DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON,
OR
OUR GREAT COUNTRY FORETOLD IN THE
HOLY SCRIPTURES.
IN TWO DISCOURSES.
DELIVERED
IN THE CAPtTOL OF THE UNITED STATES, AT THE REQUEST OF
SEVERAL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, ON THE ANNIVERSARY
OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY, 1857.
BY F. E. PITTS,
OF NASHVILLE, TENN.
"Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name."
Ps. cxxxviii, 2.
Doomed by an edict written in the sky,
The monarchies of earth shall be no more:
Heaven's sealed wonders open to the eye
In rising glories on the western shore.
TENTH EDITION.
B A LTIM ORE:
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BULL,
PROPRIETOR OF cOPY-RIGHT.
1862.




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
F. E. PITTS,
In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Sherwood & Co., Prs.




TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.
TaE theory of Armageddon, by the Rev. F. E. Pitts,
has been in course of preparation for years. Immense research and mental labor have brought it into being. For
nearly two years it has been before the public and met the
favorable notice of many of the ablest journals and reviews
in America. Learned theologians, civilians and statesmen
have freely accredited its truthfulness, and mathematicians
pronounce its chronological argument demonstration.  Indeed, almost all who examine it believe it. The exceptions to this rule are generally found amongst the subjects
of the British Crown, or those who imagine that England,
par excellence, is the model of the nations.
HIaving learned that Armageddon leaves the autocracy of
Britain in the whirlpool too, they have become offended,
and of course denounce it.
Mr. Pitts believing most firmly the principles and positions of the theory to be true, and that a correct appreciation of the subject is of untold interest to the American
people, he has, from motives sincerely patriotic and pious,
discussed the claims of this sublime theory before thousands
of our countrymen in various portions of the United States.
Mr. Pitts certainly deserves the highest praise of his
countrymen.  Modest and unassuming, though a giant in




i                   REMAR KS.
intellect, and richly stored with the treasures of science, he
has brought out a work that must elevate and encourage
our noble confederacy more effectually than any book that
has appeared since the birth of the Republic.
The work has now passed into the fourth edition, and
will, we have no doubt, soon be issued by the hundred
thousand.  This book should be in the hands of every
American citizen, because of the advance that it will give to
true patriotism, and the enthusiasm that it has and necessarily will create for the Union.




NO T I CE i
FROM THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCIER,
February 24, 1857.
SERVICES AT THE CAPITOL.-In place of the Rev. Mr.
Waldo, Chaplain of the House, Rev. F. E. Pitts, of Nashville, Tennessee, appeared agreeably to previous announcement, and delivered a discourse on the fulfillment of prophecy, with reference to the United States. With no
leaning to cant or fanaticism, and with no tendencies to a
politico-religious sermon, the reverened speaker entered
upon his task of unfolding the prophecies, both of the Old
and New Testaments.  The events which he detailed with
reference to our own country, were made to fit with such
surprising chronological accuracy to the predictions, that
it was by the almost unanimous desire of a large and attentive audience that his lecture was continued in the afternoon.  At the appointed time, three o'clock, P. M., it was
no easy task to find a seat in the great hall of tile Capitol,
so deeply interested were the people to hear the sequel of
the morning discourse, a brief outline of which we are
herewith enabled to present to our readers:
His introduction to the investigation indicated with what
reverence and discretion any attempted elucidation of the
meaning of prophecy should be conducted; that the prophecies touching the nations, down to the fall of Jerusalem,
were but a literal history of Syria, Edom, Moab, Egypt,
and Judea; but from the destruction of the Jewish capital
down to a certain period called " the time of the end," a
vail was on the prophets, and no interpretation of the sublime visions during that interdicted age could possibly be
correct; for God had repeated the announcement to Daniel,
the prophet, that "the words were closed up, and the
vision was sealed till the time of the end."  That this was




vi                    N OT I C E.
not the end of the world was evident, for in the time of the
end "many should run to and fro, and knowledge be increased;" that then''the wise should understand, but the
wicked should not understand." Not only was the vision
itself sealed, but the time or end of these wonders, and
especially the theatre of these wonders, or the land of their
realization, should be unknown till God was prepared for
their accomplishment.  That " the time of the end "-an
age of great intellectual energy, adventure and locomotion
-was the age in which a great nationality would arise;
that the United States arose at the end of 1290 symbolic
days from the destruction of Jerusalem; that Daniel's 70
weeks being equal to 603 years and 129 days of solar time,
according to the eclipses of the sun, gave an infallible rule
to determiire symbolic tittle; so that if 70 symbolic weeks
eqnaled 600 years;ind 129 dclys, 1290 symbolic days
reached fr1om  the burning of the temple on the 189th day
of the year 68, A. D., to the 4th of July, 1776; and that,
making the starting-point at the occ:lsion of the daily sacrifice, which happened, accordiing to astronomy, at sunrise,
three minutes past five o'clock, A. L., on the day the temple was burnt, the:1290 days run out at a quarter to three
o'clock, P. M., on the 4th day of July, 1776; and, from
the best, sources of information, the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed at that hour on the glorious
Fourth.  That the United States was the fifth Government
represented by the stone cut out of the mountain without
hands. The image ef Nebuchadnezzar represented the
successive kingdoms of Assyria, Medo-Persia, Macedonia,
and Rome; that the iron and clay in the feet and toes of
the image, symbolized the union of Church and State under
Constantine, June 19, A. D. 325; that the antagonism of
the stone to the image smiting it on the feet, symbolized
the genius of our great nation in its opposition to the union
of Church and State; that while the stone-kingdom, or
government, were not Christianity, the mountain out of
which the stone was cut was Christianity. That the winged
woman of the wilderness was an emblenm of Christianity,
and her man-child, to whom was given "a rod to rule,"
was an emblem of our government, arising from a pure




NO T I C E.                   Vii
religion; that this man-child, being " caught up to heaven
in the clouds," showed the providential protection of our
infant Republic.  That our nation, answering the moral
portrait of the nationality which was to come, was Israel
restored.  That God would constitute such a nationality
out of a people who would acknowledge his Son Jesus
Christ, and not of the Jews, who, froml the beginning,
have denounced Christ.  That perfect coincidence being
perfect fulfillment, our nation and no other on earth  answered the picture.  That the nationality to arise was to be
gathered out of the nations.  That they were to go westward   That the country they were to inhabit was a land
between the eastern and the great western seas.  That the
land was one " that had always been waste."  That it was
to be located in thirteen distinct States.  That these States
should be bounded on the east by the eastern sea, and on
the west by the great western sea.  That the people gathered out of the nations should " build and dwell safely in
unwalled villages and cities, having neither gates nor bars;"
4"a land of broad rivers and streams;" a Republic where
the people "should appoint to themselves one head," and
their rulers and governors "should be from among themselves."  That the United States was " the isles that should
wait," for Giod, and that the ships of Tarshish or Old Spain
should be first to open emigration.  That our country was' the land shadowing with wings" which was beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia, which, from Judea beyond the Nile, was
the United States, and no other country.  Thlafitour gre-at
country was divinely protected in its beginning, and, answerilng the predictions precisely of the nationality that was
to conie, is the " nation born to God in a day" —born on
Independence Day. That the United States arose in the
providence of God, as the model political government;. and
that its great mission was the overthrow of monarchy, and
the utter destruction of political and ecclesiastical despotism.
His subject in the afternoon related more especially to'the last great battle between civil and religious liberty on
the one hand, and political and ecclesiastical despotism on the
other, terimed in Scripture the " Battle of Gog and Magog;"
the battle of " Arnmageddon," and the battle of the "great




viii                  NOTICE.
day of God Almighty." That the United States would be
invaded by monarchy. That Russia would be the leading
power, and England, and all the autocracy of the world,
would be allied with Russia against the United States, except France; that France would be with us in the end as
she was with us in the beginning.  That an armament
such as the world never saw, composed of millions, would
invade our country.  That the battle-field was the valley of
the Mississippi.  (See Ezekiel xxxix, 11.)  That Heaven
would be upon our side. But in this last dreadful fray
there would be trouble such as never was.  That the United
States, being the exponent and representative of Republicanism, extending its borders from  sea to sea, and from
the lakes to the gulf, arose as the formidable defiance of
autocracy; and that Russia, embracing an area of one-seventh of the earth's terra-firma, and arising in dreadful
grandeur must, in self-defence, attempt. the extinction of
popular freedom; and that these two formidable powers,
lowering and culminating to the heavens like dreadful
clouds surcharged with the elements of ruin, would shock
the world with their collision and drench the earth with
blood. That our great country would never be divided.
That our Union, like a noble ship, though her live-oak
timbers would bend and quiver in the tempest, would ride
the storm in safety. That monarchy would be overthrown
for ever, and Republicanism every where prevail, and nations learn war no nore. Then sets in that millennial day,
when science, commerce, manufactures and the arts would
spread, the religion of the Son of God have sway, "righteousness and peace among the people walk, Messiah reign,
and earth keep jubilee a thousand years."
But an imperfect sketch of these lectures is here presented. They certainly created a profound sensation.
True or false, the clearness and conclusiveness of the arguments, as presented by the intelligent speaker, we think it
would be difficult to answer. Surely, the theme is startling
and sublime. The appropriate allusion of the speaker to
the portraits of Washington and Lafayette that hung on the
walls in the Capitol, in his allusion to France being with
America in the final struggle, was deeply affecting




THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FORETOLD IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
IN entering the sublime arcana of inspired prophecy, we are deeply impressed with a scene that
is laid in the land of Midian, where, from the
burning-bush, the voice of Almighty God arrested
the attention of the wondering prophet: " Put off
thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground."
No subject presented to the human mind imposes
profounder reverence, greater caution, and deeper
research, than an elucidation of prophetic truth;
and yet no theme has been more prolific of fanaticism among the incautious and adventurous in
almost every age.
We must look to the Scriptures themselves for
direction to a true and legitimate interpretation of
their own meaning. It is important also to discriminate between " secret things that belong to
God, and things that are revealed, which belong to
2




10     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
us and to our children."  For want of this discernment, Millerism, and all that class of fanatical fancies, have deluded misguided thousands. Whenever, therefore, an interpreter of prophecy attempts
to tell when the day of judgment will come, just:est assured he is wise above what is written; for
we are taught by the Great Prophet himself, " Of
that day, and hour, knoweth no man; no, not the
angels of heaven, but my Father only." This Divine announcement should always quiet such unauthorized pretensions.
It must be universally conceded that the Almighty has interdicted a knowledge of some sublime subjects, which he alone will fully reveal and
explain by their own accomplishment. Notwithstanding, it is equally evident that there are certain portions of prophetic truth that he himself designed should be understood by the sons of men,
for it is written, " Blessed is he that readeth and
they that hear the words of this prophecy."  Here,
then, is a Divine encouragement to study inspired
prophecy. But how can we be beneficiaries of this
promise, though we may both read and hear, if, at
the same time, we cannot understand them?
A few self-evident propositions we will now submit, as indispensable principles for the investiga



DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.              11
tion of prophecy-principles that must form the
only true and infallible criteria to determine their
intended meaning.
First. All prophecy is either plain and literal, or
obscure and symbolical.
Second. A plain and literal prophecy may be understood prior to fulfillment, just as well as subsequent to the event predicted. For example, Jesus
Christ said, "C There shall not be left here one stone
upon another that shall not be thrown down."
His meaning was too obvious to be misunderstood.
Third. But an obscure or symbolicprophecy cannot
possibly be fully klnown, however impressive the general outline of the subject; yet the special application of the prediction to time, event, and circumstances cannot be understood untilfulfillment settles
the true meaning.  There may be several interpretations of an obscure prophecy offered a priori, provided they be legitimate; that is, if such definitions are not unreasonable or incompatible with the
nature of the subject. Nevertheless, we must bide
our time till fulfillment determines the meaning intended.  As an example, it is written, "Behold, I
will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."  Now,




12     DEFENCE OF' A-RMAGEDDON.
it is evident that one legitimate interpretation of
this prophecy was the same entertained by the
Jews, that God would send the old prophet in person, for it expressly states, " Elijah the prophet."
But it so happened that another man altogether,
John the Baptist, coming "in the spirit and power
of Elias," is said by Christ to be "the Elias which
was for to come."
Fourth. A perfect coincidence of character, circumstances, and events with any given prophecy, is
perfect fufillUment. This is so plain and patent that
we cannot deny it without denying the very proof
of the Messiahship of the Son of God. When John
sent his disciples to Christ to inquire,'CArt thou
he that should come, or do we look for another?"
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show
John again those things which ye do hear and see:
the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk,
and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel
preached unto them." As much as if he had said,
John will have sense enough to know that in
whomsoever these coincidences are found, he is the
Messiah.
With these principles to guide us, we proceed to
the investigation of our subject




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            13
Th7e United States of America, our great country,
isforetold in the Holy Scriptures.
We are fully apprised that the novelty and sublimity of our subject, upon its bare announcement,
will awaken the incredulity of some, and enlist the
opposition of others. To all such we politely bespeak the courtesy of a candid hearing. We are
not concerned that you receive or reject the truth of
this theory, but we are concerned that you carefully
examine the testimony upon which it rests. Do
you believe the Eoly Scriptures?  "Then hear me
for my cause."
But that you may understand that we do not
attempt to prove what is unreasonable and absurd,
we propose the following question:
Is it at all probable that our great country, with
its teeming magnificence, now the fear and glory
of all lands, would have been overlooked by prophecy?
How comes it to pass that smaller countries, and
lesser kingdoms, retired hamlets, solitary islands,
and seaport towns; that Edom, Mioab, Egypt, and
Syria; that Tarshish, Tyre, and Sidon, with the
rest, are particularly programm-ed upon the inspired
page, and our land the only portion of God's terrafirma that is proscribed a place in the book-that
prophetic book that professes to map the world till
2*




