 
 
 s delivery of the saints, the tin 
 the laws into his hands. J *ut thai is s mistai 
 r confers no authority wh 
 
 imply that the patriarch 
 <it' Rome was held to be the head of the church in 
 othei than that his patriarchate had tl 
 
 dence in rank and honor of the others, and that har- 
 mony with it was deemed n< 
 
 unity of the church. The letter re] lusively 
 
 to the churches of i ■ ■ . and tl. 
 
 in it was. to make known to the bishop 
 I >me on the one hand, what the doctrin 
 that were maintained in those churches by the u 
 rial authority ; and on the other, what the hew 
 that were denoun< 
 
Till: TWELVE BUNDRED A\I» SIXTY FEARS. 376 
 
 to ask of liim an expression of his concurrence in 
 those doctrines and measures ; not thai the pope had 
 any mi. re authority over the doctrines of the church, 
 or the church itself, than Justinian himself had, but 
 only that the emperor mighl ose the pope's judgment 
 irroborate his own, and command the acquiescence 
 o( his Bubjects in the faith he was enforcing.* 
 
 Nor could Justinian, had lie attempted it, have con- 
 ferred any authority on the pope over the churches 
 of the western empire; as that empire was no longer 
 under his dominion, but had passed under the juris- 
 diction of the Goths. He had not a solitary inch of 
 territory, nor a subject in Italy, the northern coast of 
 Africa, or the kingdoms wesl and north of the Alps. 
 To have affected to confer on the pope authority over . 
 the churches and people of those regions, would have 
 been an invasion of the prerogatives claimed by the 
 western monarchs, and a mockery. The whole fancy 
 therefore that the letter was a decree, that it invested 
 the pope with supreme authority overall the churches 
 of the ten kingdoms of the west, which is the sp] i 
 of his agency, and that it determines the date of the 
 delivery of the saints into his hands, is mistaken. To 
 _:i that office to it. is as groundless as it were to 
 
 ascribe it to any other letter from Justinian, or impe- 
 rial decree, in which no allusion is made to the church 
 of Rome. 
 
 Oti Ejard the letter of Phocas, emperor of 
 
 Constantinople, to Boniface iii. in A. D. GOO. 
 * Labbei Concilia, torn, viii. pp. 795, TOG. 
 
376 ! i:i: 
 
 Btitu the be church, 
 
 and deliveri Into 
 
 his hands : bu1 thai is equally mi I 
 
 had do authority to delh er the chui 
 era empire into the han 
 for he had do jurisdiction over them an; than 
 
 his pred Justinian. Etta jurisdiction at the 
 
 Dfined to the exarchate i B < 1 una, and 
 i Blight that Gregory thi : 
 before the emperor'c ,hadmad< with the 
 
 Lombards, without t] t of the Byzantine court. 
 
 Every other pari of th< n empire was wholly 
 
 independent of the Greeks. A I 
 had no authority over thu churches and peop] 
 the west, he could, not, had he at( it, have 
 
 confe rred on Boniface any right or power over tl 
 Bui Phocae made do attempt to confer any authority 
 on tl d pontiff. He only in a letter writt 
 
 customar} in answer to a n< I 
 ration of Boniface to the pa] 
 and promised that the title univ 
 plied to the I B me alom I to 1 ishop 
 
 of Constantinople. P B manum P 
 
 tificem esse dicendum (Ecomenicum, oempe I 
 Bslem Episcopum ; Gonstantinopolitanum nequa- 
 quam. H quidem ipsum Bonifacium ab eo obti- 
 Duisc i testatur. Sic, inquit, 
 
 obtinuii apud Phocam Principem, ul 
 beati >li, caput esse! omnium E rum, 
 
 B oa ecclesia ; quia e I jtantino- 
 
OF Tin: TWELVE BUNDBED AND sixty FEARS. 377 
 
 politana primam Be omnium Ecclesiarum Bcribebat.* 
 '• Be promised thai the Roman Pontiff alone should be 
 called ecumenical, that is universal bishop : the Con- 
 Btantinopolitan Bhonld not. The language of Anas- 
 tasius who relates it, is, lie obtained from the 
 emperor Phocas that the apostolic seat, that is the 
 Roman church, should be bead of all the churches, 
 and because the Constantinopolitan church had 
 claimed that title." But that title was not then first 
 applied to the Roman church. It had been claimed 
 and assumed by the pontiffs, often and long before." 
 The letter of Phocas accordingly conferred no 
 authority, but only sanctioned the exclusive use of 
 a title it had long arrogated, and which then meant 
 little more than that tho Roman church had the prece- 
 dence in rank and authority of all others. It is wholly 
 mistaken, therefore, to regard the emperor's letter as 
 a decree, delivering the saints, the times, and the 
 laws into the pope's hands, and determining the com- 
 mencement of the twelve hundred and sixty years. 
 
 III. Another important error into which many 
 writers have fallen, is the assumption that the termi- 
 nation of the twelve hundred and sixty years, is to be 
 the epoch of Christ's second advent, and the wild 
 beast's destruction. The twelve hundred and sixty 
 years, however, instead of being the measure of the 
 wild beast's life, is only the measure of its career in 
 the form it assumed on the fall of tho seventh head, 
 and the transference of the crowns from the heads 
 
 * Baronii. Annal., torn. viii. pp. 198. 
 
TH1 V WHICH THE 
 
 to the horns. It i« rrom th< 
 
 Rev. xiii. 1. in it- form under the supr< 
 lion G thicdyni to which power was given 
 
 to acl forty and two months, and make war with 
 
 »me them. Bu1 after it baa (alien in 
 that form, it is to rise again ont of hades, in anot 
 
 e, run a .-hurt <•. a blasphem< 
 
 cutor in alliance with the Etonian church, and then 
 
 to perdition. In thai last form it is to 1 
 the sway of an eighth imperial chief, and 
 kings of that ] >t- rii >< 1 are Bubordii 
 
 chief, and give their power to him." \l< v. *vii. 11 
 12. The end of the twelve hundred and Bixty y< 
 then, is n«>t to be the epoch of ( 
 the final destruction of the wild [1 till to 
 
 Bubsisl in a modified form, and make war with 
 Lamb, to intercept him from assuming ptre 
 
 of the world; and it is in that impious attempt that 
 
 I l .'. ! in that Bha] 
 
 mtinue, must he left t<> the i termine. 
 
 It i< not improbably through the thirty years thai 
 to intervene between twelve hundred and sixty, and 
 
 Ive hundred and ninety. Thai 
 signalized by the Bealing probably of the servanti 
 God, the proclamation of th< I to all nati 
 
 and the overthrow of Bi bylon, and is to I 1 by 
 
 the com.: I Shrist ami destruction of the po* 
 
 denoted by the wild beast, false proph( 
 
 arm: 
 
 errors th< n, let as u 
 
WERE DELIVERED TO THE PAPACY. 379 
 
 the act was of the delivery oft lie saints into the power 
 of the eleventh horn, who the agent was of thai de- 
 Livery, and when it toofe place. 
 
 IV. What t hen was the nature of the act by which 
 the saints v.viv delivered into the power of the little 
 horn which was to wear theni out, and think 
 change times and laws? Its nature and source are 
 seen from the nature and source of the power by 
 which the papacy denoted by the horn, persec 
 and has persecuted the saints of the Most High in 
 the ten kingdoms through a long series of ag 
 That power is, and lias been at every Btage of its 
 exercise, derived from the civil government. The 
 I hierarchy lias had authority and power to 
 secute dissentients from its faith, only when 
 the civil governments of those kingdoms refused 
 to tolerate and protect dissentients, and made 
 their non-submission to the Roman church a crim- 
 inal offense. Whenever the civil government of 
 any ni^ those kingdoms has tolerated and protec 
 dissent, then the Catholic hierarchy has lost the 
 pow rsecute non-romanists in that kingdom. 
 
 of the church to persecute is thus de- 
 rived wholly from the civil government ; and in & 
 aarily, because the civil government alone has power 
 • the property, the persons, and the life of its 
 subjects. To subject to a forfeiture of property, to 
 inflict corporeal punishment, to deprive of personal 
 freedom, to consign to death, is the prerogative 
 alone of civil rulers. By wdiat act was it then, that 
 
TIi: 
 
 the ch j] 
 the pa] 
 
 ( 'hrisl in their 1 i 6 jurisdi 
 
 by which tl. I 
 
 hierarchy in their <i 
 
 righl 
 
 pline, and m criminal 
 
 and tin . the 
 
 B mish church in ti 
 
 :i. In that legaliza- 
 tion of the Romish church. 
 
 Burned <>:i t];,- one hand, that it belong their 
 
 ■ heir buI ion they 
 
 ought i imand a: rain 
 
 thai ivl;_ rhich 
 
 Claim that tl ami lav* S 
 
 himself were under their jurisdnti 
 
 athority or annulled at their will. 
 r hand, 
 
 i of their time, which v. : an 
 
 Christianity I 
 
 deificati 
 
 ry on them ami their snbje 
 
 ami the hierarchies of that church A". 
 
 auth 
 
 that all dissent iV 
 ;' that church, ami all denials 
 the righi ttermine author. 
 
