ARMAGEDDON: i0t 0btrX a tu Sof mabism n no~ulart TH+ TH E EXISTENCE OF THE UNITED STATES FORETOLD IN THE BIBLE, ITS FUTURE GREATNESS; INVASION BY ALLIED EUROPE; ANNIHILATION OF MONARCHY; EXPANSION INTO THE MILLENNIAL REPUBLIC, AND ITS DOMINION OVER THE WHOLE WORLD. BY S.D,.BALDWIN, A. M., PRESIDENT OF SOULE FEMALE COLLEGE. CINCINNATI: APPLEGATE & COMPANY. NASHVILLE: IMETHODIST PUBLISHING HOUS]L, STPBHENSON & O]WEN. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, BY S. D. BALDWIN, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for Ohio. X. F. O'DRISCOLL, STEREOTYPER, T. WRIGHTSON & CO., CINCINNATI. PRINTERS. DEDICATED To azt jdrtenbs of Niblt inulorctata AND THB FOES OF MONARCHY AND ROMANISM. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION................................................................... 13 PART FIRST. PROPHETIC HISTORY OF,THE WHO4LE -WORLD CEIAPTER I. THE FIRST SPIRITUAL, AND POLITICAL PAROPEECY............................ it SECTION I. Declaration of War................................................ 18 " II. Mode of the World's Reduction-First Curse..................24 "III. The Principles of God's Government..............................26 " IV. The Last Contestt........................ 28 CHAPTER II. SECOND GENERAL PROPHECY..................,29 SECTTIO I. Course of Empire................................... 31 II. Millennial Empire.................................. 32 III. The Second Curse..................................... 33 CHAPTE R III. PANO4,&aMA OF:CRISTIANXTY AND OF THE VWORLD...........................5'SECTION I. Hebrew System Typical of Christianity and the World...... 35 II. Philosophy of the Hebrew System...3....t....3.'. 4 TIsypes.a r lr@. i 4 *s I4Xr i.a....bI t i 06&.....I- 648r 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAGE. ISRAEL RESTORED IDENTICAL WITH THE UNITED STATES.................. 64 SECTION L Absurdity of the Common Theory............................... 65 " II. The Common Theory Unscriptural.............................. 72 "' III. The United States is Israel Restored........................... 78 " IV. Objections Considered.......................................... 88 " V. Parallel Prophecies of Israel....................................... 91 CHAPTER V. EZEKIEL'S SYMBOLIC PROPHECIES OF AMERICA.................................. 92 SECTION I. Israel Restored-America........................................... 93 " II. The great Battle and Destruction of Monarchy by Israel, or Gog and his Allies-Invasion of the United States...... 95 Paragraph I. Thirty-eighth Chapter........................................... 95 II. Thirty-ninth Chapter....................................... 103 CHAPTER VI. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S PANORAMIC VISION OF THE SIX KINGDOMlS OF THE WORLD..................................................... 108 SECTION I. Head of the Image-Babylon.................................... 113 " II. The Medo-Persian Empire-Arms and Breast of Silver... 113 " ITI. The Macedonian Empire-Belly and Thighs of Brass...... 115 " IV. The Fourth Kingdom —Rome................................... 119 Paragraph I. First Period-Rome as a Unit............................... 120 II. Second Period-Church and State Union and the Fall of Rome, or its Broken State, Iron and Clay.................. 122 Clause I. Church and State Union........................................ 122 " II. Fall of Rome, or its Broken State'......................... 125 Paragraph III. Third Period-Reorganization of the Fourth Empire.. 121 SECTIA V. The Fifth Kingdom, or United States of America............ 133;" VI. Sixth Kingdom —lReign of Messiah......................... 167 CHAPTER VII. DANIEL'S FIRST PANORAMIC VISION OF THE SIX KINGDO0MS OF THE WORLD................................................................ 169 SEoTION I. The Lion-Empire of Babylon.-......1....................... 171 " II. The Bear —Medo.Persia............... 172 CONTENTS. 7 PAGE. SECTION III. The Leopard-Macedonian Empire........................... 173 " IV. Fourth Beast-Roman Empire................................. 175 Paragraph I. First Period-Beast-Unity of Rome........................ 175 " II. Second Period-Ten Horns and Little Horn, or Church and State Union, and the Broken State or Fall of Rome.. 177 Clause I. The Ten tIorns..................................... H n178 " II. The Little Horn..................................... 180 Paragraph III. Third Period of Rome-Reorganization.................. 199 SECTION V. Fifth Kingdom, or the Ancient of Days, or United States of America.................................................................. 200 " VI. The Sixth Empire, or Messiah's Kingdom..................... 212 CHAPTER VIII. SECOND VISION OF DANIEL'S FIVE KINGDOMS................................. 215 SECTION I. The Persian Empire-Ram....................................... 215 " II. Four-horned Goat-The Macedonian Empire............... 216 " III. Little-The Roman Empire....................................... 217 IV. Israel....................................................... 221 " V. Doom of Monarchy................................................... 223 CHAPTER IX. DANIEL'S THIRD VISION OF THE WORLD....................................... 224 SECTION I. The Persian Empire.............................................. 225 " II. The Grecian Empire................................................... 225 " III. Roman Empire................................................. 226 Paragraph I. Ships of Chittim, or Rome.................................... 227 " II. Arms, or the Roman Military Power........................ 228 d" III. The Willful King-Rome and Russia......................... 231 SECTION IV. Michael-United States.......................................... 243 " V. The Final Kingdom of Messiah................................. 248 " VI. The Sealing of the Vision and the Discovery............... 249 " VII. Length of the "Indignation".................................... 252 Paragraph I. Three and a half Times.......................................... 252 " II. The 1290 and 1335 days....................................... 254 " III. Application of these Times................................... 256 SECTION VIII. Epitome of Daniel's Prophecies, and their Mutual Coincidence.c,,.................. i................ 258 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. PAGE. THE SPIRITUAL WORLD IN THE APOCALYPSE................. 260 SECTION I. Seat of Spiritual Prophecy..................................... 261 " II. The Prophecies............................................. 265 CIIAPTER XI. POLITICAL PROPRHECIES OF REVELATION....................................... 2.6 SECTION I. The Seat of Political Prophecy.....................2........ 267 e' II. The Book of Seals-First Panorama of the World.......... 272 Paragraph l I. The First Seal, or Church and State Union............... 273 I" I. Second Seal, or Western Church........................... 278 " III. Third Seal-Mohammedanism in the South............... 280 " IV. Fourth Seal-Deism and France.............................. 283 V. Fifth Seal-Destruction of Churches and Confessions... 287 " VI. Sixth Seal-Destruction of Monarchy..................... 289 " VII. Seventh Seal....................................................... 292 CHAPTER XII. THE LITTLE BOOK OF INTERPRETATION.................................. 293 SECTION I. Holy City and the Gentiles-Church and State Union... 294 " II. The Two Witnesses-Christianity Depressed.................. 2971 " III. The Woman with Twelve Stars, and her Man child, or the Christian Church and the United States..................... 305 "IV. Roman and British Monarchy, or the Seven-headed Beast... 320 " V. The Beastfrom the Sea, or the Universal Imperial Church... 328 " VI. The Two-horned Beast, or Great Britain.................... 336 CHAPTER XIII. THE SEVEN TRUMPETS-SECOND GREAT PANORAMA........................ 348 SECTION I. First Trumpet-Goths, Germans, Vandals-Invasion of Europe................................................................... 349 II. Second Trumpet-Invasion of Atilla and the Huns......... 351 "III. Third Trumpet-Invasion of Genseric.......................... 353 " IV. Fourth Trumpet-Fall of the Western Empire............... 354 EC V. Fifth Trumpret-Firt Woe, or SLraneni Ivasioa......... 36 CONTENTS. 9 SECTON VI. Sixth Trumpet, and Second Woe-Turkish Invasion..... 359 VII. Seventh Trumpet-Rise of the United States, and Fall of M onarchy.............................................................. 363 Paragraph I. First Panorama of the Seventh Trumpet:............... 365 Clause I. First View-United States...................................... 365 II. Second View-The Church and State Free.................. 367 "III. Third View-Fall of the Western or Latin Church......... 368 " IV. Fourth View-Threat against Great Britain.................. 368 " V. Fifth View-Overthrow of Europe by America............... 369 " VI. Sixth View-Overthrow of Britain.............................. 370 " VII. Seventh View-The Millennium................................ 372 Paragraph II. Second Panorama.374................................ 374 Clause I. First View-United States....................................... 374 " II. Second View-Babylon and the Beast, or the State and Church, and Russia and Europe................................ 384 " III. Third View-The Man with Many Crowns, on a White Horse, or the United States of America........................ 392 " IV. Fourth View-Third Woe..................................... 396 " V. Fifth View-Chaining of the Dragon........................ 399 " VI. Sixth View-The Millennial Democracy..................... 402 " VII. Seventh View-The Spiritual Judgment-day............... 405 CHAPTER XIV. TaE Nrw HEAVEN AND EARTH-THE VICTORY............................... 407 10 CONTENTS. PART SECOND. THE DISCOVERY-COMPLETED JANUARY, 1852. PAGE. THE DISCOVERY............................................................. 413 CHAPTER I. INTERPRETATION OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS.................................... 421 SECTION I. The Decree of Restoration-Crucifixion-Fall of Judea... 423 Paragragpi I. The Decree of Cyrus............................................. 423 " II. Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus........................... 425 " III. Year of the Crucifixion............................... 426 " IV. Year of Judea's Fall...................................... 430 SECTION II. Beginning of the Seventy Weeks.............................. 434 " III. Hebrew Divisions of Time...................................... 439 Paragraph I. Hebr ew Weeks.............................................., 439 i II. Spiritual and Civil Time....................................... 440 c' III. Length of the Sacred and Secular Years.................. 440 SECTION IV. Abbreviated Time and Full Time.............................. 445 " V. Application of Principles.......................44................. 448 Paragsraph I. Seventy Weeks equal to Five Hundred and Sixty-four Y ears................................................................ 449 {" II. Fulfillment Shown Infallibly................................ 453 SECTION VI. Fulfillment shown.................................. 457 " VII. Seventy Weeks Doubly Fulfilled.......................... 459 "VIII. Four Hundred and Eighty and Four Hundred and Thirty Years............................................ 460 Paragraphl I. Four Hundred and Thirty Years....................... 460 " II. Four Hundred and Eighty Years......................... 461 CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER II. PAGE. DAYS, YEARS, MONTHS, AND TIiIES............................................ 462 SECTION I. Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days........................... 462 Paraccgraph I. Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days-Spiritual Lengths... 463 I - II. Secular Length of the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Days.. 464 SECTION II. Twelve Hundred and Ninety Days-Seventeen Hundred and Sixty Years................................................... 464 " III. Thirteen Hundred and Thirty-five Days.................... 466 " IV. Forty-two Months........................................ 467 " V. Three and a half times —1243, 1451, 1708, 1810.......... 469 Paragraph I. Spiritual Length of the Times................................ 470 " II. Secular Length of the Three and a Half Times......... 471 SECTION VI. Twenty-three Hundred Evening Mornings............. 472 P.aragrapch I. The Epochs of their Beginning and Ending............... 472 " II. The Exposition........................................ 475 SECTION VII. Fall and Rise of the Western Empire —One third of a Day and One third of a Night................................. 476 " VIII. Five Months —Duration of the Saracenic Invasions... 477 " IX. Day-IHour-Month-Year.................................. 477 C" X. Synopsis of Days, Months, and Times..................... 478 CONCLUSION............................................................ 480 INTRODUCTION PRINCIPLES. " Hold my right hand, Almighty." "I here Invoke thy aid to my adventurous theme, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. * * * * What in me is dark, Illumine; what is low, raise and support; That to the hight of this great argument I may assert eternal providence, And justify the ways of God to man." WE lay down the following as our principles of interpreting symbolic prophecy. First. Perfect coincidence of events with prophecy, is infallible proof of the fulfillment of prophecy. It was in accordance with this principle, that Jesus proved himself to be the Messiah. Second. The definition of prophetic symbols is to be found in scripture, or to be determined by fulfillment. Where a symbol has more than one scriptural sense, which is rarely the case, its intended meaning must be determined either by its context or by fulfillment, or by both. Third. All interpretations must coincide with the literal tied evangelical doctrines of the bible. Fourth. All the symbolic days, months, and times, are interpretable on the same principles as are the seventy weeks, and havre a double or twice doubled interpretation and fulfillment. 13 14 INTRODUCTION. Fifth. All symbolic prophecy of great events is given in twice doubled forms, or is interpreted by symbols, or literally. Sixth. The people of God are symbolized, always, in a dual character, coinciding with the spiritual and civil departments of government, growing out of the spiritual and social nature of man and the dual nature of the great law of love to God and love to man. Seventh. The globe and mankind are to be freed from the curse, and the globe is not to be annihilated, but renewed with all the splendors in the gift of Deity, and be the tabernacle of God, the Holy of Holies forever and ever. For our work, we ask the calm and charitable attention of the reader. We present it as a theory, a true theory, of the dealings of God with the nations of the world; but we would by no means compel any one to adopt our conclusions against his will; we would rather let the demonstrations be examined, and persuade by invincible and logical argument. Our deductions are not the result of fugitive thoughts, but of unceasing attention, by day and by night, without intermission, for more than twenty years. Our labors have been of the severest and most painful and patient character, in making the discovery of the principles of interpreting the seventy weeks: to ascertain them, we have made not less than fifty thousand numerical experiments. In addition to this, it may not be improper to remark, that daily, and more than daily, through a space of sixteen years, have we sought God for wisdom to understand the mystery which he said should be unsealed. Through the pity of some, the derision of others, the rebukes of many, and with the good wishes of but few, we have steadily pursued our course in quiet to the goal of our wishes; and we now return gratitude to God for our success. We commit the work we have written to the direction of Him who hears the prayer of the humble, and doubt not but that it will do some good to our country, the church, and world. INTRODUCTION. 15 The style of our composition is not labored, though we have been long in preparing our book; our time has been devoted mainly to systematizilng and harmonizing the prophets. In doing this we have re-written the substance of the work very many times over. We have tried to make every sentence plain; but still it will require time and patience on the reader's part to go through with it. It will be observed that our interpretations of the future coincide with the positions assumed by Hon. John Bell, on non-intervention; and the coincidence is the more singular, because our positions were taken in a course of lectures delivered some eight days sooner than the speech. This coincidence attracted the attention of many persons, and resulted in a written request, on their part, that our views should be published in a book form. That we both should entertain the same views, from positions differing so widely, is very remarkable, and is entitled to grave consideration. Should we be found somewhat in error in some smaller points relating to the future, it is no more than would be naturally anticipated; but we feel assured that we are not, and can not be, mnistaken about the conflict of our country with Europe in the battle of the great day. So far as the past is concerned, we feel assured that we are presenting to the public some of the most extraordinary proofs of the inspiration of the scriptures that have ever been in print. Being sustained, triumphantly, by the facts of the past, and judging the future by principles deduced from certain knowledge, we feel that our judgment, in most cases, will be found coincident with plain common sense views of things. That ill fed and wounded vanity may instigate the hostility to our work of small envy and jealousy, of pride of sect and self-inflated opinion, is what we expect to a small extent, and we rather court than shun such prejudiced enmity. 16 INTRODUCTION. We have not combated the theories of other expositors to a great extent, because it was foreign to good manners, in some cases, to do so, and useless in others. In every instance where we differ from others, we do so because they do not strictly conform to past facts, and by consequence must err, proportionally, with reference to the future. In some cases, very exalted human authorities will be consulted against us; but we appeal, for support, to inspiration and to history, and refuse to yield to any sanctified human opinion that is not punctiliously in accordance with known truth. We claim to have discovered, that all old interpretations of one great era are either erroneous in whole or in part. Unknown to fame or to the famous, we appeal to common sense people, to read and decide our correctness, for on account of such we have written; we crave not the attention of chiefs and princes, but seek an humble place of consideration among the great Christian democratic PEOPLE throughout the world. Mlisfortune is the fate of discoverers and inventors generally, and we expect no exception will be made in our favor; yet, from a better sphere than this, we hope in triumph to descend at the appearing of the victory of God, and advent of that kingdom for which from infancy, each Christian child is daily taught to pray. If, then, some humble place be ours among the glorified, we shall be more than recompensed for all our years of bitter toil. PART FIRST. PROPHETIC HISTORY OF THE WHOLE WORLD. CHAPTER I. THE FIRST SPIRITUAL AND POLITICAL PROPHECY. (This prophecy is found in the third chapter of Genesis.) At the fall of the world, or rebellion of mankind against God, he determined upon their reduction to allegiance, and immediately declared war against his foes. From the nature of things, this war was of a double character, or spiritual and political. Mian originally possessed, and still possesses, a spiritual nature, which makes him a religious creature, and also a social nature, which constitutes him a political being. From these two constitutional qualities has resulted the universality of some kind of religion and civil govermnent. In a state of perfection, these two principles would have ultimated in true religion and true civil government. At the fall of man, the rejection of the true God as monarch in both of these departments, led to the wildest disorder and universal misery. It is also a truth, established by nniversal experience, that all civil governments among mankind have conformed in principle and practice to the genius of the prevailing religion of the people; 2 17 18 THE FIRST PROPHECY. religion has controlled the politics of the world in all ages. If the religion has been mild, so has been the civil government; if it has been bloody and despotic, so has been the civil government; if it has been liberal and enlightened, so has been the civil policy. This has resulted fiom a law of nature, by wllich inferior things are controlled by superior; and as the spiritual nature of man exercises supreme power over his conduct in his individual capacity, so does it in his aggregated state. To subdue man, it was therefore necessary to subjugate his spiritual nature first; to regenerate him as a religious race, and then his political regeneration would follow inevitably. A physical victory might have resulted in a moment from the weight of Omnipotence, but a moral. victory could not thus speedily be obtained, from the eternal, and immutable, and self existent principles of moral agency. To the principles here stated, the great declaration of war by Jehovah is strictly conformed. SECTION I. DECLARATION OF WAR.;" I will put enmity between thee and the woman; and between thy seed and her seed; HE $* shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This declaration is a generic history of the whole contest for dominion of the world, from the fall to the final victory of God. The serpent and the woman, though real persons, are nevertheless, in this passage, used as * Clark's Comm. ,DECLARATION OF WAR. 19 metaphoric terms. Were this not so, the whole passage would be ridiculous. Six parties are embraced in the text. First, the serpent and the woman are placed antithetic to each other; secondly, the seed of the serpent, and seed of the woman, are also counterparts of each other; third, HE and the serpent's HEAD are also placed in antagonism to each other. Between each of these antithetic pairs, direct hostility was to rage, and it is evident that the serpent, his head, and his seed, are all confederate; and that the woman, her seed, and HE, the Messiah, are also confederates. It is evident, also, that the head of the serpent controlled the powers represented by the serpent and his seed, and that HE, who stood opposed to the serpent's head, held also a similar supreme control over the powers represented by the woman and her seed. It will be granted, without any argument on our part, that the head of the serpent represented the great enemy of God, and seducer of man, called, in the New Testament, the Prince of the power of the air, and the Devil, and Satan. It will also be granted, that HE who was antithetic to Satan, was the second person of the Trinity, also called Immanuel, or Messiah. The serpent represents the false religion introduced by the Devil, and his seed represents the false sys. tem of civil government growing out of it. The woman represents the true religion introduced by Jehovah, and her seed represents the true system of civil government growing out of it. Our reasons for these positions are many, but chiefly the following: First. —The terms, "serpent and his seed," and "woman and her seed," can not be understood literally. For this would make the serpent to be a generator of 20 DECLARATION OF WAR. snakes, and bring Eve into a war with the serpent personally, and then her children and snakes would have a perpetual war, till Messiah should crush the head of the Father of Snakes. Such a view of the text would be the quintessence of absurdity. Again, the literal serpent who seduced Eve died long ago, but the text represents the serpent of which God spoke as existing at the final victory of Messiah. Second.-As the head of the serpent was symbolic of something besides the symbolic serpent, this serpent difiers from the Devil literally, and yet is called such from its paternal name, it being the creation of the real seducer of man. Now, as false religion is the first great scheme of the Devil, the serpent being next to its head is properly represented by it. And as the "' seed" of the serpent is something different from the serpent itself, it must represent the civil polity generated fiom a false religion. No two things in the whole history of the world can be found to coincide with the serpent and his seed, but fal:se religion, and false civil polity. Again, as the woman and her seed are antithetic counterparts of the serpent and his seed, they must coincide with the true church of God, and the true system of government arising from it. The utter impossibility of any other things being found to coincide with the woman and her seed, than those here stated, in consistency with the whole text, inevitably fastens the symbolic meaning of the text to them. Third. —That the woman and her seed, and the serpent and his seed, severally represent the two departmuents of false and true government, is further evident from the consideration of the nature of all moral govern DCCLARAT'ION OF WAR. 21 ment. That man possesses a dual nature, a spiritual and a social, is a fact of which all are conscious. A sense of Deity exists naturally in all minds, and this becomes the basis of all religion. This sense does not necessarily imply a knowledge of the true God, but it leads all men to feel that themselves, and the world, are conlrolled by a superior power or powers. In enlightenedcountries it leads to the worship and acknowledgmentl of Jehovah, and in barbarous countries it is the solrce. of endless superstition, a general belief in ghosts, witches, and in ferior spirits, which men believe control them and their interests. Thle d.cal law of love supreme to God, and equal love of neighbors, called the great law of God, is conformed to these constitutional principles of all moral agents. This is the constitutional law of the universe, and the Decalogue' based upon it is but the constitutional law of a single province of God's empire, as is our world. The great universal empire of God is therefore of a dual nature, and had not man; sinned, this dual government would have prevailed in perfection in this world. In re-establishing the fallen empire of God on earth, these two departments would of course receive attention, and their existence, prophetically, would be recognized, and an elementary existence would necessarily be seen. The kingdom of Satan would also conform to the great dual nature of man, and antagonism to God's dual law, and would be manifested therefore in the dual fborm of Church and State, or spiritual and social government. Fourth.