14     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
the end of time? Has the inspired penman no account, no place for a nation that is at this very
moment telling more upon the intellectual and
moral destiny of the world than any other under
heaven? Do you believe it?  And yet you must
believe it if our theory is a fable.
The possibility of the truthfulness of our subject
is certainly deeply interesting; the probability of
the fact is startling; but the clear and unanswerable demonstration of that truth is actually sublime.
The predictions of the Bible touching the nations, down to the destruction of the Jewish capital, are indeed but a literal history of Egypt, Moab,
Syria, Edom, and Judea. tHere all is plain and
self-evident, as time has witnessed the fulfillment.
But from that memorable event, the downfall of
Jerusalem, on to a certain chronological period,
called by Daniel " the time of the end," all is obscurity. No interpretation breaks the seal of its wonders. Clouds curtain the heavens; and the symbols
that glow in the vision of God's holy prophets are
alike mysterious to them and to the wondering
seraphim.
To Daniel, the prince of the prophets, this great
truth seemed first to have been announced. When
the prophet had the stupendous visions covering




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.             15
that symbolic period, he exclaimed: "I heard, but
I understood not: then said I, 0 my Lord, what
shall be the end of these wonders? And he said,
Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up
and sealed till the time of the end."  This positive
declaration of Jehovah was thrice repeated to the
prophet. But Gabriel gives him to understand personally thus much: These wonders will not occur
in your day, Daniel; you will rest with your fathers long before the seal shall be broken; nevertheless, you will arise in the resurrection of the just;
therefore, go thy way, and be comforted with the
blessed hope. Such we suppose to be the meaning
of the angel, when, closing his sublime mission to
the prophet, he said, " But go thou thy way till the
end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot in
the end of the days."
That the time of the endwas a certain chronological
length, and not the end of the world, is very certain,
for things are said of the time of the end not at all
consistent with the scriptural account of the day of
judgment. In the time of the end "many should
run to and fro, and knowledge be increased;" then
"the wise should understand, but none of the wicked should understand."  Whereas, in the final day,
we suppose the wise and the wicked will both un



16     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
derstand. These expressions evidently characterize
that period called the time of the end, as an age of
great locomotion, intelligence, and enterprise.
And the words " wise " and "wicked," being generic terms, and nouns of multitude, doubtless refer
to nations. The friends of civil and religious liberty
shall understand, but subjects of absolutism, and
the dupes of despotism, shall not understand.
As the visions of Daniel, that covered the lapse
of ages to the time of the end, were sealed and closed
up, it is conclusive that the visions of Isaiah and
Ezekiel, Jeremiah and John, embracing the same
subjects and measuring the same period, are interdicted also. This is a legitimate and necessary
deduction.
Now, is it not very surprising that eminent men,
deeply pious and profoundly learned, have never
discovered the "-seal" of the Divine interdiction
placed upon these visions? The impenetrable mystery, by Divine authority, hangs before their eyes,
while the vague and unsatisfactory explanations of
the most gifted commentators confirm the truth of
the Divine prohibition. The truth is, there is not
one writer in the long learned catalogue of commentators on the prophecies, down to our present
theory, but has attempted to explain the meaning




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            17
of these symbols by principles and rules that were
known and applied during the interdicted ages, and
are consequently necessarily erroneous; for God had
again and again declared, " the vision is sealed, and
the words are closed up till the time of the end."
Two obvious truths are here revealed:  1. The
closing up of the vision down to a certain period.
2. As the sealing of the vision was only till that
time, of course when that time should come the
seal would be broken and the vision be understood.
If, therefore, the period when these sublime disclosures should be made was to be characterized as
an age of vast enterprise, intellectual energy, and
moral adventure; and if we live in such an agean age marked with unparalleled progress and discovery-we ask, with the profoundest reverence,
may we not venture to inquire, and to inquire hopefully, for the meaning of these wonders?
Should it be demanded, why have not the erudite
and the learned in ages past apprehended this interpretation of prophecy, we have already anticipated the inquiry: that God had sealed a knowledge
of these wonders during those ages. But should
the unassuming pretensions of the learned author
of Armageddon be looked upon as a barrier to a
candid investigation of this most deeply interesting




18     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
theory, we have only to suggest that great and ingenuous minds are too magnanimous for such uncandid evasion. As the gifted author himself has
asked, " May not a child find a gem?"  Was it not
a poor peon of the mountains that first discovered
the riches of Peru? But perhaps one material reason why our great country has hitherto never been
dreamed of as the burden of prophetic truth, has
been owing to the fact that most of the principal
writers on prophecy have been Englishmen, who,
putting one foot of the compasses down on Great
Britain as the centre of creation, and describing a
circle, have invariably left out the United States of
America; somewhat after the fashion of a Chinese
map of the world, which, after giving to the Celestial Empire almost the entire map, puts down Europe and America on a space no larger than a penny, calling them the "' Barbarian Islands."
We will certainly be excused for disposing of
another class of captious cavilers. It has been
asked with much emphasis, "What good, or what
purpose, could the truth of such a theory accomplish?"  This inquiry, we will apprise you, is
never made by the learned or the considerate; certainly not by one who reveres the truth of the Holy
Scriptures,




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            19
What is the design of prophecy? Surely, wise
and glorious accomplishments were intended by the
Almighty in communicating to his servants the
words and visions of prophecy. Doubtless, to inspire the hope of man for their realization, and to
confirm the faith of mortals in the divinity of those
truths by their fulfillment. But where will you find
a broader field for such accomplishments, or a more
glorious theatre for the fulfillment of prophetic
truth, than in the providential rise and prosperity
of a great nation that should be the exponent and
example of popular freedom-a nation whose principles and progress should excite the admiration
and arouse the emulation of the whole earth?  Let
men but behold, on this magnificent scale, a fulfillment of those sublime symbols and announcements
that have staggered the philosophy of men, and
baffled their profoundest learning from age to age;
then indeed infidelity would seek annihilation for
shelter, and its last refuge of lies be swept from
the face of the earth.
WVe shall first consider the symbolic predictions of
the United States.




20     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
THE TIME OF ITS' RISE.
The rise of a great nationality is evidently predicted by Daniel, when " the power of the holy people," or friends of civil and religious liberty, shall
cease to be scattered; when the wise nations should
understand, and " many should run to and fro, and
knowledge be increased." This glorious era was
to be the period called "the time of the end."
The rise of the United States of America synchronizes with that " time," and no other nation under
heaven.
The chronological argument is purely mathematical, and we believe unanswerable.
The decree of Cyrus for the emancipation of
Israel was published in the last month of the year
537 B. C., (about December 6th,) as is found by
the coincidence of an eclipse of the sun, predicted
by Thales the Milesian, that occurred B. C. 601,
as well as the historic account of those ages. The
crucifixion of Christ was on the 25th of March,
A. D. 29, (Vulgar era,) as found also by an eclipse
of the moon and historic records. And the destruction of the Jewish state began on the 21st of Nisan,
A. D. 68. The 70 weeks of Daniel were to begin
at the decree of Cyrus, and to end at both the other




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.             21
named epochs. From the decree of Cyrus to the
crucifixion, was 564 years and 109 days; and from
the same decree to the last general Jewish passover,
iwas 603 years and 129 days. These two lengths
were embraced in the 70 weeks, and show the precise duration of those weeks, as exactly those many
years and days transpired to reach the events predicted. This fact no one can deny. Now the explanation of the matter is simple: the 70 weeks are
Hebrew weeks of years, or 490 years. But these
are abbreviated weeks; that is, they require the addition of one or more kinds of sacred time to complete them. By adding the sabbatic days which
would be in 490 years, we have 560 years. These
are symbolic years of 360 parts; and as a symbolic
year may stand for any Hebrew year of years, it
may stand for the one of 364. Then we have the
equation of time, as 360: 364 —560: 5669.
These 5669 years are composed of 364 days each;
and by reducing them to solar time of 365 days, 5
hours, 48 minutes, and 471 seconds to the year,
we have 564 years and 109 days, as the fulfillment
exhibits.
In a similar manner the other results will be
found; but this example is a sufficient illustration
of the principle of explaining sacred time.
3




22     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
The 3~- times of Daniel, chapter xii, are, by this
mode of explanation, easily understood. Three and
a half times, or years, are equal to 1260 symbolic
years. To this, if we add sabbatic years proportionably, we have 1440 years; and again adding
proportionable sabbatic years, or one to every six,
we have 1680 years. Then, as the symbolic year
of 360 parts may represent any Hebrew year, it
may represent the year 366 days or parts. We
then have the following equation:
360: 366X1680-l=708 years, or 623,833 days, 17
hours, 1 minute, and 40 seconds.
These 3- times were to begin at the cessation of
the daily sacrifice. The daily sacrifice was offered
at sunrise. The sun arose at the meridian of Old
Jerusalem on the 189th day of the year 68, A. D.,
about 5 o'clock, A. M. This, then, is the beginning of the 3! times, or the 1260 symbolic days, or
the 2300 " evening mornings."  An " evening
morning" was a lamb sacrifice at sunrise, and a
lamb sacrifice at sunset-two lambs to a day; so
2300 are equal to 1150 days; add the proportion of
sabbatic time, and 2300 evening mornings equal 31
times. These lengths all agree, and embrace, in
solar time, 623,833 days and 17 hours; and, from
the last Jewish sacrifice, end, at the meridian of




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.             23
Philadelphia, at a quarter to three o'clock in the
afternoon of July the 4th, 1776.
Another length of these times is 1335 days,
which, by the same rule, equal 1810 solar years,
and will end in - 878. These two endings begin
and close "the time of the end," and answer to the
rise of the American Republic and the expansion
into the millennium. The 1290 and 1335 days coincide with the two lengths of the 31 times.
In brief, Daniel's 70 symbolic weeks embrace the
time from the decree of Cyrus to build and restore
the city and temple, to the crucifixion of Christ
and the final destruction of Jerusalem, which, in
solar time, was 564 years to the first event and 603
years to the latter. And from this last event, the
destruction of the holy place, it was to be 31 times,
or 623,833 days and 17 hours, to the rise of a great
nationality.
Now, if 70 symbolic weeks are equal to 564 solar
years, 31 times, or 1260 symbolic days, are equal to
1708 solar years; but 1708 solar years, or 623,833
days, reach from the burning of the temple on the
189th day of the year 68, A. D., to the 4th day of
Juily, 1776.
Let it be remembered, the 70 weeks call for two
endings-the cutting off of Messiah, and the de



24     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
struction of the holy place. But these two events
are 39 years apart. The two lengths are made out
legitimately by adding the proper sabbatic time of
days, weeks and years, as authorized by the Jewish
calendar; for the weeks themselves are'determined," nectag, cut short or abbreviated weeks. So
that both lengths are accurately fulfilled, and are
correctly termed C 0O weeks."
But to suppose, as do most all of the old commentators, that a day means a year, and that 70
weeks are to be understood as 490 years, is to fall
short of the events predicted, 94 years in the first
case, and 113 years in the second; consequently,
their theory is false. But time has not only demonstrated the error in their opinion of the 70
weeks, but also their error in relation to the 1260
and 1290 days that were to follow. If days meant
years, pray tell us what great nationality arose at
the end of 1290 years after the destruction of Jerusalem? or what other great event happened that
could possibly be construed into a fulfillment?
Positively none.
The calculation, being purely mathematical, and
guided by astronomy, has been rigidly made to the
tenth fraction of a second, and must be reliable.
The interpretation of the chronology is legitimate,




DEFENCE  OF ARM AGEDDON.            25
for it is governed by Daniel's 70 weeks; consequently, the fulfillment is shown in the rise of a
glorious civil and religious republic exactly at the
end of these symbolic lengths, and that republic is
the United States of America.
The fifth government in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, or the stone kingdom, symbolizes our great
nationality.
The king of Babylon saw in his vision a vast
image, " whose brightness was excellent, and the
form thereof was terrible. This image's head was
of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his
belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his
feet part of iron and part of clay." In this terrific
image, as interpreted by the prophet, God showed
to the Assyrian monarch the whole of monarchy to
the end of time, in four great dynasties that should
consecutively arise, his being the first of the series:
" Thou art this head of gold. After thee shall
arise another kingdom inferior to thee," etc. It is
universally admitted by the learned, that the Assyrian, the M/iedo-Persian, the Macedonian, and the
Roman empires, are clearly and unequivocally represented here, and that, too, in the order in which
they arose. In the fourth or iron portion of this
image, another substance enters into the formation
3*




26     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
of its feet and toes, of which a more minute. and
extended description and interpretation are given
than of any other part of the dream: "CAnd
whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of
potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall
be divided; and there shall be in it of the strength
of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron
mixed with the miry clay. And as the toes of the
feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry
clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men;
but they shall not cleave one to another, even as
iron is not mixed with clay." That the two materials constituting the feet and toes should always
have been understood to represent a division of the
kingdom into a stronger and weaker part of the
civil government, is the only opinion perhaps ever
offered by commentators in every age. The theory
of Armageddon alone maintains that the division
of the fourth empire, as represented by the feet
and toes, symbolizes the ten kingdoms, which,
according to Bishop Newton, was the exact number that actually did arise from the old Roman
empire; but that the iron and clay in the feet and
toes symbolized the union of Church and State, and




DEFENCE OF AR M AGE D DON.          27
nothing else. With this interpretation the words
of the angel perfectly agree, and are impressively
intelligible: "Whereas thou sawest iron mixed
with miry clay, they shctll mingle themselves with the
seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another,
even as iron is not mixed with clay."  That is, as
a perfect chemical amalgam with the two cannot
be formed, because the ingredients will not cohere,
so the union of Church and State will never be
happy in its combination-never a harmonious
and peaceful union-but an illegitimate commerce,
unsanctioned by the will of God, and ruinous to
the best interests of the human family.  "They
shall mingle themselves with the seed of men."
That is, a superior order of men will join an inferior order; or the Church shall be joined to the
State, and, consequently, such a government must
always be partly strong and partly broken-a politico-ecclesiastical concubinage that would curse the
nations of the earth.
This interpretation is greatly strengthened by
the chronological character of the image; the iron
and clay enter into the composition of the feet and
toes, after that the Roman empire for a thousand
years had stood upon its iron legs, a nation of soldiers. The date of the feet synchronizes most won