 Llgioo i-. and m will 
 
WBRI DELIVERED TO TH1 r\l\\< Y. 381 
 
 tlic law, is a dissenl from Christianity itself, and a 
 
 denial of itfl authority and truth ; and IS a crime just- 
 ly and needfully punished by the civil law. 
 
 fhe monarchs of the ten kingdoms were led to this 
 arrogation oi' authority over Christianity and the 
 faith and worship of their subjects, by the example 
 of their pn d »rs, the Roman em.] 
 
 foreshown Rev. xiii. -. The dragon which was the 
 Bymbol of the rulers of the Roman empire down to 
 the tall of the westerD throne, and of the rulers of the 
 tern empire from thai time to its overthrow by 
 the Turks, gave, it is said, to the wild l>ea>t the sym- 
 bol of the Gothic rulers of the ten kingdoms, " its 
 power and throne, and -'rear authority :" that is. in 
 the surrender by the emperor of the west of his ter- 
 ritories and sceptre to the Gothic kings, he yielded 
 and transferred to them all the imagined rights and 
 prerogatives over his subjects which he had himself 
 rted and exercised : and they, after his example, 
 assumed that among them was the right of legalizing 
 the Roman Catholic religion, and enforcing it on their 
 subjects. And this assumption of authority, as was fore- 
 Bhown in the same prophecy, Chap. xiii. 1^. was jns- 
 1 and urged as a duty by the Catholic church. 
 The two-horned wild beast — which is the symbol of 
 the civil an | iastical hierarchy of the Roman 
 
 state — " it i- said, "all the authority of 
 
 the first Wild beast, and causes the earth and all who 
 inhabit it to pay a religious homage to the firs 
 whose deadly wound was healed; namely, the dra- 
 
v WHICH Till 
 mbol of the tRo- 
 
 : li^ioUH li<- III 
 
 of the old empi 
 the arrogation by those rulers of authority 
 
 I istianity, and tin- right beir 
 
 subjects what doctrines they shoul I 
 
 Christianity, what worship they Bbould 
 offer, and what teachers they Bhould receh 
 power to determine their faith and pracl 
 
 ■ them the bl of pardon and salvati 
 
 And this prediction, the bishop and hierarchy of 
 Roman Btate verified. They taught, at the institu- 
 tion of the Gothic -and have in ei 
 sequent age — that it is the right and duty <>! 
 civil rul< palate over the faith and worshi] 
 their Bubjects, and determine their religion, and that 
 the religion they were to 1 
 thai of 1 ( frolic church : and in order 
 
 r to their teachings, they wrought false mirs 
 as the prop! I 
 
 vince the rulers and people that the Etonian pri 
 wen- tie- true and authoritative mil I 
 
 ami induced them to make an u 
 -:. infused a Living spirit i: 
 d thai all who would not yield it implicit I 
 and submission should be put to death, 
 of an image to tl. 
 den< n of the Catl 
 
 of the b tern Irii 
 
 hierarchy, with the pope ;>t its lead ; and the infu- 
 
wi:kk delivered to the papaot. 
 
 sion of a spirit into the image, and the power of 
 •'•li by the two-homed be ist, 33 mb rlizt - the im- 
 putation by the priesthood of the Roman state, to the 
 Catholic church at Large represented by the im 
 of the right and power to determine the faith and 
 rites of the people of the ten kingdoms, and give 
 their decrees the authority of laws ; while the gift to 
 the image of the power of causing that all who would 
 not worship the image should be put to death, signi- 
 fies the attribution and gift to the hierarchy of the 
 Roman church of power to enforce its decrees by 
 persecution and death. And this prophecy of the 
 agency of the dragon and the two-horned beast has 
 been most conspicuously fulfilled. It was because 
 the emperors of the old Roman empire from Constan- 
 tino to Augustulus had arrogated the right of legaliz- 
 ing the church, and enforcing the doctrines and claims 
 of its priesthood on their subjects, that that right was 
 assumed by the Gothic kings, their successors in the 
 it. The monarchs of the ten kingdoms simply 
 usurped the power over the church and over reli- 
 gion, which they regarded themselves as having 
 gained from the Roman emperors by conquest. And 
 the hierarchy of the Roman state, symbolized by the 
 two-horned beast, maintained that the rulers of the 
 ancient empire had the authority over Christianity 
 and the church which they arrogated. And the pope 
 and hi- ts I the nations of the west to 
 
 place their hierarchies under the dominion of the 
 Roman pontiff, so as to form them into one vast or- 
 

 Tin: • vviiirii Tin: saints 
 
 on, with tin in mud. 
 
 same rabordim aization 
 
 tin- ancient empire were united in one political struc- 
 ture, v. ith the empei i ntiff 
 
 claim ui sub- 
 
 mission to its \\ ill. and t bo would 
 
 not obey itc uould be pal 
 
 facta in the history of the Catholic church i 
 notorious and indubitable than these. The 
 
 to claim authority over the whole Catholic i 
 munity immediately after the nationals . the 
 
 Etomish church in Italy by the Lombards. He and his 
 hierarchy ha ighf through all 
 
 : have followed, of dictating to the 
 their faith and h and demanding that the 
 
 rulers should recognize their authority and enf 
 their dec 
 pliance with their will a 
 
 I 
 
 forfeitures, impria tnment, tortur 
 victims. 
 
 It la clear, therefore, thai the acts by which 
 saint ! into the hands of the paj 
 
 the acta of the civil rulers by which th< I 
 lie hierarchies were legalized, and the Etomish 
 i made the religion of th< 
 
 of that legalization and through the i 
 currence ancl agency of the civil goven -. thai 
 
 the | ions by which the saintshai worn 
 
 nut have be< 1 on. Bad there been no i 
 
WERE DELIVERED TO THE P. WW V. 385 
 
 establishment of either the Catholic or the IV 
 tant church in the teD kingdoms, and do arrogation 
 of the right to Legislate over religion itself and the 
 church, there would have been do persecution ; and 
 had there been do legalization of one denomination to 
 the exclusion of others, there would have been no 
 power by which the intolerant and persecution de- 
 rives ofa church against dissentients could have been 
 enforced by fines, imprisonment and death; as none 
 but civil rulers have the power to punish with t\ 
 inflictions. 
 
 V. When then was it that the Catholic hierarchies 
 were thus nationalized, by the civil governments of 
 the ten kingdoms, so that the Romish priesthood with 
 the pope as its head, claimed the exclusive right to 
 teaeli the Christian religion and offer worship, in the 
 western empire, and attempted to enforce their 
 claims by persecuting dissentients by the arm of the 
 civil governments ? The exact time of the complete 
 legalization of the Catholic church is not known, but 
 was near the close of the sixth, or beginning of the 
 :iih Century. The first monarch who embraced 
 Christianity and nationalized the church, was Glovis, 
 King of the Franks, who acknowledged and legalized 
 the Catholics, and became their patron in A. D. 499. 
 Others followed at different periods; the King of 
 the Swevi in Qallicia in 569 ; the King of the Goths 
 in Spain in 589 : the King of the Lombards, who then 
 held the whole of Italy except the territory of the 
 exarchate of Etavenna, in 591 ; and Ethel ber{ of Bug- 
 

 UNTS 
 
 land, the las! in the I rain, jomewhen 
 
 <.t* the cental I) in the next. He w u baptized 
 
 in the sprin 07, and in December of thai 
 
 ten thousand of hie subj< II. ■ 
 
 di'l not, however, attempt by authority to force hie 
 
 i embrace his new faith, bn1 l«Tt them t 
 ci.lf for thi :. 
 
 In 601, Poj 1 1 ory Benl the pallium to \ 
 tine, who had been ordained bishop, — and anthoi 
 him to institute two bishoprics in England and install 
 aty-four diocesan bishops ; and in 605, Ethelbert 
 made donations to A.ugustine, the archbishop of I 
 terbury.and his associates. and formally ackn< 
 the imed authority over the Catholic 
 
 church by invoking him to excommunic 
 should violate I editions of his gifts. Th • 
 
 involved a nationalization of the church for the 
 time, there can be little doubt. In 604, the K 
 
 I ith and i 
 
 a bishop to his capital. On the death, however, of 
 Ethelbert, in 616, ESadbald, his - 
 bishop of Canterbury from his kingdom, and the 
 of the King of Essex, then also de 
 bishop from their territory and threatene 1 1 
 lishment of paganism. Bui ere the year I they 
 
 [led the banished prelates, and the Catholic reli- 
 
 maintained its position in those long- 
 
 •i. In t) • Edwin, 
 
 \ rthumberlan the 
 
 : of the heptarchy, it does n.>r appear, howei 
 
WERE DELIVERED TO THE PAPACY. 387 
 
 that he offered any obstruction to the Catholics in the 
 other kingdoms, and in A. D. 626 he embraced the 
 faith of the church, and from thai period the Catholic 
 continued to be the religion of ihc state. 
 