-The Scriptures, from the beginning to the end, recognize the duality of God's kingdom, in its elementary stages, and prophetically in its triumphs:; and 2-2 DECLARATION OF WAR. also the duality of Satan's kingdom in the world. We will first trace those which coincide with the woman and her seed. These are seen in the persons of Shem and Japhet, one of whom was to give spiritual law, and the other to sway the political scepter of the world, under Christ. Next we see it in Sarah and Isaac; next in Moses and Aaron; next in the typical church of the Hebrews, and the civil government arising from it; next in Jachin and Boaz, the two typical pillars of Solomon's temple. The prophets we find speaking of "' the Lord's house, and the mountain of the Lord's house;" "Judah and Jerusalem;" "Judah and Ephraim;" Judah and Israel;" "Ariel," or "the double city, or two lions of God;" " the mountain and stone cut out of the mountain;" the Ancient of Days and his chariot throne; "the saints and people of the saints;" " the two olive branches;"' two candlesticks," or " two anointed ones," Joshua and Zerobabel; and the white horse and his rider receiving a crown; the temple and the altar; the holy city, or double city; the two witnesses, the two candlesticks, the two olive trees; the woman with twelve stars, and the sun and moon which clothed her, and her man child; salvation and strength;" "the 1cingdoz m of our God, and power of his Christ;" "the Lamb and his company;" the company on the sea of glass; the man with a sickle on a white cloud; the man with many diadems on the white horse; the seven candlesticks and seven stars; the Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes; the four beasts and twenty-four wings; the twenty-four elders and twenty-four seats; the seven lamps and the sea of glass; and finally, the throne, covered with a DECLARATION OF WAR. 28 rainbow, and him that sat upon the throne. Many other instances besides these might be quoted, but these suffice to show the fact we speak of. Next, the serpent and his seed have their coincidence in Ham and Canaan, Iagar and Ishmael, or the bondwoman and her son; the iron and clay of the great monarchy image; the ten horns and little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel; the willful king and the strange god; the seven-headed dragon and seven-headed beast; the great whore upon many waters; the Harlot Babylon upon the seven-headed beast friom the pit; the beast firom the pit and the old serpent; the false prophet and the image of the beast with the wounded head. This double form of empire is seen wherever we look into political prophecy in the Bible, and this universality of its reference to church and state, shows that the woran and her seed and the serpent and his seed were antithetic symbols of religion and civil polity. As the serpent and his seed are antipodes of the woman and her seed, so HIam and Canaan are antipodes of' Shem and Japhet; and the iron and clay are antipodes of the stone cut out of the mountain and the mountain itself; and the ten horns and little horn of the beast are antipodes of the Ancient of Days and his throne, or the saints and people of the saints; Hagar and Ishinael are antipodes of Sarah and Isaac; the dragon and beast with a wounded head are antipodes of the woman and her twelve stars; the spiritual and civil Gentiles are antipodes of the Holy City; and the beast and harlot are antipodes of the two witnesses. Fifth.-A perpetual enmity has existed between true and false religion and between true and false civil government from, the fall of man; and no such enmity has 24 MAODE OF WARFAREE. existed between any double correlated parties besides them; so that no significations can be assigned to the woman and her seed and the serpent and his seed other than those we ascribe to them. It has been supposed that the descent of Messiah from Eve was intended by the term " seed of the woman;" but this must be a mistake, for the term is antithetic to " seed of the serpent," and if the term implies but one person in the one case, it must imply the same in the other, which would make us look for a person descended from the serpent as an antipode to Messiah. The term I-iE, unquestionably refers to Messiah, and from its nature it indicates a connection with the human race, but no special promise of a Redeemer or atonement is found in the text, nor any injunction to offer sacrifices with prospective faith in a Recdeemer to come. It therefore follows, in view of the sacrificial rites of Abel and his faith, that Adam's fCamily received clear information of its duty, not recorded in the Bible, and the promise of God incarnate must also have been given, yet no record is made of it by Moses. SECTION II. MIODE Or THE WORLD'S REDUCTION — FIRST CURSE. To reduce the world to allegiance, God determined upon a fourfold mode of warfare. The first was to afflict the material and animal creation. I-He therefore laid a curse upon the ground, and upon beasts, and upon woman, and the curse of severe labor upon man, and death upon a11 the human race. This curse or evil MODE OF WARFARE. s25 condition of the world must be carefully distinguished from the penalty annexed to transgression. A penalty can righteously be inflicted upon actual transgressors only, but the curse falls upon animals, and infants, and idiots who are incapable of actual transgression. The pains of the penalty of spiritual death are suspended during man's probationary state. These temporal evils inflicted upon man's habitation were intended to produce the effect of repentance and return to God, just as want, woe, starvation, and humiliation led the prodigal son to return penitent to his father's house. This first curse not producing the desired effect sufficiently, a flood of waters destroyed the heavens and earth that remained, and man's days were greatly diminished. The second mode of warfare was the universal operation of God's spirit upon the minds of men, persuading them to obedience. St. Paul says of the universal world: " that which may be known. of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them," and " the Gentiles which have not the (written) law do by nature the things contained in the law X ~ shew the work of the law written in their hearts." The third mode of warfare was by the preaching of the gospel, or by living oratory, persuading men to repent and unite themselves to God's cause. This last was added to the plan of war as soonas men were prepared by the experience of ages to profit by it. The fourth mode was to break down all barriers which might lie in the way of the preaching of the gospel. [Here the agency of special providence is brought in, and the work of superintending nations, and confirming' or breaking them to pieces, as the progress of God's cause might demand. A determination certainly was.8 26 PRINCIPLES OF GOD'S GOVERNMENT. made to break down all civil governments not based upon the great laws of righteousness, and to supersede them by upright governments. This breaking down of unrighteous domination at the close of the war is a constant theme of the prophets, and is termed a day of judgment, or political doom, or the battle of the great day of God Almighty. It is an earlier period than the spiritual judgment, which succeeds it several centuries later. SECTION III. THE PRINCIPLES OF GOD'S GOVERNMENT. God's government is essentially a theocratic democracy. Its principles necessitate in democracy among men, when disseminated and embraced. The great law of "love to neighbors as to self"' is a law conferring equal rights among all citizens of the same government; it is diametrically opposed to human legitimacy, papacy, and absolutism; it is not conformable to hereditary aristocracy, nor can it be. It is democratic purely, and places all citizens of the same country upon a dead level as to right to rule, and confers exclusive favors upon none. God is, according to it, the only one that has a divine right to exercise kingship, and he is by consequence opposed to all human monarchy, and hates it as a feature of hell and the devil. In the first book of Samuel, we have the opinion of God and Israel about kings, and it is one of great repugnance on God's part and repentance on Israel's. Israel asked Samuel to make them a king, but he was displeased with the proposition, and prayed to God about it; and God replied to him, " they have PRINCIPLES OF GOD S GOVEIRNMENT. 27 not rejected thee but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Now, therefore, hearken unto their voice; yet protest solemnly, and shew them the manner of the king that sllall reign over them." After a king was chosen, God signified his displeasure by a terrible thunder storm in wheat harvest, and the people were greatly terrified. For Samuel said " I will call unto the Lord and he shall send thunder and rain, that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have dclone in the sight of the Lord in asking you a king. ~ " And the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not; for we have added unto all our sins, this evil, to ask us a king." By this choice of a king the Hebrew republic was changed into a hereditary monarchy, and God ceased to be their only king. From the passages of scripture just quoted, it is certain that God considers a human monarchy as exceedingly sinful, and as standing in direct hostility to himself, and he has but little patience with it. It is also obvious that in the recovery of the world to good government, in the progress of Christianity, that human monarchy will share no part or lot in the new organization. God is therefore hostile to human monarchy because the system is iniquitous in principle; and he will destroy it because of its wicked nature. If it be replied, " the powers that be are ordained of God," we answer that this does not prove monarchy correct in principle, for God uses monarchy as he does other curses, for the sake of chastising evil people. Thus the king of Babylon punished the Tyrians, and Cyrus punished Babylon at God's instigation: and wicked 28 THE LAST CONTEST. nations need tyrants to punish them for their vice. rkod said'' 0, Israel, I will be thy king. I gave thee a king in mine anger and took him away in my wrath."-Joel 13. Monarchy is therefore a curse added to a vicious people, who are unworthy of fteedom. In the spiritual and political redemption of the world, it therefore follows, that monarchy must be overthrown. SECTION IV. THE LAST CONTEST. The text states that Messiah shall finally crush the head of the false system of worship and authority, or despotism, in church and state. This, of course, would end in the overthrow of the existing monarchies, and empire or state church establishments everywhere. In the progress of the war toward completion, it is reasonable to suppose that some one portion of the globe would be subdued to God before any other. The consequence of the prevalence of the gospel practically would be a government in such region, conformable to a bible democracy. As enmity was declared between false and true religion, and false and true government, such new organization would be hostile to all monarchy, and vice versa. It would also be the representative of bible democracy generally, and would be looked upon as its organic leader in the world, and when it became strong enough, it would be the belligerent representative of all true liberalists in the world, and espouse their cause. Such actually has been the case in the history of the war. In the proaress of Christianity, in America, it SECOND GENERAL PROPHECY. 29 has formed a great bible democratic constitution, which stands in belligerent attitude to all monarchy, and will strike for its oppressed brethren every where, and carry the great war to the bitter end. CHAPTER II. SECOND GENERAL PROPHECY, T-Eis prophecy is found in the ninth chapter of Genesis: "And he said, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth; he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant." This being a generic history of the world, it is descriptive of the state of mankind from the flood to the judgment. As these various curses and blessings could not transpire without the separate existence of the three races, their perpetual separateness is thereby guaranteed. When in the days of Peleg, "' God divided to the nations their inheritance," we find that Asia fell to the Shemites, Europe to the Japhites, and Africa to the Hamites. These separate countries became great barriers to amalgamation. Additional ones of greater efficacy were ordered, as is seen in diversity of language, and in the three original colors, and other extreme anatomical differences of the races. The term Shem is used metonyrnically for the whole of his family, a part being put for the whole; and so, also, Japhet is put for all his race; 30 SECOND GENERAL PROPHECY. and Canaan, it would seem, in like manner, is also used as a metonymic representation of his father's house. As Japhet is called the elder, to him belonged birthright privileges. These were the scepter, the highest honors, and a double portion of the great estate of the world. Hence the Japhetic, or the white race, has been enlarged, and enjoys the gift of two continents, and is to control Asia. The great political sway of the world was also to be his. Neither Shern, nor HIam, were to share political equality in his dominion. Shem. was to be next to Japhet as a blessed race, but to Ham no blessing was given, a general state of inferiority, and personal slavery in part, was to be his lot. The relation of Shemn to Japhet was to be that of an inferior; and that of I1am, or a part of his family, was to be of a servant to two masters. The white race will never admit a general equality of political fianchise to either Asiatics or Afriicans, and it would be ruinous for it to do so; and as for a general amalgamation, nature revolts at it, and God's providence has always prevented it, and will do so to the end. Indeed, political and social equality, without general amalgamation, would be impossible. In the physical features of the three great races, is seen a picture of the Trinity. In it the second race, or HIamitic, bears the form of a servant, as did the second person of the Godhead. In the moral features of Noah's family, Shem and Japhet coincide with the religion of truth and the civil law of uprightness; while Ham and Canaan coincide with the serpent and his seed, and with IHagar and Ishmael." * We had written some one hundred and fifty pages on these points, demonstrating by facts the positions here assumed, but find COURSE OF EMPIRE. 31 SECTION I. COuRSE oF EMPIRE. In fulfillment of Noah's prediction, the scepter of empire, severally swayed by the three races, is now held by the Japhetic race. Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, refused to obey the order of settlement and dispersion given by God. He collected the people at Babel, and corrupted the religion of Shem, and became king of the state, and high priest of religion, and first instituted idolatry. He greatly oppressed the Shemites, seized upon their territories, and depressed the true religion. For a fall account of these matters, see Clarke's Comm., Josephus, and Enc. R. K., &c. The Hamites, however, retained their ascendency for a little time only, for God at Babel confounded the language of all the earth, and dispersed the people in the directions originally ordered. The various tribes that were scattered existed under the sway of petty chiefs, who were dignified by the name of kings; their empire was often limited by the walls of an insignificant town; Egypt and Damascus are, at this period, most prominent in history. As population increased, the kings in Asia began to gain more extensive sway, till the empire of:Nebuchadnezzar extended over three continents; its limits being the Atlantic on the west, India on the east, and Abyssinia on the south. His empire was followed by that of the Medes and ing they would swell our work beyond its intended size, we coneluded for the present to drop them out, and write a special work, devoted to these points alone. 82 COURSE OFB EMPIRE. Persians; the Medes being of Japhetic origin, and the Persians of Shemitic. This dominion was followed by the Grecian empire, and by the Roman, both of full blooded Japhetic origin. Thus the course of empire was from east to west. At the discovery of America, the north was settled by refugees from European tyranny, and principally by true Christians. A Christian empire has arisen here, with no king but God; and in the march of power has outstripped all nations, and will soon be the last seat of the world's empire. In this great contest of races for dominion, the black race and its varieties, all descended from Ham, early sunk into great inferiority and personal bondage to the other races, and so continues. The Shemnitic, or yellow race, also, after it dropped the scepter of empire, ceased to improve, and is vastly inferior to the white race. Thus has the great prediction been thus far fulfilled with precision. SECTION II. THtE MILLENNIAL EMPIRE. As the Japhetic race was to be enlarged and blessed with dominion over the whole world, and as this prediction is not fully verified, something yet remains to be accomplished. Now, as the scriptures declare a Millennium shall exist before the final judgment, and as the prediction of Noah embraces the world up to that time, and as Japhet was to be ruler over all at some period, and as but about a thousand years remains, it follows that Japhet will sway the scepter during the Millenium. This position is further verified by later prophets whose THE SECOND CURSE. 83 political predlictions are mostly limited to Europe and America. The position of the three races will be, Japhet first and head; Shem second; and Ham third. Equality of political rights will not be held in: common by the three races during the Millennium. Japhetites will give political equality only to Japhletites; Shemites to Shelmites; and Hamites to Hamites. This arrangement and no other will be incldorsed by Providence. Perhaps some little variation froin this order may obtain, but will not be general. The'Millennium is a political era of Christian republicanism, confined mainly to the white race. As a government, it will extend over Europe and America, and control the rest of the world, and gradually elevate the other races, and our country will lead. SECTION III. THE SECOND CURSE. The first curse, consisting in deterioration of the ground, and in labor and death, not being adequate to repress great rebellion against God, he again cursed the earth by a flood of waters, and by a diminution of the length of mortal life, and by a new curse of labor upon one third of the human race. This curse was however softened by a relief of labor to Shem and Japhet. As the curse of labor was originally inflicted on the whole race to drive them to the rest of the Messiah, and as it was adapted to the character and constitution of man before the flood, so the heavier curse of labor on a third part of the human race, was adapted to its constitution, and was needed by it to urge it to God and 34 THE SECOND CURSE. salvation. All evils inflicted on man are intended, in this life, to lead to reformation, so that no charge of injustice can be laid against God for inflicting greater evils upon one race than upon another, for God knows what is in man, and therefore knows what means are best to use to reform the world. No doubt that much of the original curse upon the whole human race will be mitigated by Christianity and its effects upon art, science, intelligence, and liberality; and, by consequence, we may expect the black race ultimately to share in these blessings during the millennial state. The entire removal of the curse on the whole human family will not transpire until the heavens and earth are relieved from the original curses pronounced upon them. The resurrection will take place by the removal of the curse of death, and then all labor will cease forever, and all political inequality be dispensed with. But, until then, the curses, though softened, will still abide. Then the " voice from the throne " shall say, " Behold, I make all things new, and there shall be no more curse." Japhet received the highest blessings from God; Shem was also blessed; and the voice of history has echoed the words of God, and declared that they were blessed; but Ham received gno blessig; and earth repeats that he has been unblessed; to be unblessed of God is to be subject to his curse; a negative of God is equivalent to a positive with men. PANORA0MA OF CHRISTIANITY. 38 CHAPTER III. PANORAIMA OF CHRISTIANITY AND OF THE WORLD. SECTION I. HIEBREw SYSTEM TYPICAL OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE -WORLD. THE whole Hebrew system is a typical one. It is chronologically divided into seven periods, beginning with the fathers, and ending with the kings. As a system of types, it possesses a double application. First: it represents the whole history of the world from [Noah's times to the establishment of the final kingdom. Secondly: it represents the full history of Christianity from the first advent to the second, inclusive. The first period is that of the fathers, embracing Isaac as a type of Christ; the second is that of the patriarchs, in which Jndah was a type of Christ; the third is that of the descent into Egypt, and union of the Hebrew family with the throne, in which Joseph was a type of Christ; the fourth is the bondage of Israel, in which the infant Moses was a type of the infant Jesus; the fifth is the exodus and organization of a church and state in the wilderness, in which the lawgiver Moses was a type of the lawgiver Christ; the sixth is the conquest and settlement of Canaan, in which Joshua was a type of Christ; and the seventh is the period of royalty, in which David was a type of Christ. 1. To this picture, the seven periods of the world's PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. history sublimely correspond, or will correspond when the cycle of its woes and triumphls is complete. The three fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, coincide with Shem, 1lam, and Japhet; the' twelve patriarchs correspond with the twelve sons of Shem and Japhet, who were the heirs of the world; the descent into Egypt, and the regal association of the Hebrews. conforms to the first great apostasy in the present earth, and the union of church and state at -Babel under Nimrod, or the descent into spiritual Egypt and Sodom; the Hebrew bondage coincides with the universal bondage of the world under paganism, and its evils of political bondage. The exodus and giving of the law, and organization of the Levitical church under Moses, coincide with Jesus Christ, the call of the Gentiles to the liberty of the gospel, the gospel laws, and the organization of the church of the true Israel, or Christianity. The conquest and republic in Canaan typified the conquest of absolutism, and the millennial republic in Europe and America, and its ascendency over the world. The completion of the conquest under the three kings, together with the royalty itself, coincide with the predicted conquest of the whole world, and the full establishment of the kingdom of God in the regenerated heavens and earth. 2. The three fathers typified the Holy Trinity, taught so plainly by the gospel; and the twelve patriarchs typified the twelve apostles. The descent into Egypt and union with the Egyptian throne, coincide with the descent of spiritual Israel into spiritual Egypt, or the union of the church of Christ's Israel with the throne of the Roman empire. PANORAMA OF CIIRISTIANITY. 87 The Hebrew bondage consequent upon the descent into Egypt coincides with the civ il and spiritual bondage suffered by spiritual Israel, after the union of church and state. The exodus from typical Egypt, the crossing a sea, the overthrow of Pharaoh's host, the general thanksgiving, the organization of a republican confederacy of thirteen tribes, composed of three millions of people; the adoption of a written constitution by the tribes; the separation of the church and state departments, their freedom from control of one by the other; their laws of servitude and naturalization, and their fill organization and deliverance under a noble leader, in a wilderness, have all a complete correspondence in the United States of America. The conquest of Canaan, the overthrow of its monarchies in two great battles under Joshua, and the firm establishment of republicanism on both sides of Jordan, represent the conquest of Absolutism in Europe in two great battles, and the establishment of the millennial republic on both sides of the Atlantic, in the land promised to Japhet. The choice of a royalty by the Hebrews, and the full conquest of the land of promise, " from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates," coincides with that period predicted by Daniel, i: which the saints shall take the kingdom, and give the kingdon and dominion to one like unto the Son of Man, who shall come to " the people of the saints " in the clouds of heaven. These expositions will doubtless be new to every one, for no one has hitherto attempted to explain the Hebrew types as a system, and but few of the parts of the system have ever been interpreted and applied. The field before us, like others we have ventured to explore, is an 38 PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. untrodden one, and our views should therefore be neither received nor rejected without reason; they may be new, yet antiquity of opinions does not prove their truth, nor is novelty always proof of error. Our expositions here harmonize most beautifully with our expositions of the prophets and doctrines of the bible, which would be impossible unless they were correct in all points, for error can not be harmoniously systematized. We are now in honor bound to show some fair reasons for these views, and we hope shall be as satisfactory to reasonable minds as the nature of the case will admit. In order to prove our points, we must possess some rule for testing a type, or of distinguishing it from an accidental resemblance. "_A type is an example, pattern, or general similitude to a person, event, or thing which is to come." The term type is sometimes synonymous with that of symbol. It then is " an abstract or compendium, a sign or representation of som:nething moral by the figures or properties of natural things." Among theological writers we find no complete rule laid down by which to identify types. Some things have been written upon them, but nothing very satisfactory to a thorough inquirer. Having, therefore, no rule given us by others- by which to be guided, we offer the following as truthful and sufficient: i. Those things, persons, or events in the ages prior to Christianity which were expressly arranged by immediate divine interference, either by remarkable providences or by miracle, may be regarded as types or symbols. 2. It is, and has been universally conceded in all ages of Christianity, that the whole Hebrew dispensation, PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. 39 together with the preceding dispensations to Noah and Adam, were typical dispensations, rather than realizing ones. 3. Those events, persons, and things in the dispensations prior to Christianity, and which have had their exact counterparts in the Christian dispensation, must be regarded as types. 1No accidental resemblances can ever be considered as types, for our principles require that the events or persons or things in the Christian age to be regarded as antitypes, must have resemblance not only in character but in the order of sequence. The typical dispensation being a system stretching over ages, its several types follow each other in regular order, and in the realizing age, the counterparts of the several types must follow each other in the same regular order. 