28     DEFENCE OF AlMAGEDDONo
derfully with the event represented; for Church
and State union in the Roman empire began under
Constantine, A. D. 325, and was perpetuated with
each of the ten-toe kingdoms that swarmed out of
the old Roman hive.
Such was the image and its legitimate interpretation, a knowledge of which is essential to a correct understanding of the fifth or stone kingdom.
" Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet
that were of iron and clay, and brake them to
pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the
silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and
became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no
place was found for them; and the stone that
smote the image became a great mountain, and
filled the whole earth." Of this sublime symbol
the angel gives the following interpretation: "In
the days of these kings shall the God of heaven
set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed;
and the kingdom shall not be left to other people,
but it shall break in pieces and consume all these
kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch
as thou sawest that the stone was cLat out of the
mounltain without hands, and that it brake in pieces




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.             29
the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the
gold; the great God hath made known to the king
what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream
is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."
Let it be observed, the word kingdom, in the
prophecies, is a convertible term with government,
and must be so understood in this passage.
The absurdity of applying the stone kingdom to
Christianity is so very obvious, it is indeed remarkable that the learned should endorse such an opinion. The stone could not symbolize Christianity,
1. Because it did not arise at the proper time for
Christianity.  " In the days of these kings" must
refer to that plurality of kings last mentioned, the
ten-toe kings or kingdoms, that arose from the
Roman empire. The philosophy of our language
demands this sense. But Christianity arose in the
days of one king, Augustus Caesar. In point of
fact, then, the truth of history for ever forbids any
other interpretation. Our great nationality arose
exactly in the days of that very plurality of kings
or kingdoms that came out of the old Roman dynasty. 2. The stone kingdom did not arise in the
properplace for Christianity. Rome arose where
the Grecian empire had stood, the Grecian or Macedonian succeeded Medo-Persia, and Medo-Persia




30     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
was successor to the Ba:ylonian or Assyrian kingdom; but the stone kingdom had no previous connection with this corporate image of monarchy;
did not grow up under its shadow, precincts, or
presence, but comes from a distance, and strikes
the image from without, and, at one dreadful stroke
of external violence, breaks the colossal image to
fragments; and its atoms, ground to infinitesimal
dust, fly like chaff before " the winds of the summer
threshing-floors." But Christianity arose within
the dominions of Rome: Judea was a Roman province where Christianity was born. 3. The stone
kingdom could not have arisen at all at the time
that Christianity arose, or it would have arisen in
the Roman empire also; for Rome at that time
embraced the known world. At the birth of Christ,
" There went out a decree from Coesar Augustus.
that all the world should be taxed."  But thers
was a land, my countrymen, where the Romam
cohorts were never marshaled-a land that Heaver
had concealed from the cupidity and ambition o:
her conquering armies. That land is our owi:
beloved America, the only portion of the globe:
beyond the limits of ancient Rome, where a great
nationality, in its constitution, character, and mission, could possibly answer the true meaning of the




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.            31
ifth symbolic kingdom that the God of heaven
would set up.
As the political governments of monarchy were
severally represented by a symbol taken from the
mineralkingdom in one corporate connection, showing the uniformity of the genius that pervaded the
whole, so the fifth government, being political also,
is symbolized by a mineral type (a stone) likewise.
But being entirely distinct from and unconnected
with the image of monarchy, it is very clear that
the fifth government is not only a political organization, but an anti-monarchical government; consequently, a political republican government, arising under the supervision of Almighty God —"c a
stone cut out of the mountain without hands:"
brought into being and glorious nationality by a
wonderful chain of Divine providences.
The violent destruction of the monarchical image
by the stone, necessarily implies political organization and military power. The mild and tranquil
genius of Christianity offers no violence to any man,
or any nation; but it wins its gradual conquests by
moral suasion. But here is a power dreadful as the
enginery of battle, swift and destructive as the bolt
of heaven. And did Christianity indeed break
down and annihilate the Roman empire? What a




32     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
failure! Was it not the barbarian hordes of Goths
and Vandals from the North that overran imperial
Rome? But how are we to account for the stone
smiting the image "C on the feet?"  Why was the
attack not made upon the head, or upon some vital
part? Let it be remembered, thefeet was the point
of the union of Church and State; consequently,
the mission of this great fifth nationality was the destruction of State and Church union, as well as the
utter and ultimate extermination of ecclesiastical
and political despotism from the face of the earth.
Now, we appeal to the assembled wisdom before us,
to profound statesmen, and venerable ministers of
God, if the antagonism of the stone to the iron and
clay is not fully answered in the genius of the
American people? Are not the sentiment and
feeling of this great nation more harmonious and
universal in their hostility to Church and State
union than on any other subject? Has not the
Constitution of the United States, in devoting a
whole chapter to the subject, raised an eternal barrier against it? And is not our nation the only
enlightened government among the nations of the
earth, where the illegitimate union of Church and
State is most solemnly interdicted? thus leading
-our free people to "Render unto Ceesar the things




DEFENCE  OF A RMAGEDDON.             33
which are C(esar's, and unto God the things that
are God's."
While it is, therefore, conclusive that the stone
kingdom  is a providential political government,
c' cut out of the mountain without hands," incompatible with, hostile to, and destined in its great
mission to annihilate the last vestige of monarchy
from the nations of the earth, it is equally evident
that " the mountain" out of which the stone is cut
is Christianity. So our great government is founded
upon the Bible. Remove this indestructible basis
that supports the fair fabric of our political institutions, and we have no government.  The Declaration of American Independence evidently recognizes
the obligations of thefirst, and fully embraces the
principles of the second great commandment.  The
smiles of a Christian Sabbath inspire the devotion,
and call from labor to rest our toiling millions;
while the obligation of every officer of state, from
the chief magistrate of the nation down to the humblest minister of justice, is rendered inviolate by a
solemn averment upon Divine revelation.
The history of the world confirms the fact, th:%
a nation's religion moulds the character of its civic
government.  A despotic, superstitious, and bloodthirsty system of religion will form and fashion its
4




34      DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
political economy after the same model. So a pure,
enlightened, and divinely authorized religion has
ever been the maternal source of a pure, liberal,
and happy civil government.
As, therefore, the four great empires were to be
succeeded by a fifth great government, altogether
differing in its principles and character, and as the
United States of America is the only great nation
that ever has or ever can arise to answer -the description and fill the mission of that fifth empire,
the conclusion is inevitable, that our glorious republic is the stone kingdom that the God of heaven
was to'  set up."
A glimpse of this sublime reality inspired the
good Bishop Berkeley, more than a hundred years
ago, to declare what even now seems a wonderful
consummation 
"Westward the star of empire makes its way;
The first four acts already passed,
The fifth shall close the drama with the day:
Time's noblest offspring is the last."
The United States of tAmerica is symbolized by the
man-child of the winged woman of the wilderness.
I' And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a
woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under
her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.            35
And there appeared another wonder'in heaven; and
behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and
ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads...
And the dragon stood before the woman which was
ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as
soon as it was born. And she brought forth a
man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod
of iron; and her child was caught up to God, and
to his throne... And to the woman were given
two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into
the wilderness, into her place... And the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood, that he might
cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the
earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her
mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was
wroth with the wornan," etc.
It is almost universally admitted that the true
Church of God is represented by the woman in this
symbol. And, withlout pausing to examine the
many opinions which divines have entertained as to
the true meaning of th e man-child —some supposing
it refers to Christ, and others to Constantine-we
will demonstrate that the symbolic meaning of the
man-child is that of a great nationality that was to
arise under the superintending providence of Al



3      DE FENCE OF AR MAGEDDON.
mighty God in the latter times; and that that great
nationality is the United States of America.
To this man-child a rod was given to rule always the ensign of political power; so that, while
the mother represents a pure, enlightened religion,
her offspring, "a man-childc," who is invested with
political authority, must represent an enlightened
nationality.  This exposition we claim with great
confidence to be legitimate. We shall now show
that such is the testimony of the Holy Scriptures.
Isaiah declares,'a Before she travailed, she brought
forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a
man-child. Who hath heard such things? who
hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made
to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born
at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought
forth."  In this passage, the term "Zion," meaning the Church of God, settles, beyond all doubt,
ithe symbolic meaning of the I" woman clothed with
the sun;" and as the "' man-childl'" in the one case
is put in apposition with "c a nation born at once,"
he must be understood in the other instance to be
the symbol of a nation also. We cannot deny the
explanation without denying the interpretation the
Holy Scriptures give of their own symbols.
But is this nationality, arising from a true and




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.             37
enlightened religion, the United States of America?
We shall see. In the first place, the man-child
was the offspring of a true and enlightened religion.
2. Its destruction was determined upon, in its infancy, by a great red dragon. 3. It received "a
rod," in its infancy, to rule, or to maintain political
jurisdiction. 4. He and his mother were favored
by the " earth." 5. "C The child was caught up to
the throne of God."
Now, how remarkably does our great nation answer to this description? Our nationality arose
from and was the legitimate offspring of an enlightened liberal religion. Our honored ancestry,
having fled from the storms of persecution in the
old world, sought to find in the new, freedom to
worship God; the founders and framers of our political fabric being, in the main, worshipers of the
true God, and believers in his Son Jesus Christ.
Our infancy was warily watched by the demon of
despotism, and fearful were the efforts made by the
dragon of autocracy to crush us in the cradle. But
"the earth helped the woman."  The seat of the
old Roman empire is termed, in the symbolic language of the Apocalypse, " the earth." And did
not several of the European powers come to our assistance in that dreadful conflict? Russia declared
4*




38     DEFENCE OF A RMAGEDDON.
neutrality, Spain, and especially Holland, waged
war against England, while the fleets of France
came to our rescue in our Revolutionary struggle.
" The earth helped the woman," and the man-child
was rescued.
But we were specially protected and defended by
the providence of Almighty God, which we understand the expression, (' caught up to the throne of
God," to imply. How wonderful the eventful history of our new-born nation I Who can trace the
special interventions of a Divine hand through all
the stages of our infant existence, from our natal
hour, without acknowledging that the God of
Washington was on our side?
The coincidences are so numerous, and the agreement of our great nationality with the symbolic
description of the man-child so wonderfully accurate, that the conclusion is demonstration. For if
perfect coincidence be perpect fulfillment, then the
United States of America is symbolized by the
man-child of the winged woman in the wilderness.
The United States of America is the nationality
that is promised in the prophetic Scriptures to arise
in the latter times as Israel Restored. It has long
been a favorite theory, both with Jewish and Christian writers, that the nationality to be gathered




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            39
together in the latter days, was understood to mean
the returned or restoration of the scattered sons of
Abraham to the land of Palestine. We are not
surprised at the confidence with which this opinion
has been entertained from age to age, because it is
a legitimate a priori interpretation, seeing this nationality is called " Israel " by the prophets. In a
conversation had with a venerable Bishop of the
Episcopal Church, he inquired of us: " Sir, by
what construction of language do you make the
great nationality, promised to arise in the latter
times, to mean the United States? That the Bible
authorizes us to expect such a nationality there can
be no doubt; but how do you make out that nationality to be the United States of America, as it was
promised to be Israel?"  To which we replied:
" Beloved Bishop, the predictions of the prophets
are put up in Hebrew dress; the regalia is Mosaic,
the custom is Israelitish. They did not say, friends
of civil and religious liberty, Americans, or even
Christians; but they used the best terms they had
on hand: they said' Israel.'"
Only doff the subject of its Jewish robes, and
the symmetrical proportions and sublimity of Christian republicanism are as perfectly delineated as a
Grecian pillar. But we will now show that what




40     DEFENCE OF A RM AGEDDON.
is reasonable and legitimate is a true principle
of interpretation, being authorized by the great
Teacher from heaven. Said the disciples to our
Lord, "Why say the scribes that Elias must first
come?" for it is written, "Behold, I will send
Elijah the prophet, before that great and notable
day of the Lord."  " Jesus answered and said
unto them, Elias is come already, and they knew
him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they
listed. Then the disciples understood that he
spake unto them of John the Baptist."  Now, suppose the difficulty of the pious Bishop were proposed to our Lord: 1" Master, by what construction
of language do you make out that John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, is indeed
Elias the prophet, which was for to come, seeing
he is in reality another man altogether?"  Does
not the same difficulty exist in both cases; and
has not our Lord, by answering the objection in
the one case, removed it in the other? John was
" the Elias which was for to come;" not because
that was the name by which he was called in his
generation among men, but because he came "in
the spirit and power of Elias," thereby answering
the moral portrait that was drawn by the pencil of
inspiration, and was, consequently, declared by the




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            41
Saviour to be indeed the Elias. If, therefore, a
great nationality is promised to arise in the latter
days, and the United States of America exhibits
the character of such nationality, as delineated by
the pen of prophecy, arising " in the spirit and
power" of Israel to come, and no other nation
under heaven ever has or ever can answer the description, then, perfect coincidence being perfect
fulfillment, our glorious republic is the nationality
which was to be gathered together in the latter
times under the prophetic name of Israel.
Let it be remembered, that the term Israel was a
cognomen of honor, and not the natural right of a
Jew. God gave the appellation to Jacob, because
C' as a prince he prevailed with God." While the
children of Jacob maintained their integrity, they
enjoyed this high distinction; but St. Paul defends
the application of the term to Gentiles who may
possess the.proper claims to this honor.
But perhaps the most plausible bill of exceptions
taken to our theory is presented here. It is suggested, with much apparent reason, that we are
too wicked and unworthy a people to bear the
honored title of Israel. Alas for us, my countrymen! Heaven knows full well that we are wicked
enough; for when we consider the special provi



42     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
dence of Almighty God, marvelously exercised
over us from the very infancy of our organization,
through every change of fortune-what prosperity
has crowned our cause-how we have been guided
and guarded by a Divine supervision, as virtually
present as the holy She7linah, " in a cloud by day,
and a pillar of fire by night "-and then look at
the abominations that pollute our national escutcheon, it is hunmiliating in the extreme. Look at the
blasphemy that outrages the highest obligation of
created beings, marring the purest language on
earth, in desecrating the name of the holiest Being
in the universe. Look at the violation of even
heathen honesty, discrediting character in almost
all gradations of society. See the frenzy of political parties, disrupting the very bonds of brotherhood; while blood and debauchery infect the air
and pollute the earth, bribery, homicides and murder transpire in the very halls of our nation's
councils.
But bad as we are, fellow-citizens, we are the
very best people upon the face of the earth. The
great heart of our magnanimous country beats responsive to the sighs and sorrows of all nations.
Our peaceful land is the hospitable home for the
oppressed of all countries, Our laws are the tran



DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.             43
script of eternal justice. True, we have neither
titled dukes nor hereditary lords, but the emolumients of profit and honor are offe.red to the deserving of all classes, and our loftiest promotions
are accessible to the humblest poor. Though denounced abroad by an aristocracy that dooms its
own pauper millions to proscription, beggary, and
starvation, yet our institutions, which they fain
would pity, are the pulsations of health, compared
with the plague-spots of pestilential Europe.
Already have three hundred thousand of our
African population become the Christianized children of God-a greater number of true Christian
converts, heathens as their fathers were who first
came amongst us, than are to be found in all the
missions of all denominations upon the earth. We
have colonized a happy republic also, upon the benighted shores of their fatherland. Our ministers
of mercy have gone to every heathen shore, and
preached glad tidings to almost every island that
dots the bosom of the ocean. Beams of light, radiating from this central home of civil and religious liberty, already break upon the distant millions that weep in the shadow of death.
When the noble Greek is crushed by the hoof of
Turkish despotism, the halls of our Senate are elo



44     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDONo
quent with a sympathy that responds in the bosom
of a whole people. When Poland, Hungary, and
Italy struggle and fall, the hope of the American
people struggles and falls with them. When the
cry of starvation is heard from ill-fated Ireland,
American transports are freighted with the munificent offering of a generous people. And, moved
by a magnanimity which knows no parallel, our
swift ships are dispatched to recover England's lost
navigators in the regions of eternal snow.
We have the one living and true God, one Saviour, and one religion-one Constitution, one
Confederacy, one Republic, one nationality; therefore, a true religion and a true civil government is
the Israel that was to come, the "C nation born at
once "-born on the 4th of July, 1766.
But let us not be misled by the consecrated name
of Israel. For "all are not Israel who are called
Israel." A nation possessing the true religion,
and enjoying an enlightened and liberal civil government, may have many unbelieving and rebellious people in its midst; and, doubtless, millennial glory, and the day of judgment also, will find
both the righteous and the wicked, the just and the
unjust, the wise and the foolish virgins, for the
wheat and tares will grow together until the gen



DEFENCE O  ARMAGEDDON.              45
eral harvest,'"which is the end of the world."
Even Israel restored to nationality will not be the
Eden of bliss.
It was in the brightest days of the Hebrew nation when the tribes of Jacob were led out to the
solitudes of the desert to behold the glory of God.
revealed upon the sacred mountain.  Clouds of
awful grandeur encircled its brow. Lightnings
rent the mantle of the sky, and deep-toned thundcers rocked Mount Sinai from its glowing summit
to its granite base. Then, where was IsraelGod's own Israel? Behold him at the foot of the
hlill making a golden calf!
By the term Israel, therefore, we mean to be
understood, a providential nation, possessing the
only true religion, and a divinely sanctionel form
of civil government. Such, with all its sunshine
and shadows, was ancient Israel, and such is the
United States of America, and the United States
of America alone.
As to the scattered Jews-who have long since
lost all genealogical proof of their respective tribes
— forming such great nationality any where, that
is supremely ridiculous. That they may return to
Jewry, we think highly probable; because every
thing formerly connected with that nation was
5




46      DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
typical. Their fiftieth, or Jubal year, was a time
when the scattered Jews returned to their respective homes, and were put in possession or seized of
Lheir patrimonial estates.  This custom may anticipate the jubilee of the world; that is, when republicanism shall become world-wide. Then the
Jews, in masses, may return to Canaan; for the
Almighty by deed of gift made Abraham and his
posterity proprietors of that land. They may return and form a little Christian republic in Palestine. But to become the great national headship
of the world, restore temple-worship and priestly
offerings, with all the gorgeous paraphernalia of
its ancient sacerdotal splendor, is but the pious
dream of fanaticism.  The simplicity and spirituality of the religion of the Son of God forbids the
idea; while the burdensome rites of the Jewish
ritual have long since been discarded by the unostentatious loveliness and grace of a Christianity
that claims to worship the Father "in spirit and
in truth."
But even the supposition that they will return
and form a literal government in their ancient
home may be a mistake. For those prophecies
that seem to refer to their literal restoration are
interpreted by many worthy divines to foretell their




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.               47
conversion to their long-rejected Saviour. This is
indeed plausible.
"In foreign climes they'll cease to roam;
Nor, weeping, think on Jordan's flood;
In every land they'll find a home,
In every temple worship God."
And so mote it be. But if the Almighty designed to honor a people by raising them to become
a great nationality, of whom is it probable such
nationality would be composed? Let this question
be settled by a plain principle of Divine revelation.
Who are the Jews?  A persecuted and disbanded
people.  Why are they persecuted?  For rejecting
the claims of the Son of God.  From  his very
birth to this day they have, as a nation, derided
and discarded him. They sealed the dreadfulf imprecation at his crucifixion: "His blood be on us,
and on ourchildren."  But there is another persecuted people-the friends of civil and religious
liberty.  They have been hunted down in every
land, like the hart of the mountains. They have
been proscribed and execrated, outraged and banished, in every age; and, for conscience' sake, have
been martyred by the million.  Why were they
persecuted'"scattered, and peeled?"  For accepting and acknowledging  Jesus Christ.  Here, then,




48     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
is the difference. Now, apply an infallible principle which must test this question. Said the adorable Saviour, "If any man serve me, him will my
Father honor."  Is it, then, at all probable that
God would honor a people by the promised glorious nationality, who have, as a nation, spurned the
mercy of the Prince of peace, and obstinately persisted, before the eyes of all nations, in rejecting
the clearest evidence of his Messiahship, during the
long, long night of their wanderings; and yet, at
the same time, pass by a people who, through every
change of fortune, propitious and adverse, have
firmly maintained their faith in Christ, and invincibly breasted the storms of persecuting vengeance
for his glorious name's sake?  Will heaven honor
a people who dishonor his Son, and overlook a people who were ready to live and labor and suffer and
die in his blessed cause? The case being self-evident, and the rule to determine our judgment infallible, the decision must be inevitable.
Christianity mourns the ill-fated children of a
divinely chosen and illustrious ancestry, and ardently prays for their conversion to Christ. But
even this glorious consummation our faith beholds
far in the distance. That the Jews will ultimately
embrace Christianity, we entertain no doubt; but




DEFENCE OF ARM AGEDDON.            49
they will be the last nation on the face of the earth
that will be converted. For " the blindness that
has happened to Israel" will remain I "until the
fullness of the Gentiles is brought in." That is,
the Gentile world will be converted to God before
the blindness of infidelity will be removed from
Israel. To suppose the conversion of the Jewish
nation to be the means of converting the Gentile
worldcl, is, consequently, directly opposed by the
words of the apostle. In their case we behold the
verification of another gospel maxim': " The first
shall be last, and the last first." They were the
first to hear the blessed tidings of man's redemption from the lips of its glorious Author, " but they
received him not."  And the Apostle Paul, in his
valedictory to his own countrymen, declares, cI Seeing that ye judge yourselves unworthy of eternal
life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." So, also, the
melting strains that mingled with the tears of the
Son of God over their devoted city announced the
same calamity.  I 0 Jerusalemn, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets, and stonest them which
are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wing, and ye would not..
If thou hadst known, even thou, the things which
5*




50     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
belong unto thy peace, at least in this thy day, but
now are they hid from thine eyes..  Henceforth is
your house left unto you desolate; for I say unto
you, he shall not see me henceforth till ye shall
say, " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord." That is, Ye shall see me no more until you
will be rejoiced to hail me as your Messiah. This
is, doubtless, its true meaning.
There are very many passages of Scripture which
are universally admitted by the learned and judicious to foretell the rise of a great nationality in
the latter times, These predictions cannot, by any
reasonable construction, be applied to the rise of
such nationality i a the land of Judea; but are
most wonder-fully descriptive of the United States
of America, and of no other country under heaven.
We shall now select a few out of the many
marked descriptions and coincidences only realized
in our favored land and nation.
First. The land of the promised nationality was
to be located between two seas-the eastern sea and
the great western sea: " From the border unto the
east sea, this is the east side... The west side also
shall be the great sea; from the border, this is the
west side."  Ezek. xlvii, 18, 20. These broad
boundaries of our great country are perfect; the




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.              51
west side being the " great sea," is most remarkable. Judea is not bounded on the east side by a
sea at all. This passage, which is taken from the
prophet's geographical description of the land of
restored Israel, cannot possibly apply to Palestine,
if Ezekiel has given its true boudaries. All cominentators understand this chapter as an inspired
account that maps the country of the promised
nationality; but it is absolutely impossible to locate this land in Palestine, for the want of an eastern border. No sea bounds old Canaan on the
east. Learned men have generally supposed that
Palestine is the country referred to, but let learned
men show us that eastern boundary. This defect
is fatal, and must for ever vitiate the claim of
Judea to this high distinction.
Second. This land is described as being hitherto
uncultivated and unimproved-a land "that has
always been waste."  Ezek. xxxviii.  Of course
Palestine cannot be referred to here, for it cannot
be said in truth that Judea has always been waste.
But our own country fully answers the description.
Our primeval prairies and grand old woods presented, on the arrival of our ancestors, the same
unbroken wilderness they had remained for ages,
as though Heaven had specially preserved them for




52      DE ENCE OF ARMAGE DD ON.
the glory of their future destiny. Let it not be
said that the footprints of the aborigines of this
country are an objection to this account; for that
land is waste where tillage has never harvested its
blessings for man. But such is the desert description of the country -to be possessed by the nationality to come, and such was the new continent of
America.
The song of the eloquent Isaiah can remind you
of no other country: " The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert
shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall
blossom abundantly, even with joy and singing.
the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the
excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see
the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our
God....For in the wilderness shall waters break
out, and streams in the desert.  And the parched
ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land
springs of water: in the habitation of dragons,
where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and
rushes."
Third. That wonderful country was to be inhabited by a people' gathered out of the nations."
Ezek. xxxviii.  Not of one nation collected together that had been scattered amongst other na



DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.             53
tions, but, what is obviously the sense of the passage, composed of people of different nations.
This is so prominent a character of the glorious
nationality to come, that the prophets seem to
dwell upon it with rapture and inspired eloquence.
"' Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they
gather themselves together, they come to thee:
thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters be
nursed by thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow
together, and thy heart shall fear, and be enlarged;
for the abundance of the sea shall be converted
(turned) unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall
come unto thee.. Who are these that fly as a
cloud, and as doves to their windows?"
The prophet enriches his sublime description by
images drawn both from the animal and the vegetable kingdom: "The multitude of camels shall
cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah;
all they from Sheba shall come... All the flocks
of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee..
The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the
fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together." Isa.
Ix. As if the holy seer had said, Emigration shall
come from the land where the dromedaries roam;
they shall come from the land where the fir tree
blooms. "Therefore thy gates shall be open continually: they shall not be shut day nor night."




54     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
Did ever such a tide of emigration set into any
country since the creation of the world as continually swarms to our hospitable shores? Indeed, the
citizens of these States, or their fathers, have come
from almost every country under heaven. But the
prophet enters into detail: "Strangers shall stand
and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall
be your ploughmen and your vine-dressers.
And the sons of strangers shall build your walls,
and their kings shall minister unto thee." Now,
the walls of a country's defence are its public improvements; and it is notorious that the sons of
strangers build most of our public works.
" The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall
come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles
of thy feet." The sons of the very soldiery that
invaded your coasts, murdered your people, and
burnt your towns and villages, should come to
make your country their home; and those who
sneered at your experiment of popular freedom,
attempted to crush it in the cradle, predicted the
downfall of American Independence, and that liberty would die with Washington, and with his dust
receive the same rites of sepulture-yes, even they
should come and seek a refuge and a home in your




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.            55
happy land. How imposing the picture drawn by
the pencil of inspiration here; and how wonderfully true is the fulfillment!
Fourth. In the promised nationality, unlike the
political economy of ancient Israel, foreigners were
to be allowed a place to dwell, enjoy their homes
and the pursuits of happiness, in common with the
citizens of the country; but it seems from the prophet, the rights of suffrage and eligibility to office
were only to be enjoyed by those strangers who
had lived long enough in the land to raise their
native-born children: 1C And it shall come to pass,
that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance
unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among
you, which shall beget children among you; and
they shall be unto you as born in the country
among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.And in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there
shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord
God."  Ezek. xlvii, 22, 23. There could be no
propriety in characterizing that class of foreigners
who should be blessed with children born in the
land, from the stranger who is only a sojourner,
whose residence is but recent and transient, unless
peculiar privileges were understood to belong to




56      DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
the fathers of native-born children.  As we lay
no claims to the politician, we will be allowed
strongly to approve of this interesting feature in
the economy of restored Israel.  Our land should
always be the welcome home of foreigners; but, at
the same time, they should remain long enough to
appreciate our blessings, learn our laws, and the
genius of our wonderful constitution, before they
aspire to dictate or to govern.
Fi-fth. The principle of extension, in enlarging
the boundaries of their primary possessions should.
specially characterize the prosperity of the promised nationality.
" Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold:
all these gather themselves together, and come to
thee,.. For thy waste and desolate places shall
even now be too narrow, by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up (the autocracy of the Old World) shall be far away, (beyond
the sea.)  The children which thou shalt have, (in
this land,) after thou hast lost the other, (ancient
Israel,) shall say again in thy ears, The place is
too strait for me: give place to me that I may
dwell."  Isa. xlix, 18, 20,
Extension seems to be the genius of our free institutions. From thirteen States, we have already