 Within this period then, from A. D. 597, to 626, 
 there is do donbt the Catholic church was national- 
 ized in England ; and we think its most probable date 
 
 was A. D. 602, when Augustine (who had been or- 
 dained a bishop) receiving the pallium from Gregory 
 was constituted archbishop of Canterbury, with au- 
 thority to institute another archbishopric, and was 
 recognized by Ethclbert in that character. It is 
 certain that in that year or the next he held a Bynod 
 with the assent of the king, in which he asserted the 
 jurisdiction of the Roman church over the bishops 
 and churches of the native Britons, and denounced 
 the judgments of God on them for their refusal to 
 submit to his authority. Ethelbert also recognized 
 and legalized the Catholic church by enacting laws 
 for the protection of its property, and the property 
 of its ministers, which indicated that he regarded 
 their rights as peculiarly sacred.* 
 
 The Saxon kings were the List to embrace the Ro- 
 mish religion. On its nationalization in England, it 
 was established throughout the ten kingdoms. It 
 would not be certain, however, if that was -the date 
 of its complete nationalization, that it was the date 
 also of the twelve hundred and sixty years ; unless 
 
 * Labbei Concilia, torn. x. pp. 491-499. Baronii. torn. viii. pp. 
 190, 191. 
 
Btt 
 
 ;imi: win 
 
 it had begun to j mediately on die delr 
 
 of the sainl 
 
 hundred and sixty years appear to be the measure 
 of /' Uon of the saints. Thus the witni 
 
 are to be in sackcloth during the thousand two hun- 
 
 I and three-score da} b of their prophesying; which 
 indicates thai they are to be in great humiliation 
 
 from the opposition of those against whom 
 they are to testify. The forty and twomonti 
 Gentiles' treading the holy city rty and 
 
 months during which th< 
 an absolute dominion over it. to the exclusi 
 true worshippers. The tim< and halt* a time 
 
 during which the woman wi nourished in the 
 
 wilderness, were times in which her safety d< 
 on her Beclusion from the face of th t. And 
 
 the forty and two months during which power 
 
 :i to the ten-horned wild fcx 
 months in which he I his mouth in 
 
 phemy again I sine, his tabernacle, and his 
 
 redeemed in heaven, and made war with the saints. 
 Etev. xi. 2, 3 : xii. 1 1 : xiii. 6-7. There is Little 
 doubt, however, that the twelve hundred and sixty 
 the repression and persecution of the saints 
 date from the period of the complete nationalization 
 of the church. Laws had several years before I 
 enacted in a number <»f the kingdoms, subjecting 
 those who r in to th ! to 
 
 . od to ( ai '1 the i 
 
 zealous and imperious claims wei 
 
WERE DELIYBRED TO THE PAPACY. 389 
 
 ory the Great from his accession to the papal 
 to the submission of the whole western church to bis 
 authority, and the mosl Btrenuous efforts made to re- 
 pro- those who were called heretics, and force them 
 to renounce their peculiar doctrines and worship, 
 ami yield obedience to the Catholic church. It is 
 probable, therefore, that the wearing out of the saints 
 by the little horn, commenced with their delivery 
 into its hands by the nationalization of the Catholic 
 hierarchies. What the exact date of either was, 
 however, cannot be absolutely determined. We only 
 know that it was probably the first or second year 
 of the seventh century, and that, at the most, it can 
 have been but a few years later. 
 
 VI. But what is the relation of these twelve hun- 
 dred and sixty days, to the twenty-three hundred 
 days of Daniel viii. 14 ; the time, times and dividing 
 of time of Dan. vii. 25 ; and the time, times and a 
 half j the twelve hundred and ninety days ; and the 
 thousand three hundred and thirty-five days of Dan. 
 xii. T— 11, 12? It is held by some commentators that 
 the twenty-three hundred days of Dan. viii. 11, are 
 to terminate at the same time, as the time, times and 
 a half, and the twelve hundred and sixty days of Dan. 
 xii. T— 11, and the forty-two months of Rev. xiii. 5. 
 That however is very far from being certain or pro- 
 bable ; as the event with which they are to termini 
 is not the fall of the ten-horned beast in the form in 
 which it rose from the sea, Rev. xiii. 1-6, but the 
 cleansing of the sanctuary : by which is meant, the 
 

 'i in: 
 
 expulsion of the piation for Bin, from 
 
 the tliuii li. and the restoration of Chri rifice 
 
 to it- proper place in the faith of the worshipper 
 I Others have supposed that the event den 
 
 by the taking away of the daily Bacrifl 
 literal u ion «»1" the daily sacrifice at J< 
 
 by the destruction of the temple and i 
 by the Romans in \. i>. To ; and them 
 that the twelve hnndred and sixtj ended in a. d. 
 
 L380, and the twelve hnndred and nin< Bui 
 
 that is wholly mistaken. The vision issj mbolie ; ai 
 the ram, the goat, and their horns Bignify the I 
 and Greek powers and their monarchs, and the Little 
 horn that Bprang out of one of the four horns of the 
 goat, the Etonian power; so the host of . the 
 
 sanctuary, the daily sacrifice, and the cleanaL 
 sanctuary, Bignify things differing from thei 
 The Little horn is the Boman power which, aftei 
 tablishing itself in slacedoni . 
 over the whole of what had been the eastern 
 southern Grecian empire. The host 
 heaven against which it waxed great, and cast them 
 to the ground, denote the true ministers of the Chris- 
 tian church : the prince of the h whom it 
 magnified itself by the usurpation of his rights and 
 throne, is the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of th 
 deemed church ; the daily sacrifice which it took 
 
 away BVmbolized the sacrifice of Christ SB the e\j.ia- 
 
 tion of sin ; and its being taken away. d< 
 
 bion by the papacy, and the substitution u 
 
OF THE DIFFERENT PROPHETIC PERIODS. 391 
 
 place of the sacrifice of the mass ; and the sanctuary, 
 the place of the offering of the Jewish sacrifices, re- 
 presents tin 1 places of the worship of Christian be- 
 lievers who put their faith for pardon in the sacrifice 
 
 of Christ. The cleansing accordingly of the sanctu- 
 ary, which is the event that is to mark the close of 
 the twenty-three hundred days, is to be a discontinu- 
 ance of the mass, and the restoration of Christ's sac- 
 rifice to the faith of the ministers universally, and 
 members of the church as their trust for expiation 
 and pardon : and that will take place at the destruc- 
 tion of Babylon the great, the symbol of the Catholic 
 priesthood, who are the offerers of the mass. But 
 Babylon is to fall and be destroyed after the fall of 
 the ten-horned beast in its first form, and its rise out 
 of hades in the shape in which it is to go to perdi- 
 tion ; as is seen from Rev. xvii. 3-14 ; in which the 
 woman Babylon appears seated on the wild beast 
 after its emergence from the abyss in its last form. 
 If, therefore, the forty-two months of the beast that 
 was and is not, is the measure of its career before it 
 falls and rises in its last shape, then the cleansing of 
 the sanctuary at the end of the twenty-three hun- 
 dred days, is to take place after that period. It is 
 indeed stated, Dan. xii. 11, that "from the time that 
 the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomi- 
 nation that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a 
 thousand two hundred and ninety days," that is be- 
 fore that abomination shall be removed, and the expi- 
 ation symbolized by the daily sacrifice, restored. 
 
tin: RELATION 
 
 and iiin- 
 w ith the twelve hand 
 
 . 1 1 '..7. tba ■ 
 
 the calamities and deliveram 
 
 ].li. | . than I 
 
 twelve hundred and aixtj "And 
 
 tin- man clothed in linen who v. 
 of the river, Bow long thai] I 
 wonders? And I heard the man clothed in 1 
 who was apon the waters of the rive 
 np his right and his lefl hand onto heaven, ai 
 by him that liveth forever, that ii Bhall )•• 
 i and ; i halfj and when he Bhall b 
 pliahed the scattering (that i 
 of the holy people, all these Bhall be fini : 
 end is thus to be not only after I 
 
 twelve hundred 
 
 dispersion of the Israelii I ; that 
 
 the time for their return has an d they h 
 
 in a measure re-established themselves in their 
 
 ral land. The events, m omplish- 
 
 ment of which ia ititute the end, a 
 
 coming of Christ, the destruction of the wild 1 
 the deliverance of his people, and I tion 
 
 of the holy dead. For it is expressly predii 
 the time when ti wilful h 
 
 Dan. .\i. •!."». w ho la the - the imperial pei 
 
 symbolized by I it in hia 
 
 xvii. II. 
 
OF Tin: DIFFERENT PBOPHETIO PERIODS. 
 
 .Michael the great prince, the Messiah, shall stand 
 fox the [sraelites, and deliver them, and many that 
 
 sleep in the dusl of the earth shall awake to ever- 
 lasting life. It Is foreshown also, Zech. xiv. 1-5, thai 
 the coming <>t* Christ with his saints, is to take place 
 when the Israelites shall have partially returned to 
 
 their national land, aid the antichristian armies shall 
 attempt to drive them again into exile ; and Rev. 
 xix. 11 -25, that the destruction of the wild beast is 
 to take place at Christ's second coming. Its de- 
 struction is accordingly to be at least as late as the 
 close of the twelve hundred and ninety days. It is 
 to subsist, therefore, thirty years, (the period doubt- 
 less following its emergence out of the abyss,) af- 
 ter the expiration of its twelve hundred and sixty 
 years. 
 
 The forty-five years that are to follow — making the 
 thirteen hundred and thirty-five, are probably to be 
 occupied in the judgment of the living, the complete 
 restoration of the Israelites, and the conversion of the 
 nations. 
 