4. Whatever the scriptures affirm to be a type, must be esteemed such. With these principles, our interpretation will be found fully to coincide. The three fathers were expressly arranged as a trinity by miraculous power or providence. Abram was divinely called to enter Canaan; Isaac was born by miraculous interposition; and Jacob was born in answer to the prayer of Isaac. Isaac, as the second person of this trinity of fathers, was offered as the only begotten son of his father on Mt. Moriah, and thus clearly typified the offering of the only begotten Son of God by his father. As Abram received Isaac as fiom the dead, and thus occurred the type of the resurrection of Christ, and of the dead in general, so God received Jesus from the dead, and he became the first fruits of them that slept. 40 PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANi:. The limiting of the fathers to the number three, shows that it was an intentional limitation, and being in a typical dispensation, plainly confirms the number as typical. Of course we are to look in the plan of redemption fbr the counterpart trinity of heads of a race. This counterpart or antitype is found only in the trinity of the three heads of the human race and in the divine trinity. The coincidence being perfect in each case, the type is realized in each. The humiliation of Ham, of Isaac, and of Christ is a trinal coincidence and wonderfully correct. The twelve patriarchs being a number clearly ordered by God, was unquestionably typical, and as every one subscribes to this truth, we need not argue the question. We therefore look into the plan of redemption to find its antitype, which must coincide in number of persons and in exact order of sequence after the three heads of a race. The sons of Shem, IHam, and Japhet were the natural inheritors of the promises to the three fathers, but as the sons of Haim were given to Japhet and Shem, as servants, the heirship of the world fell to the twelve sons of Shem and Japhet. The heirs of the three typical fathers in the above twelve heirs of the world find a striking coincidence. The twelve apostles chosen as the especial heirs of the kingdom of the Divine Trinity also plainly coincide with the twelve patriarchs. Christ said to the twelve apostles, that when his kingdom was fully established they should eat and drink at his table in his kingdom, and sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The term jeudging here used, has the sense of ruling or administering government; and the term Israel, means all the seed of Abraham redeemed by Christ, or all of the redeemed of the world. PANORAMA OF CHIRISTIANITY. 41 The descent into Egypt of the seventy souls of the patriarchs and famlilies, finds its coincidence in order and character of events, in the submission of the true people of God to the sway of Nimrod, and of the union of church and state under Constantine and Justinian. The union of Jacob's family with Pharaoh's in the throne of Egypt was divinely arranged, and it was really the union of the Hebrew Church with the Egyptian State: in this union the church was inferior to Pharaoh in the throne. The particulars of the coincidence between this union of church and state are not so clearly marked under the monarchy of Nimrod in history, but the fact of the subjection of God's people to him in the throne is as clear; and had we a full history of the matter, we mlight find the coincidence minutely perfect. The empire of Rome, St. John says, is " spiritually called Sodom and Egypt," and the descent of the Christians into union with Rome is therefore a clear counterpart or antitype of the union of the Hebrew Church with Egyptian royalty. For the likeness is perfect as to events, and the chronological order of the events is relatively the same. The bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt finds also a double coincidence in time and character in thle world's great history and in the history of Christianity. From the days of subjection to Nimrod, the people of the world have been in general bondage to regal governments and to Satan's spiritual power; and while one race of men have been bondclen, all have been servants of sin and Satan, as subjects of political and spiritual despotismls. The task-masters of the Hebrew heirs of 4 42 PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. promise, find their correspondence in the kings and princes of the earth. In the union of church and state, true religion was soon at a discount, and all the true seed of Abraham were grievously persecuted or destroyed. The destruction of the Hebrew infants was comparative kindness to the extensive butcheries of the children of truth in spiritual Egypt and Sodom. The deliverance from bondage, the constitutional law, and the journey or probation under the law in the wilderness, finds a double and sublime counterpart: 1. In the appearance of Christ as a second Moses, the new constitutional law he promulgated, and the long wilderness-like probation of his people in past ages. 2. In the passage of the sea by Christ's people, to the land of enlargement promised by God to Japhet, the establishment of the Christian constitution of the United States, and the testing of the ability of the people to uphold it, and be happy under it. The reader will not fail to note that the coincidence of the history of Israel with the world's general history, is seen principally in the larger features of the Hebrew system, and that in the narrower diameter of the Christian era the coincidence between Hebrew and Christian history is seen in a greater number of points. That Moses and Christ coincide, the scriptures affirm; and that the plan of the redemption of the world taught by Jesus Christ, began an exodus from spiritual and political bondage, which will ultimate in the release of the world, as Israel was released from Egypt, every one admits. The probation in the wilderness was needed to accustom the people to new laws based upon PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. 43 democratic principles, and the democratic principles of Christianity needed to be tried by the world a long season, in order to be appreciated, and ultimately adhered to with tenacity. Hence we read that "the woman fled into the wilderness from the face of the dragon for a time times and half a time." The ceremonial law, given in connection with the moral and political law or constitution, is affirmed by scripture to have been typically illustrative of the Christian system. The book of Hebrews gives the philosophy of the ceremonial law, and teaches that the whole Hebrew economy was " a shadow of good things to come," "a figure for the time then present." As therefore the bondage was followed by the scheme of Israel's redemption, so the universal bondage of the world was followed by the scheme of the world's redemption. When Israel sighed by reason of oppression, and was willing to change its condition, and called to mind the promises, then a deliverer came; and when the world sighed for relief, and was willing to hear of a change, then a calm filled the earth, and expectation looked for some great event; then angels heralded the "' desire of all nations," and the star of the east hung over Bethlehem. Secondly; the exodus from Egyptian bondage, the organization of a democratic confederacy, and the probation under it till the conquest of Canaan, were typical of the exodus of the Christians and liberalists from spiritual Ecgypt to America, the organization of the democratic confederacy of the United States, and their probation under a demnocracy up to the time of the conquest of absolutism and the Millennium. 44 PANORAMA OF CllRISTIANITY. The coincidences between these two great periods are more numerous than between any other typical and antitypical period whatever, excepting that of the same typical period and the epoch of Christianity. We may premise here, that it should be specially recollected that like things always typify their like: thus, a person used as a type typifies a person; an event typifies an event; a thing typifies a thing; a country typifies a country; a period typifies a period; a church typifies a church; a state typifies a state; a bondage typifies a bondage; a deliverance typifies a deliverance; a probation typifies a probation; a war typifies a war; a priest typifies a priest, and a king typifies a king. We now notice, more at large, the points of correspondence between the Hebrew period of deliverance and the Christian period. I. Tile children of' "the free woman," or Hebrews, were freed by the exodus from the servitude of Egypt; and so the children of the free woman or Christian liberalists, were, by the great exodus to America, freed from the bondage of " spiritual Egypt and Sodom." Let it ever be fixed in the mind, that Christians are the seed of Abraham, or the free woman, and full heirs of the promises. 2. The Hebrews were pursued by the oppressor, and he was vanquished; and so the liberalists were pursued by the oppressor, and he was vanquished. 3. The HIebrewNs crossed a sea to get rid of bondage, and so did the Christians in coIning to America. 4. The I-ebrews sought the land promised to their paternal head, and so the Christians, in their exodus to Ami-erica, came to the land promised to Japhet, their paternal head. PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. 45 5. At the destruction of the Egyptian tyrant's forces, Israel decreed a general thanksgiving to God, and so when the modern Pharaoh was defeated, a general thanksgiving was decreed by the American Congress. Songs and shouts, and all the demonstrations of exultation, joined with Miriam to celebrate Jehovah's name, and so songs and shouts, bonfires, illuminations, ringing of bells, tears of rapture, devout worship, and lofty thanksgiving celebrated the same Jehovah's praise through all our land. The Hebrew exodus was a short period, but the American one extends firom 1607 to 1783. 6. According to Dr. Adam Clarke, and others, the number of the Hebrews that escaped from bondage was about three millions; and the number of people in the revolutionary colonies, in 1776, was about three millions. 7. The sea was friozen when the Hebrews reached the safe side, and the Pilgrim Fathers found a frozen sea, and a snow covered shore, when they landed in America. This may or may not have been an accidental, and not a providential correspondence. 8. The Hebrews were organized as a confederacy of thirteen tribes, and so there were thirteen colonies providentially organized into a Christian confederacy. Israel's tribes are called twelve, but out of Joseph there sprung two tribes who received an inheritance, thus making thirteen. It is also remarkable, that William Penn was proprietor of two colonies, Pennsylvania and Delaware. As Joseph was imprisoned, and yet had a double and birthright portion on account of his virtue, so William Penn suffered imprisonment for his virtue, 46 PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. and yet had a double portion of the great anti-typical Israel. 9. The Hebrew exodus was into a wilderness which was to be inherited as a part of tile promised land; and so the exodus of the Christians was to a wilderness, which was a noble portion of Japhet's promised inheritance. 10. The Hebrew confederacy was organized into a "more perfect union" after the exodus, by adopting a written democratic constitution: and so the confederate colonies, after the war of independence, " in order to form a more perfect union," adopted a written representative democratic federative constitution. The HIebrew constitution was submittecl to the tribes for acceptance and ratification; and so was the American constitution. It is not a little remarkable, that the Hebrew and American constitutions are the only two written ones ever known to have been adopted at the birth of any nationality, prior to 176. 11. The Hebrew nationality grew out of the IIebrew church, or the seed of Abraham; and so the American nationality grew out of the Christian church, and the seed of Abraham. All of the Americans were not Christians at the framing of the constitution, and so were not all of the Hebrews pious, as their culpable unbelief shows. Yet the unbelieving Hebrews enjoyed the same political benefits as did the faithful, and so it was with the Americans. About one hundred and fbrtyfour thousand Christians were in America at the Revolution, yet the prevalence of Christian maxims and principles was universal, and the virtuous political principles avowed by the Christians were adopted by all classes. PANORnAMAA OF CHRISTIANITY. 47 12. Church and state were disunited by the Hebrew constitution and placed in the relation of associates. The church was debarred, as a church, from exercising direct control in civil affairs, and so it was in the American constitution. Miany persons have either ignorantly or willfully mistaken the relations which the Hebrew church and state held to each other. Some mistakes may have occurred on account of the fact, that, as some laws were alike political and spiritual, it was supposed consequently that all laws were so. The Sabbath, the Sabbatic and jubilee years, and the rite of circumcision, were regulations of both a spiritual and secular nature. But with ts the Sabbath illustrates the case of these laws, for we regard it as both a sacred and a secular institution: as a secular institution, its observance is compelled as a day of repose to wearied nature, and to prevent oppressors from grinding the poor to death by ceaseless toil; and also to give vigor to the general operations of society by the universal refreshment it bestows. The civil arm has with us no right to compel its observance as a spiritual institution, and should have none. Precisely so was it in the Hebrew law. The civil power was not the head of the Hebrew church, as the monarchs of Rome, Russia, and England have been of the Roman, Greek, and English churches.. Neither the Shaphetim nor kings of Israel could appoint a high priest of the church; nor could the priesthood compel the paying of tithes, or the offering of sacrifices, nor require the secular arm to do it. In spiritual matters the HIebrew was responsible only to God and to the ecclesiastical law of the church, and was in no way responsible to civil authority for his spiritual conduct. 48 PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. Now the United States Constitution puts religion ill just the same relation to civil authority that God ordered it, in the days of Moses. The disunion of church and state is the great prophetic epoch of liberty and progress according to both Daniel and St. John. It is the beginning of the end of despotism, and when it fully prevails the " time of the end" will close, and despotism will forever cease on earth. The two separate departments of religion and politics in the Hebrew confederacy exactly coincide with these two departments in our country. 13. The political offices of the H-Iebrews were elective, and not hereditary, and so it is in our government. 14. Their government was not originally an aristocratic republic; the people decided in general assembly all questions of war, treaties, and peace, and Moses always appealed to the whole, and not to the few aristocrats, to accept or reject his propositions. Josephus says it was an aristocratic republic, but it is plain that he must speak of the executive department of the government, and not of the legislative. We might in a similar manner call our government an aristocratic republic. The term aristocratic meant, anciently, the best; it now signifies, in an odious sense, the wolrst. 15. The people of Israel chose God as their only king, and renounced allegiance to all other monarchs by acclamation, and so did the people of the United States. 16. The Hebrew constitution recognized the institution of Hametic bondage, and so does the American constitution. 17. The Hebrew constitution forbid foreigners ever becoming supreme magistrates, and so does the American. PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. 49 18. The HIebrew constitution provided for the naturalization of foreigners, and so does the American, but not so strictly. These coincidences between the exodus of Israel and that of the Christians, are of the most extraordinary nature if we take them singly, but when taken together they are nothing less than miraculous. The sixth period of Hebrew history, which includes the conquest of Canaan and establishment of the republic, coincides with the sixth period of the world, and the sixth of Christianity, or with the Millennium. The great points in this period particularly noticeable are these: first, the conquest of Canaan was completed by two great battles; secondly, the conquest of Canaan under Joshua and the Judges did not embrace all of the promised land. The promise extended from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates, and was not realized till the days of Solomon. The prophets assure us that the monarchies of the Japhetic race shall be broken in two great battles at the conquest by Liberty, and hence the war for possession of Canaan by republican Israel, coincides with the predicted war of the Christian republicans for possession of the territories of Japhet, and the two great battles and victories of Joshua coincide with the two predicted battles in the war for liberty. These two battles are pointeci out by St. John in the 14th chapter of Revelation, and in other places. The first is indicated by "One like unto the Son of Man " on a white cloud who "thrust in his sickle on thc earth and the earth was reaped;" and the second bythe reaping of the vine of the earth, and its being casl into the wine-press without the city, and the blood 5 50 PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. coming out of it " even unto tile horse bridles, by the space of sixteen hundred ilriongs." And again John says, that three agencies went iorth to gather all the kings of the earth to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, and that they assembled at a place called Armageddon. Ite then, after a short episode, describes the United States and the attack of thle confederate kings upon it, and states that the beast or Russian power was taken, and that Great Britain or the False Prophet was taken at the same time. The reaping of the earth signifies the destruction of European monarchy, and the reaping of the vine indicates the dreadful flow of blood at the iall of the British throne. As all thrones in Canaan fell belore carnal Israel to make room for the republic, so all thrones must fall before Christian Israel to make room for the great millennial republic. Let sceptics smile at our sinplicity in writing the doom of European thrones: yet let them be serious as they hear Daniel the prophet saying, " I beheld till the thrones were cast down," and "became like the chaff of the summer tlllhreslling-floors, and the wind carried them away, and there was no place fiund for them." The world was promised to Abraham as truly as was Canaan, and Canaan was but typical of the world. A country typifies a country, and a people typify a people; and so the blacks of Canaan under a curse, represented mankind depraved and under a curse, and spread over the whole earth promised to "' the children of the free woman." The conquest of a large part of Canaan was, therefore, typical of the conquest of a large portion of the earth; and as a republic typified a republic, the commonwealth established in a great part of PANOIAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. 51 Canaan, typifies a commonwealth erected over a great part of the earth. Now, tile Mliillennium is clearly a state of the world in which a portion of it only is emlbraced under the realizing blessings of civil and religious republicanism, as we shall hereafter show. The state of thile world after the Millennium, has generally been confoiunded withl it. The seventh period of Hebrew history coincides with the seventh of the world and of Christianity. This period is that in which the republic was changed to a monarchy by the universal voice of the people. During the reign of a trinity of monarchs, the promised land was all taken from the foe, a capital of the kingdomn was selected, and a te-mple of transcendent glory was raised, and the Hebrews attained the zenith of splendor. As like typifies its like, tlls royalty typified a royalty, and the i-ill conquest, under it, of all the typically promised land, typified thle full conquest of the world under the final royalty of Christ. Now, prophecy declares that the people shall at last give up thie government of the world to thle Son of -Man, who shall come in thie clouds of heaven, and thlat he shall destroy all the wicked, shall renew the world, and reign for ever amlong men. It further says that the capital of the redeemed world shall descend out of heaven to the earth; and it will hold the same relation to all the world that old Jerusaleml did to Canaan. We have noiw briefly pointed out the great coincidences between the seven periods of the world fi'rom Noah to the final redlelnption, and the seven leriols of Christianity. Wte hlave by no means descended to notice the minute resemblances between Christianity and Hebraism 52 PANORAMA OF CHRISTIANITY. as religious type and anti-type, which fully accord with our expositions; we hlave refirained from touching them for want of space, and because they have been largely set forth by others. We might have gone further, perhaps, in pointing out the coincidence of the later Hebrew history with Christianity, but shall hereafter advert to it. One point more and we shall close these coincidences. It may be inquired why we have a right to give seven periods to Hebrew history rather than any other number. To this query we reply, first, that the periods we have given are plainly great ones, and are marked out as such by nature or providence. Secondly, each of these periods is also marked by a clear type of Messiah. Thus in the first period, that of the fathers, Isaac was clearly a type of Christ. In the second, or that of the patriarchs, Judah was a type of Christ. The scepter was not to depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver, until Shiloh came, and he was to be the " Lion of the tribe of Judah." In the third period, Joseph is called "the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel," and is allowed by all to prefigure Christ most graphically. In the fourth period, the infant Moses prefigures the infant Jesus. As Pharaoh decreed the destruction of HIebrew infants, so did Herod; and as Moses was providentially preserved, so was Christ; and as Moses came unto his own and they received him not, so did Christ. In the fifth period, Moses, as a prophet, declares that he was a type of our Lord; and in the sixth period, Joshua prefigured Jesus according to St. Paul, and in the seventh period, David was certainly the type of his Son Jesus. PHILOSOPHY OF THE HEBREW SYSTEM. 53 SECTION II. PHILOSOPHY OF TIE HEBREW SYSTEM. The Hebrew system being typical of the plan of the world's redemption, the philosophy of its history becomes the philosophy of the world's redemption. The Hebrew system was the preparative of Christianity. It filled but a small space in the world, though it was long in its duration. It was not an aggressive system upon the world at large; its area of action was a mere patch of the great globe, a quiet oasis in the bosom of the limitless desert around it; it was a star, which in the darkened heavens moved slowly before the coming of the sun it presaged; it was the shadow thrown forward by the coming throne of God; the dim but true outline of the age that was approaching; it was the mirage picture of the world, through all ages. We may here observe that all Christians agree that the Hebrew dispensation was not a realizing one, excepting as it was such incidentally. The land of Canaan was a land of promise, therefore, only as a type of the world; and as it was promised to Abram, so the world was promised to Christ. That Abram understood the promise of Palestine as a typical one, is evident from the nature of the case, and from the express declarations of scripture. St. Paul says, of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, and multitudes of the ancient believers, that " These all died in the faith, not having received the promises. But now they desire a better country; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. 54 PHILOSOPHY OF THE HEBREW SYSTEM. For he (Abraham) looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Here the inheritance of Canaan is clearly seen not to be the realization of the prormise of God to Abram and his seed, but a mnere shadow of " an enduring substance," and of " a better inheritance." Thle modern -writers on the prophecies claim that Palestine is all that God ever prollised to Abranm, and thlus they circumscribe the promises of the world's regeneration within a nutshell, and carnalize them all. For such narrow and antiscriptural tenets we have no chality; they are earthy, sensual, supercilious, heady, and degrading; they are too derogatory to the character of the Savior of a world to be entertained for a mloment. As Abraham had a claim on Palestine when he had no family to occupy it, so Christ had a claim to the world when he had no seed as yet to possess it; and as the accursed seed of -Iam in the mean time piratically occupied Canaan, so the accursed seed of the serpent possessed the world. To occupy Canaan, the seed of Abrallam must increase in numbers sufficient to be organized into a nation; and so to possess the wcrld, the children of Messiah must increase in numbers sufficient to be organized into a nationality strong enough to conquer and govern it; and as God expressly promised nationality to Abraham's carnal seed, so did lie equally promise nationality to the seed of Christ, or Abraham's spiritual seed. The division of Abraham's seed into a confederacy of twelve states, or tribes, seems to have conformed to tle twelve divisions of the world, and of the material and spiritual universe, and of the final kingdom. PHILOSOPHY OF THE HEBREW SYSTEM. 