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.             57
multiplied into thirty-one, besides nine territories
that soon will be ready to enter into the Union.
We need give ourselves no uneasiness about
Mexico, Cuba, and Central America. Monarchy
and anarchy must melt away in the immediate
proximity of a glorious republic; while the natural interests of those countries will impel them to
seek annexation, that they may also enjoy in common with us the benign blessings of our happy
confederacy. Indeed, the words of prophecy, legitimately interpreted, warrant that the domain of
this nationality will embrace the entire continent
of North and South America. For its " dominion
shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto
the ends of the earth." We know this passage is
usually applied to Christ, to which we make no
objection. But will you restrict it to him? If so,
you greatly diminish the universal triumphs of his
reign. We are taught that his sway shall be illimitable, and every knee shall bow and pay homage to him. But the passage before us is a clear
territorial grant, issued by Divine authority, and
must mark the boundaries of Israel that was to
come. The geographical description can be found
applicable to no other country but ours. Here the
grant finds all of its metes and bounds.  "From
6




58     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
sea to sea:" from  the Atlantic to the Pacific
Ocean. "And from the river:" the Mississippi,
the father of waters, with its sixty thousand miles
of tributary navigation, and the incalculable tonnage of its transports. "'Unto the ends of the
earth:" to the most remote promontories in the
North, and to Terra del Fuego and Cape Horn in
the South. We must be excused from dwelling
further on the emigration that was to come to this
land. These predictions are very numerous and
wonderfully accurate-inspired predictions, that
never have been realized, and never can be, unless
they are fulfilled in tile New World. We will,
however, notice one other.' Behold, these shall come from far; and, lo,
these frQgm  the North and from the West; andcl
these from  the land of Sinim."  Isa. xlix, 12.
Now, all commentators agree that "Sinim"  is
China. The fact is, it was its true ancient name:
Th/inim, Thina, or Chinca, It is so put down in
the ancient maps. And China lies "north" and
C west," or north-west of us. In the messag.e of
Ex-Governor Bigler, of California, some two years
ago, it is there published that there were then
some sixty thousand Chinese in that State. Now,
no commentator questions that this passage de



DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.             59
scribes emigration coming to the land of restored
Israel, for the -whole context confirms it. But
how are the Chinese to come from China to Palestine and come from the north-west? It is impossible. Here is a promise made of emigration from a
distant country, whose inhabitants have never
been known to mingle with other nations; here
their true ancient name is given; here is the very
direction which they were to come; and here is a
fulfillment upon a most magnificent scale. Perfect
coincidence being perfect fulfillment, our position is
demonstration.
Sixth. The land of restored Israel is described
as a country restored from its desolations, by the peculiar construction of its towns and villages, and the
prosperity and qjietude of its inhabitants.
In the invasion of this land, at the last great
battle, by Russia and the autocracy of the Old
World, the prophet thus addresses the power that
leads that invasion; "After many days thou shalt
be visited: thou shalt come into the land that is
gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste; but
it is brought out of the nations, and they shall
dwell safely all of them... Thou shalt say, I
will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will




60     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all
of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates. To take a spoil, and to take a
prey; to turn thy hand upon the desolate places
that are now inhabited, and upon the people that
are gathered out of the nations; which have gotten
cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the
land."  Ezek. xxxviii, 8, 11, 12.
Here, my countrymen, is almost a daguerreotype
portraiture of your own land. We very much
question whether Ezekiel the prophet ever saw an
unwalled" city in his life. Surely, if old Palestine is to be brought back again to her more than
ancient splendor, " unwalled " cities and villages
will not be found there. This passage, therefore,
can never be applied to Judea; for all her cities
were walled, from Jericho to Jerusalem. This remarkable description of the numerous villages and
cities, and the possessions, prosperity, and security
of the people, is a grand and graphic delineation
of the United States of America, and of no other
country on earth.
Seventh. The infancy of that country should receive the attention of royal patronage: "Kings
shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers." How very remarkably this has




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            61
been realized will occur to the mind at once. The
term  "nursing" applies to infancy. And it was
in the early history of our people that the supervision of royalty was exercised over us. The
names of several of the old thirteen States, besides
many counties and towns, still perpetuate the recollection of royalty: Georgia and Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas, as well as King and Queen
and King William counties, Prince George, Prince
Edward, and prince we don't know what elsenames that will for ever perpetuate the fulfillment
of prophecy in what might otherwise seem to be
only accidental.
Eighth. A country remarkable for the number
of its majestic rivers.
"But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a
place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go
no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass
thereby." Isa. xxxiii, 21. This passage from the
prophet is admitted to refer alone to the land of restored Israel. But if that land be Palestine, how
are we to see the force of its meaning? Can the
river Jordan and the rivulet Kedron answer the
grandeur of this description? Certainly not. But
the many mighty and majestic rivers in our own
country fill up the prophetic map upon a sublime




62      D E  E  E OF A R M A GEDDON.
and magnificent scale. By the expression, "there
the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of," etc.,
we understand that he will guarantee that description of country to the nation he would raise up.
" Wherein shall go no galley with oars," is very
singular. The Hebrew word, translated' galley,"
literally signifies a government cliopper, sent out by
s superior kingdom to exact port-dues from a dependent people. The loss of the tea-cargo in Boston
harbor fully illustrates this subject; while the very
genius of our independence, in the days of Andrew
Jackson, was stamped upon a medal: "Millions for
lefence, but not one cent for tribute."
Ninth. The land of restored Israel is described to
bc literally more elevated than any portion of the
world.
"The mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established upon the tops of the mountains, and all
nations shall flow to it." The willful king of the
North says in his proclamation of war against us:
"' I will go up to the land of unwalled villages."'
Lieutenant Maury has shown, in one of his late
learned werks, that the United States of America
is the highest part of the visible earth, and that it
is down stream froin the 2po:ts cf our counftry te
every other continent arc. ia ic: ac t  g Plh~.  Pii.




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.              63
if this elevation must be morally and intellectually
understood, and not literally, still, the realization
being as perfect in the one case as in the other, our
argument remains conclusive.
Tenth. The peaceful character of the inhabitants, and the intelligibility and uniformity of their
language, should designate that people.
" Thou shalt not see a fierce people, of a deeper
speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering
tongue, that thou canst not understand."  Isa.
xxxiii.
Polite manners and gentle deportment every
where characterize the American people: this is a
world-wide acknowledgment, so that the solitary
exceptions are gloated over by the detracting prints
of roving authors as morsels too precious to be erased
from their journals. But the uniformity and intelligibility of our language is indeed most extraordinary. Although teeming thousands are constantly
pouring into our communities from the Germanic
States, France, and other countries, our pure vernacular Anglo-Saxon will conduct you safely through
any portion of our vast domain. And it is now
contended, by those competent to judge, that the
English language is more correctly spoken in the
wilds of America than at the court of St. James



64     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
more accurately pronounced in our primary schools
than in the British Parliament. We do not question their intelligence nor their energy, but Americans speak the English language better than the
English themselves. Should the pride of an Albion tempt him to deny it, just put him upon his
trial with any word where the consonant his to be
supplied or omitted-the monosyllable hell, for instance-and if he be not satisfied with an attempt
to spell and pronounce it, you may give him up as
incorrigible.
Eleventh. The rapid advancement of intelligence
and divine instruction should mark the rising progress of that people.
"' Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge be
increased." " All thy children shall be taught of
the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children." What nation presents such a spectacle at
this very moment as the United States? Our literary institutions are scattered all over the land, so
that the humblest poor may be enriched with the
treasures of science; while millions of sheets in
the republic of letters pour floods of light upon
the human mind. Here the press is free, that
mighty enginery of thought, guarding the majesty
of law and the inviolable sanctity of the Constitu



DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            65
tion. Here the pulpit, unawed by the terrors of
the throne or the thunders of the Vatican, in tones
of power and tongues of flame, proclaims "the acceptable year of the Lord," and preaches glad
tidings to the poor. Here the word of God is an
unchained book; and, like the sun in mid-heaven,
rifts the clouds that mantle' the world, shedding a
strong and steady light upon the shadowy mansions
of the dead, inspiring the living with the ecstatic
hope that our loved and our lost shall awake from
their dusty beds in the last glorious morning.
Twelfth. The country inhabited by the people
C gathered out of the nations " should be settled in
thirteen distinct States, like as it was with Israel;
only " Joseph should have two portions."
"I Ye shall inherit the land according to the
twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions." Ezek. xlvii, 13. It is a remarkable fact
that although the Jews had but twelve tribes, the
portion falling to Ephraim and Manasseh, children
of Joseph, being divided, made them a confederacy
of thirteen states or tribes. It is also just as remarkable, that in the beginning we had but twelve
States; and William Penn held the charter of Pennsylvania for twenty years before he obtained that
of Delaware, and then we had thirteen States




66     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
also. But the coincidence in the boundaries of the
thirteen states of restored Israel with those of the
old thirteen United States, is still more remarkable.
The prophet gives the eastern border of each tribe
to be the eastern sea, and the western border of
each tribe to be the great western sea.  (See Ezek.
xlvii.)  Wilson, and perhaps Bancroft, affirm,
that the original charters of the thirteen United
States called for the Atlantic or eastern ocean for
their eastern boundary, and the Pacific or the great
western ocean for their western boundary, in almost
so many words.
It is not a little amusing to see the perplexity of
the great and good Dr. Clarke, in attempting to
map the land of restored Israel. He lays his plot,
of course, in the territory of old Palestine. He
bounds his thirteen lots by the Mediterranean or
western ocean, but, for the life of the learned Doctor, he can find no eastern sea for his eastern border.  The little Dead Sea lies across three of the
tribes, but does not bound any one of them! Examine his map, at the close of his commentary
on Ezekiel, and you will find, for want of an eastern sea, ancient Judea can never be the country of
Israel restored.
Thirteenth. Our country is the land described
by the prophet Isaiah lying westward front Judea.




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.            67
"Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which
is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, that sendeth messengers by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes,
saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their
beginning hitherto: a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled."
Isa. xviii, 1, 2.
The word "woe" is not a malediction here,
being hoi erets in Hebrew, a particle of hailing;
and authorizes us to read, "A4l hail, thou land
shadowing with wings."  But where is that land?
From Judea, the stand-point of the prophet, it is
"beyond the rivers of Ethiopia."  Where are the
rivers of Ethiopia? The Nile and its tributaries.
What country and what people do we find beyond
the Nile from Judea? The land is a barren desert, and the wandering Bedouins the only human
beings that pass through it. Then we must look
for another country and another people, but in the
same direction, for that is specific. You will find
no other land or people on that line of latitude until you strike the United States of America about
the coasts of Carolina. Should it be contended
that Western Africa was not the ancient Ethiopia,
but the country inhabited by the Cushites or




68     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
children of Cush, very well; they extended eastwardly until the Ganges, the Indus, and the Burrampooter were their rivers; and beyond these from
Judea you come direct to the North American continent across the Pacific. So that, in either case,
"~the land beyond the rivers" of modern or ancient
Ethiopia from Judea is America. Its description
— "a land shadowing with wings "-might refer
to the geographical conformation of the new continent, for a large map of North and South America
very much resembles the expanded wings of a
great eagle; or it may be suggestive of the fact
that it was the country. shadowed or concealed from
the cupidity of the nations till God was ready for
its discovery. Or was it not designed as a description of a country, the national regis of whose people
should be an eagle, whose pinions should spread
from shore to shore?  The "Cswift ships" and
" vessels of bulrushes " are peculiarly descriptive
of our fleets of commerce, as light water-crafts of
this material were anciently used upon the Nile.
This land was originally possessed by I"a people
hitherto terrible from the beginning."'  Such is a
true description of the fierce and warlike aborigines who were found in this new world. "A people
scattered and peeled:" broken up into numerous




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            69
tribes, dispersed without order over the whole
country, and wasted by continual wars, were fast
waning and melting away. "Meted out and trodden down:" driven from one part of the country
to another, first located in one defined territory and
then in another; oppressed, maltreated, and murdered. "Whose land the rivers have spoiled:"
they being the original claimants and proprietors
of a country extensive in its domain and rich in its
alluvial lands, through which majestic rivers are
ever changing their mighty channels.
This prophetic delineation of our country can
have no other meaning or application.  And
learned commentators, never having dreamed that
America was the subject of prophecy, acknowledge
as does Dr. Adam Clarke, especially, "(that this is
the most obscure passage in the whole book of Isaiah."  Our interpretation is certainly legitimate;
while the facts and the fulfillment should awaken
our attention and enkindle our admiration.
Fourteenth. But the promised nationality was to
be a republic.'C Their nobles shall be of themselves, and their
governor shall proceed from the midst of them."
Jer. xxx, 21. The people should be "gathered
together, and appoint unto themselves one head."
7




J70    BDEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
Hos. i, 11. "I will restore thy judges as at the
first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning."
Isa. i, 26. Observe, " one head "-a chief magistrate appointed by the people-governors, judges,
and counsellors, taken from the masses of the
people, are particularly promised, but no king.
The political economy of ancient Israel being
a theocratic republic, the promise in the passages
is, that the officers necessary to constitute a republican form of government would be restored, and
the elective franchise would be free, and the people
would possess the sovereign right of choosing
their own rulers and judges. Surely, the doctrine
of the Divine right of kings finds no authority
here; for the power invested in the people is
entirely inconsistent with any grade of monarchy,
limited or absolute.
The truth is, the fifth great commonwealth that
the God of heaven was to C" set up," was so utterly
repugnant to monarchy, in all its forms and phases,
that it should destroy it from the face of the earth.
And we have every assurance that if the Almighty
designed to bless a people by conferring upon them
a particular form of political government, such
form could not possibly be a monarchy.
A most memorable instance of the Divine disap



DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.            T1
probation of the establishment of an earthly king
among men is recorded at the coronation of the first
monarch of Israel. Said Almighty God to Samuel
the prophet, " Protest solemnly unto them, and show
unto them the manner of the king that shall reign
over them. He will take your sons, and appoint
them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his
horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he
will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your
olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them
to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your
seed, and of your vineyards, and give them to his
officers, and to his servants. And he will take your
men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your
goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them
to work. He will take the tenth of your sheep;
and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out
in that day because of your king, and the Lord will
not hear you in that day." 1 Sam. viii, 9-18.
Such is the solemn protestation of the God of heaven
against an earthly monarchy; and faithfully has
the history of earthly kings confirmed the truth of
the Divine prediction. Then it is absolutely certain that a political government, selected and "C set