 VII. From these considerations it is apparent that 
 the exacl date of the twelve hundred and sixty years 
 IS tint known ; nor, consequently, the time of their 
 termination. It is clearly revealed, however, that 
 their end is net to be the period of the extinction of 
 the wild-beast, nor the coining of Christ. They are 
 to be at leasl thirty years later. 
 
 It is clear, also, from several prophecies, Matt. xxiv. 
 
 36-30, 1 These, v. 2, 2 Peter iii. 10, that the day of 
 
 17* 
 
Chri tainly known until ho 
 
 in the cloud*. I i gna] of hi 
 
 • in- darkenin and 
 
 • M of tlr 
 
 which will 1 
 
 I y of light from the I 
 
 ted, : 1 1 1 < 1 th<* earth wrapped in 
 late darkness, his glory will ahine with a dazzling 
 affolg 
 
 rt. 
 
 The people of God, ho* reknow- 
 
 hii oomi andonl I 
 
 are that it ia nigh. The prodamaJ 
 by I aven having the 
 
 1 t" preach, that the hour of (1 
 
 -iiuws that the _, r ers 
 
 • 
 
 ■ 
 aware that his < 
 
 • hat beli 
 will be I . for bis althongh ■ 
 
 >f them will pare th< 
 
 it. An<l the occurrence of I 
 immediately to precede it. such i 11 of the 
 
 . the 
 of others . their ] I 
 
 ■'••Mi. martyr.: •. of the 
 
 immnnication of the L r <>-j>el t-» all nations, 
 Ion, the return 
 blishmen - in their 
 
395 
 
 tional land, will naturally Impress all who receive the 
 
 Scriptures as the word of God, with the feeling that 
 
 the day of Christ's coming Id at hand. 
 
 The yean that are approaching arc to bo marked 
 by greal and extraordinary occurrences that will awe 
 
 and agitate the nations of Christendom in a measure 
 they have not hitherto known. How soon that revo- 
 lution of the governments of the western kingdoms, 
 which is denoted by the descent of the ten-horned 
 wild beast into the abyss, is to take place, cannot be 
 foreseen. It may be within a lew years. It may be 
 at the distance of quite a number. When it takefl 
 place, and the beasl rises in its final form from 
 pit, a momentous change will be wrought in the i 
 dition of its subjects. The papacy will be n 
 to exclusive nationalization ; persecution will be re- 
 sumed : and an attempt made either to drive those 
 who hold the true faith to apostasy, or to exterminate 
 them by the sword; for it is expressly foretold that 
 this persecution of the witnesses is to be by the wild 
 boast that ascends out of the bottomless pit — that is 
 hades — in distinction from the beast that ascended 
 out of the mi. Rev. xi. T. The resurrection of the 
 martyrs and assumption to heaven at the time fore- 
 told, in the presence of vast multitudes, will defeat 
 that aim. and carry a resistless conviction to millions 
 that they are the true worshippers of God, and that 
 the state church which arraigned and martyred them, 
 is a false church. Under the vehement disgust and 
 indignation which that discovery is to excite, the 
 
'i hi: 
 from thi and let! 
 
 tin- ]'in ; 
 
 : Christ's coming they 
 
 will i 
 
 the nations by pr ^claiming to I 
 his . in that the hour oi 
 
 judgment hi . Alter traction of Baby- 
 
 lon, the imperial phi will institul 
 
 il intimated in Dan. \i. 86 15, a Btill 
 
 :i, and will crush th< I 
 
 with new peraecnti -th make war on 
 
 the Lamb himself, by attempting to drive the I- 
 
 . who will have returned to Palestine, again into 
 exile, and intercepting him from the establishment 
 of his throne there. These and tl 
 
 that are 1 them, the di.-erimi:. the true 
 
 3 from the fab ted by the Beating 
 
 the servant- ments which an 
 
 smite the nations, and till them with terror and do 
 
 spair : and the awful tonus of malice and impiety in 
 which th : men are to display themael 
 
 ike the \ unexampled exciters 
 
 agitation, and alarm ; bringing the ti 
 • intimate relati< G 
 
 them to eminent watchfulness, faith, 
 and confounding, and 
 
 their a] 
 
that chkist's COMING D9 NIGH. 39*2 
 
 and hostility by the violence of their efforts to crush 
 his cause and extricate themselves from his power. 
 
 Id the prospect of these fearful scenes, it becomes 
 the disciples of Christ to take heed to his counsels and 
 watch for his coming, lest they be found unprepared. 
 It is given as a distinguishing mark of those who 
 will then be ready for admission to his kingdom, that 
 they will be expecting his advent, and will have his 
 name graven on their foreheads, and like the wise 
 virgins who had oil in their vessels, be ready to join 
 his triumphal train. It is given as the mark of others, 
 that though aware of his approach, they will not be 
 fit to be admitted to his presenee witli those whose 
 redemption is then to be completed, but will be left 
 without, while the world at large will be taken by 
 surprise, and will be overwhelmed with terror and 
 dismay. 
 
Tin \\I> THE [TNCL0B1 
 
 C II a PT 1: B x xxiii. 
 m QLomrneD and thi ovolokiiid oi m ra m 
 
 MII.I.r.NNHM. 
 
 I r has been generally held, thai do difi ii to 
 
 subsist between those believers who, al Chrii 
 ing, are to be raised from death, and the living, who 
 are to be changed to immortal ; bnt tliat the kx 
 of the latter, as well as the former, are to bee 
 Bpiritnal and glorions. That they are to 1 
 dissimilar, 1 . in nature and Btatioi 
 
 abundantly dear. 
 
 A glorified body must diffl bially, it i- plain, 
 
 from it< distinguishing characteristics, from one thai 
 
 Lfl simply immortal. Tlo QO longer to be natu- 
 
 ral or earthly: hut ifl to be Bpiritnal, and from it- 
 very nature incorruptible. It ifl to be placed by its 
 
 -litutioii out oi* the action, as completely as the 
 
 spirit itself is, of those physi which impair 
 
 and dissolve organisms in thi' Bphere of natural 
 The forces by which it is to - md which an 
 
 control it. arc t-» he of a diffi 
 
 than those of animal bodies, which are fur:. 
 
DURING THE MILLENNIUM. 399 
 
 subsist according to the laws of matter. A body, 
 
 however, that is simply immortal, may -till 1><- natu- 
 ral and earthly, and be BUbject to the laws of an 
 
 iily material organism, ae Adam doubtless would 
 have been, had he continued in obedience. Eta ce 
 
 lesfl life will depend, not on the nature of it- element-, 
 or the principle of its organization, but on the power 
 
 of God exerted <»n it, or the vigor of the lite with 
 which it is animated. 
 
 And that the saints who are to be raised from the 
 dead at Christ's coming, are thus to differ from \] 
 in life who arc then to be changed from mortal to 
 immortal. is clear. They are discriminated from each 
 other by the apostle by the very terms which denote 
 th<' essential differences we have mentioned. His 
 Language is : M Behold I show you a mystery (an event 
 not before revealed). We shall not all sleep, but we 
 shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling 
 of an eye. For the trumpet shall sound, and the 
 dead shall he raised incorruptible, and we shall be 
 changed. For this corruptible must put on incorrup- 
 tion, and this mortal put on immortality. So when 
 this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and 
 this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall 
 be brought to pa-- the saying that is written, Death 
 wallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. xv. 51-54. Here 
 incorruptible!.* -- i- predicated exclusively of those 
 who are to he raised from the dead ; as it is also in 
 the description, vs. 40-45, of the glorified body. 
 " There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terres- 
 
trial, but tbi 
 
 . 
 rection of tl it if 
 
 a incorruptioD ; it is sown in di it ii 
 
 wn ID W( 
 
 in power : ii d b natural body, Li 
 
 itaal body. Th Datura! bod; 
 
 it a spiritual body, a . i bo ii 
 
 man, Adam, was formed into a livii .. 
 