55 To keep the seed of Abrallam unmixed with foreign blood, the rite of circumcision was instituted, and the race was of a fair, or white complexion. A rapid increase of population was also desirable, and also a firm unity of the confederate tribes. These two great ends were readily accomplished by the ibur hundred years' bondage in Egypt. When the fillmily of Abraham was small, and wandered in Palestine and claimed its territory, the hostility of powerful foes would easily be engendered, and they might easily have become the prey of powerful adversaries, or their unity might have been early lost. To prevent these evils, and "to save mucel people alive,' God provided them a shelter and protector in time powerful monarchy of Egypt. In Egypt the climate was highly favorable to fecundity, and to the support of a large population; it being a tropical country, and luxuriant in food. In addition to these things, they were made the slaves of the country, and thus, firom the efiects of labor, they multiplied but the more rapidly. Such was the rapidity of their increase, that seventy persons had a posterity of three millions in four hundred years. No other instance of such rapid multiplication of our species can be ilund in any age. Again, as the Hebrews were originally shepherds, they were an abomination to the Egyptians, and, of course, an amalgamnation of Hebrew and Egyptian blood would not take place while a mntual antipathy existed between them. In addition to this, as the- HIebrews were foreigners, and spoke a different language, had a widely different religion, and rites, and mode of worship; as they hated idolatry, and were of a different color from 56 PHILOSOPHY OF THE HEBREW SYSTEM. the Egyptians, and as the Egyptians were exceedingly cruel to them, they must have despised each other most cordially, so that a common fusion between them was rendered morally impossible. The Hebrews being common sufferers, would naturally possess common sympathies, and, of course, would be confederated by the strongest of all human ties, and would be ready to make common cause against their oppressors. The very existence of the Hebrews having grown more and more bitter as they multiplied, they at length became ripe for revolt from bondage, and ready to set up an independent government of their own. Had their condition been an easy one in Egypt they would never have consented to leave it for Canaan. We find that few of the Babylonian captives ever returned to Canaan, on account of the ease they enjoyed in Babylon. The Hebrews in Egypt had also learned to hate every thing in the shape of monarchy, and longed for unrestrained freedom, so that they were in a pretty good state of mind to embrace a democracy. Their religion had been very simple in its ordinances, and in connexion with their great exodus from bondage they were prepared to receive one that was more gorgeous and imposing than that of the hated Egyptians. Prepared as they were in feeling and wishes for a free commonwealth, they were yet unfitted for it practically. It was therefore needful that a provisional republic should be established under a dictator, and that they should serve a probation under the new constitution and under the oversight of a wise and truly patriotic leader. Hence we easily see the reason fobr the forty years'proba-ijon in the wilderness. PHILOSOPHY OF TIE HEBREW SYSTEM. 57 In the early part of this period the people were wild and extravagant in their action, and were at times ready to return to Egyptian despotism, bnut in the end the ultraists were calmled down, and all found the new "yoke easy and its burden light." As soon as the experiment had proved successill they were ready to enter Canaan and sustain the republic permanently. As Canaan was fil of squatters and land-pirates, its possession was necessarily to be gained by iorce. Now as Israel had a divine right to the soil, they had an unquestionable right to occupy it, and as there was no arbiter in the case, an appeal to force was right and expedient and absolutely necessary. When states belong to a common confederacy they must appeal to the general government to secure their rights, but when no such general government exists, then nations must gain their rights by their own arem; they mnust redress their wrongs by the sword when none will arbitrate justly. Israel had a right to the soil of Canaaln, a divine and unrelinquished right; he had been forced by famine to quit it fobr a season, and while gone after bread he had been seized and enslaved, and therefore his title to Canaan was strictly valid, and as none would give him possession of his patrimony it was righteous in him to lay hold of it vi et armwis. To such as deny God's right in the soil, our view will seem preposterous: and some would say, " Let Israel do without his patrimony rather than go to war, and leave the matter with God and he will settle it at last." Such talk is all fustian. Nations are temporal existences, their rewards and rights and punishments are as nations, all this side hell and heaven, and as God pointed out the sword to Israel to gain his divine rights as a nation, 68 PHILOSOPHY OF THE HEBREW SYSTEM. so he points it out to all other nations in the same condition. The bible teaches us as individuals under the same government to do good to our enemies, and yet it requires us to have them brotught to punishment for tihe common good of society. To make an enemy do right is no evidence of a want of love to him, provided we do not do it from pure hatred of him, rather than of his wickedness. So to make wicked nations and tyrants do right is no proof of want of true love to their souls, even if we have to break their power to atoms. God commands us to sanctify war. As the commonwealth of Israel was composed of two departments, viz,, the church and the state, and as like typifies its like, the church of Israel typified the Christian church, and the Hebrew state typified the Christian state, and both together typified the Christian commonwealth that was to rise in 1776, and to be completed by the Millennium. If we trace the rise of Christianity into a great free government in America we shall find the philosophy of its history in a fcc-s8imile of the rise of the Hebrew confederacy in its great elements. As the Hebrew people were at first few and feeble, so were the Christians; as the twelve families of Jacob were united into a family confederacy, so were the difibrent branches of the family of' Christ united into a great confederacy as early as the third century, and as a social government existed in embryo among the Hebrew fiamilies, so did a great social government in like manner exist among the Christians. As the Hebrews found protection from destruction, and enjoyed repose for a while from union with the PHILOSOPHY OF THE HEBREW SYSTEM. 59 throne of Egypt, so did the Christians find repose from the attack and destruction of their foes by a union with the throne of spiritual Egypt. As the climate and soil of Egypt, together with its bondage, served to produce finally a numerous and hardy race of people, so the country of Europe especially was favorable soil for the growth of Christianity, and the hard bondage of spiritual Egypt served but to mold into the noblest forn the souls of the advocates of liberty and true religion. As the customs of the Hebrews were an abomination to the Egyptians, so the religious rites and customs of the faithful and spiritual circumcision were, and still are, an abomination to spiritual Sodom. As common suffering in Egypt produced a common sympathy, and cemented the common brotherhood into a resolve to unite to sustain a common cause, so a common lot as sufferers led the faithful to sympathize with each other, and to coalesce in union to sustain common liberty and independence. Freedom is but a common body. as truly as true religion; if you strike one member, all of the others sympathize with it. Let the cry of the oppressed in any portion of the old world reach America, and every one of its millions of nerves are agitated, and all its pulses beat with excitement and indignation. As the climax of the sufferings of the Hebrews rallied them around their leader for deliverance, so the climax of oppression on the American colonies instantly united them by elective and electric affinity. It was then that separate and independent provinces were melted like ingots of gold into a state of common fusion, or were welded like bars of steel by the'fire and the 60 PHILOSOPHY OF THE HEBREW SYSTEM. hammer of despotism. And as the pride of Pharaoh wrought unwittingly the release of Israel, so the pride of monarchy brought out the stars of the great western constellation into the heavens of liberty. As Israel entered a wilderness to stand its probation under a new constitution, so the advocates of civil and religious freedom entered the American wilderness to try the fortunes of a great republic. As Israel elected God for its King, so did America; as Israel was prepared to conquer Canaan by its discipline, and to maintain a great republic, so the United States in the wilderness is preparing to dash the great image of aristocracy to atoms, and to establish the Millennium. As Israel had its judges or shaphetim, or chief magistrates, nominated by God and allowed by the people, so the people of our country choose their own executives. As many people in the American colonies were not pious, and yet approved of the liberty taught by Christianity, so many of the Hebrews were unbelieving in the religion of Moses, and yet approved and contended for the justness of constitutional liberty. Those who imagine that anti-typical Israel was to be composed of pure and holy men altogether, are greatly mistaken. On this principle, the Hebrew church, as a type, would have required that every member of the anti-typical or Christian church should have been holy. As the church of anti-typical Israel possessed true doctrine, though many who belonged to it were and are impure, so the commonwealth of anti-typical Israel possess the true doctrines of human government, though many who enjoy its benefits are not true Christians. In the end of -time, -the angels shall gather -out of-the government of PHILOSOPHY OF THE HEBREW SYSTEM. 61 anti-typical Israel, or " out of the kingdom, all things that offend, and therm that cZo inizquity." The growth of freedom, spiritual and civil, is necessarily gradual, as is the growth of an oak fiom an acorn. Men generally over the world, in past ages, and two thirds of them in the present age, have been, and are, as unfit for republicanism as the wicked are for heaven. It is a received maxim, that " the best form of governient for any people, is thee best that its ppresent moral and social cozdition renders practiccble." A democracy can not exist without a high state of morals and intelligence blended together; we repeat it, they must both exist together. Their general attainment, at the greatest speed, must be comparatively slow. The general prevalence of democracy over the whole earth, will, therefore, be gradual, and will be attended in its nmarch with the total extinction of some inferior races, as for instance, the Mexicans, and islanders of the Pacific. Europe is in a better state to receive republicanism than Asia or Africa, and yet Europe is far below the standard of the requirements of the case. Miorality and intelligence are there retarded by the union of church and state, or by civil and spiritual monarchy. These barriers must be broken before Europe can move another step toward republicanism. It must be fused by the melting bolts of universal revolution, and its dross be thrown off like the cinders of a blast furnace, before it can hope for much. It must then have a groeat leading power, in whom it can repose confidence, as a guide to republican exaltation. No guide in such a case can be safe, but one who has tried the experiment on a grand and successfil scale. America, therefore, is the natural hope of European 62 COLLATERAL TYPES. freedom. It may seem like jesting now to speak as we do of our thrashing European monarchly to atoms, but in twenty-five years it will be a past reality. The chanyge of republicanism at last into monarchy, under Christ, is a theme we reserve for another place. SECTION III. COLLATERAL TYPES. In the Hebrew system are several collateral types or symbols worthy of attentive consideration. Among these we may mention specially, the dual types of Hagar and Ishmael, Sarah and Isaac, Moses and Aaron, or the IIebrew church and state, and civil and religious governments of Canaan, and the two pillars of the temple, Joachimn and Boaz. 1. Icagar and Lhimael. These were typical of the serpent and his seed, or of the religious and civil power of Satan. "For it is written, Abraham had two sons; the one by a bondmaid, and the other by a fiee woman. He who was of thle bondwoman was born atter the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory; for these are the two covenants; the one from Mlit. Sinai, which gendereth to bondagce, which is Agar. For this Acrar is AIt. Sinai in Arabia, which answereth to Jerusaletn, which now is, and is in bondage with h.lr chlildren. Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are thle children of promise. As then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now." COLLATERAL TYPES. 63 -Here the free and the bondwoman are said to figure the two covenants, or the religion of clead works, or of Satan, and the religion of faith in Christ. The two sons of these women, also, are said to be figures; and of course are different in signification from the women. If we now look at the original affirmnation of God to the serpent, we find that Sarah and Isaac coincide with "Cthe woman and her seed," and that HIagar and Ishmael coincide with the serpent and his seed, and, by consequence, they severally represent the two departments of the kingdom of God, and the two departments of the kingdom of Satan. 2. We see again the two departments of the kingdom of God represented by Moses and Aaron, who were the respective heads of the two departments of the commonwealth of Israel. As the kingdom of Israel was really a kingdlom of' God, and as it was typical of the final kingdom of Israel, its two departments must have their respective parallels in the coming kingdom, otherwise tlhe type would be an imperfect one, which -would be an unanswerable supposition. 3. Tile two pillars of the porch of Solomon's temple were typical, for all the parts of the temple were so, and as there is nothing with which they coincide except the dual law and dual government of God, it follows that they represented these. Indeed, the duality of such a multitude of symbols, in the scripture, all referring to the plan of salvation, is an insuperable argument from analogy to prove that God intended proninently to present the dual character of his kingdom. 4. The bondage of' the Ilamuitic race in the fmlily of Abraham, and the Hebrew commonwealth, were alike 64 ISRAEL. typical of the final inferiority of Satan's power at the possession of the world by Christianity. Hagar and Eliezer, the one an Egyptian and the other a Damascene, were of the Hamitic, or accursed race, so were all the bondmen of the Hebrews. This truth is deducible from the fact, that Haagar, the Egyptian, was a bondlmaid, and, with her son, typified the old covenant of works. It is not a little remarkable, that the family of Ishmael, like that of Jacob, was divided into twelve branches, from his twelve sons. "Their hand against every mlan," is a faithfuil portraiture of the sin-power of Satan. CHAPTER IV. ISRAEL RESTORED IDENTICAL WITH THE UNITED STATES. THE proposition of the world's redemption was stated to Adam; the divisions of the subject were announced by Noah; the subdivisions were treated of by succeeding prophets; fulfillment has illustrated each point, and the trump of God and the voice of the archangel will eloquently close the subject. As our purpose is to outline the prophetic system, and to amplify on those themes only which are of deepest interest to our own times, we shall take up only the prophecies whicli affirm the restoration of Israel to nationality in the latter day. The Jews and speculative theologians have for near eighteen hundred years, believed that Israel would be restored to nationality in Palestine, and that it would then ISRAEL. 65 become the head of the whole world, and be the great agent in its Christianization. We protest against this theory, because it is absurd, fanatical, and repugnant to scripture, as well as to common sense. We believe that the carnal Israel will be, to a certain extent, Christianized, and that it will re-settle in Palestine, and form an integral portion of the Millennial republic, but that it will have no superiority at all over the other Christian states of the Millennial confederacy; we think it will simply be a common beneficiary of good government, as all other Christian states will be. WAe further believe the United States to be the first fruits of the promised restoration of Israel, and that the Millennial republic will be the salvation of " all Israel," politically speaking. To confirm our views, we submit the following arguments. SECTION I. ABSURDITY OF THE COMMON THEORY. This theory, which we have briefly stated, is too well understood to require an enumeration of its points. It has been, and still is, advocated by many learned men; but "great men are not always wise," and "learned men, when they err, err egregiously." Our objections lie against the theory, however, and not against its supporters, and are as follows: First. The geographical position of Palestine is not such as to favor its claim to be the ultimate capital of the world. The capital of the world should be so located as to be easy of access to all nations, and should be above them, or higher than all other portions of the globe. 2 66 UNITED STATES. This can by no means be said of Palestine, which is difficult of access, and has scarcely any one commanding natural feature to recommend it as the physical head of the globe. America is the only country on earth that can by possibility lay any claim to be its natural capital. The researches of Lieut. Maury have demonstrated that, by wind and wave, it is down stream from our country to all the world; and that all nations must ascend to it to reach it. With an ocean on either hand, its power can descend with celerity to every country on the sphere; and that, too, fi'om even the deepest interior of our territory. Seconzd. It is absurd to suppose that Palestine can be the agricultural capital of the world. It is a very small country, say about the size of some of the counties of our own states; it is broken by mountains, and has but a very small tract of arable land, and under the highest state of cultivation could export comparatively few products, and no great variety even of them. Hlow could it therefore compare with America! how could the little valley of Jordan compete with the shores of the Amazon! or the vale of Jehoshaphat with the valley of the Mississippi! We need not argue this point any farther, for the very thought of Palestine being the agricultural head of the world is repugnant to common sense. Thi/rd. It is absurd to suppose that Palestine can ever become the conmmnercial capital of the world. In selecting Palestine as the type of the great Israel, God chose a country without temptations to commerce, lest the people should be scattered and amalgamated, and lose their Hebraic identity. A commercial head of the UNITED STATES. 67 world, should be a country of great agricultural and mineral wealth; it should have fine harbors, and many of them, and should be accessible on all sides round. But none of these things can be said of Palestine. Sidon, and Acre, and Joppa are all on one side of its coast, and are comparatively insignificant havens. Without vast productiveness in a country, assisted by good harbors, a commercial headship is utterly impossible, and hence to talk of Old Canaan being the commercial center of the great nations of the earth is all gammon. Fo-urt/h. l'alestine can not be the manufacturing head of the world, for it has no natural facilities for such an ascendency. FiftZh. It can not become the intellectual head of the world. Art and science can flourish only where the resources of a country demand their cultivation to develop its native wealth; and in proportion to the diameter of a country's natural advantages, so will be its intellectual advancement, under a free constitution. And certainly, then, little Palestine can not compete with Europe or the Americas. Neither can it be claimed that the Jews are superior in native genius to the white race generally, since, unaided by inspiration, they have not been equal in intellectual manifestations of power to the Greeks, Romans, French, English, or Americans. Besides this, the white race has, and will continue to have, as great stimulus and as many collateral aids to intellectual culture as the Jews can ever hope to attain. We can think, and invent, and discover, and learn, and write, and print, and read as much as the Jews possibly can; and it is all fustian to talk otherwise. 68 UNITED STATES. Sizxt. The Jews can not become the political head of the world in Palestine. It requires the greatest elements of power to hold the scepter of the world's dominion. Vast national resources, vast territory, commerce, agriculture, manufactures, and improvements, with great enterprise, must combine with the mightiest intelligence, and the greatest moral power, to rule the world in its present state of advancement; and these, in the highest degree, Palestine, from the very nature of its locality, limits, and native qualities, can never possess. When the world was far less potent than it is now, and was more easy to be controlled, Judea possessed the most insignificant political influence in it; and if, under better advantages, it was a mere cipher in the political world, it certainly, under worse advantages, will not become the head of it. It is most ridiculous to think of such a thing. Will Russia, Britain, Germany, France, and America become the vassals of the Jews? will they give their scepter to a patch of country that could not supply the world with cabbage; and to a people that can never become their mental and political superiors l The very thought is full of absurdity and flnaticism. If it be contended that this result of supremacy is to occur through miraculous agency, we answer that no promise of such agency exists, and the belief in it is a species of Aillerism, and equally as fanatical, though a little more popular. It is averred by some advocates of the theory, who feel its absurdity, that Christ himself will appear and reign in person, in Palestine, and will come at the war of Armageddon. We reply, that Christ says no such thing, but, on the contrary, affirms that his UNITED STATES, 6 second advent will not occur till'" after that tribulation of those dclays be ended." Seventh. It is claimed that the Jews, restored t, Palestine, will be the spiritual head of the world. AWV reply that such a notion is all moonshine, for Christians are to be the spiritual head of the world, and not cai;na: Israel. The Christians in America have all the revelhttion the Jews can have; they have the Bible, whice contains all that God will reveal till the second advent. and they can know as much about it as the Jews canll they can print as much as the Jews in Palestine woul; be able to do; they pray as much, preach as much, and worship God as devoutly, and also possess as much zeal as the Jews ever did, or ever will; so that there is not a single chance for the Jews to become their superiors, much less their head. Eighth. The theory of the carnal restoration requires that the ten lost tribes, as well as Judah and Benjamrin, shall be reunited in Palestine, at the restoration. Now this is utterly impossible, without a resurrection of the dead; for the existence of the ten tribes, at the present day, can not by any means be proved. It is said that traces of them exist in Asia, but traces are not tribes, and the Jews in Asia are, no doubt, the descendants of the dispersed of the two tribes, and not of the ten. Tihe truth is, the ten tribes were prone to amalgamation with the heathen, and for this reason they were ejected altogether from Canaan; and were in a few centuries almost entirely lost by amalgamation, and certainly have lost their identity as ten tribes, long ago. by mingled blood. To UNITED STATES. Ninet&. Were the Jews to be Christianized, then the Hebrew ceremonial law would cease to be a wall of separation between them and Gentile Christians. Circumcision, and other rites, and especially the law or custom forbidding marriage with Gentiles, would cease, and all essential difference between them and Gentile converts would have an end. Amalgamation would follow, and the distinctive ethnological character of Ilebrews would also cease. To all these things it is replied, that the word of Goddeclares the restoration of Israel, and " every word of God standeth sure." We most cordially admit the proposition, but deny that prophecy ever proclaimed the occurrence of events that are repugnant to common sense. Indeed, any interpretation of God's word that brings from it a theory really at variance with the laws of nature and good sense, is, to say the best of it, a false interpretation. The Hebrews were a typical people; typical of the Christians; and what purpose is to be subserved by the reconstruction of a typical people? The whole plan of the world's redemption to the judgment is revealed to us, and in that plan, the restoration of carnal Israel, as the head of the world, can be seen to answer no useful purpose. If it be said, as it is, by theorizers, that the Jews are to be the great instruments of the conversion of the world, we answer that such a position is the depth of absurdity. For St. Paul says: "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my UNITED STATES. 71 covenant unto them."-Rom. xi. MHere the conversion of the Gentile world is plainly seen to transpire before that of the Jews, and also that the church from among the Gentiles is to be the agent to convert the Jews; and the Jews are to be the last people converted to the gospel. How absurd, then, it must be, to say that the Jews, restored to Palestine, are to convert the Gentile world. The covenant here stated, speaks only of the spiritual restoration of Israel, and not of a restoration to Palestine. The restoration to God is as different a thing from restoration to Palestine, as Palestine differs from heaven. Again, as Christians have equal rights with the seed of Abrahain, if the Jews are restored to Palestine by promise, then all the seed of Abraham must settle there also, and, by consequence, the whole Christian world must immigrate to it. But as such an immigration is too absurd for a moment's consideration, the theory is false, because of its absurdity. It is objected to our views, that the Jews have been providentially preserved as a separate people, and that this argues their final restoration to Palestine. We reply, that we cheerfully concur with such an opinion, but deny that they are to be the head of the world. We sympathize with the Jews, in all their captivity and wanderings, but we sympathize more with the Christian Israel in all its red path of martyrdom. If carnal Israel has been a wanderer, and homeless, so has been Christian Israel; if carnal Israel has been providentially preserved, so has Christian Israel; carnal Israel is a captive for its iniquity, but Christian Israel for its innocence; 72'UNITED STATES. the former for its vice, thle latter for its virtue; the one imurdered tile Prince of Life, the other worshiped him; the Jews have ever continued to hate Christ, and pull down his cause; the Christians have loved him, and have sealed their devotion with their blood. Now, should God place carnal Israel above spiritual Israel, should he give him superior honors, and wider dominion, and greater glory, then would God be seen to reward his inveterate foes, and degrade his fast fiiendss; then would he encourage treason, and disgrace fidelity; then would he exalt vice, and condemn virtue; then iniquity would be at a premium, and righteousness at a ibarful discount; then equal rights would cease fiom Christianity, and contentment would leave the world. Carnal Israel can not become the capital of the world, without a violation of every- law of nature, good sense, justice, and good government; and the theory which teaches such a doctrine is, therefore, false, fanatical, and full of evil. SECTION II. TILE COe3rION TIEORY ANTI-SCRIPTURAL. A theory repugnant to good sense, is reptgnant to scripture; and we shall find every thing in the plain teachings of the New Testament to conflict with the restoration of carnal Israel. Were the restoration of Israel to Palestine taught by the prophets, it is absurd to suppose the great and important fact would not be mentioned, or at least alluded to, in the New Testament. The New Testament is the great expositor of the Old, but it never says that carnal Israel will be restored to UNITED STATES. 