72     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
up " for the sons of men by Jehovah, would not be
a monarchy. But this very fifth government was
to be " set up " by the God of heaven; therefore
the fifth government, not being in any possible case
a monarchy in any grade, must be a republic.
Fifteenth and finally. The waiting isles of Isaiah
are a sublime announcement of our great country,
and its early occupation by European emigrants.
" Surely, the isles shall wait for me, and the ships
of Tarshish first, to bring my sons from far, their
silver and their gold with them, unto the name of
the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel."
Diodorus Siculus, a most reliable historian of the
Augustine age, says that " the term' isles,' in his
time, primarily meant undiscovered lands supposed
to exist in the Atlantic Ocean."  The word " Tarshish," according to Strabo, refers to Tartessus,
formerly a seaport city of that name, situated on
the site where Cadiz now stands, in Old Spain, near
the pillars of Hercules. And Mr. Benson, perhaps
the most accurate commentator on the ancient
geography of the Scriptures, says that " this opinion is now generally adopted by the learned."
With this explanation of terms, let us read the
passage: " Surely, the undiscovered lands in the
western sea shall wait for me, and the ships of Old




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            73
Spain shall be first to bring my sons from far, their
silver and their gold with them," etc.
Here we have the fact announced, that the country spoken of had hitherto been an undiscovered
country, and the reason assigned why it should
have remained concealed so long —" shall wait for
me "-unknown and unexplored, until God, in his
supervision of the nations, was ready for its occupation.  "'Wait for " God, until the Reformation
in Europe had neutralized the friends of civil and
religious liberty: until the great principle of selfgovernment should move the masses of the people
to seek a new theatre to realize the blessings of
popular freedom-wait until the facilities of intellectual and moral improvement, the invention of
printing, and the freedom of the pulpit, should
arise as the powerful auxiliaries of an enlightened
republican nation.,C And the ships of Old Spain
shall be first, to bring my sons from far." And
were not the ships of Spain first in the discovery
and opening up of emigration to the New World?
After being repulsed from every court in Europe to
which he appealed, was not Columbus sanctioned
and sustained by Ferdinand and Isabella in his expedition?  " To bring my sons from far."  Now,
remember this passag'e carnnot apply to the spread




74      DEFENCE OF. ARMAGEDDON.
of the gospel, for the tidings of salvation are sent
out to heathen lands; but here the sons of God are
represented as being transportedfrom their original
homes to a newly discovered country. It cannot
refer to Judea, for that was not an undiscovered
country, and the ships of Spain never have brought,
and never can bring, its first emigration to people
it.  " Their silver and their gold with them:" that
they might make that land their permanent home,
bringing their treasure with them.  But the great
motive of their emigration deserves special attention.
They were to come for the privilege of worshiping
God " unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to
the Holy One of Israel." Our noble ancestry,
driven by the storms of persecution from  the Old
World, sought a refuge in the New. When the
minions of monarchy invaded the Southern hemisphere, it was for the sake of gold. The Portuguese
in Brazil, Cortez in Mexico, and Pizarro in Peru,
took possession of those countries in the names of
the majesties of their respective governments. But
when the Huguenots, the Quakers, and the Puritans
came to America, they took possession of these
lands in the name of Almighty God.
" Not as the conquerors come,
They the true-hearted came:
Not with the roll of the stirring drum,
Or the trumpet that sings of fame.




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.                           75
"Not as the fl ying come,
In silence and in fear,
They shook the depths of the desert gloom
With their hymns of lofty cheer.
" Amid the storm they sang,
And the stars heard and the sea;
And the waiting isles of promise rang
With the anthems of the free.
The ocean eagle soared
From his nest by the white wave's foam;
And the rocking pines of the forest roared,
This is your welcome home.
"What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith's pure shrine.
"All, call it holy ground,
The spot where first they trod:
They've left unstained what there they found,
Freedom to worship God."
To review the history of our great nation is but
to trace the wonderful providence of God. Look at
the very men who directed and guarded the infancy
of our republic; whether in the cabinet or in the
camp, whether in the national council or on foreign
diplomacy, "their like we shall never, see again."
For this very end they seemed to have been born;
and they evidently believed in their Divine destination.




16     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDONC
There was a time when darkness shrouded the
breath of heaven; not one gleam of light nor a
solitary star was seen struggling through the dim
distance. Congress paused under the dreadful
gloom, when it was agreed to submit their cause to
the arbitration of Heaven. A day of solemn fasting
and prayer was proposed: instantly the resolution
passed with deep emotion. The council-chamber
was closed; grave senators retired in silence, personally to engage in fervent prayer; holy ministers
of God at the altar, and pious women, with their
babes pressed to their bosoms, lifted their streaming
eyes to heaven; while Washington was on his
knees, when " a nation was born at once "-born
on the 4th day of July, 1776.
Preserved as " an handful of corn scattered on
the summit of the mountains, a little one has becomne a thousand, and a small one a strong nation."
"It is the Lord's doings, and marvelous in our
eyes;" for, according to his promise, " the Lord
has hastened it in his time."
O happy America! O favored children of the
free! when will the great heart of thy mighty people fully know God and the salvation of his Son!
" Then Gentiles and kings shall see thy glory, and
thou shalt be called by a new name, which the




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.           77
mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt no
more be termed Forsaken: neither shall thy land
any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be
called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the
Lord delighteth in thee.' Then shall thy glory
continue; for "Thy sun shall no more go down,
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the
Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days
of thy mourning shall be ended."




OR
THE WORLD'S LAST CONFLICT BETWEEN CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS
LIBERTY ON THE ONE SIDE, AND POLITICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL DESPOTISM ON THE OTHER.
THE voice of the prophetic Scriptures frequently
and fully announces the warfare of the world.
Preparation for ages has anticipated the struggle;
while the clangor of its trumpets is almost heard
marshaling its millions to the charge.
It is as true as destiny; and the gathering storm
is rising. In the volume of inspiration it is termed,
" The Battle of Gog," " The Battle of Armageddon," and " The Battle of that great day of God
Almighty."
It is symbolized by Daniel in the smiting of the
monarchical image by the mountain-stone; by the
casting down of the thrones before the Ancient of
days; by the destruction of the willful king upon




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.            79
the mountains of Israel, when he shall C plant the
tabernacles of his palace between the two seas."
It is Michael and his angels warring with the dragon and his angels; it is the conquest won by the
man on a white horse, who was " crowned with
many crowns;" it is the taking of " the beast and
the false prophet;" it is the reaping the harvest of
the world and the gathering of the vintage of the
earth. It is literally described by Ezekiel, when
the chief prince of Meshech, Gomer, Tubal, and
Magog, with the multitudinous hosts from Persia,
Ethiopia, and Libya, invades " the land of unwalled
villages." It is the immense armament described
by Joel when he exclaims, ", Multitudes! multitudes in the valley of decision!" It is described
by the Saviour to be " a time of trouble such as
never shall be till that day."  Itis the " gathering
together of the kings and nations of the earth to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty."
Such, my countrymen, are some of the unquestionable and sublime allusions in the many, very
many Divine declarations that announce the grand
and terrible catastrophe-declarations that the
clearest acumen and most direct philosophy of language must legitimately apply to the rapidly approaching tempest.




80     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
Nevertheless, like all other truths of the inspired
volume, however overwhelming the sublimity of
the theme, no violence is offered to reason, nor unnecessary embargo imposed upon the faith of mortals.
What subject could possibly enlist a world in
arms, if it be not the principle of civil and religious liberty? All other questions, however vital
and important, are but local in their influence, and
the weightiest results must necessarily be sectional. But the principle of popular freedom is
capable of universal diffusion, and must ultimately
be commensurate with the nations of the earth.
It lies at the foundation of our being, and forms
the very texture and fabric of human nature: nay,
the very law of our great Creator, and every specification growing out of that law, bear directly
upon this twofold principle. To love God and our
neighbor plainly indicates the foundation of all
true order in the governmental codes of the earth.
Freedom to worship God, and equitable reciprocities amongst our fellow-creatures: wherever these
first and great commandments are disregarded by
the governments on earth, monarchy, absolutism,
or anarchy is found to exist; and this form of government being unfriendly to the free worship of




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.             81
the true God, and a usurpation of the prerogatives
of a people to govern themselves, always has been,
and ever will be, an uncompromising enemy to
civil and religious liberty, until it is annihilated
from the nations of the earth.
True, both principles are aggressive, and must
continue to enlarge their bounds until a final collision must exterminate the one or the other.
The outbreaks in ages past were only occasional
or accidental; still, even in those times monarchy
always reconnoitred with a sleepless vigilance
every demonstration of popular freedom; and the
genius of Republicanism has ever been prompt to
prove its utter, uncompromising hostility to monarchy. But in those ages the world was too far
apart, the knowledge of the nations too limited,
and their contact with one another so seldom, that
they seemed to live in comparative indifference to
one another. But now, since intellectual and
moral light is reaching every shore; commerce
spreading every where; the formal representatives
of all nations at the world's fairs, in London, New
York, and Paris; since the wonderful discoveries
of gold in California and Australia, bringing the
nations together; and since the facilities for travel
by land and by sea, and the intercommunication of
8




82     DEFENCE  OF  ARMAGEDDON.
the magnetic telegraph —the world has come into
such immediate proximity, the great issue must
come off. The hostile forms of government are
now clearly defined and well understood; and the
two geniuses, like two Csasars, cannot live in the
same world together much longer. For if Republicanism be a failure, it will be overthrown; and
if Absolutism be offensive to God, and an outrage
upon the people, its days are destined to be numbered.
The truth, as announced in the Bible, of the
coming conflict, has always been received in the
Church, because too obvious to be questioned.
Both Jews and Christians maintain it as a subject
of Divine revelation: but as they have almost invariably misapplied the passages that foretold a
great nationality, by referring them to the Jews,
it necessarily led them to lay the scene of the last
great battle in the land of Palestine. That the
scattered Jews would return to Judea, and the nations and kingdoms of the earth would send an armament of millions to crush out a handful of unambitious people, whom the clemency of Christian
countries favored in their return-how perfectly
ridiculous! Were all the Jews on earth restored
to the small territory of Palestine, what temptation




DEFENCE OF ARlMAGEDDON.             83
or provocation could they offer to arouse the allied
armies of earth to invade them?
No, my countrymen, it is not ancient Jewry that
will witness this invasion. There is another Israel, the Israel of America, that has given monarchy more disquietude than ancient Israel ever did
in all its glory. And here alone monarchy will
find a foeman worthy of its steel, and the only
nation on the globe that can measure arms with
kings.
Twice in the very infancy of our nation's history
the proudest empire on the face of the earth had
to pay an involuntary obeisance to the chivalry of
our army. But iow that the young eaglet is fully
fledged, and cleaves the heights of heaven, it might
be indiscreet to provoke the glance of his eye or
the thunder of his pinions. So at least we think.
We shall first notice the preparatory movements
that will finally marshal the allied hosts to battle:
" And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon
the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof
was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east
might be prepared. And I saw three unclean
spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the
dragon, and out' of the mouth of the beast, and out
of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are




84     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
thae spirits of devils, working miracles, which go
forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole
world, to gather them to the battle of that great
day of God Almighty... And he gathered them
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon."
Now, observe, whatever may be the meaning ol
the sublime events mentioned in the foregoing passage, they must relate to the preparatory measures
that bring on the battle of that great day.
Let us, then, examine the quotation by the most
reliable rules of interpretation. A " river" in the
symbolic prophecies, according to the admission of
the best commentators, symbolizes a national commotion. Then, "the great river Euphrates," that
swept by encient Babylon, must represent a great
commotion or revolution among the nations; but
this scene is laid under the sixth vial, which is
now acknowledged to embrace the beginning of
the present century. Well, when was there ever
a greater commotion among the nations than the
revolutionary upheavings of the people under the
genius of the great Napoleon? But " the waters
of that river were dried up."  This was done at
thile battle of Waterloo. "That the way of the
kings of the east might be prepared." During




DEFENCE  OF ARMAG9DDON.            85
the storm that was raging throughout Europe under Bonaparte, the allied monarchs that were united to overthrow him found it very inconvenient to
act in concert; but immediately after Napoleon
was banished to a distant island, there was an assemblage of the principal monarchs: Russia, Prussia, Austria, and England. Though the King of
England could not be there in person-for the old
man was crazy-yet his regent was there, and
represented him in that conference, that was called
"The Triple Alliance."  This name may have
been given to this conclave of kings from the three
principal monarchs in attendance. Butthis "triple
alliance " has a stronger claim to its threefold character from the three doctrines, asserted, signed, and
sealed by this convention of sovereigns. There were
precisely three doctrines or principles: Absolutism,
Church Supremacy, and Legitimacy, or the Divine
right of kings. How perfectly fulfilled the prophecy I " And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs
come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the
mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the
false prophet. These are the spirits of devils."
The three dogmas are here pronounced to be the
spirits or doctrines of devils. All doctrines are the
doctrines of devils that are opposed by Divine reve8*




863    DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
lation; but Absolutism, Church Supremacy, and
Divine right of kings, are opposed by the word
of' God; consequently, the three doctrines of the
Triple Alliance " are the doctrines of devils, and
specifically fulfill the prophecy. "Which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world,
to gather them together to the battle of that great
day of God Almighty." These foul principles represented by uncleanfrogs will summon around the
throlnes of monarchies the dupes of despotism, and
enlist and muster into service the countless legions
that shall compose that fearful armament.  " And
he gathered them together into a place called in
the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."  On that last
great battle-field, the doctrines of the Triple Alliance, with the hosts of their deluded defenders,
shall perish for ever.
WeV now notice some of the symbols of that final
engagement, the war itself'.' Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was
cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it
brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the
silver, and the gold; the great God hath made
known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation -thereof sure."