 Adam into a life-giving spirit." The 11: • glo 
 
 rified body La do! liki 
 
 body, to be the i an inbr< : but 
 
 Bpirii itself is to be i it. The psychi- 
 
 cal body hai yche or vital principle 1 
 
 into it bj I ind by thai inbreathing it ; 
 a living organism. Bui of the spiritual 1 
 spirit itself Lb to be tl. 1 Ad 
 
 formed by an inbreathing by th I tntoa liv- 
 
 ing j 1 1 1 i > 1 1 1 : the Becond A 
 
 formed into - life-making Bpirii ; a Bpi- 
 
 rii thai makes or forms the life. And the 1 
 the redeemed ai made Like his. " At 
 
 heavenly, such arc they also thai are 
 
 e have borne the image of the earthly, we shall 
 also bear the in. the heavenlj ." I I 
 
 49. "The Lord Jesus Christ Bhall change our ^ 
 body thai it may be fashioned like unto his g 
 
 ." Phil. iii. 21. •• Beloved, do* 
 
 "Land it doth Dot J rwhat We shall 
 
 but .t when he shall shall be 
 
Tin: LIVING TO BE CHANGED TO IMMORTAL. 401 
 
 like him, for we shall Bee him Eta he is, M 1 John iii. 2. 
 The spirituality of the glorified body, accordingly 
 not to consist in an Immateriality or Bubtilization of 
 its substance, but in its spirit being its animating 
 principle, in place of a psyche, which Is the life of 
 the natural body. Incorruption, spirituality, or life 
 from the indwelling Bpirit, and power and glory, are 
 thus given as the characteristics of the resurrection 
 body of the believer, while there is no intimation 
 tli.it they are to be qualities of the changed bodies 
 of the living* saints, [nstead, the definition given in 
 these passages of the change that is to be wrought 
 in them, is, Bimply, that it is to be from mortal to 
 immortal. As the dead and dissolved body is to put 
 on incorruption, so the living mortal body is to put 
 on immortality. But that will be a mere release from 
 the sentence to death, and the causes that produce 
 it, and restoration to a state and life in which, like 
 the first Adam's, it will be unobnoxious to dissolution. 
 It will not involve a conversion into a spiritual body, 
 or body of which the spirit is the life, in place of a 
 sensitive psyche. Nor will it be a glorification, of 
 which that life from the Bpirit will undoubtedly be 
 an essential condition. For Adam and Eve were in 
 their original state immortal ; that is, they were ex- 
 empt from all causes of death, and animated with a 
 life that was adapted to an endless continuance. To 
 suppose that they were not immortal, is to Bupp 
 that they were created witli the seeds of death in 
 their nature, and therefore under the penalty of sin, 
 
402 11: 
 
 which Li 1 1 
 
 Y • 
 
 were qoI glorified. They w< 
 bodii . 1 1 human 1 
 empl from all c ath, and capabL 
 
 interminable life. Tho* dingly whose mortal 
 
 put on immortality, will .-till continue 
 be psychical as Adam and Eve originally • 
 contradistinction from ipiritnaL They will s'u. 
 be delivered from the effects of the fall, and n 
 to the original Btate of the first pair. The 1 
 the two ire thus tob tially different in 
 
 stitution and Lifj !1 as in 
 
 The change, however, of the In 
 rior to that of the glorified, will be ignifi- 
 
 cance and beauty. It will involve tl fall 
 
 the debasement and that h . 
 
 •It. ami an elevation to a parity and p< 
 that will lit it to be the tenement mind, which 
 
 is then also to be the blight i: 
 
 1 from sin. The integrity and harmonj 
 powers that will then be enjoyed, the fresh] 
 energy of intellect and feeling, the quick] 
 delicacy of the senses, the exempt a inordu 
 
 appetite and corroding passion, and tl tct union 
 
 and concurrence that will Bubsist 1" and 
 
 mind, will raise those who a: 1 t<» th 
 
 i . a height ol beauty and I >f which 
 
 bow form 1":' 
 It will. perhaps, b the 
 
Tin: RISEN BAHrre To BE GLORIFIED. 403 
 
 change to be wroughl in the Living saints, thai it is 
 said by the apostle, that "flesh and blood cannot 
 inherit the kingdom of God." That, however, in 
 place of opposing, confirms it. For flesh and blood 
 
 denote man's body in his fallen and mortal state, noi 
 its simple nature as a psychical Organism, as Adam's 
 
 was l»e tore his fall. The very object accordingly of 
 the revelation which the apostle immediately an- 
 nounces is, to show how the living saints are to be 
 admitted into the kingdom of God, without a trans- 
 formation to a spiritual nature, like that which is to 
 be wrought in those who are raised from the dead. 
 They are to be fitted for admission to the kingdom 
 by a full redemption from sin and its curse, and re- 
 storation to a pure and deathless nature. Their 
 mortal is to put on immortality, as the corruptible 
 of the dead is to put on incorruption. Their re- 
 demption therefore is to be as perfect as that of the 
 glorified ; though their bodies are not to*be as re- 
 splendent, nor their sphere in the kingdom so ex- 
 alted. 
 
 That the bodies of the risen saints arc to differ 
 from those who are simply changed to immortal, is 
 shown also in the following pa-sage. '-And I saw 
 tin 4 holy city, the new Jerusalem descending out of 
 heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for 
 her husband. And I heard a great voice from hearen 
 saying. Behold the tabernacle of God with men ; and 
 shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peo- 
 and God himself shall be with them, their God, 
 
404 Tin: uviv; fO I .l. 
 
 an. I I 
 
 death sbalJ Dot be any n 
 
 :1 toil 1 ■ 
 have 
 
 a ia the 9} mbol of the i . tints, 
 
 I; 
 t>» !.. en from i the 
 
 brid LO : from 
 
 :i from heaven, \\i.. 
 bnl those \\ ho have died as< 1 from I 
 
 of the risen sainta as 1. 
 
 B ... I 6. Th< ailed the 
 
 irnacle of (I".], and in vs. 1<», ■__ 2 
 city, the hoi; Jem, of which I I Al- 
 
 mighty ami the Lamb, a 
 
 are thus discriminated in the I manner 
 
 from the living saints, whu are merely t«» be chm 
 from mortal to immortal. The i 
 out of heaven from God to the earth. The living 
 
 ; :.. 'J 
 made of*< . the hierarchy • 
 
 and priests who are to reign \\ : I 
 not men themselves over whom ti. 
 On the other hand, the men themselves with whom 
 i dwell in that tabernacle a: 
 Qumerons as the nat i which they 
 
 belong. And tl. to he changi 
 
 and ; of the tall in all il~ 
 
 -hall w 
 
THEIR BTATJ0N8 TO DIFFER. 405 
 
 death Bhall be do more, neither sorrow, nor crying ; 
 nor Bhall toil be any more. 
 
 Bame view i> presented of them in the vision 
 oi* the palm-bearing multitude, Rev. vii, ( .)-17, where 
 they are represented as having come ont of the great 
 tribulation, and washed their robes, and whitened 
 them in the blood of the Land) ; and " For thai 
 son (it is said), they are before the throne of God, 
 and servo him day and night in his temple ; and he, 
 who -its on the throne shall tabernacle with them. 
 They shall not hunger any more, nor thirst anymore, 
 neither shall the Bun strike upon them nor any heat; 
 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne Bhall 
 
 ! them, and shall lead them to the living fountain 
 of waters, and God shall wipe every tear from their 
 
 b. m There is to be a total repeal, then, in respect 
 to them of the eurse of the fall, and restoration to the 
 state in which the first pair were created. They, 
 
 irdingly, are to be changed from a fallen to an 
 unfallen state and from mortal to immortality, con- 
 formably to the representation, 1 Cor. xv. 40-50, 
 sidered. That the bodies of the risen 
 samt- are to be essentially different from those of 
 the living who are to be changed to immortal, is 
 thus abundantly manifest. 
 
 The stations and relations of these two classes, ait- 
 to be as different as their corporeal natures. The 
 
 □ saint- are to be kings and priests of God and 
 of Christ, and are to reign with him on the earth. 
 These offices are expressly ascribed to them in the 
 
Tii: 
 
 I 
 tin-in a! • i . Thii is i 
 their >\ mbolization by the bolj 
 which i ili. in ia a structun 
 
 walled city, and nixed h bier- 
 
 authoriJ men, 
 
 on the same principle as Babj I 
 of idolatry on the Euphi mbol of 
 
 the hierarchy of the Romish chnrch, whi 
 authority over the nnofficial members of tl 
 amnion. It is taught ale D i .. ' - 22 
 is foreshown that at the comi] iristatthei 
 
 throw of the power denoted by the fourth be 
 saints of the Most High ahall take the kingdom and 
 
 leas n : r ever i ad ever." T 
 representati< 
 
 indicate clearly that the risen saint- ! in 
 
 intimate relati< I 1 1 till ofl 
 
 nificance to 
 
 medium of communi it would 
 
 : : for tlic natioi walk in the light oi the 
 
 city, which is their BymboL Men art Id s 
 
 cheerful obedience to their nil** ; for the kings of the 
 
 earth are to bring their glory and honor, and 
 
 glory and honor of the nations into the city. 
 
 those who are thus to walk in its light and 1 : 
 
 their to it a: 
 
 ill by no means enter it anything tl. 
 clean, and that works defilem ; but 
 
 only who are written in the Lamb's 1 
 
TIIKlii stations to DIFFER. 407 
 
 (Rev. xxi. 27. 1 aj they are personi then who aro 
 freed from the dominion of Bin, they are the living 
 
 saints who are also freed from its curse by being 
 changed from mortal to immortal. These then aro 
 the special subjects over whom the glorified saints 
 
 reign, Or those at least of their subjects who walk in 
 their light and yield a spotless obedience under their 
 sway. 
 
 The Living saints who are thus to be changed to 
 immortal are to occupy no such stations as kings and 
 priests who reign with Christ. Their sphere is to be 
 that of subjects, not of kings. They are to serve the 
 Redeemer under the reign of the glorified saints, in 
 stead of reigning with him and them. Yet their con- 
 dition and life will be one of great dignity and beauty. 
 Restored from the injuries of the fall to a perfect na- 
 ture, enjoying the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in 
 the fulness of his gifts, exalted to the society of the 
 glorified saints, placed under their instruction and 
 guidance, and led on by them to heights of knowledge, 
 of wisdom, of love, and of trust far beyond what they 
 would otherwise attain, their condition will be one of 
 eminent grace and blessedness, and will exemplify in 
 an impressive form the perfection and glory of the 
 redemption which Christ accomplishes. 
 