73 Palestine; never hints it, never implies it. Now, why this silence about Canaan? why this empllhatic neglect of carnal Israel, and full attention to Christian Israel, if the carnal seed of Abraham were to be the heirs and inheritors of the world? The silence can be interpreted to mean nothing in favor of the carnal restoration, and must mean every thing against it. We shall now quote some few decisive passages on the subject, and leave them with the impartial for mature consideration. That nationality was promised to Israel, in the latter day, can not be doubted. The prophets most unequivocally announce it, and it is fully and plainly inferable from the great promises of the world's redemption, and the promised blessedness to all nations through Christ. Did true Christianity universally prevail among men, Christian republicanism would also necessarily spring up universally. Now, in the progress of Christianity toward universality, it is obvious that some one part of the earth would first be Christianized, and by consequence a true Christian nationality would prevail in that Christianized portion, and that would be the restoration of nationality as far as it extended. In speaking of the restoration of Israel, no one imagines that the same identical Jews who formerly lived in Palestine are to be restored to it, and to nationality; the legitimate descendants of Abraham only can be those to whom the promise was made. The controversy will, therefore, be decided by determining who are the legitimate seed of Abraham.'We affirm that the Christian seed of Israel are the only true heirs of all the promises, and that Christians of the Gentiles are as truly the heirs of the promises, as are Christians from among the Jews. We shall proceed 7 74 UNITED STATES. with our arguments as follows: 1. Nationality was promised to the true seed of Abraham in the latter day. 2. The Christians are the true seed of Abraham. First. Pr'oniscdcl restorattion to Xationlcity-.- Some persons who oppose the restoration of Israel to Palestine have taken an extreme position, and have disbelieved in any national restoration whatever. This position is as absurd as the theory it opposes, because unequivocal prophecies declare a restoration to nationality; and it must, also, transpire fiom the very nature of things. We shall quote, for the present, but two authoritative and decisive prophecies on the subject, out of a score that now lie open before us. i. " And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the SECOND time to recover the remnant of his people,..... and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.' "A- They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the WEST." —Isa. xi. 9. "Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish (Spain) first, to bring thy sons from far. " " ~ " The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall utterly perish.' ~ Thy people shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land forever."-Isa. lx. As it is utterly impossible to spiritualize these passages, and as they, without the shadow of a doubt, predict the latter day restoration of Israel, the national restoration of the seed of Abraharm must be a conceded point on all htands. The terms' WEST", and' SnIPs of TARSH-ISI,' utterly refilse to be accommodated to a mere figurative, or to a spiritual meaning. Let any man undertake to spiritualize them, UNITED STATES. 75 and he will very soon make a fool of himself, but of nobody else. Nationality to Israel was, therefore, promised without doubt. Secon&d. The Christiancsare the tnrue seed of Abraham, to whom the promises inMre. 1. tVho are Jews?-" IHe is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men but of God."~-Rom. ii. 28, 29. "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."-Rom. ix. T-9.'" Know ye therefore that they which are of the faith, the same are the children of Abraham. So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraharn. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all ONE in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, ye are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to promise." —Gal. iii. In these passages, the Jew who is to be the inheritor of the promises, is plainly stated to be one who is an heir, by faith in Christ, and by that only. It is also as plainly affirmned as language can express it, that there is no difference in equality of right between the Gentile and Hebrew seed of Christ. Those therefore who insist 76 UNITED STATES. on the superiority of right to pre-eminent position of Htebrew Christians, are in direct conflict with the text. They affirm there is a difiiference, while the text affirms that " all are one in Christ," and that " there is no clifference between the Jew and the Greek." —Rom. x. 12. That the carnal seed are not received among the heirs of the promises, is further manifest from the affirmation of Christ to the Jews. He said: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." " If Abraham were your father ye would do the works of Abraham."- John viii. 2. fl:eirslip of the worlcd.-"The promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abrahamn or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Riom. iv. 13. "For if the inheritcance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise."'Gal. iii. 18. Hiere the inheritance to Abraham is plainly given to all believers in Christ without any distinction between Jewish or Gentile converts. All benefits conferred upon men in the latter day were to spring from the gospel, and the gospel confers equal rights upon all of its beneficiaries throughout the world, irrespective of calnal relation to Abraham, for God is no respecter of persons. 3. Promise surte to cal the seed.-" To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ." HIow differently this sounds from the "twoseed" doctrine of the restorers of carnal Israel.:' Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise." — Gal. iii and iv. C" Therefore, it is of faith that it might UNITED STATES. 77 bc by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us al." —-Rom. iv. 16. The theory of the final superiority of the Jewish converts to Christianity, is utterly annihilated by the passages we have quoted. The Jews have always insisted upon it as orthodox, and many Christian divines have taught the same old, absurd assumption of Jewish pre-eminence; but Christ and the apostles denounced all such monopoly of grace, and never countenanced the exclusiveness claimed. It sounds, to us, as absurd as the Dutchman's prayer, who prayed, "6 Lord, save me and my wife, my son John and his wife; us fourn and no more."' We might argue the case much further, but as we have no patience with the monstrosity of the theory, we forbear. It makes two Israels, diffring in heirship, while the gospel says there is but one; it exalts one and neglects the other, and thus makes a mighty difference between them, while the gospel says " there is no cliffJerence;" it makes the promise sure to a part of the seed only, while the gospel says it'" is sure to all the seed;" it exalts the Israel of I/loses and degrades the Israel of Christ, and is therefore false. T8 UNITED STATES. SECTION III. THE UNITED STATES IS ISRAEL RESTORED. saving shown that the theory of the carnal restoration of Israel is repugnant to both common sense and scripture, and yet having shown that nationality was to be given to the Israel of Christ in the latter day, it follows that no prophecy of scripture can be interpreted as exclusively referring to the restoration of Israel to Palestine. Tile names of Judah and Jerusalem, Juclah and Israel, so often used in prophecies referring to the latter day, have been considered as literal terms by some, and this has given rise to the theory we combat. From the arguments we have presented, they can not be understood as literal terlms, but must be understood as typical or metonymic terms, in which the names of types are used for the names of their antitypes. This mode of expression is very common among the predictions of the latter day. Thus, Ezeliel says of Israel restored, after the resurrection: "David, my servant, shall be king over them." Here the term David is the typical name of Christ, the son of David. Again, every thing predicted of a typical person or people, if not realized by therl, while standing as types, must be realized by the person or people they typifiy. Tlhus the promise of Canaan to the fhthers was never realized by them, and they understood the promise as having a typical reference to " a city with foundations." Again: " Once have I sworn in my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me; it shall be established UNITED STATES. 79 forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." Here is a positive promise of the perpetuity of David's throne, and yet, in four hundred years afterward, David's throne ceased to exist, and has never yet been restored. But as " the word of' God can not be brolken," the prophecy Inmst use David's zcame as a metonymic for Clhrist. So also the " seed of Abraham," and " the seed of David," are typlical terms, expressing the seed of Christ. By keeping these things in view, there is no difficulty in understanding the prophecies of Israel's restoration. We shall now quote the prophecies declaring the restoration of Israel's nationality in the latter clay, and shall quote none that can possibly be considered as having been realized in the restoration from Ancient Babylon. The prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel will be those which we shall principally qluote, because they contain very ample accounts of the restoration. The following things will be found predicted by them: 1. The restoration. 2. The ships of Tarshish, or Spain, opening the way. 3. The wilderness country that was to be occupied. 4. The land that had been always waste. 5. The direction to it westward. 6. It was to be a place of broad rivers and streamns. 7. Its towns and cities were to be without walls, bars, or gates. S. It was to be far from molestation. 9. It was to be a land of great wealth. 10. It was to be peopled by Christians from various nations. 11. Kings and queens were to assist its early establishment. 12. Its children were all to be instructed of God. 13. A vast immigration was constantly to set toward it. 14. It was to rise with thirteen states, on the borders of a great sea. 15. It was to be invaded by all the great monarclhies, and was to triumph. 80 UNITED STATES. If we make out these points in prophecy, it will not, and can not, be denied that we shall have discovered our country to be foretold by the prophets. First. The restoration to nationality. —This we have already shown, and shall let its truth be further evinced, incidentally, from the prophecies we shall quote. Second. The ships of Tarcshish yirst.-This passage is in that elaborate view of the restoration, found in the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah: " Surely the Isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them." Europe -was called the "Isles of the Gentiles," and the certain delay or waiting of the Isles for God's people, may well apply to the concealing of America from the world, till the Christians were about ready to break their chains at the Reformation, and settle it, and lift the great ensign of civil and religious liberty. The ships of Tarshish brought gold and silver in ancient times to Solomon, and these ships of Tarshish are also represented as bearing gold and silver, as in other days. The word Tarshish was certainly indicative of several countries, as of Tarsus in Cilicia, the Tarshish of Solomon, and the Tarshish or Tartessus of Spain. Spain certainly bore this name very anciently.-(Brown.) The ships of Tarshish first to the Isles, were, therefore, properly the ships of Spain. Now who does not know that the ships of Spain were first to open the way to the great Isles of the West; that they discovered America; and that they brought the first immigrants, and prepared the way for all others. Third. The country in which Israel was to be restored was to be a wilderness. UNITED STATES. 81 "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 and rejoice even with joy and singling, the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, and they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God."' This passage is often spiritualized, yet as it has had a literal realization by the Christians of America, on a rlighty scale, to claim a purely spiritual signification for it is improper, because fulfillment itself is the true interpreter of prophecy, and a literal fulfillment takes rank above a figurative one, in true exposition. "Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderzess, and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwelling places, and in quiet resting places.:" This is literally and sublimely true of the church in vast America, and of America itself. "I will make them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods."Ezek. xxxiv. This passage is taken from a prediction of Israel restored in the latter day, and has been, and still is, literally true of America. Four/t. Anz odcl anZd nsettted coutntry. —" In the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been ALWAYS WASTE; but is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them."Ezek. xxxviii. The land of Palestine by no means coincides with the country here described, as having been alway8 waste, 82 UNITED STATES. or a wilderness. No country coincides with it, except North America, and it exactly meets the case; not on this point only, but on every other point in the text quoted. Fifth. A land of broad rivers. —" A tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lordc shall be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams." — Isa. xxxiii. The church is here represented as permanently settled in a place of broad rivers and streams. There is a majestic coincidence with the state of things on this continent of great rivers and waters. Sixth. A country whose towzns were without defe~nses.-I'1 Thou shalt say, (Gog shall 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 turn thy hand upon the desolate places, that are now inhabited, upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, that have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land." —Ezek. xxxviii. No great people gathered out of the nations exists except our own; and no other such nation exists in villages without walls, bars, or gates; and no other exists "' in the desolate places now inhabited." So that our coincidence with prophecy is clear in this case also. Seventh. The direction westward. —" They shall fly upon the shoulders of Philistines toward the WEST."Isaiah xi. The term west, here plainly shows the direction Christian Israel was to take to reach the country of restoration. UNITED STATES. 83 None but a fool can dispute this, and do himself justice. The Philistines lived on the west of old Canaan, and they are all dead, and their cities and countries are desolations, and unless they are resurrected, they can not bear the Jews to Palestine; and if they lived in their old homes, yet still they would be obliged to remove to the east of Judea in. order to bear the Jews westward. The truth of the matter is, that the term Philistines is used figuratively for people in the Christian age who hold a relation to the Christians similar to that held by the ancient Philistines to the Jews. It must, therefore, represent the maritime powers of western Europe. [Now, as these western powers have been the great transporters of immigrants to America, the prediction is realized in them. All of the great immigration to the United States has been to the west. Eight7h. inqzs cand qureens were to be nzmrsinY fathers and mothers of CUiristian Israel restored."Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy mothers." —Isa. xlix. The nursing applies to the infant stages of the country. In the founding of the United States, kings and queens and princes took an active and conspicuous part, and the names of many of our towns, rivers, counties, and states, bear their fostering names. Thus the two Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland, bear the names of queens; and Louisiana and Georgia bear the names of kings; and Delaware, New York, and New Jersey, bear the names of princes. Ninth. It was to be ypeopled by C7hristians froem variozus nations.-" The Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria and Pathro, and from 84 UNITED STATES. Cush, and fi'om Elam, and from lamath, and from the islands of the sea. And lhe shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."-Isa. xi. Mlany similar passages might be quoted, but this is clear, positive, and sufficient. The names of the ancient countries into which carnal Israel was dispersed, are used metonynlically by the prophet to designate similar countries in which Christians were to be found scattered, at the rise of the great Christian nationality of modern times. With this great gathering, the United States coincides, and therefore fulfills the prophecy. jTenth. Jt wacs to rise in thirteen cZistinct stactes,8 o the bor'ders of a grecat sea, anrd between two seas.-" This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions. And ye shall inherit it one as well as another. ~ " And the east side ye shall measure * X from the border unto the east sea. This is the east side. X' The west side shall also be the great sea.'I Ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance onto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you.t- X ~ They shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel."-Ezek. xlvii. In the forty-eighth chapter, the several divisions of tribes are represented as located side by side upon the borders of the sea. A map of these divisions is found in Clarke's Commentary. The passages quoted are taken from Ezekiel's last t It would seem from this that naturalization would at first be ellowed to foreigners, but afterward be confined to their children. UNITED STATES. 85 vision. That vision coincides evidently with Daniel's vision of the stone kingdom, and with the mountain kingdom into which the stone expanded. It also coincides with St. John's view of the man child, the Millennium, and new heavens and earth, and is, therefore, but a vision of the rise and progress of Christian Israel's nationality. The obscurity attending it, arises from the fact that the earth, under the gospel's triumphs and Messiah's reign, is presented to us in a gorgeous typical dress; it is Christianity in Hebrew costume. The terms, figures, and symbols are from the Mosaic ritual, and must not be undlerstood, as far as they are Mosaic, in a literal sense. Divesting the vision of its ceremonial and typical robes, and translating it into gospel simplicity, there is no great difficulty attending it. This can be clone by comparing it with other visions embracing the very same subjects, and conforming our expositions to the plain doctrines of the gospel. The twelve divisions of' the land coincide with the twelve stars on the head of tile woman in the vision of St. John; they are in all thirteen, because Joseph was to have two portions. These thirteen were to be common property to Israel or the Christians, and were to lie side by side of each other, and to be upon a sea coast. Old Canaan is thus introduced as the type of the new. This description plainly coincides with the old thirteen States of America, which were common property, and side by side on the sea. Elleventh. It was to be at ca cdistance from'; its enzemies.-'" They that swallowed thee up shall be far away."-Isa. xlviii. "' Thou shalt be far fiom oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not 8E6 UNITED:STATES. come near thee."-Isa. liv. HIow true this is of our country every one lnows. lTwe7yt7.' ce great ~immigCration to hcrael.-"-' Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold; all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even be too narrow by reason of inhabitants. The children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dclwell."-Isa. xlix. This passage may, to a certain extent, refer to the church, but it embraces both the church and its country. The cry of the inhabitants for more territory to dwell in, finds a lmost emphatic realization in our country at present, where the universal cry is for more elbow room.' Expansion " is the universal desire of our people; and since the old thirteen were crowdecld, eighteen new states, and several new territories, have not satisfied our demand for place in which to dwell. All North America will soon be too narrow for us.'The afzcnae2ce of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of:lidian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come, ~ - all the flocks of Keclar shall be gathered together unto thee; the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee. ~ 1 Who are these tlhat fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows. The sons of strange~rs shall build thy walls; and their kings shall minister unto thee. Therefore, thy gates shall be open UNITED STATES. 87 continually; they shall not be shut clay nor night; that men may bring unto thee forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings 1may be brought. For the nation and kingdclom that will not serve thee shall perish, yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord." t-Iow closely does this agree with the emigration of millions to our open gates firom year to year, and firom those kingdoms that oppressed the true people of God. "' Many people shall go and say, come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob."-Isa. ii. Here the mountain and the house are used for the dual nationality of Israel; and many people are now daily filhfilling this prophecy. lizirteenth. Christian Echhection. — " All thy children shall be taught in the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children."-Isa. liv. In Israel restored, the children were to receive a Christian education. The United States is emphatically a land of Christian schools; and intelligence and morals are considered, both by the states and the churches, as the foundation of our permanency and prosperity. The Bible is the great text book in all the denominational schools, and, indeed, of the great public school system, and its presence is endorsed by the people, and by consequence all are taught of the Lord. In addition to this, each week, on Sabbath, tens of thousands meet to learn the Bible only; and the press, with its countless millions of pages, sends healing leaves from Paradise, to every secluded nook in all our mighty territory. Truly the prophecy '88 UNITED STATES. is realized with us, for "' all our children are taught of the Lord." Wars, rapine, and pillage disturb the peace of other lands, and armies are marshaled to suppress the minions of vice and ignorance; but here "Are towns, and villages, and farms, And cities, fiee from clashing arms. Oh! well I love my native land, The land of FREEDOM, happy land!" Thus, in every great prediction of Christian Israel restored, do we find the United States coinciding with prophecy, and that, too, with the most astounding accuracy. N'ow these various coincidences, so perfectly in harmony with each other, and with the doctrines of scripture, can not be accidental; and as perfect coincidence between facts and prophecy is infallibly a perfect fulfillment, it is infallibly true that the United States is the promised restoration of nationality to Christian Israel. Understand our position then: we hold that the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, will be Christianized, and many of them will return and settle in Palestine; and that they will form a commonwealth, which will be an integral state in the great Millennial confederacy, and it will not have any rights which other states do not. They will return to Palestine at the Millennium, because that portion of the earth was given to them as an inheritance, at " the division of the inheritance to the nations;" and as at the Jubilee every man returned to his own possessions, so the Jubilee of the world will occur at the Millenniumr, and all races will be seized of their own original inheritance. UNITED STATES. 89 SECTION IV. OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. There are three objections urged against our argument, which are, however, only of a verbal kind. Figrst. It is objected that the names of Judah and Jerusalem, Jacob and Israel, are literal terms. We answer, that in all the descriptions of Israel restored, two of these terms, or similar ones, are used to designate the Israel of God, and that this dualism is of itself an indication that they are figurative terms. Again; in most of these cases, the terms are so associated with others, in the context, that they canll not be understood in a literal sense of carnal Israel. Again; to interpret them of carnal or Mosaic Israel, rather than of tile Israel of Christ, is in direct antagonism with the plain evangelical doctrines of the [New Testament, as we have fully shown. Second. It is objected that Israel was to be restored in the land promised to Abraham and the fathers. WVe answer, that in some cases objectors bring forward prophecies which were fulfilled in the restoration of Israel from the Babylonish captivity. But in other cases, the land of promise to the fathers can not be limited to Palestine; for Palestine was but typical of the possession of the whole world which was promised to the fathers, with as much emphasis as ever Palestine was. All the prophecies, thereibre, which relate to the Christian or realizing age, can not by possibility be restricted to a mere typical country; but must be 8 90 UNITED STATES. interpreted of the world promised as the inheritance to the fathers. No wromise hblongs, or can belong to Palestine in the Christian dispensation, any further than as Palestine forms a part of the great world at large. Again; the promise to Japhet, was a promise of enlargement in the Christian age, and that promise inured to the fathers as heads and representatives of Christianity. America, therefore, being promised to Japhet, was a land promised to the fathers. Thircd. It is objected that Israel is to dwell in the land where their fhthers dwelt.-Ezek. xxxvii. 25. To this we answer, that Ezekiel is one of the most involved prophets, in his meaning, of any in the scriptures, and to interpret any Mosaic term he uses, in a literal sense, when that termn refers to the latter clay, is presumptuous. But his prophecy in which the objection is obund, is one which details the state of the world after the resurrection of the dead; and it plainly coincides with the new heaven and earth of Isaiah, St. Peter, and St. John, and all, therefore, that can be inferable from it is, that the dwelling place of Israel, restored by the resurrection, will be on the globe regenerated, in which the tabernacle of God will be with imen. No other consistent interpretation can be put upon it; and any other interpretation would limit and carnalize a promise to a few, and exclude from its benefits all the Israel of Christ, not of Jewish extraction according to the flesh. S NITED STATES. 