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            87
The four great successive monarchies on earth,
as seen in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, we have
shown in our former address to be represented by
the metals composing the great image. From the
first or golden headed kingdom, the whole of monarchy, to its final overthrow, was represented; for
after the annihilation of this image, not the smallest principle or fragment should remain.  "I Then
was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and
the gold, broken to pieces together, and became
like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and
the wind carried them away, that no place was
found for them."  But how are we to understand
all these great monarchies to be destroyed at once,'C broken to pieces together," unless we understand
that before that image is smitten by the stone,
there must be a reconstruction of all the principles
and powers, glory and grandeur, weakness and
wickedness, embodied in the corporate image, and
represented by the different metals. Such an accumulation of all the principles of monarchy, in
some colossal giant of autocracy, must appear in
huge embodiment: "C the form thereof," like its
symbol, will be " terrible.;' Now, as we have
plainly proved that the stone or fifth kingdom that
destroys the image is a different kind of govern



88     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
ment altogether fromn monarchy, and hostile to it,
that fifth government must be a great Republic.
In truth, as monarchy restored is seen in the image,
Israel, or a providential Republic, must be restored
also, in order to the destruction of monarchy.
Let those divines attend who suppose that Christianity is "I the stone cut out of the mountain without hands." Which of the four great empires did
Christianity destroy? The truth is, the Assyrian,
the Medo-Persian, and the Macedonian kingdoms
had passed away long before Christianity was born.
And as for Rome, certainly no good Christian would
ever dream  that the barbarian hordes from the
North who overran the Roman Empire were either
good or bad Christians.
From this symbol we are clearly taught:
First. That the whole of monarchy, from the Assyrian down to its utter destruction, is represented
in the dream.
Second. That a political government, unconnected with, different from, and hostile to monarchy,
would providentially arise in the divided age of the
Roman Epmpire.
Third. That this fifth or stone government would
destroy the last vestige of monarchy from the face;t' the earth.




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            89
Fourth. That the destruction of monarchy will
be effected by military power. The strong language employed to describe the destruction of the
metallic image cannot refer to the gentle and inoffensive religion of Christ. The power of moral
suasion, by gradual influence, will change the
heart and manners of men. But to overthrow at
one single blow a vast political organization, combining millions of subjects, the custom of ages,
and the wealth of nations, and that, too by the
mild and gentle genius of a religion whose great
Author was meek and lonely, and whose kingdom
was not of this world, is out of the question. The
very terms used to describe the destruction of the
Macedonian Empire by the Roman are also employed
to show the annihilation of all the empires by the
stone. Now, the conquests made by Rome were
effected by the prowess of her arms: none will
deny this. If, therefore, Rome herself and the
balance of the kingdoms are to be destroyed, it
must be by military power also.
The destruction effected by this fearful power is
complete, for the image is broken and reduced to
infinitesimal atoms: it is scattered to the winds,
like chaff from the summer's threshing-floors.
As this conflict puts a final end to all. earthly




90     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
monarchy, and as all political governments are
either autocratic or democratic, and as the fifth
government is to "become a great mountain and
fill the whole world," the conclusion is forced upon
us that one of the grand missions of the providential Republic of America is the final overthrow of
monarchy and the extension of the principles of
popular freedom over the whole world.
The vision of Daniel the prophet was a corroboration of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar the king.
The fourl beasts of Daniel answer to the four metals
of the image. The ten horns on the head of the
fourth beast answer to the ten toes on the feet of
the image. The little horn having eyes, that arose
on the head of the last beast, and amongst the
other horns, symbolized an ecclesiastical connection with the state, and answers to the union of
the clay and iron in the feet. The rise of the Ancient upon a chariot throne symbolizes a pure political government, combining the principles of a confederated republic, such as was the " ancient " form
of government given to the Jews, and answers to
the stone " cut out of the mountain without hands. "
The casting down of the thrones before the Ancient
answers to the smiting of the monarchical image
by the stone. The coming of "one like to the




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            91
Son of man to the Ancient," and the " dominion
given to the people of the saints," answer to the
stone becoming "a great mountain and filling the
whole earth;" and both symbolize the universal
spread of civil and religious liberty, until the millennial glory of Christ shall cover the earth as the
waters cover the seas.
The vision is indeed a sublime one; and the inexpressible grandeur of the scene has inclined most
men to suppose that " the Ancient of days " was
the Almighty Father. But how can this be?
For this is evidently a judgment-scene of the doom
of monarchy; for this alone, it seems, the judgment did sit and "the thrones were cast down."
But "the Father judgeth no man."  God the
Father is in no place in the Scriptures represented
by a human form. Besides, the Almighty is not
the " Ancient of' days:" he is the Ancient of eternity. And the term' days" is evidently used in
this passage to let men understand that the vision
refers to time, and its scenes are to be transacted
on earth. Nor can the  C Ancient" refer to the
Son of man, for it is written in the vision that
"C one like unto the Son of man came to the Ancient" afterwards.
"' And there was war in heaven: Michael and his




92     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon
fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither
was their place found any more in heaven. And
the great dragon was cast out."  Rev. xii, A, 8.
This passage is another symbolic announcement
of the grand conflict. The contending armies, the
battle-scene and its results, are respectively mentioned.
" A dragon," being fabulous, is necessarily a
symbol; for, although the word has been applied
first to one beast and then to another, there is no
certainty if it had any identical original. But the
tyrants of the ancient kingdoms were called dragons: the despots of Egypt in particular were denominated thus. The Scriptures being then their
own interpreter, a dragon is the symbol of political
despotism. Now, as the one part is symbolic, the
other must be also. Then C" Michael" is not, in
this case, a literal angel, but stands as the representative of a power opposed to autocracy. That
power can only be the genius of popular freedom.
Perfectly agreeable to this definition is the character drawn of this same Michael in the Book of
Daniel. He is there called I "Michael the great
prince, that standeth for the children of thy peofile:" that is, he is the illustration and exponent




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.            93
of the genius of liberty or the sovereignty of the
people. The term "  heaven," in the passage is also
symbolic, and means, when used in the Apocalypse,
the p2lace of the Church, as the term "' earth," when
employed under the same circumstances, refers to
the seat of the old Roman Empire. As for "war
in heaven," the place of future blessedness, no
dragon or war will ever be known there; for " there
the wicked cease to trouble, and the weary are at
rest."
Then the war which is to take place between
Michael and his angels on the one side, and the
dragon and his angels on the other, must foretell
the final battle that must inevitably occur between
civil and religious liberty and its armies and monarchy and its armies, which, according to the prediction, closes with the glorious triumph of the
former over the ruin and annihilation of the latter.
C "Michael, the great prince that standeth for thy
people," must then. in the book of Revelation, be
understood as the symbolic embodiment of popular
sovereignty. But, my countrymen, if any one man
that ever lived on earth is entitled to be called
Michael, the great prince that standeth for the
people, it is George Washington, the friend of liberty, and the father of his country.
9




94     DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
C"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white
horse; and he that sat upon him,.. and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes
were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many
crowns... And I saw the beast, and the kings of
the earth, and their armies, gathered together to
make war against him that sat on the horse, and
against his army. And the beast was taken, and
with him the false prophet... And the remnant
were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the
horse."  Rev. xix.
From the best annotators of prophecy, the following is the true and legitimate interpretation
of the terms employed:
First. A " horse " is a symbol of some form of
religion; consequently, a "white horse" must
represent a pure and divinely authorized religion.
Second. A "man" symbolizes a political government.
Third. " Crowns"  represent sovereignties:
CC many crowns upon his head "-many State sovereignties united in one political union or confederation. When this same symbolic personage appeared as "the man-child," the number of States
represented by the stars was twelve, then thirteen;
but now, since the infant "is one hundred years




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.            95
old" at the commencement of the great war, he
appears on the battle-field, "crowned with many
crowns "-many more States in the confederacy
than at the beginning.
Then, we behold in this vision of St. John a
political government embracing a confederation of
many State sovereignties, acknowledging and confidcling in one true and divinely sanctioned religion.
That the United States of America answers to
this picture, our very national " E PLURIBUS UNUM "
declares.
Here again we behold the forces of monarchy
mustered to give battle to a free confederated Republic that sanctions the only true religion. "For
the beast., and the kings of the earth, and their
armies, gathered together to make war against him
that sat upon the horse, and against his army."
The taking of the beast, and the false prophet,
and the kings of the earth, and their armies,
and the slaying of the remnant by the sword
of him that sat upon the horse, foretell the overthrow and utter destruction of the allied armies
of monarchy, by an enlightened confederated Republic in one great decisive battle.
The symbols are so numerous, the imagery so
perfectly descriptive of each respective scene, and




96     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
the correspondence of each member so wonderfully
adapted to complete the symmetry of the whole,
we are bound to behold their fulfillment in the rise
and growing grandeur of a great consolidated Republic on the one hand, and the reconstruction of
the autocracy of antiquity in some vast empire on
the other. These two colossal powers will meet in
a last decisive struggle.
So far as the historic panorama has disclosed the
subject, the accumulating coincidences are remarkably true, and on a sublime scale. These two great
powers are the United States of America and the
monarchy of Russia, both widely extending the
magnitude of their greatness; so that, in the present state of affairs, a perfect coincidence of facts
answers a perfect description of prophecy. We
look to the future for the finale of these startling
wonders, to be fulfilled in a conflict that will enlist
all nations, stir the world with commotion, and
drench the earth with blood.
We now call your attention to a literal and most
graphic description of the last conflict.
~ Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, while amongst
the captives by the river Chebor, saw the heavens
open, and had visions of God.
In the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth chapters of




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.              97
his prophecy, he gives us a full, literal, and detailed
description of this battle; yet it is most astonishing that although this account is plain, presenting
in the concrete and the minutice the whole subject,
commentators in the old continent declare that it
is the most mysterious and perplexing portion of
all Ezekiel's writings. Did it not appear uncharitable, we would be led to suppose that the only
difficulty in the case was the doom of monarchy,
so plainly announced, that a legitimate comment
of its true meaning might not be favorably received
by the fawning -friends of the political systems of
the old world. But God "has magnified his word
above all his name,"
"And what his mouth in truth hath said,
His own almighty hand will do."
The invading army, and the multitudinous hosts
of its allies, are particularly mentioned by their
appropriate names and the countries they represent;
the geographical location and territorial description
of the land to be invaded; the character of its inhabitants, their quietude and prosperity; the unprovoked nature of the attack: the suicidal policy
of the invasion, as declared by the almighty; the
solicitude of the invaded people to know the cause
of the campaign; the universal agitation and com9*




98     DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
motion of the whole people so invaded; the battlefield; the Divine interposition in behalf of the
invaded; the unbroken unanimity of all the States
and Territories in resisting the foe; the overwhelming triumph over monarchy; the immensity of the
armament, as seen in the sepulture of the slain and
the wrecks of battle; the simultaneous insurrection
of the subjects of monarchy at home; the glorious
results of the contest; the annihilation of despotism, and the world-wide extension of popular free
dom-all, all are announced in the programme of
the prophet.
First, then, let us know who leads this invasion?
"Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land
of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal,
and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the
Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, 0 Gog, the
chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: and I will turn
thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will
bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and
horsemen, all of' them clothed with all sorts of
armor, even a great company with bucklers and
shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield
and helmet: G(omner, and all his bands, the house
of Togarmah of tihe north quarters, and all his
bands: and many people with thee."




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.            99
Now, whosoever these people may be, " the chief
prince," or great leading sovereignty of the invasion is found amlong them. Hence this direct address of the Almighty to that prince. And that
this prince is the headship of the alliance is evident
from God's personal message to him: "Be thou
prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy
company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou
a guard unto them."  Here, then is the leading
power marked out in the prophecy, to which the
allied armies will be assembled.
This overwhelming power we shall demonstrate
to be Russia.
The very names of the ancient patriarchs of the
Russian dominions determine their location and
n ationality.
" Gog " signifies a prince or head of many countries.
" Magog, Gomer, Meshech, and Tubal," are four
of the seven sons of Japtheth. (See Genesis x; 1
Chron. i.)
These patriarchs, according to Calmet, Brown,
Bochart, and others, settled within the bounds of
what is now the Russian dominions.
"aMagog," says Josephus, "founded the Magogue, whom the Greeks call Sythee."  Now




100    DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
these Scythee are the Scythians who form almost
one-fourth of Russian population. They extended
from Hungary, Transylvania, and W7allachia, on
the west, to the River Dan on the east. The Russian territory of this people embraces a large portion both of Europe and Asia.
~" Meshech," the sixth son of Japheth, settled
in the north-eastern portion of Asia Minor. His
posterity extended from the shores of the Euxine
Sea along to the south of Caucasus. He was the
father of the Rossi and Moschi, who dispersed their
colonies over a vast portion of Russian territory.
And their names are preserved in the names of
Russians and Muscovites to this day. The Septuagint version of the Old Testament renders the
term  Meshech by the words Mosch and Rosch;
while Mloscovy is a common name of Russia, and
the city of Moscow is one of their principal cities.
" Tubal," or Tobal, the fifth son of Japheth,
settled beyond the Caspian and Black Seas in the
eastern possessions of Russia, embracing a very
large portion of those dominions. The name of
this patriarch is still preserved in the river Tobal,
which waters an immense tract of Russian territory; and the city of Tobalski in Russia is still a
monument to this son of Japheth.




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.    101
From all which, it is certain that, as Magog,
Meshech, and Tubal compose the present possessions of Russia, the sovereignty of that empire is
the chief prince addressed in the prophetic message.
" Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands, and
many people with thee."
" Gomer," another son of Japheth, settled farther down westward in Europe; and has left his
name entailed in Hungary, in a city and country
both known to-this day as the city and country of
Gomer.
" Togarmah," the son of Gomer, according to
Cicero and Strabo, not only peopled a large portion of Western Europe, but sent settlements into
Turcomania and Scythia in Russia.
Russia, then, according to the Scriptures, is the
headship or leading power around which the multitudinous armies of allied monarchy shall be
gathered together.
" Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of
them with shield and helmet."
Persia here represents the swarming hosts from
the Asiatic possessions; Ethiopia and Libya, the
armies from Africa.