 When, however, is this change of the mortal saints 
 to immortal to be wrought? At the moment of 
 Christ 3 ding, or at a later period? And are all 
 
 believers who are then living to be changed at the 
 same time, or at different periods? 
 
408 
 
 Th< the li\ i: 
 
 mom I 
 
 the holv dead, but al a lab 
 taught 1 T! 
 
 by the word !. !. thai we the living, wh 
 
 main usrto the coming of the I. I, shall not 
 
 . For tfa I. : : . 
 
 with I, and trump fall 
 
 . from 1. ad the dead in I 
 
 first, i . the Living, wh 
 
 main, shall be canghf np with them in clond 
 the Lord In the air." [f the epoch to which this 
 
 ia that • : the fivii to im- 
 
 mortality, a: bown plainly 
 
 precede that, it is clear thai it is to I 
 qnently to the resurrection 6% the holy dead. I 
 
 • 
 i intimation. It may be a i 
 Then 
 
 rhapa of some Length, is to inl 
 Thus Chri bo* b, Matt. xxi\ . 
 
 81, that it la not till the Bon of Man I te in the 
 
 clondfl of heaven with power and great glory, 
 
 f a trumpet, 
 gather together nil elect from the four w 
 from ther. It \a implied 
 
 y clearly in Christ's 
 judgment of the Living nations after 
 
 welcome to those at his right hand. I 
 i 'ather, inherit the kii 
 
aim: to BE ' ii \v;i-:i>. 409 
 
 for you from the foundation of the world," Bhows thai 
 they are do! before to be Inheritors of thai kingdom 
 in the form in which they arc then to become ; and 
 therefore are nol before to 1"- fitted for it by bi 
 changed to immortal : while on the other hand, the 
 prediction with which the prophecy closes, indie: 
 thai it is at that epoch that thai change is to be 
 wrought. "And these (on the left hand) shall go 
 away into everlasting punishment ; but the righteous 
 into life eternal,'' v. -id. If, as this clearly teaches, 
 they are then first to enter on a life that i- never to 
 end, it must he by a passage from a mortal life : and 
 therefore their change from mortal to immortal is to 
 
 take place at that epoch. 
 
 Not only, however, is a period, probably of some 
 Length, to pass after Christ comes and raises the holy 
 dead, before any of the living saints will be changed 
 to immortal — but it is foreshown in the parable of the 
 virgins, that all of them are not to be changed at the 
 same time. The bridegroom in that parable repre- 
 sents Christ ; the bride the risen and glorified sail 
 the marriage the installation of those saints in their 
 offices as kings and priests in Christ's kingdom on the 
 earth : and the virgins who were invited to the mar- 
 riage Bupper, the living believers who are to be invi- 
 ted to enter into the kingdom under that union of the 
 risen saints with Christ in the rule of the world. The 
 ten virgins then were all believers ; for they were all 
 invited to be guests at the supper, and all had had oil 
 
 in their lamp?, though five of them had not had 
 
 18 
 
410 od 
 
 ■ tire their admii a of 
 
 th<- brid Mid participation in '! 
 
 inadequacy of their oil for ill ion, and I 
 
 elusion on that account from ti. 
 sapper, show therefore tint a portion of the li-. 
 
 • ming will, by a waul 
 
 requisite qnalific rcluded from unmed 
 
 admission t.» his kingdom by a full deliverance from 
 the cur-- and elevation to a | nd immortal life, 
 
 which arc the c. »n«l i t ion and form of that admission. 
 
 The gift to them of such a redemption will take j . 
 later period, when they shall hai 
 
 for it : as a like redemption also ofol 
 
 ward- 1m ation, will doubt 
 
 rom time to time as they reach a 
 ition for it. 
 \ ■ - ; . • | ■' I :' Life beli 
 
 millennium will be 
 thus freed from the euro I to immortality. 
 
 or what -hare oi the popolation of 1 will at 
 
 lime belong t<» this class, no int i 1 1 : 
 That a large share will ;tt every period I na- 
 
 tural life, and that all tli I into life will he bom 
 
 in that state, is indicated by the fact that wh< 
 
 the thousand y< 
 i'ortl. . he will find l 
 
 ready to yield t'» his tempting influences and m 
 
 war upon the camp of the saints, and npon the holy 
 
 city: by which is meant probably those who are in 
 
 immortal ami those w! in glorifi 
 
in Tin: NATURAL LIFE. 411 
 
 Those revoltera will therefore have been born in the 
 natural fallen life, an 1 of parents and predecesi 
 who were of a like birth. It is revealed, oeverth 
 that all nati to be brought to obedience to 
 
 Christ during his millennia] reign. At his coming in 
 the clouds, he la to receive "a dominion and glory 
 and kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages 
 should serve him," and all nations, it is foretold, are 
 to come and worship before him (Rev. xv. 4), and the 
 earth be lull of the knowledge of the Lord, as the wa- 
 cover the e 9). The generations 
 
 that come into life during that period, then, though 
 born like those of the present time under the blight 
 of the fall, will all become obedient, and be changed 
 at length from mortal to immortal, and all will ulti- 
 mately be glorified, as Christ is to " change this hum- 
 ble body into a form like his glorious body," and all 
 are to be " like him, for they are to see him as he is." 
 
 This exposition of these passages is indeed objected 
 to very earnestly by some, on the pretext that it is 
 incredible from the nature of glorified and unglorified 
 beings, that they can dwell in the same world, and 
 communicate with each other ; and by others on the 
 ground that if it is not impossible, it at least cannot 
 i.'ii how human beings of such different cl;;~ 
 subsisl in the same world, and each have a sphere 
 suited to their nature and station in relation to the 
 other. 
 
 But to this we reply, that our comprehension of 
 their several natures, their respective spheres and 
 
412 we 
 
 relation ad their 
 
 full! ii in 
 
 the certainty thai tl ther on 
 
 h ami in intimate relatioi I b< r. I 
 
 lieve Dothing bnt * hat we fully i 
 
 ■ bat tin- bolj 
 
 From tl. 
 earth and a new 1. 
 comprehension "i" the nature <•! eil I 
 changes. We only know 
 
 : his j »n 
 
 place, and we believe \. ly on bis testim 
 
 And bo in rei 
 
 with Christ «»n the earth, the ch 
 
 ■ rs at hi- c ming t<> immortal, the i mtin i 
 
 • 
 in the natural life, and I 
 
 illcimial 
 
 :i ;— tlu- n in ord 
 
 id which mbsist b I act in r 
 
 but simply whether God ! 
 
 ■ d in hi - they arc [f he has, 
 
 - nnhesitati 
 in our luti 
 which lies out of our comprehension. And thai 
 
 hi futurities we have entu 
 is indispntal 
 1. 11 
 
on god's TESTIMONY, 1 19 
 
 dead are to be raised in glory at bis coming, and to 
 
 :i w ith him. \i'\ . ix. 1 »'», v. '.». LO ; I I 
 ;, 40 54 : Dan. xii. 18, 22, 27. 
 :!. Be irtainly foreshown, also. I ' 
 
 Living believers at the time of his coming arc to 
 changed from mortal to immortal. 1 Cor. xv. 52 
 5 I : 2 Cor. v. 1 : Rom. vii. 11 IT, xxi. 3 5. 
 
 3. He lias foreshown with equal certainty, that 
 mankind are to exisl as nations during Christ's mil- 
 lennial reign over them, Dan. vii. 13, 11. 27 J Rev. 
 xv. 1. xxi. 23-26, xxii. 2. ami therefore thai they are 
 to continue to Bubsisl in 08. To 
 
 suppose that they are not, is to Bnppose that the im- 
 penitent, or a portion of them who are in life whi D 
 Christ comes, are to continue in life and impenitence 
 through the whole of his millennial r< ign, and consti- 
 tute the host like the sand of the sea in number, who 
 are then to make war on the holy and the holy city ; 
 for if no generations arc to come into life after Christ 
 comes, who are to constitute the nations whom Satan 
 is to seduce to revolt on his release from the ab; 
 But to Buppose that those who revolt at the close of 
 the millennium are the nations who are in impeni- 
 
 :e at Christ's coming at its commencement, is to 
 Buppose that no conversion of the nations is to take 
 plaee during his millennial reign : which is to contra- 
 diet the express prediction that all people; nations', 
 and in: are then - ve him. Dan. vii. 14, 
 
 -~ : thai the kingdom of this world is then to become 
 his, K' v. xi. !•"> : that the nations are to be healed bv 
 
•Ill Tli: 
 
 I ' 
 light New _ l : and 
 
 all are to kn<>\\ liiiu from the least 01 
 
 ■ ! I . \ ni. 1 1. Besidt s, it is < spr< 
 
 hi in thi nt with X«iah.aii(l Al»rahaiu. 
 