91 SECTION V. PARALLEL PROP-ImECIES OF ISRAEL. The restoration of Israel and its fulfillment in the rise of the United States, has its parlallels in the Hebrew escape from Egypt across a sea, and its erection of a -republic in the wilderness; and in the stone cut out of the mountain, or fifth great empire of Nebluchadnezzar's vision; in the ancient of days, or fifth empire of Daniel's vision of empires; and in 3lichael, in his last vision; in the two witnesses; the woman and her twelve stars; in the woman and her man child; and the man with many diadems, on a white horse; and in the sealing of the twelve tribes of Revelation. An Israel restored was promiised by the prophets on a mighty scale, and it was to be a Christian Israel. If we look at our own glorious country, we see clearly a Christian Israel, enjoying the greatest and most glorious of all nationalities. Here is a coincidence with the prophets; and here then is their fulfillment. Christ assured his disciples, that the restoration was to be a mystery, and Daniel told that its history, in prophecy, would be concealed, till just before the battle of the Kings; and the blindness on the subject hitherto, has resulted fiom the order of God. This concealment of our country as the Israel restored of the promises, every wise man can see was a prudent measure with reference both to our past and future history. 92 AMERICA. C IIAPTER V. EZEKIEL'S SYMBOLIC PROPHECIES OF AMERICA. EZEI:EL is both a literal and symbolic prophet, and in this he differs fiom Daniel and John. Hie also differs from them in this, that he does not give the history of the four great empires that were to precede the final triumphs of Christianity. ie, however, coincides with them as to Israel's restoration, and the freeing of the earth from the curse. The parts of his prophecy which we take up, are those which relate to the close of the fourth monarchy by the battle of the great day; the rise of Israel; and the final empire of Christ on earth. SECTION I. ISRAEL RESTORED- AMEICA. We have already considered some prophecies of Ezekiel, which show that the Israel of Christ was to be restored in the latter day: we shall now add a few additional points of interest. From the forty-third to the forty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel, he gives a description of the whole Christianity, in all its progress and triumphs after the rise of the Israel of Christ to nationality. IHe embraces all that Daniel does, beginning with the rise of the stone kingdom, and all that John does, beginning with the kingldom that sprung from the woman or chu hn AMERICA. 9'3 in the wilderness. We can not quote these chapters, and shall only give the strong points of coincidence between the three prophets mentioned. We say, that this vision coincides with Daniel and John's descriptions of the samle era. 1. This must be true, because they both describe the same era, and, of course, must coincide in the same subjects. 2. Both John and Daniel predict the universality of the empire of Christ, and Ezekiel does the same. The holy city of Ezekiel, and his trees of life, and river of the water of life, also coincide with the city New Jerusalem, the river and trees of life given by St. John. This shows that their descriptions of these things refer to the very same era. 3. Ezekiel, in addition to this, describes the rise of Israel, and his occupancy of the promised land. In this description it is plain that Israel did not, at the time of this settlement, possess the whole earth, but only a part of it, and thus it coincides with the descriptions of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and John. In the forty-eighth chapter he says, the divisions of the promised land to the tribes, shall not be as in ancient times, but that they shall extend from east to west, and lie side by side of each other. I-e says, also, that there shall be a sea on the east side of the land, and a great sea on the west. "'This shlall be the border whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions."-xlvii: 13. In this land, also, was to be an inheritance for strangers: " And they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel, and they shall have inheritance w"1..h ycu; 94 AMERICA. among the tribes of Israel.' —v. 22. Joseph, having two portions, would, of conire, make thirteen tribes or states when restored. Let it be borne in mind, that the whole of the vision of Ezekiel is given in the apparel of the ceremonial law of the Hebrews. This being so, the whole prophecy is certainly symbolic, because the Hebrew ceremonial law will never be restored. But as the ceremonial law was typical of Christianity, and as the whole Hebrew economy was typical of the Christian dispensation, it follows that all Jewish names and customs mentioned by Ezekiel, were figuratively used for coincident names and objects in the days of Christ, or Christianity. Of course, therefore, carnal Israel is put for Christ's Israel, and the restoration of thirteen tribes was to be realized by Christians; and Palestine was to coincide with the land promised to Japhetic Christians; and the boundaries by east and west seas, were to be realized by Christians in their restoration. Now, as the United States arose fromn a Christian people; as its borders are two great seas; as it arose in thirteen divisions lying side by side on a great sea; and as provision is made for the inheritance of strangers, it exactly coincides with Ezekiel's symbolic description of Israel restored, and, as perfect coincidence is fulfillment, the United States fulfills the prophecy of Israel's restoration. AMERICA. 95 SECTION Il. ]'E GREAT BATTLE AND DESTRUCTION OF M~IONARCHY BY ISRAEL, OR GOG AND HIS ALLIES-INVASION OF THE UNITED STATES. Pararaagrph 1; —38th Chapter. Ezekiel gave several descriptions of Israel's restoration, and we have just considered his last prediction on that subject. In the description prior to it, he tells us the condition of Israel restored, and announces a great invasion of its country by the allied powers of the world. His description of the battle is found in the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth chapters, and is doubled. In John and Daniel, we have Russia, or the last head of the beast and willful king, described as the invader of Israel prior to the Mlillennium, and, as this invasion of Israel by Gog coincides chronologically with John and Daniel's descriptions, Gog, and his allies coincide with Russia and confederate Europe. We shall, however, find in this prophecy of Ezekiel abundant proof that Gog coincides with Russia. We shall interpret minutely: first, " Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief Prince of M1eshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him." 1. The term Go, is plainly derived from Magog, for Magog is as old as the days of Noah. Gog is called a prince, or head of many countries. 2. "The land of Magoog." Magog was one of the seven sons of Japhet. His sons were Gomer, AMagog, Maadai, Javan, Tubal, Mleshech and Tiras. The sons 96 AMERICA. of Gomer, Japhet's oldest son, were Ashkenath, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sdns of Javan, Japhet's fourth son, were Elisha, Tarshishl, Iittim, and Dodanim. BSry these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands." Calmet, and most other investigators, prove that Europe and Asia Minor are to be understood by the term "isles of tle Gentiles." The word rendered " isles," literally signifies settlements. —( Ccamet.) The sons of Japhet, or the white race, undoubtedly settled the northwest of Asia, and all Europe; so that the land of Magog, the son of Japhet, must be found in these limits. Josephus says, that "Magogue founded the Magogse, whom the Greeks then called Scythle." Now, the Greeks called those people Scythians, or Scyth-, " who extended themselves in length from Hungary, Transylvania, and Wallachia on the westward, to the river Don on the east."'-(PReneel.) This country forms a large part of the Russian empire in Europe and Asia. 3. "Gog —the chief prince of- ileshech." Mlestlech was the sixth son of Japhoet, and settled with his brother Tubal. They settled in the northeast angle of Asia Minor, from the shores of the Euxine along to the south of Caucasus; where were the aMontes, MlHosehisi, and where, in after times, were the Moschi. There appears to have been in the same neighborhood, a river and country called Rosh, and a people called Rhossi. These Rhossi and'loschi dispersed their colonies jointly over the vast empire of Russia, and preserve their names in those of Russians and Muscovites. FiMuscovy is a name given by some geographers to Russia, and the termns Moscow, or Mioskwa, MIosch, Mesce, NMesoch, and Mosc, are but variations of theirsprimitive MIeshech. AMERICA. 97 Watson says this passage under consideration, is, in the Septuagint, rendered "prince of Rosch, Meshech, and Tubal." These different translations are in harmony, because the Rhossi and AIosch were interchangeable terms, used to designate the same people. These people and their country are now included in; the Russian empire, and gave name to it, for ]Mfuscovy and Russia are derivative names from Ihossi and Moschi, or lAeshech. 4. "Gog —prince of Tubal." Tubal was the fifth son of Japhet. Bochart very copiously proves that 35eshech and Tubal are the Muscovites and Tibarenians, or Siberians. The river Tobol, or Tubal, that waters a large part of Asiatic Russia, still bears the ancient name of the son of Japhet. The city of Tobol-ski, or Tobolinml also retains the name in composition. The territory of thins region is also in the Russian empire. From these facts, it follows, that, as Meshech, Tubal, and Magog, compose the present Russian empire, that Gog, the prince of these, must represent the present Russian power. Second. "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I amn against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of 1Mieshech an{i Tubal; and I will turn thee back, and put hooks in thy jaws." Dr. Clarke says, "to turn him back" signifies hostility to him. Third. "A1Cnd I will bring thee forth, and all thin( army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed witlh all sorts of armor, even a great company, with bucklerand shields, all of them handling swords." The horses and horsemen symbolize the national kind of soldiery employed in war by Gog. All sorts of 9 98 AMERICA. armor, shows the promiscuons character of the troops to be brought into the field. Bucklers and shields, and swords, represent the fierce hostility of the troops prepared for war. Fourth. " Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them, all of them with shield and helmet." Persia is here a representative of Asiatic power, or the Miongolian Asiatics, and Libya and Ethiopia represent the Africans, who will be enlisted in the war. TFfth.' Gomner, and all his bands, the house of Togarmah, of the north quarters, and all his bands; and many people with thee." The Gomercians spread from the regions north of Armenia and Bactriana, and extended westward over nearly the whole continent of Europe. They spread fiom the Black sea to the Western ocean; from the Baltic to Italy, southward; and first planted the British isles. They have retained their paternal denomination slightly varied, as Cimmerians in Asia; Cimbri, and Umbri in Gaul and Italy; and Cymri and Cambri in Wales and Cumberland. Toqarmak was a son of Gomer, and his descendants may be traced in Trocmi of Strabo, the Trogrni of Cicero, and Trogmades of the council of Chalecedon, inhabiting the confines of Pontus and Cappadocia. Callet says, Togarmah is to be placed in Scythia and Turcomania.':Alany people with thee," shows that many allies of Gog would accompany Togarmah from the north, or from Russia. SitA,. "'Be thou prepared and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them." This is prophetic of AMERICA. -99 the jurisdiction to be extended over these multitudes by Russia, and of the alliances it would make for the battle. Sevent1h. l" After many days thou shalt be visited; in the latter years thou shalt come unto the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste; but is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them." IHere the time of this great war is stated to be in the latter years, when Israel is restored. The "lands that have been always waste," and the people brought out of the nations, and all dwelling safely, coincides with the Christian Israel in the United States. Eigath. " 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." Here a mighty invasion is predicted. No gathering of people has ever yet equaled the sublime one here described; for the people that were to be with Gog, or Russia, embrace nearly all of Europe, and a great portion of Asia and Africa. The draught of men is from three continents. The invasion is likened to a storm, and a cloud, and is seen to enter the glorious land. Nintit. "Thus saith the Lord God, it shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mindl, and thou shalt think an evil thought, and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to thein that are at rest, all of themn 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 100 AMERICA. gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of thle land."' The invasion is here stated to be to take a prey, and to subdue the country and people to Russia. The people to be invaded are represented as one made up of emigrants from the nations, as dwelling in peace, plenty, and safety; as dwelling in cities having no defenses of any external character, in other words, as being easily accessible; and also as inhabiting a country never settled before it was by them. Now, no country on earth ever did or ever can coincide with this description, but the United States, and it meets the case exactly. The object of the invasion is to subjugate our power. Tenth. "Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? " Sheba and Dedan, sons of Raamah, and grandsons of Cush, son of 1Ham, were famous traders in spices and ivory, ebony and fine cloth. Tarshish, the son of Javan and grand-son of Japhet, gave name to the commercial world, figuratively; he must have settled in or near his father's estate or division, which was in Ionia, or Greece, or Southern Europe. These various names are used figuratively for a mercantile people, and the term merchants is used to fasten the meaningc in this direction. The words " art thou come," seem to imply that the coming was to them, or to a commercial country. Indeed, the question could not be properly propounded except by those to whom Gog had come. The question is not " are you going to take a spoil," but, " are you AMERICA. 101 come;" that is, are you come to uts to take a spoil from us. The term "c young lions,"' which means young powers or states, is a question propounded by the states as well as by the merchants.'Elevenzth. " Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog: Thus saith the Lord God; in that day when my people of Israel dwell safely shalt thou not know it?" Here a repetition of the prophecy begins. It is interrogatively affirmed, that Russia shall be thoroughly acquainted with Israel restored. Tweyth. "' And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army." The seat of Gog's empire is here shown to be relatively a north country, which again coincides with Russia. A mighty army and company is to attend the power of Russia at this great invasion. "All of them riding upon horses." This is figuratively put for the character of the invading host. The Cossack forces of Russia and Turcomania boast that they have furnished horsemen for war a" by the million."-(Gibbon.) Thirteentih. "And thou shalt come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land." This is a repetition of the same facts already stated, in almost the same words. Fourteenth. "It shall be in the latter days." This fastens the time to the later ages of Christianity, for the words, "latter days," when used prophetically, always refer to that late period.-(Faber.) ifteenth. "And I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sancti 102 AMERICA. fled in thee, 0 Gog, before their eyes." iHere God asserts that he brings Russia, and Europe, and the world to this war, to manifest his glory to the heathen, or wicked world. Sixteenth.," Thus saith the Lord God, Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time, by my servants, the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years, that I would bring thee against them." As this address is made at the very time of the invasion, the ancient prophets referred to, must be those who, in all past ages, had predicted the doom of monarchy by Israel restored. There is, indeed, scarcely a prophecy of Israel's restoration, in the Christian age, but treats also of the overthrow of monarchy, or the heathen, by the arm of Israel restored. Seventeenth. " And 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, for in my jealousy, and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken." Here God declares he will aid Israel in battle, withl tremendous passion. Certainly, no one supposes that God in person will appear at that time; for Christ says lie will not appear till " the tribulation of those days be endecl.9 The reference, therefore, must be to the anger of God's Israel, who are called by his name. Eighteenth. "'Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel, so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the fieldc 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 AMERICA. 103 thrown down, and the steep: places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground." This is descriptive of the terrible wrath that will shake onr nation, and set the world on fire withl destruction.'Heavens! what an hour that will be! Nineteenth. "And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my -mountains, saith the Lord." Calling for a sword is a tremendous call for slaughter. The term mountains is used figuratively for governments or states, and shows that'all the states of our Union will rally to a manl in the dreadful fray. Twentieth. " And every man's sword shall be against his brother." This indicates, that in Europe, at the time of this invasion, great insurrections will transpire, and that revolts' among Russian troops may be generally expected. Twenty-first. "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 hail stones, fire and brimstone." I-Iere dreadfull war and sickness are to afflict the invading host. The rain and hail, and fire and brimstone, indicate great destruction by powder and bullets, and cannon balls. "Thus will I magnify myself; and will I be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." Paragraph I. —39th COhapter. This chapter twice iepeats the,destruction of the European invaders of America. 1. i" Therefore thou son of man prophesy against Gog and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I am against 104 AMERICA. thee, 0 Gog, the prince of Rosc, Meshech, and Tubal." — Septuaginzt. 2. "'I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee (or smite thee with six plagues), and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel; and I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand." As God is said to bring Russia to the United States, he will do it instrumentally by the agency of America itself. No clue is given to the occasion of the invasion in the prophecy. 3. " Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee." This determines the place of the battle to be in the United States, and shows that monarchy shall here meet its doom. 4. " 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 the Lord have spoken it." This shows that monarchy will have a most inglorious close. 5. "And I will send a fire on Magog, and upon them that dwell carelessly in the isles, and they shall know that I am the Lord." This shows that there shall be fire or war in Europe at the same time. The isles seem to refer to Great Britain. This is indeed confirmed by John, who, at the time he describes the overthrow of Europe by Israel, or the man on the cloud, describes also the treading of the vine or conquest of Britain. IHe also says Britain, or the false Prophet, shall be taken with the beast, or Russia. "So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not AMERICA. 105 let them pollute my holy name any more; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel." 6. "Behold, it is come, it is done, saith the Lord God, this is the day whereof I have spoken." This is the very language used by John when the seventh vial was poured out, in which Russia and Britain were to be overthrown. "It is done." " And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and set on fire and burn the weapons, &c., and they shall burn them with fire seven years," &c. This indicates the terrible nature of the victory we shall obtain. 7. "And it shall come to pass, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, &c., and seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them." This and several succeeding verses, show further the awful nature of the slaughter. 8. The seventeenth verse renews the declaration of the battle: "And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God, Speak unto every feathered fowl, and every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves and come; gather yourselves together on every side, to my sacrifice, that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, and of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. Ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrified for you. Thus shall ye be filled at my table, with chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord 106 AMERICA. God. And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment which. I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them." This coincides with the political judgment day of the ancient of days, described by Daniel. A parallel call to beasts and birds to the supper of God, is found in the seventeenth verse of the nineteenth chapter of Revelations. CONCLUSION. In this prediction we see all the great forces of Europe, Asia, and Africa, conjoined to invade Israel restored, and they are all allied with Russia. A greater force is assembled, and more millions of men are brought to the contest, and from a broader field, than were ever before assembled. Now, in the name of all that is rational, is it probable or possible to excite and muster such a force, to pull. down a few feeble Jews restored to Palestine. What is there, again, that could induce the ruling powers to grant Palestine to carnal Israel, and then bring all creation together to pull them down again. Surely nothing but wild enthusiasm can believe that the great statesmen of Europe and mighty warriors would combine to efSect so small a work as the conquest of Palestine. Surely men must be beside themselves who believe such a thing will take place. But if we turn to the United States, the Christian Israel of the latter day, we see a foeman that bids defiance to all their steel, and that would demand such a confederacy as the prophet describes to create even a hope of success in the contest. If, in addition to this, we take Ezekiel's description of the country and people of Israel which Russia invades, AM- ERICA. 107 and compare it with our own, the coincidence is perfect. So that common sense and revelation both coincide in determining the United States as the Israel to be invaded by confederate Europe. This destruction of European monarchy by Israel, coincides with the smiting of the great monarchy image by the stone kingdom; the "casting down of the thrones by the people of the saints;" the destruction of the "willful king between the seas in the glorious holy mountain;" "the reaping of the earth and vine;" and the taking of "' the beast and false prophet," before the Millennium. As for carnal Israel's restoration to Palestine, it is hard to believe that Turkey, or Russia, or England, or France, or Austria, would ever restore them there to a state of independence; and as for their own efforts to recover it, the notion is preposterous. The United States is the only people on earth that has a soul magnanimous enough to grant them the boon they desire; and perhaps they will do it after the fall of monarchy. Even then, they would be better off to annex themselves to our confederacy. 108 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S VISION. CHAPTER VI. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S PANORAMIC VISION OF THE SIX KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD. THE history of the world, and of Israel, as detailed by the literal or metonymic prophets, is repeated by symbolic predictions. It is obvious that prophecies of the same ages in the fitnre, must agree in describing the same events; they can not disagree on the same subjects and points; but, as they give views of the same fields, they must shed light upon each other. Symbolic prophecy is more systematic in its arrangement, more vivid in its pictures, and more exact in its chronology, and has enlisted more efforts of exposition than mletonymic prophecy. Thick darkness has hung over all attempts to unseal that portion of them- descriptive of the world from the fall of Jerusalem to the present time. The learned, and the world at large, have been perplexed greatly at this mystery and blindness, and so complete has been the blindness on the subject, that men have not even seen that Daniel affirmed that the prophets were all sealed from the fall of Jerusalemn " to the time of the end." The wise have been divinely and purposely hindered in the work of interpretation of this great era. If, however, our age is " the time of the end " of Israel's wandering, we may anticipate the meaning NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S VISION. 109 of " the words closed up and sealed," and we may cautiously examine all theories proposing the solution of the great riddle of the prophets. All theories of the meaning of it must certainly be fraught with some dominant error, if they have been proclaimed before the beginning of the time of the end. And as all theories now in vogue adopt the basis of interpretation projected ages ago, they must drive to the same conclusions and be imperfect, from the same errors. Much may have been done to prepare the way for the final unsealing, yet none has hitherto accomplished the stupendous achievement. With a becoming modesty, we trust we approach a work where a thousand giants have failed to scale the ladder of observation, and view the hidden mansions and golden streets within the secluded city of full revelation. Let us not be charged with presumrption in undertaking what was to be accomplished by some common mortal, without the aid of miracle. May not a child discover a priceless gemn? did not a timid slave discover the wealth of Peru n and may not one, as insignificant as either, by some strange providence, discover the lost key of the prophetic temple, as readily as the wise in their ermine and glasses? Neither proof nor presumption of our error can be based upon our early years, our humility of station, or unknown scholarship or abilities; these must be judged alone by the nature of our logic, and the realization of our interpretations. Good sense must test the one, and future events the other; facts already known will certify whether we are correct as to the past, and give presumptive testimony of our future accuracy. All we ask is an unbiassed judgment in the mind of the examiner. 