102    DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
"I Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou
shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and
all thy bands, and many people with thee."
The invasion is here announced by an armament
such as the world never saw. For the millions
that are to assemble under Gog or Russia embrace
nearly all of Europe, as well as a large portion of
Asia and Africa. This army is drafted from three
continents to invade a fourth. It rises dismal as a
cloud, and dreadful as a storm.
We must look to Russia, then, as the colossal
giant of reconstructed monarchy, embodying the
whole of autocracy in the last grand organization
— embracing all the principles foreshadowed in the
metallic symbol of the vision " whose brightness
was excellent, and the form thereof terrible."  In
fact, the Emperor of all the Russias still bears the
royal cognomen of the golden-headed monarchs of
ancient Babylon. Who is the present Emperor of
Russia? Alexander the Czar. And who are found
among the monarchs of Assyria?  Nobonazar, Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar.  These were not
accidental terminations of their respective names,
but were doubtless terms of Assyrian royalty. So
also the Roman Ceesars, which scarcely vary from
the true pronunciation of the czars. We behold




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.    103
in Russia the original trunk of autocracy. In the
time of Catharine, she arose in august magnitude,
and entered into the European state system about
the time of the rise of our great country. We see
rising on the one hand and on the other, the two
great powers that represent respectively their opposing principles of government that will come in
collision in the last dreadful fray.
The United States of America, young and vigorous, arising in the Northern temperate zone, with
untold resources, extending its borders from sea to
sea, and from the lakes in the North to Heaven
only knows how far South-she is the enlightened
and uncompromising representative of popular freedom. And there is Russia in gigantic proportions,
arising also in the Northern temperate zone, with
her million of warriors, now occupying one-seventh
of earth's terra-finrma, stretching from the Black
Sea to the Arctic Ocean, and from the Baltic
on the West, till her Cossacks almost hear the
British drums beat in farther India. And she is
the representative of absolutism.
These ascending powers, like two towering
clouds culminating in the heavens, surcharged
with electric ruin, will shock the world with their
collision, and bathe the world in blood.




104    DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
But allied with  Russia will be the teeming myriads from  all the empires on earth except Francebelle France. France will be with us in the end,
as she was with us in the beginning.* We feel
warranted for this position.  Commentators agree,
that when the state system in Europe is represented in the Apocalypse by the celestial bodies,
France is appropriately denominated " the sun,"
not only from  its vivacity and brilliancy, but especially from its central position to the rest of Europe.  "And I saw  an angel standing in the sun;
and he cried with a loud voice, saying  to all the
fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and
gather yourselves together unto the supper of the
great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings,"
etc. Rev. xix. This angel, must, therefore, represent the genius of France, rejoicing over the
downfall of monarchy; consequently, will be with
America in the final struggle.  A  strong undercurrent for civil and religious liberty has frequently.*In delivering the above sentence in the Hall of Representatives,
the assembly turned their attention to a large life-like portrait of
Lafayette, hanging on the walls of the Capitol, opposite that of
Washington. We had not observed Lafayette's portrait till that
mroment, as it was on our left. The expression, "FranCe will be
with us in the end, as she was with us in the beginning," seemed
to make a profound sensation, as they saw no other nation on the
canvas but France and America. The coincidence was impressive
upon our own mind as it evidently was with:the audience.




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.    105
risen to the surface in the French nation; and under
its power she will break her alliance with monarchy, and join the standard of liberty against the
despotisms of the world.
But England, true to her proud autocracy, will
die for the Divine right of kings. Her policy will
not be influenced by language, religion, nor blood;
but in the final onset she will join the crusade
against America.
When was she ever known to favor an oppressed
people attempting to throw off the yoke of despotism? Look at her tender mercies toward her own
children when struggling in the war of Independence. See how she let loose "the horrible hellhounds of savage cruelty," when she turned the
bloody Indian, with tomahawk and scalping-knife,
upon helpless women and children; and even rewarded the savage furies with a pound sterling for
every scalp that was taken, whether from the poor
old man, the defenceless mother, or the sucking
babe. Look at her cruelties with her pagan slaves
in India. Even now, who can look to China without emotion? Behold how she gloated over illfated Hungary. When the friends of freedom were
immolated in crowds by Austrian despots-when
delicate females were cowhided in the streets by
10




106    DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
the incarnate fiend Haynau —England, by a nod,
could have suppressed the whole. Talk of English sympathy for the children of Africa in America I What consummate hypocrisy t when, at the
same time, thousands of her own. pauper people
are suffered to live like beasts, or rather to die
like dogs, if not confined for long years in her
mines, without seeing the light of day, but working in traces like mules, on all-fours, to fatten the
fortunes of English aristocracy. Do you doubt the
picture? it is drawn by an official report to Parliament. Alas, let Ireland, from centuries of miserable oppression, say what heart has England to aid
the friends of freedom against the despotism of
usurpation.
No: England will be allied with Russia. Her
policy, not her love, may sustain amicable relations
while it suits her, but no longer. But her glory
is departing. She has gambled with the world
till she has lost the sword. When the Empress of
the British Isles visited the tomb of Napoleon, to
pay honor to the ashes of the dead whom her own
government had outlawed while living, it was then
England's waning renown was seen in the rising
splendors of the French nation. "Ichabod" is
already written on the palaces of her power. Self



DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.    107
preservation will conglomerate the autocratic powers of the Old World in one stupendous attack
upon that nation whose republican principles and
brilliant example have already disquieted the repose of princes, and made each royal diadem a
crown of thorns.
" Thus saith the Lord God: it shall also come to
pass, that at the same time shall things come into
thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought.
Thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages: I will go to them that are at rest,
that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without
walls, and having neither bars nor gates. To take
a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand
upon the desolate places -that are now inhabited,
and upon the people that are gathered out of the
nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that
dwell in the midst of the land."  Ezek. xxxviii.
The Almighty pronounces the invasion impoliticthat the expedition was from " an evil thought;"
and what was foreseen and foretold to be planned
in weakness or wickedness, will, by its disastrous
realization, confirm the truth of the Divine declaration
The land to be invaded is, in the foregoing quotation, a literal and true description of the United




108    DEFE14NCE' OF ARMAGEDDON.
States, and can apply to no other country or people
under heaven.  A country highly elevated-the
land once a wilderness or desolate, but now inhabited-a IC land of unwalled villages "-a " people
gathere'd out of the nations "'-a people " that dwell
safely "-proprietors of the country, dwelling at
rest-a people prosperous in their fortunes, having
C' gotten cattle and goods, dwelling in the midst
of the land."  It is the same country described by
the prophet "between the two seas;" and by
Daniel, when, after describing the conquests of
"' the willful king of the [North," (Russia,) in carrying his victorious armies "' into the glorious land,"
(Palestine,) he hears tidings from the North and
from the East which trouble hlLm, and he " comes
in great wrath " away foiom Palestine, and plants
the tabernacles of his palaces " in the glorious holy
mountain."  Upon this high count ry he falls, and
is'"broken without hands.'"  This glorious mountain cannot be Judea, for the invader has just returned from Judea to "go up to the land of unwalled villages."
" After many days thou shalt be visited: in the
latter years thou shalt comrne unto the land that is
gathered out of many people... I will bring thee
forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.    109
of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great
company with bucklers and shields, all of them
handling swords."  Observe, the scene of this battle is laid "in the latter years," which must correspond with the conflict which is yet to come; the
expression being always understood in prophecy to
refer to the thrilling times immediately preceding
the millennium.  The diversity of the implements
of battle indicates the many nationalities enrolled
for battle.  Perhaps " horses and horsemen " peculiarly refer to the resources of Russia, who boasts
that she can bring a million men into the field.
The battle-field-the Valley of the Mississippi:
" And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will
give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the
valley of the passengers on the east of the sea."
Ezek. xxxix, 11.
The philosophy of our language settles the location. When two things of the same class are spoken
of in the same sentence, it is according to rhetoric,
in referring to the greater of the two, simply to use
the definite article "the."  As the prophet had
referred to both seas, the eastern and the great
western, now it was proper simply to say "the
sea;" that is, the Pacific, because it is the greater.
This valley lies on the east of the Pacific, then,
10*




110    DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.
which is precisely the relative position of the Valley
of the Mississippi.  But this valley east of the Mississippi is "the valley of passengers."
How justly entitled to this appellation is our great
Valley, more peculiarly so than any valley in the
known world! See the thousands of vessels that
convey tens of thousands of passengers on more than
fifty thousand miles of the Father of Waters and
its navigable tributaries! look at the immensetrains
of people that daily traverse this valley in railroad
cars, while caravan after caravan of emigrants are,
and have been for years, pressing to the great West
to dwell in all our vast new States and Territoriesand their number increases by swarming thousands!
The Valley of the Mississippi, then, on the east of
the sea, is "the valley of passengers," and this is
the battle-field of that last great conflict; for
"there," says God, " will I give to Gog, and to
the many people that are with them, a place of
graves." Joel lays the scene of this startling and
sublime event also in a valley: " Multitudes! multitudes in the valley of decision!"
The excitement and commotion amongst our own
people will be overwhelming and universal.  "In
that day there shall be a great shaking in the land
of Israel, so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls




DEFENCE  OF ARMAGEDDON.              111
of heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the
men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake
at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown
down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall
shall fall to the ground."
A time, indeed, of great consternation and trouble, such as has never been since the world began!
But firm and unbroken in the dreadful shock, our
confederated Republic will remain an undivided
unit.  For, says God, "I will call for a sword
throughout all my mountains."  Every State and
Territory will be in the field.  Our glorious Union,
then, from a Divine promise, shall never dissolve.
No storm-cloud in the North, or volcanic eruption
in the South, will ever divide our great country.
Our noble vessel, with her live-oak timbers, will
reel and quiver' in the dreadful squall, but she will
never founder! A child of Providence, born in the
tempest and cradled in the storm, was early disciplined for the august destiny that awaits it:'" A union of lakes, and a union of lands,
A union no power shall sever;
A union of hearts, and a union of hands,
And the American Union for ever!"
In the darkness of that dreadful day, when the
heavens are hung with the clouds of war, and the




112    DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
earth vibrates with the peals of battle; when the
face of the valiant is pale, and the heart of the
brave is troubled; while storms portentous of annihilation howl around like the wailings of the
damned-" all these are but the beginning of sorrow:" " for there shall be great tribulation, such
as was not since the beginning of the world to this
time, no, nor ever shall be."
It will be then, my countrymen, and not till
then, that the heart of our great people will begin
to understand the immlediate presence of Almighty
God, and the supervision of his providence in the
rise, preservation, and destiny of' our glorious Republic. "So will 1 make my holy name known in
the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let
them pollute my holy name any more."  Ezek.
xxxix.
In the universal calamity of those troublous
times, we will be impelled to call upon Jehovah;
and nothing can so effectually reveal the Divine
presence and power as a whole nation looking to
Heaven for help. To realize our dependence on
Almighty God, and fully to know and appreciate
the supervision of his hand, is doubtless one of the
wise and gracious designs for the stormy ordeal
through which we will pass. For in the very mid



DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.    113
night of our troubles, Heaven will appear to our
rescue.  " It shall come to pass at the same time,
when Gog shall come against the land of Israel,
saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in
my face... I will put hooks in thy jaws, and turn
thee back... I will call for a sword against him
throughout all my mountains... And I will
plead against him with pestilence and with blood;
and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and
upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify
myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many
nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord... And I will smite thy bow out of thy left
hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy
right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains
of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people
that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the
field, to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the
open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord
God."  Ezek. xxxix.
A similar description, with the same sublime
imagery, of this battle of the great day of God
Almighty will be found in the Revelation of John




114    DEFENCE OF! ARMAGEDDON.
the evangelist. Both accounts close with the deeptoned period: "CBehold, it is done, saith the Lord
God." How, immense that army! —doubtless
many times greater than the forces with which
Xerxes crossed the Hellespont into Greece; and
he led two millions six hundred thousand warriors,
besides as many more sutlers and followers of
the camp. How wide and dreadful the carnage!
This we learn from the seven months occupied in
burying the dead, for the victors were employed all
that time in the rites of sepulture; and then the
wreck of battle left implements enough to be used
as fuel for seven years!
At the very time of the overthrow of Monarchy
in the field, a revolutionary "fire breaks out in the
land of Magog " and in the isles of the sea: the
friends of freedom  at home in Russia and Great
Britain strike for liberty, and the work is done.
So closes the conflict of the world. Now paeans
of gladness ring through the earth, while emancipated millions join the general joy.  "And I heard
as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of
mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the
Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
Henceforth, "nations shall learn war no more."




DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.    115
Confederated Republics, under the counsel and example of the United States, will arise in the former
"habitations of dragons," and the 6 deserts " of
cruelty "shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."
And, like an elder brother, our Republic will kindly
instruct them in the principles of popular freedom.
Now dawns that glorious day so often referred to
in the Holy Scriptures —the millennium morning.
Talk of converting the nations of the earth to
God while monarchy lasts! What a mistake!
Never can the Prince of Peace hold universal sway
upon earth until the last vestige of earthly royalty
is destroyed for ever. But after the casting down
of the thrones, the smiting of the great image, the
taking of the beast and the false prophet, the reaping of the vintage and harvest of the earth, the
overthrow of the dragon and his armies, the fall of
the willful king, and the slaughter of the armies
of Gog at the battle of the great day of Goqd Almighty, that bright day shall begin, long the
theme of so many promises to the good and true of
every age, the hallowed hope of the Christian
Church, and the song that made Judah's sacred
mountains shake with expectant joy. The cloudless splendor from " a new heaven " will beam upon the inhabitants of "a new earth " in that hap



116    DEFENCE OF ARMAGEDDON.
py millennium —a thousand years-when there will
be but one kind of civil government known, and
that will be Republicanism, and but one religion
known, and that will be Christianity. Not that
every man will be a holy man, for the final judgment will come when wise and foolish virgins, the
righteous and the wicked, will both be upon earth;
but a long circle of ages called the millenniuma certain given for an indefinite number of yearsin which the means for the elevation of the world
will be multiplied, commerce and trade, agriculture and manufactures, science and art, will extend, the gospel of the Son of God have universal
welcome among the nations of the earth, and " nations learn war no more." Then will the apocalyptic angel, having the everlasting gospel to preach
to every nation and people and tongue, sweep the
breath of heaven, and as his silvery pinions of
light shave the level horizon, every island and continent shall bow obsequious to his message: "Fear
God, and give glory to him; and worship him
that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the
fountains of waters."
Then shall righteousness and peace among the
nations walk, Messiah reign,
"And earth keep jubilee a thousand years."