 in a great many oth< :ikin«l ai 
 
 continue in an endl< 
 ix. 8-16, wh< 
 
 .it v. Dan* i\. :;. 3 1 : Pa. i •! 1 1 , 13, 
 a here t! d of bnman 
 
 tione 
 
 kingdom, and hia own eternity, ( . cviL7; Joel 
 iii. 20, when '1 thai the 
 
 \ braham >ntinue throngli 
 
 : and Eph. iii. 21, where it la indi< 
 that the church i tinne in that are 
 
 to extend through I b 
 
 1. . 
 into be millennium, ■ 
 
 into it fallen beings ; inasmuch aa the nations whom 
 - • n is to assail on his i the abj h 
 
 be Led by him into an open war on tl i. They 
 
 are therefore Hen beinga. They can 
 
 been n uewed, or they could not be 
 a rev. .It ami meet Buch a doom & I 
 A- th< lationa then have thua been n 
 
 mi and impreaeion, n 
 them, whet) 
 they involve or not. The events which they i 
 
 :r aatun 
 
THE TRUTHS THBY WILL DISPLAY. 415 
 
 God's wisdom and goodness; or he would not 1 
 purposed and revealed them. Such a method of pro- 
 cedure is doubtless to Bubserve important ends. It 
 is characteristic of God's dispensations over the world, 
 that they are framed and conducted in such a manner 
 that on the one hand a full exhibition takes place 
 under them of the character of man as a fallen being ; 
 and on the other, it is seen thai the salvation of those 
 who are saved is altogether the work of God, and 
 that they are truly recovered from the bondage of 
 sin, and imbued with the holy affections that make 
 them meet to be admitted to his kingdom. And the 
 reign of the glorified saints with Christ on the earth 
 during the millennium, and the change of a portion 
 of the living saints from mortal to immortal, while 
 the greater part of the living continue in the nat- 
 ural life, may, among other ends, be designed to 
 manifest these and other truths, the perception of 
 which by the universe, is essential to a just under- 
 standing of the righteousness, wisdom, and grace of 
 the Divine ways. Under the present dispensation, 
 there 18 B vast manifestation of what man is when 
 left wholly without the Spirit of God, and when 
 enjoying but partial measures of his sanctifying 
 influences. There is no exhibition whatever of 
 what he may be in the natural life under the full 
 3 of the Spirit. There is none of what he would 
 have been had he not fallen, and what he may and 
 will be if rest 1 from the effects of the fall to a 
 
116 thi 
 
 1 tit for an immortal life. Tl 
 old ultimately 1 
 fallen, and i 
 . the form they are I * their n 
 
 tion, which ra the bighesl our nal 
 attain. implications of will 
 
 luring the millennium, on with 
 
 a resplendence, doubtless, that will n 
 1 i lt 1 1 1 in the eyes of the infinite hosts that wil 
 
 quafnted w ith them, on the truth. 
 dom, and G 
 
 displ ' improbably 
 
 will l>e. the purity, intelli 
 ednesa of which mankind are capable under the all- 
 
 sforming influencee of the Spirit while id 
 natural life. For they will doubt 
 
 est perfection of which their natures, \\ ; 
 remain mortal, are capable, and a fresh d 
 
 ■ ' 
 dom, and benevoiei which God 
 
 *• hand, and ther 
 
 that the degradation and misery with which men 
 have been overwhelmed through all pr< 
 have been the work of Bin. E 
 momenl to the vindication and gl< God 
 
 the intelligence and happii innumerable 
 
 ta of his onfi lien buI I 
 
 by 
 
 i; is b; 
 
THKY ABE fO 1:1: i:r.< i:ivi:d with JOT, 117 
 
 and aversion even, it >h«»uM fcje received with un- 
 hesitating faith, thankfulness for tlie grace which it 
 display e, and joy at the blissful prospect which it im- 
 folda to our world. 
 
418 Tl! 
 
 (HA PTBB X X X I V. 
 
 \. -THK .TKTAINTY THAT Tin> 
 
 THK CHIU»RKN OK C' LILLY ARK | LOTC 
 
 To BEI THAT THIS [| TIT r, AND TO 
 
 Such are the great purposes which <, 
 vealed respecting the redemption of the world ; such 
 
 kingdom and reign of Christ which ai 
 hand, and az .tend through everlasting i 
 
 The 
 
 n<]. and follow the i I 
 
 doI fictions, the work of imagination, or dedncti 
 by a process of reasoning. Th 
 
 evmts that arc named and described by the prop] 
 m all the forms in which their predictions 
 conveyed : in literal language, in language in which 
 figar I to illustrate them, and ex] 
 
 them more rally and forcibly : and in visions, in which 
 Bymbols are used t«> represent them. And I 
 
 shown through all tl. or media of pro- 
 
 v with a frequency, a clearness, and an amplitude 
 thai i- Dot equalled by any other tl. 
 dictive Scriptures. The overthrow 
 
that THBSE BVE5TB auk F0BBBH0WN. 419 
 
 Nineveh, of Tyre, of Jerusalem itself, arc not fore- 
 shown with greater frequency, minuteness, and cer- 
 tainty (A' meaning, than the continuance of the anti- 
 christian powers, and the non-conversion of the world 
 down to the coming of Christ ; his coming in person 
 at the sound of the seventh trumpet ; his raising his 
 doad saints in -lory ; overthrow of the fourth empire ; 
 establishment of his throne on the earth; converting 
 the nations, and reigning here in love, and continuing 
 the work of salvation through the ages of ages. And 
 the prophecies in which these events are foreshown 
 can no more be wrenched from this meaning and tor- 
 tured into predictions of a different class of events, 
 than those prophecies of the destruction of Nineveh 
 and Babylon, Tyre and Jerusalem, can be wrested 
 from the sense by which they foreshow their over- 
 throw. They cannot be set aside or made the vehi- 
 cle of predictions of a different set of events by alle- 
 gorization, spiritualization, or any other process that 
 may not be applied with equal propriety to any other 
 parts of the Scriptures, empty them of their true sig- 
 nification, and make them predictions of whatever a 
 lawless fancy may choose to ascribe to them. If 
 Christ's coming in the clouds <^l' heaven at the over- 
 throw of the wild beast and his armies, under the E 
 eiith trumpet, is to be spiritualized, then his coming 
 in person to raise and judge the dead at any other 
 time must, on the Bame principle, be spiritualized, 
 and every prophecy BWepI from the sacred word that 
 be is ever toe me in person to the earth. If the rev- 
 
i 
 
 ill \'r. :.t that !. 
 
 v. itfa i i 
 
 iritualized, and hi 
 
 ler, his E H D, ami I 
 
 Id to hi. 
 
 nt medium I 
 indubitable t 
 
 . 
 Lation IV 
 viction of many of the careful bI 
 
 intrv within 
 :t i- well kii 
 in tl 
 
 aver hich 
 
 - wholly unau 
 Involving them in tb 
 
 . 
 pj lied to them, all I 
 
AS THE SCHEME OF B vr. 1-1 
 
 demption and a futur ] and bh i conviction li 
 
 prevailing extensively thai to reaeb their true mean- 
 ing, the prophecies that are expressed in langu 
 merely, must be interpreted according t<> the usual 
 laws of speech : and those that are conveyed through 
 symbols, according to the principles of symbolization 
 as they are presented in the explanations which 
 Spirit of God lias given for oar guidance, of the lead- 
 in the propheeies themselves. And a 
 similar change is taking place in Europe. Several 
 scholars of high repute on the continent unreservedly 
 repudiate and denounce the allegorizing and spiritu- 
 alizing methods of exposition as wholly unauthorized, 
 absurd, and misleading ; and they are rejected also 
 by a Large body of able and evangelical teachers in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 This great scheme of administration is consistent 
 also with all the other teachings of the Script ur< 9, 
 and corroborated by them. It is inwoven with them 
 in every part of the sacred volume, and it is in its 
 light alone that they can be justly understood. No 
 forced constructions arc necessary to bring them into 
 harmony with it ; no yawning gulf is to be leaped to 
 pass from the one to the other. And it exhibits the 
 work of redemption in a greatness and beauty that 
 are Buitable to the grandeur of God's attributes, and 
 the wonderfulness of the means by which it is accom- 
 plished. A complete restoration at length of the 
 generations of men from the curse of the fall, 
 continuance of their redemption as they come into 
 
IT i BY 
 
 ItatioD to the 
 the glory, and the bliss of immortal suitable 
 
 to t! : . the wisdom, and tl 
 
 in harmony with the greatness of Christ's hnmiliation 
 an<l sacrifice, and the riches of his lore. ]■ 
 ponda too with the \ ;iIJ d 
 
 the momentous ends it is to answer in ti. f the 
 
 infinite hosts of his subjects th 
 Their view, who reject this system, 
 cnrrence with the attributes I ! . or the 
 tions that are given in his word of the «'x ; 
 riches of his, ihibits i n of 
 
 men as «•« niliin-«l within very narrow Lin fall- 
 
 ing infinitely below the nation that i 
 
 for it in Christ's expiation. For it maintai 
 
 vation and pardon of UN cfa their 
 
 end after the ! ipse 
 
 Christ is thru to abdicate his mediatorial 
 
 that to prevent any farther accumulation of evils 
 
 from the fall <»f men. their multiplication 
 
 minated, and the earth struck from 83 - : imply- 
 
 ing that Christ's work is not adequal mp- 
 
 of men, as a perpetuaOymultiplying race,froin 
 
 curse of the fall, and hem, to holil 
 
 and immortality; and that Satan is to triumph 
 
 only in the ruin of more than will be hut in a 
 
 demonstration that the difficulties in which h< 
 
 volved the divine government are BUCh, that I 
 
 only cam bem ; hut that 1, 
 
Tin: OTHEB TEACHINGS OP THE BCBIPTUBB8, 423 
 
 a worse defeat by any other means than preventing 
 a farther multiplication of the pace by bearing them 
 t<> cili'!- Bcenea <>f existence, and annihilating the 
 earth. For why should be intercept them from 
 continuing to come into life, if lie can redeem ami 
 reign over them in a manner glorious' to his perfec- 
 tions, and favorable to the well being of the rest of 
 his kingdom ? 
 