110 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S VISION. WYTe begin our expositions by taking the four great general prophecies of the world's history, related by Daniel. These prophecies were given between the years 607 and 530 B. C. The first was given in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and is an interpretation of a vision of that monarch; the second was given in the first year of EBelshazzar; the third in the third year of the same king; and the fourth in the first year of Darius the loIede. Each prophecy contains the history of the world from the date when it was given. We begin with NTebuc/hacinezzctrs visiow of the six Jinzgdcoms. —' Thou, 0 king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till thact 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 threshing floors; 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. This is the dream: and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, 0 king, art a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S VISION. 111 hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. "'And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. " And whereas, thou sawest the feet and toes part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with 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 the 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. And 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 forever. " Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke 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; the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.'-Ch. ii. There is one peculiarity in the symbolic prophecies which must be notedl; that is, that the vision of the * Baked clay.-(Bush.) 112 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'$S VISION. future is generally accompanied by an interpretation, so that in fact, each prophecy is doubled to us; and each complex part of the prophecy receives also an especial interpretation in addition to the general one. This vision comprehends the great spiritual and political history of the world, divided into great periods, definitely marked. The image is the embodiment of all the great monarchical governments that were ever to exist, for so the prophet affirms. These monarchies are said, by the text, to be four in number; and expositors generally agree that they were the Babylonian, MedoPersian, Macedonian, and Roman empires, and are by them commonly called the four universal empires, though they were not, strictly speaking, entirely universal. The fifth empire is reckoned to be Christianity, and the sixth the final kingdom of Messiah. To this general interpretation we agree, with but one exception, and that is, the interpretation of the fifth to be Christianity. We have already adverted to the fact, that Daniel affirmed that his prophecies of the period under consideration were not to be clearly understood, " until the time of the end;" and, of course, all systems of interpretation of this period, must be liable to some capital defect which prevents the proper understanding of his words. The first and most important thing that can be done, is to ascertain where the error lies. We affirm that it exists in the interpretation given to the stone cut out of the mountain, or to the fifth kingdom of the vision. We shall undertake the proof of this by proceeding with a regular interpretation of the whole vision, beginning with the first, and proceeding to the final kingdom in chronological order. BABYLON. 113 SECTION I. HEAD OF THE IBIAGE:-BABYLON. "This image's head was of fine gold." "Thou art this head of gold." Hiere we have both the vision and the interpretation. The kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar is thus promptly explained to be represented by the golden head of the image, and the term Nebuchadnezzar is put metonymically for the Babylonian empire. This empire is said to embrace the earth, " wheresoever the children of men dwell," and may properly be called a universal empire. Its capital was in Asia, yet it subdued a portion of Africa, by the reduction of Egypt and Libya. Europe, at that time, seems also to have offered temptations to conquest, and Megasthenes affirms that even Spain was subjected by Nebuchadnezzar. SECTION II. THE MIEDO-PERSIAN EMBPIRE-ARMS AND BREAST OF SILVER. " This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver." "Thou art this head of gold, and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee." As the first kingdom coincided with the gold, or first division of the image, so the second kingdom must coincide with the second division of the image, which was the breast and arms of silver. The nQame of the second kingdom is not given, but the means of ascertaining its name are fully sufficient to determine it as 10 114 MEDO-PERSIA. soon as it makes its appearance; for the name of the first kingdom being given, as soon as the second kingdom arises, its name must be known. It is as easy to identify objects by the numbers they bear, as it is to identify them by names upbn them. These four great kingdoms are numbered severally, by four numerals in categorical or chronological succession, beginning with number one, and proceeding regularly onward in the consecutive order of one, two, three, four. The names of the four kingdoms are to be found, with the numbers they bear in prophecy, the name of the first in the series being given. If we number four consecutive letters of the alphabet, one, two, three, and four, and state that the first in the series is A, every one knows that numlber two will coincide with the letter B, and that B is the name of number two, and so C and D will, in like manner, coincide with numbers three and four. And just so the M eclo-Persian empire must be the name of the second kingdom in the series presented by Daniel, since the first in the series is named Babylon, because the Medo-Persian empire was the next in order to Babylon chronologically. How any one could mistake so plain a mode of identifying the four kingdoms is hard to divine, unless we allow that they were judicially blinded. Media and Persia were originally provinces of the Assyrian empire, and in the days of Cyrus they were united in one monarchy, and overturned the Babylonian empire; and of course this was the second empire intended by Daniel, since it removed the first and raised itself upon its ruins. It was to be inferior to the Babylonian empire. This may be understood in the sense of MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. 115 being less extensive in territory, or inferior in moral force, in both of which it was inferior to the Babylonian kingdom. "Neither Cyrus, nor any of his successors, carried their arms into Africa and Spain so far as Nebuchadnezzar is reported to have done."-(Nrewton.) Dr. Prideaux says, the kings of Persia a "were the worst race of men that ever governed an empire." The two arms of the beast, may properly represent the two kingdoms of Media and Persia conjoined; the silver, being less valuable than gold, may represent the moral inferiority of the Persian empire to the Babylonian. SECTION III. THEE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE - BELLY AND TIIIGHS OF BRASS. Text.-"-This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass." rInterprettaion. —" Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth." In the vision we now see three parts of the image; the head, the breast and arms, and belly and thighs; these are composed each of a difibrent metal, and each metal represents a different kingdom. Now, as the gold head represents the Babylonian, and the silver breast and arms represent the Medo-Persian kingdom, the brass must represent the third kingdom; and the interpretation says the third kingdom was of brass, and that 116 MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. it should bear rule over all the earth. We have then three great marks, by which to identify the name of the third kingdclom: 1. It was to be the third in the order of the four empires. 2. Its character was to differ from the other three. 3. It was to bear rule over all the earth. 4. It was finally to exist in two parts. With these four marks the MIacedonian empire agrees, and no other empire does, and therefore it must be the empire predicted. For it is infallibly true, that perfect coincidence of events with prophecy is a perfect fulfillment of prophecy. Coincidence B'irst.-Alexander the Great subverted the Persian empire and founded the Mfacedonian on its ruins, so that the third kingdonm in chronological order from the Babylonian, inclusive, that appeared in the world, was the lMacedonian. It is plain that these four several empires could not rise simultaneously into their fyrdlness of strength, since all were to occupy the very same territories. Each successor was, therefore, to overtlhrow its predecessor, to make room for itself. Coincidence Second.-Bishop Newton says, the M1acedonian empire was fitly represented by brass, for the Greeks were famous for their brazen armor, their usual epithet being, thee brazez-eocdtecl Gree8cs. St. Jerome in commenting on this point, says, " they may rightly be said to be of brass. For among all metals, brass is more sonorous, tinkles loudest, and its sound is diffused far and wide, and so it shows not only the fame and power of the kingdom, but also of the Greek tongue." While these things may have had some influence in determining the name of brass to the Macedonian empire, we think that more extensive qualities MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. i17 were indicated. The gold of the head indicated the refined character, and splendor, and value of the Babylonia i empire; and the silver the inferior value and splendoL of the Persian power; and the brass, being baser, yet stronger than gold or silver, may indicate a baser moral character of government, but of greater energy and c, — pabilities in war. The 2Mace-donian empire being cour - pared to the belly and thighs, shows not only its positioi chronologically, but appropriately denotes its bea'stl,, sensuality. Alexander's moral character was that of thli vilest and most lustful sensualist on the page of histoiry, and his kingdom took its cue from its founder. Tile moral history of the Seleucidse and Lagide, or Syrina and Egypt, which coincide with the two thighs, is one that might, in licentiousness, outvie the manners of Sodom. Coineiflenee Tiird. —The third kingdom was to bear rule over all the earth. The term all the eartha has a variety of meanings, but generally signifies only a very large portion of the world, but more especially the civilized world. Alexander commanded that he should be called, "king of all the world," not that he literally ruled every individual man, woman, and child on earth, but that his kingdom was so large as to be commonly spoken of, in that age, as embracing all the world. His kingdom comprehended Europe, Africa, and Asia as largely as any empire ever did, except the Roman. Coincidence Fourth.-The later existence of the third kingdom was to be marked by a division into two branches. This is indicated by the two thighs of' brass. One kind of metal indicates only one kingdom, prophetically, or one dynasty. The gold indicates blut! 118 MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. one kingdom, the silver, though divided into three parts, the breast, and two arms, nevertheless indicates prophetically but one compound kingdom, and the same must hold good of the brass. As the image expresses chronology, from the head downward, the thighs must:represent the later stage of the kingdom of brass, just as the arms at the upper part of the breast indicate the duality and union of the Medo-Persian empire, in its early history. As the thighs were less than the belly, they by this indicated that these two divisions of the kingdom would be less extensive than the kingdom in its first organization. Now, the Macedonian empire, soon after the death of Alexander, was divided into four parts, at the heads of which were Cassander, Lysymachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. But out of these four, but two divisions at length remained; these two were those of the Lagidoe and Seleucide, reigning in Egypt and Syria. Newton says, " their kingdom was no more a different kingdom, than the parts differ fromn the whole. It was the same government still continued. They who governed were still AIacedonians. The metal was the same, and the nation was the same; nor is the same nation ever represented by difierent metals, but the different metals always signify different nations. All ancient authors speak of the kingdom of Alexander and his successors as one and the same kingdom. The thing is implied in the very name by which they are called,'the successors of Alexander.' There is one insuperable objection against the kingdoms of the Lagidse and Seleucidm being a different one from that of Alexander, because if they are not considered as parts of Alexander's dominion, they ROME. 119 can not be counted as one kingdom, but constitute two separate and distinct kingdoms." As, therefore, the Macedonian empire coincides with all the marks given in prophecy by which to identify the third great monarchy, and as no other nation does, it follows infallibly that it was predicted by the vision. SECTION IV. THE FOURTH KINGDOMIOIOME. Vision.-" The image's head was of fine gold; his breast and his arms of silver; his belly and thighs of brass; his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay." I~terpretation.-" And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh, all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with 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 clay, THEY shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave to one another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 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." We have here a prediction of the Roman 120 ROME. empire. It is represented as existing in three distinct forms, or periods, and as perishing under the last. We will consider each of these forms separately. Paracgraph I. PFirst Period. Rome as cb Uzit.-" His legs were of iron. C' Anud the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subclueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise." This represents the first period of the fourth empire. 1. We have seen that the Babylonian empire was represented by the gold, the Medo-Persian, by silver, and that the Miacedonian, including the Lagidm, and Seleucide, were symbolized by the belly and thighs of blrass, and of course the fourth great empire was to follow the kingdom of brass, and to succeed the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria in chronological order. We are thlls particular, because some expositors have, in their blindness, interpreted the two kingdoms of Syria and Egypt to be the ONE fourth kingcdom. Porphyry, the ancient foe of prophecy, asserted this, and some:moderns have sided with him. Bishop Newton says, that they who follow this infidel, do so fromn an innate love of disputation, rather than from any love of truth. Now, as the Roman empire was the fourth that followed from the Babylonian, it is identical with the fourth empire of this vision. 2. The strength of the fourth empire. Each of the metals of the image plainly'represented by its qualities the political character of the empire it ROME. 121 symbolized. The gold indicated the splendor, but comparative weakness of Babylon; and easily fell before the silver empire of iMedo-Persia, which, though a less splendid, was yet a stronger power, as silver is less splendid, yet comparatively stronger than gold. Silver is a more splendid, yet feebler metal than brass, and the Persian empire was more excellent than the Macedonian, yet was too feeble to resist the impetuosity of the brazencoated Greeks. In like manner as brass, silver, and gold all yield to the superior strength of iron, so the fourth empire was to break up and subdue, by superior strength, all of the preceding dynasties that remained before it. Rome has the best claim to this iron character of any nation that ever existed. Whether consolidated or in fragments, it has wielded greater power and commanded a larger measure of influence, been more resistless in war and endured more lastingly, than any other empire whatever. It was a vast kingdom of warriors, and that, too, for ages, and Mars was its tutelary deity; its codes of Jurisprudence, also, have yielded a commanding influence in the earth for near two thousand years. As iron is the strongest of metals, so Rome has been the strongest of all nations. 3. The fourth kingdom was to crush all other nations. Rome conquered all nations, and, in our Saviour's time, the terms Rome and the whole earth were generally used as synonymous terms. The riches and glory of three continents were either embraced in its limits or its tributaries; it comprehended all of the civilized world. and much of the barbarous. It existed as an iron unit down to the days of Theodosius, or for a thousand years. 11 122 ROME. Paragraph II. Second Per&iod. Chulrch and State Union and the.fall of Rome, or its broiken state, iron and clay.The text affirms two things with regard to the history of the fourth great empire. It says of it, that it shall be divided, and then it says it shall be broklen. The divided and the broken states spoken of, are two totally different matters; the division into iron and clay is what is meant by the term division, and refers to a double political character of the empire; and the broken state refers to the fall of the empire, or its fragmentary condition indicated- by the toes. We shall consider these two points separately. CLAUS E I. COhnrch and State U;nzion.-A division of the political power of the fourth empire into two great departments of church and state, is what is predicted by the iron and clay of the feet and toes. The text says " whereas thou sawest the feet and toes part of potter's (baked) clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with baked clay." In the final vision of Daniel, in which the previous visions are interpreted, we find it said that the visions embracing the period from the captivity by the Romans to the restoration of Israel, was to be a veiled one. And as the text before us relates to events during that period, its mystery was guarantied by the Divine will, and of course all expositions of it during that era must be imperfect. ROME. 123 However, not an expositor, to our knowledge, among the many we have examined, has considered with any proper and critical attention, the division of tile fourth empire into iron and clay. Now, not a word of holy writ is nnimportant, or can be overlooked, without detriment to its proper understanding; and in a prophecy which in a very few sentences describes the'history of the world for thousands of years, not one jot or tittle can be overloolked, for each minute point of the graphic mliniature must possess a sublime importance when expanded into its full life size. It is, therefore, of vital importance to a correct interpretation of the prophecy before us, tha-t the divisions of the fourth empire should be most carefully noticed and explained. We therefore call emphatic attention to the following points, on which hinges a full and harmonious view of the whole vision. i. The empire was to possess a dual political character. This dual character is symbolized by the iron and clay in the feet, and also in the toes of the image. As the iron unquestionably represented the political character of the empire, and as the clay comes in and mlixes with the iron in about equal proportions, they must conjointly represent the political character of the empire after this union. 2. The prophet's interpretation still further confirms its signification to be political. HIe says,'"Whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave to one another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." Here the term iron is plainly seen to represent men, and the clay being interpreted by the term " they," is seen to represent men also; or two orders of men 124 ROME. in the state are indicated by the terms " iron and clay." The want of harmony between the iron and clay, shows a want of political harmony in the state. Again the text says,'" there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay." Here strength of national power is represented by iron, and comparative feebleness by the clay. 3. This division in the fourth empire was not to occur until the empire had stood for some time as an iron kingdom only; after a season this division was to begin and to continue through that period of the history of the empire represented by the toes. The division begins in the feet, and continues till the feet are smitten by the stone. 4. There were to be two classes of men, in the fourth empire, between whom the political power was to be divided. The class represented by the iron certainly possessed civil authority, and the other class possessed it to a certain extent. The term, "seed of men,"' coincides with the term iron, and the term iron coincides with civil power or nationality, represented by the iron legs; hence the term "' clay," which is synonymous with the term "they," which is here a pronoun of multitude, must represent also a great class of men associated in the general government with that class designated by "iron" or "seed of men." 5. Again; the term " they," is antithetic to the term "seed of men," and is therefore expressive of a class of people antithetic in character to those represented by iron. The term " they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men," conveys, with great clearness, the idea of the degradation of a superior class of persons by the ROME. 125 mingling with the seed of men in national affairs. It is very similar to a passage in Genesis, which speaks of the corruption of the sons of God, by uniting with the daughters of men. The "mingling with the seed of men," by this superior class, also conveys plainly the notion of a spiritual people uniting with a political power. Indeed, as no two classes of men can be found in the world, corresponding to the two in the text, except spiritual and carnal people, the union of these two classes in the fourth empire, must represent church and state union in it; and as in the Roman, or fourth great empire, such a union did exist, the case is a very clear one, that the mingled clay represented the church of Christ, corrupted by union with the civil power of Rome, represented by the iron. 6. This political union of civil and ecclesiastical polity, was to be perpetual. This is manifested by the symbols and interpretations. The clay continued during that portion of Roman history represented by the feet, during which time, Rome was still a territorial unit; after the breaking up of this territorial.unity, it continued to exist in the toes or various nations of Europe represented by them; and finally, when the feet are broken, the clay is found existing in them, and shares the fate of the iron. CLAUSE II. Fall of Rome or its bo7keen State.-" And the toes of the feet, part of iron, and part of clay-tfhe kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken." The words, as, were, and so, which are found in' the common text, were supplied by translators, and are not in the original. This text shows, that the breaking up of the iron and clay was to take place; and the term'" brok7en," differs 126 ROME. materially from the term "division" in signification. In this text, the feet are not mentioned, the toes only are treated of, and, of course, the interpretation is of the toes only; the clay and iron are mentioned to show that in the broken state, the divisions, or fragmentary nations, would still retain the double political organization of church and state union. The legs, for the time being, represented the Roman empire; and, in like manner, the toes represented it, also. Now, mark this point with attention: historians, in speaking of the Roman empire, always now speak of it as having ceased to exist; but the prophetic historian regards its broken state as still continuing to be the fourth emnpire; the former do not anticipate a reorganization, but the latter predict a reunion of the fragments into a great empire. The number of toes in the feet of the image being ten, each toe would naturally signify a kingdom itself. That there might be Inore than ten, during the long period of the broken state, is neither affirmed nor contradicted, but we can look for no more than ten at the time when the breaking up of the unity of government was to take place. In a succeeding vision of Daniel, coinciding with this, ten is distinctly stated as the number into which Rome in Europe was to be divided. The text before us, however, simply affirms, that the ten toes indicate the disruption or fall of Rome. The Roman empire in Europe was broken up, and there soon appeared ten coeval kingdoms. In the Apocalypse it is said, that just prior to the organization of the empire again, that there shall be ten kingdoms. Isaac says, that whatever was their subsequent number, all of them are called ten, fi'om their original number. The whole of the disorganized period ROME. 127 of the empire will, therefore, be properly represented by ten toes or ten horns, no matter what number may coexist in any age after the first, in which the original ten appeared. The breaking of the empire began about 396, and the empire still exists in that state, the prophecy recognizing the broken state as continuing to be the fourth empire, and history looking upon it as ended. Pacragra.ph III. Third Period. Reorganization of the Fourth Empire. —But few prophetic expositors have looked far enough to see the whole truth of the fourth empire. It is clear that the fourth empire is to be reorganized. By this we mean, that a large portion of the empire represented by the ten toes in Europe, and by the broken state in Asia and Afitica, will combine again; that is, the reorganized empire will embrace a portion of three continents. The facts by which the third territorial form is proved, are few, but conclusive. 1. It is said the stone struck the image upon his feet, which were of iron and clay, and destroyed it. Now, as the image is strictly chronological in its symbols, it is evident that the toes represented a later period of time than the feet, just as the fall of Rome was later than the beginning of church and state union. It is also as evident, as the sun at mid-day, that the smiting of the feet, and the instant fall of the great image of monarchy, was a later time than that of the ten toes, or broken state of the empire. If this last were not true, then the broken state, represented by the toes, could never have existed; for the feet, aside from 128 ROME, the toes, represented the empire as a unit, divided into civil and ecclesiastical government, and the toes represented a later period than the feet. As, therefore, the state of the empire represented by the feet, was obliged to exist before that represented by the toes could exist, and as both could not simultaneously exist, and, as the image was smitten on the consolidated and broken state represented by both feet and toes, it is obvious that the empire to be smitten thus, must assume a form of unity, such as was represented by the feet. The symbols being expressive of territorial form as well as of chronology, make this understanding of them reasonable, and indeed imperative. 2. When the feet of the image were smitten by the stone, THEN it broke in pieces the iron, gold, clay, brass, and silver, altogether. Now, as the gold represented the Assyrian government, and the silver the Persian, and the brass the Grecian, it is evident that an empire in which these existed, together with the iron and clay, must have been smitten by the stone, or they could not have been broken together by a single stroke. 