 That this i- the Bcheme of the divine purposes that 
 is revealed in the Bible is confirmed, moreover, by 
 the consideration that it belongs to a great system of 
 predictions that have been fulfilling for four thousand 
 years ; all the verifications of which have been accord- 
 ing to their Bense as interpreted by the established 
 laws of language and symbols, as we have stated and 
 applied them. A vast series of the language pro- 
 phecies that were addressed to Noah, to Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, to Moses and the Israelites in 
 Egypt and at Sinai, to Samuel, to David, to Isaiah, 
 and the other prophets of the Old Testament, to the 
 Jews by Christ, and to the Jews and Gentiles by 
 the apostles, have been fulfilled ; and every one of 
 them according to the sense of the prediction as in- 
 terpreted by the ordinary laws of language. Not a 
 verification or probable verification of one of them, 
 if allegorized, or spiritualized, can be shown to have 
 taken place. To apply thai method of interpretation 
 to the promises to Noah, Abraham, and David; to the 
 predictions of the conquest and destruction of Jeru- 
 salem by the Babylonians ; of the captivity of the 
 
t-i no 
 
 incarnaJ I pture 
 
 Jem ai. the Ro- 
 
 . 
 in of all their true m 
 ■ them ; 
 
 bolical pro] i 1 
 
 Ionian, Median, G andBoi 
 
 been in i measure fulfilled ; an 
 
 cting the Roman empire and the church b 
 D accomplish [ to their .hen 
 
 intei by the laws of Byml 
 
 emplified — as we hai id them — intheexp] 
 
 i that are given by the Spirit of inspiration in 
 themselves. Ami not one of tl 
 
 has I ified in any 
 
 spiritualize thein. is to make cari 
 
 render it im] Bhow that they 1. 
 
 mplishment A- all th 
 i fulfilled, have thus been fulfills 
 
 the m'Ii.h' tiny | led by : nei- 
 
 :•> their - b interpn 
 
 by these prii 
 
 their fulfillm 
 And th< I church 
 
 . h as tlii m of predii 
 
 whatevi 
 the world by the 
 
ATTITUDE OP THE WOULD AND CHURCH. 125 
 
 purpose, while it continues under the administration 
 ;it presenl exercised over it. Large as the buc< 
 of missions is, nol the Blightesl progress, taking the 
 world together, is made. So far from it. the retrog 
 sions in Christendom into infidelity, atheism, panthe- 
 ism, or other forms of fata] error, are immensely more 
 than enough to counterbalance the conversions even 
 nominally to Christianity in heathen lands. Within 
 fifty to sixty years, nearly the whole of Protestant 
 Germany, Sweden. Denmark, the Netherlands. France, 
 and Switzerland, have gone into rationalism, atheism, 
 id idealism, pantheism, spiritualism, 
 or other forms of infidelity have Bpread to a vael ex- 
 .! Britain and her colonies, and in the 
 United Stal 
 
 On the other hand,, there are decided indications 
 that many of the great events foreshown in these 
 predictions are to take place. No one would be sur- 
 prised at a revolution in Europe that should over- 
 throw the old dynasties, and give rise to democratic 
 or military as. Should that occur, no one 
 
 would deem it improbable that some talented chief- 
 tain, like the first or present Buonaparte, would r 
 to the head of those despotisms, and reunite the 
 western Roman empire under his Bceptre. X i one 
 would be Burpri old Buch a despotism ally it- 
 
 to the Catholic hierarchies for the sake of their 
 support. No one would think it strange should such a 
 monarch under the promptings of those hierarci 
 renew the persecution of the Protestants, and at- 
 
126 
 
 tempi ;' them who should 
 
 boldly denounce bim ■ 
 
 and proclaim th< of Ghri 
 
 tablish hi I b. — 
 
 \ would b • surprised it' tach ■ atioo 
 
 .'. od the Catholic church, and 1' 
 
 . and it.- destruction* It 
 la w hat ■ real proportion of the peopl 
 Spain, Italy , Germany, and even G Britain i 
 
 wish. It would r;il but] 
 
 •urn to their national la: 
 
 ganize and re-establish themi ■ nation. 
 
 Jt would excite no surprise it' under tin- imj 
 
 made by tli> I >lit-. the COnvi 'Uld 
 
 • •rally prevail with tin- people I G that 
 the COmil I 'hrist ifl at hand 
 
 Bhonld go forth to proclaim that belief, and I 
 
 L r lad tidings of t!. jpel to tin- nat; :rth. 
 
 The civil world hi most manifestly tending 
 
 political and antichristian The 
 
 dency of the evangelical church is manif) 
 
 the views and ti. which are 1 
 
 the peop 
 
 a .d finally, it is revealed in ti. thai 
 
 while the antichristian party will continue to r. 
 of Christ 
 
 who hold ai 
 and endeavor to intercept the establishment of 
 Christ's lungdom ; his true people will 
 brought to receive it ; and the nndoubtii 
 
Till-: DOCTRINE OF CHRIST'S I OMING \\i> REION. 427 
 
 open profession <>t* it will become one of their m 
 distinctive characteristics, and Lead the civil rulers 
 and apostate priests to attempt by persecution and 
 war to Bweep them from the earth. Jt is main: 
 from the measures which the persecutors arc to take 
 to preserve the bodies of the Blain witnesses so that 
 ir may be seen with the most indubitable certainty 
 whether they are raised from death, or not, that the 
 witnesses are td die in the belief that they are to be 
 raised : and that they, therefore, and their party are 
 to interpret the prophecy of their slaughter and re- 
 surrection literally, not spiritually ; and thence that 
 they are to interpret the other prophecies with which 
 it is associated literally also ; and accordingly that they 
 are to believe in the Bpeedy infliction of destroying 
 judgments on the apostate church ; the coming of 
 Christ to intercept the beast and his armies in 
 their attempts to prevent the establishment of his 
 kingdom in the earth ; the resurrection of the holy 
 dead at that epoch, and the commencement of his 
 millennial reign. The whole body of the witnes 
 and thus.- who sympathize with them are thus indubi- 
 tably to be avowed, and earnest believers in Christ's 
 speedy coming and reign. The announcement by the 
 angel flying through mid-heaven having the everlast- 
 ing gospel to preach, that the hour of God's judg- 
 ment has come, shows also that those whom the 
 angel re to know that the hour has come 
 
 in which Christ i< to descend to judge and destroy 
 his enemies according to the predictions of tl 
 
VE 
 
 1 
 \ I 
 
 •• all 
 
 I 
 ■ 
 
 ruction <>f I 
 rorld is imi 
 
 ■ 
 i 
 
 rid cheri 
 with the uti: 
 
 .•ir hearts a 
 e which 
 n will 1 who will m 
 
 Ay that th 
 
 \ hich the; 
 
 mplisho 
 
 • 
 thence in the form of an eighth m 
 
 • him 
 
 their power, the renati * 
 
 hierarchies, and a fr 
 
 them th it the literal is the 
 
T!I! 129 
 
 tructioD of these predictions, and lead them to 
 an unhesitating and exulting faith in the coming and 
 reign of Christ, as no! only the doctrine of his word, 
 but (heir only Balvation, and the only hope of the 
 world. 
 
 Such is the issue in which this controversy i> to ter- 
 minate. No prepossessions; no endeavors to perpet- 
 uate the opposite belief; no struggles against the 
 light of truth ; no efforts of antichrist or Satan can 
 prevent it. It is the sovereign and gracious will of 
 '. and he will accomplish it by his omnipotent 
 Spirit and providence, it is in reference to this ques- 
 tion that the two great parties into which mankind 
 are to be divided, are to array themselves, and engage 
 in their last conflict. The true people, the faithful 
 witnesses of Clod are to believe and proclaim the 
 -rcat teachings of the prophecies, that Christ is to 
 come in person, raise his saints from the grave, dc- 
 . the apostate hierarchy Bymbolized by Babylon, 
 and the persecuting civil powers represented by the 
 wild beast, establish his throne on the earth, ju 
 the nations, convert those of them that are not con- 
 signed to d in, and reign here for ever over 
 1 race. Antichrist and his party are to 
 deny it. and to undertake to verify their denial by 
 the prediction bf the resurrection of the 
 slain Wit blishment o[' an Israelit- 
 ; in Judea, and are to perish in the at- 
 tempt. 
 
 It is a subject, therefore, of th practical 
 
II I 
 
 ■ 
 ••»11 fa b to be 1 lithe 
 
 re how they trifle with or 
 it. Let those « hu reject and o] 
 
 with which thej 
 
 arra\ Ing t hemselTet, and what tl, 
 it Is hastenii . 
 
Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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