3. The time when they were broken was not to be a long period, but a short one. The whole image fell, the moment it was smitten. It was struck with violence, and, the vision says, "then" the image was broken. The term "then" has but one brief signification; it means " at that time," and not at some other time, nor during a long period of time. At the very time, then, that the image was struck, it fell to atoms; it did not wait and fall some other time; its metals all perished then; they did not wait to be worn away by any slow moral process of decomposition. ROME. 129 4. In all the other symbolic prophecies of the fourth empire, it is represented as being reconstituted for a very short period before its annihilation; this general uniformity must, therefore, be confirmatory of our position here. We have given every point of character the fourth empire was to possess, together with the time of its rise; the empire, therefore, which coincides with all these points, must be the one predicted by the vision and the interpretation, for perfect coincidence between events and prophecy is infallibly perfect fulfillment. Coincidence First. ]Pepetition. —The fourth kingdom of iron was to follow the one of brass. The brass being the Macedonian empire, and the next empire which followed it must be the iron one. Now, nothing is plainer than that the Roman empire followed the Macedonian. Coincideince Second. Political strength.-The fourth empire was to be politically as strong as iron, and as much stronger than the empires which preceded it, as iron is stronger than brass, or gold, or silver. To this character the Roman empire has the fullest of claims. Whether consolidated, or in fragments, it has wielded greater power, and commanded a larger measure of influence, and endured more lastingly than any other empire ever did. The Roman empire was a kingdom of mighty warriors for ages, and its codes of jurisprudence have wielded a commanding sway over the nations for near two thousand years. As iron is the strongest of metals, so Rome was the strongest of human empires. Coincidence Tr'hird. -The fourth kingdom was to crush all other nations, and become universal. Rome 130 ROME. conquered all nations, and the term applied to the Roman empire was the common term used in our Saviour's day to represent the whole world; the riches and glory of three continents were tributary to it, or embraced in its limits. It comprehended all the civilized world, and much of the barbarous. Coincidezce Fou'tlh.-The political complexion of the fourth kingdom, after a given period of time had elapsed, was to be of a dual character, in which the church was to be mixed or united with the political iron power, and was to continue to the end of the empire, in all its territorial forms. Not quite four hundred years after the extinction of the Macedonian power, the Christian church was united to the Roman political power, and, in every stage of the history of the empire, since the days of Constantine, this mixture has continued. In the broken state of the empire in Modern Europe, this union still abides, and seems likely to abide while monarchy endures. As the clay is a base material, so the Christian church, by this union with the state, has been grossly corrupted; and they who mingled themselves with the seed of men, have become baser than the iron of the world. As the clay and iron were not to cleave closely to each other, so has been this debased alloy of church and state. The exact relationship of the church to the state has never been generally agreed upon; and there has been, through past ages, a constant struggle between them for political supremacy, the iron generally prevailing over the clay. Popes have arrogated supremacy, and absolved nations fi'om allegiance to kings and princes; but kings and princes have generally carried the day. So that while they have remained, and do ROME. 131 remain combined, they have never been chemically united; even'as iron is not (chemically united, or) mixed with clay." They have had conflicting interests, and, from the nature of the case, they always will have. Nothing can exceed the accuracy of the brief description the prophet gives of church and state union in the Roman empire, since its institution. Nothing in fact could be more perfect. Coinci7ence Fifth. First Territorial Form. —The first territorial form of the fourth empire, was to be that of a unit. The Roman empire was a unit territorially, down to the dclays of Theodosius, in the year 395; and after his death it began to be broken up by the northern migrations. Coincidence Sixth.-The second territorial form of the fourth empire, was to be a broken one, and one part was to be divided into ten kingdoms. The Roman empire, or at least that portion of it which was in Europe, was broken to pieces by the inroads of the Germans, Goths, Vandals, and Huns; and ten kingdoms, in less than two hundred years, made their appearance. The Eastern empire existed up to this time; but, after Justinian, it declined, till all its light was extinguished. These ten Roman kingdoms, though not exactly simultaneous in origin, were just enough so to accord with the symbol which represented them and the empire. It is observable, that the toes of the feet do not project from the foot in a right line across the foot, and that the foot is longer on one side than on the other. And so, a large part of the original empire represented by the feet, still existed, after some of the smaller toe kingdoms began to project; and so, also, some of these ten kingdoms sprung 132 ROMR. up a very little in advance of others, yet all at the same era. Coincidence Seventh.-These fragments of the fourth kingdom, were again to confederate. This has not yet taken place, and we can not, therefore, claim a certain coincidence here. The signs of the times, however, indicate, so it is thought by those who know best the state of eastern Europe, that Russia will effect a subserviency of Europe to its power. The exiled Hungarian affirmed upon this subject, the following bold, yet not improbable things. "I predict (and the eternal God hears my prediction), that there can be no freedom for Europe, and that the Cossacks from the shores of the Don, will water their steeds in the Rhine, unless liberty be restored to Hungary." Indeed, we can not entertain a doubt of the supremacy of Russia over all Europe, for such is clearly to be understood from the book of Revelations and Ezekiel. The conclusion we draw from these most extensive and complete coincidences of the Roman empire with the fourth kingdom is, that the Roman empire was meant by the prophecy; indeed, it is infallibly certain; for a full and perfect coincidence of prophecy and events, is, infallibly, a clear fulfillment. Newton says, " All ancient writers, both Jewish and Christian, agree with Jerome, in explaining the fourth kingdom to be the Roman." Mede says, " The Roman empire, to be the fourth kingdom of Daniel, was believed by the church of Israel, both before and in our Saviour's time; received by the disciples of the apostles, and the whole Christian church, for the first three hbundred years, without any known contradictions. And I UNITED STATES. 133 confess, having so good ground in scripture, it is with tantum non est carticultts Jdei, little less than an article of faith." SECTION V. THE FIFTH KINGDOM, OR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. " Westward the course of empire takes its way, The first foztr acts already passed, The fifth shall close the drama with the day: Time's noblest empire is its last." Vision.-" 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 broke them to pieces." 1Rteepretation.-"'And 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 forever." It is but right for us to observe, that our discoveries in interpreting scripture, have compelled us to affirm that this fifth kingdom which the vision presents, and which Daniel interprets, is no other, and can be no other, thau the restoration of Israel to nationality, or, in other words, it is the United States of America. Our arguments to prove it, shall be as fair and candid as they have been on the preceding kingdoms. As we shall be candid and honest, we insist that the same correctness of courtesy shall be shown to our arguments, that are shown, or ought to be shown, to every investigator, and especially to one treading a new path for truth. The difficulties 134 UNITED STATES. under which we shall labor here, we know are great; but we are confident they do not arise from the subject, nor from the trouble of logically demonstrating our position; but they lie altogether in the preconceived opinions of men upon the subject, and the firm and settled error of those opinions, and the determined hostility to any argument that would overthrow or unsettle them. Some persons have never filly formed an opinion on the subject; while others have satisfied themselves that some one has made a great mistake in explaining prophecy somehow, and are consequently distrustfiul of the ability of any man to throw any new light upon the subject. Others, and of the smaller class, are ever ready fairly to examine all honorable argument, and to decide justly. As the decisions of this class will ultimately prevail, we appeal to them to see that justice is done us; if we are wrong, we crave no mercy; if we are logically true, we claim a candid support. Is not this fair? Let the prejudiced remember, that perhaps their opinions are not infallible, and that, after all, they may be just a little wrong, if no more. For the captious, we have not a word; not the first favor have we to ask of them, except-that they will be kind enough to take exceptions to some things, and to all things, we propose. Two classes of opinions about the signification of the fifth kingdclom, have gained considerable ascendency in the world. One class of expositors hold, that the stone is a political power, and another that it is purely a spiritual power, and that it is no other than Christianity. The former suppose that it represents Jesus Christ in his kingdom, suddenly appearing to break the political powers of the earth to pieces, and the latter suppose it to UNITED STATES. 135 represent the gradual consuming of wicked governments by the prevalence of piety. We hold, that neither system of exposition is exactly correct, and that the truth lies between them. We do not propose to answer the arguments in favor of either theory, directly. We shall explain the fifth kingdom by the exact description given, and let the acrguments in fctvor of our scieme be a sufficient proof of the erroneousness of the other theories. We shall proceed to particularize, with severe discrimination, each point in the description of the stone kingdom, and, having minutely developed all that is said, we shall look then for a corresponding kingdom in history. Understand us: we will admit no loose or vague opinion upon any point here; and every point in the coincidence must match with the prophecy, as regularly as each letter upon a newspaper matches with the types of the form upon which the impression was made. The following are all the points which are given to identify the fifth kingdom: 1. The time of its rise. 2. The character and mode of its origin. 3. Its character and its work of demolition, and the manner of it. 4. Its change of character. 5. Its perpetuity. 0. Its character as a theocratic republic and royalty. First. The Time of its ]Rise.-The time of its rise is expressed and implied in the positive words of the vision, and in those of the interpretation, and in the time when the destruction of the image was to take place. To render the matter plain, we shall quote the text carefully. "This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and thighs of 136 UNITED STATES. brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Th/ou sawest t it that ca stone was cut out without Ahands." Now, mark earnestly the following facts: It is certain that the image was a chronological one, and represented successive kingdoms, and successive periods in those kingdoms, from the Babylonian to the broken state of the Roman empire, represented by toes of iron and clay. In seeing these several kingdoms, it is certain that Nebuchadnezzar saw the history of the world, down to the subversion of the Roman empire. It is certain that he saw a period of time, extending from the days of Nebuchadnezzar down to the fifth century. It is certain, that after he had seen the whole era of the image down to the broken stages of Rome, that he continued to look prospectively into the future. It is certain that he did not see the empire of the stone, until he had seen the whole history of the world, from his own days to those of the broken empire. It is certain that he saw the stone kingdom, by looking beyond the period of the broken state of Rome, and that he did not see it by any retrospective view. These statements are plainly comprehended, and explicitly stated in the text. 1. The prophets expressly told the king, that after he had seen the whole prophetic and chronological image, down to the toes, that then, he continued to look forward, and that in looking forward, his attention was arrested by the sight of a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. The expression, "thou sawest till that a stone was cut out," indubitably signifies a looking into the future, and a looking into the future from the toe period, on which his attention had last rested. The term, "thou UNITED STATES. 137 sawest till,' has an expressiveness of futurity in it absolutely, as well as relatively. The word till, says Mr. AWebster, signifies " to the time of, or to the time, as, I will wait till next week," or C'occupy till I come, "saying they would neither eat nor drink till they had slain Paul." The term, "thou sawest," signifies, that he continued to look upon events. Now, as all the events in the vision beside the stone, occurred chronologically, the expression 6 thou sawest till that a stone was- cut out," shows that the looking was chronologically into the future. This view is further confirmed, as well as illustrated, by a parallel and fac-simile passage found in Daniel's vision of the very same events. After Daniel had seen the fourth beast, or kingdom, and its broken state represented by ten horns, and dwelt for awhile upon the broken state of Rome, he says, " I beh7eld or saw till the thrones were cast down." The fourth kingdom of the image, and the fourth kingdom represented by the anomalous beast in Daniel's vision, are synonymous; and the ten toes are synonymous with the ten horns; and the term, "thou sawest till the stone was cut out," and broke the kingdoms to pieces, falls in precisely the same relative position as does the term, "I saw, or beheld till the thrones were cast down;" they relate to the same events, and therefore synchronize, and are synonymous, not only in words, but in signification. The meaning of the latter term can not be mistaken, it plainly looks to the destruction of the kingdoms before it by the ancient of days, and to the rise of the ancient of days; and what IT means, must also be understood by the former time. 2. The interpretation of the vision by the prophet himself, drives us to the same conclusion, irresistibly. 12 138 UNITED STATES. The period of the rise of the fifth kingdom is stated again so circumstantially, as to leave no doubt when it was to occur. The text says, "they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave to one another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom." —v. 43, 44. The phrase, "in the days of these kings," is in the Hebrew original, " beyomahon," signifying, literally, "in their days," and "dimaecbayycah innun,' signifying, "of those kings.' — (-Dr. Thomas.) Now it is a principle of logic that, "relative words should be referred to the nearest, rather than to a remote antecedent."- (fIedge's Logic.) HIlence the term, "' in their days, and of these kings," must either refer to the persons or kingdoms expressed in the preceding sentence, by the words, " they," " themselves," or of the corrupt church; and by the two kingdoms of iron and clay, or to the kingdoms of the broken state of the empire. We can not, therefore, without a palpable violation of a plain, logical rule, make the terms in, " thzeir days, and of those kings," refer to the great period of the whole four kingdoms. Again, the terms in their days, and of those kings are plural, and doubly imply the existence of a plurality of kings at the time of the setting up of the stone kingdom. Whereas, if this kingdom had arisen in the days of Rome, befbre it was broken into a plurality of kingdoms, it is a plain case that it would have been set up in the days of one king, or kingdom, and not, "in their days of these kings," as the text says it should be. In Daniel's vision of the same great period, he presents us with precisely the same number of kingdoms as are UNITED STATES. 139 found in Nebuchadnezzar's vision. The four kingdoms represented by the four metals, are represented by four beasts; the final, or sixth kingdom, is represented by a mountain in one vision, and by the Son of Man in the other. Now, between the divided state of the Roman empire, and the universal kingdom of Christ, Daniel predicts a fifth kingdom; and the fifth kingdom of Daniel's vision coincides with the fifth of Nebuchadnezzar's, in number, character, work, and final triumph, and, therefore, they are but one and the same kingdoml. Daniel calls his fifth kingdom, " the ancient of days," and says, that it was to arise after the broken state of the Roman empire, and that it would consist of the saints, or Christians, and people of the saints or Christians. IHe says that it should fully destroy the fourth empire; and as he had said the stone should do that veritable work in full, it follows that the stone and the ancient of days represented the same veritable empire. Now then, as Daniel says the ancient of days was to rise after the broken state of Rome, it follows that the stone was also to rise after it, they being but the same identical kingdom. Second. SThe Origint of the Stone Kingcdorm. —No writer we ever heard of, has ever interpreted one vastly important symbol, which we now bring forward. It is the mountain origin of the stone kingdom. The vision says, "'thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands." Here it is very plain that the stone was inherent in something; otherwise it would not have been "cut out." The interpretation says, " Forasinuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the nmozuntain without hands." As the stone symbolically represented 140 UNITED STATES. a kingdom, it is plain that the kingdom was derived from some pre-existent power, from which a kingdom could be fbrmed. Again; as all the symbols were prophetic, the mountain was a prophetic one also. The term mountain, when used as a symbol, has a definite meaning, and always signifies a government of some kind, either political or ecclesiastical. Now, the fifth kingdom being cut out of a prophetic kingdom, we must inquire what kind of government it was to be. It is evident, from the nature of the case, that it was a kingdom totally different fiorom any in the image represented by the gold, silver, clay, iron, or brass. It is further clear, that as the stone would partake of the nature of its original composition, that the mountain would be opposed in character to the kingdoms in the image, because the stone kingdom hated and destroyed the other kingdoms. Now, the only great organization in the world that hates corrupt religion and corrupt civil government, is pure and f'ee Christianity, and therefore the mountain must represent the true church, or kingdom, of Christ. Again; as the stone was to be cut out of the mountain in the later, or broken state of Rome, or time of church and state union, it is plain that it was to be composed of a body of Christian people, though perhaps not all of them, until it was changed into a mountain. What else the kingdom of the stone could be cut out of, than the church of God, it is hard to divine, since the new kingdom was to be set up by God. The term, "cut out of the mountain," does not imply a part cut of from the mountain, as a stone cut off from a cliff, or ledge of rocks composing a mountain, but the change of the mountain substance into a double nature, just as UNITED STATES. 141 we say a statue is cut out of a block of marble, or a vase is cut out of alabaster. In these cases the marble and alabaster still remain as they were in substance, while, at the same time, they are changed into another character which is essentially distinct firom the original material. It is a truth, which forces itself upon us irresistibly, that since Christianity is to spread over the world; in its prevalence, the political constitutions of the tyrannical world must be subverted, and be substituted by a governmental policy growing up out of, and embracing Christianity and Christians. The position can not be denied by any rational and intelligent mind. The cutting, or forming of the stone empire out of the mountain, is, therefore, a most beautiful symbol of the forming of a Christian government out of a Christian people; and it is not less beautiful. than truthful. T/ird. The Political Character of tghe Fiftlh Fiinrgdomz.-The fifth empire was to possess a mighty political strength of character. This view was most ably vindicated by Tillinghast, whose work was published in 1654; and has also been, by able Scotch divines of the present century. Tillinghast says, "The kingdom of the stone is a kingdom, in respect of nature, the same with the kingdoms represented by the great image, i. e., it is Outward as they are Outward; which appears: (1.) From the general scope and drift of the prophecy, which runs upon Outward kingdoms. All the first four kingdoms, or monarchies, are Outward, as none can deny; why, then, the Holy Ghost, in speaking of the fifth and last, should so far vary the scope as to glide from the Outward kingdom to the Inward, ought (besides the bare 142 UNITED STATES. say-so) to have some solid and substantial reason brought for it by those, whosoever they are, that either do or shall assert it. (2.) Because it is not proper to say, that a bare spiritual kingdom, considered only as spiritual, should break in pieces, beat to very chaff, grind to powder the great image, i. e., destroy the very being of worldly kingdoms, which work is yet, notwithstanding, done by the stone. Indeed, Christ's spiritual kingdom may, by that light and life which it gives forth, much refine and reform outward kingdoms; but when once the work comes to breaking, and breaking to pieces, i. e., subverting kingdoms, razing their very foundations and destroying their very being, as they are the kings of this world here, unless we conceive God to do it by a miracle, must we also conceive some other hand, besides a spiritual, to be put to the work. (3.) Because the stone, to the end there might not be a vacancy in the world, comes straightway in the place and room of the great image, so soon as the same is totally broken. For as the great image, while standing, bears rule over all the earth, so the same being broken, the stone becomes a mountain, and fills the whole earth, therefore must the kingdom of the stone be such a kingdom as was that of the great image, viz., Outward; or otherwise, the coming of that, in the place of the other now taken away, could not supply the want of the other." We arrange our arguments as follows: 1. The nature of the work to be accomplished by the stone was of a purely political, or rather martial character: it was to break up the four great monarchies, and utterly annihilate them. No monarchy was ever broken down, except by martial or political violence; and UNITED STATES. 143 no kingdom was ever overthrown by another, without great bloodshed. The vision says, the fifth kingdom shall break the four kingdoms to pieces, and they should become as chaff; the interpretation says, " it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms." Here the stone is stated to perform the work of annihilation of the political fabrics before it, in two ways: first, by breaking them to pieces; and, secondly, by consuming them. The term, " breaking to pieces," must be understood in the same sense in which the prophet uses it in other parts of the prophecy. Now, he said of the fourth kingdom of iron, that it should "break in pieces" all the kingdoms before it. Then, as the Roman, or fourth kingdom, broke in pieces all the nations before it, by the most bloody and devastating wars, it follows, that as the fourth kingdom should be "broken to pieces" by the stone, that the breaking would, in its case, be by dreadful war, as in the other cases. There is no room to evade this conclusion, without violating a plain rule of interpretation: that is, by assigning a different sense to an author's words than he himself has given. The terms, "became chaff," and "consuming," are obviously somewhat different in signification from that of "breaking to pieces." They imply that the empire was first divided into large masses, and that these were then subjugated, and utterly wasted away by conquest. St. John, in describing the destruction of the Roman power in the last battles, by the fifth kingdom, says the beast and false prophet were first taken, and then the remnant were slain. The beast corresponds to the fourth kingdom; and his being taken coincides with the breaking up of the image into fragments; and the slaying 144 UNITED STATES. of the remnant Coincides with the consuming process upon the fragments of the broken image. 2. The breaking of the image was by a single and sudden stroke of the stone. Dr. Adam Clarke says, the falling of the stone upon the feet of the image, was like the stroke of a stone discharged violently from a Roman catapult. There was but one stroke of the stone on the feet. It was plainly a swift stroke, and, therefore, a sudden one; there was no protracted effort on its part to break up monarchy; there was no repetition of the blow by the stone, for the image fell the very instant its feet felt the force of the single disrupting blow. The text says, it " smote the image upon his feet, which were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces;" and it adds, a THEN was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together." One sudden stroke of the stone broke the feet to pieces, and THEN, at that very time, for such is the meaning of the term then, the whole material fell to pieces. The sudden dashing of the Roman empire to pieces by a single stroke, absolutely implies great and unprecedented political or martial power. And, again, the existence of the empire in fragments, implies that this state was produced by political power; and its comminution into chaff is still further expressive of it. 3. The time when this smiting was to transpire, is further proof that the fifth kingdom was to be a political power. The feet were to be broken by the stone, and then every vestige of Rome was to disappear. The toes were not to be smitten, but the feet, the prophet says. Now, as the image was chronological, the Roman empire represented by the toes, was not simultaneous with that UNITED STATES. 14C state of it represented by the feet, nor could the image be smitten in that state represented by the feet prior to that represented by the toes; for if it had been, the toe, or broken state, would never have appeared at all, because the image was all to dissolve at only one stroke of the stone. The only way to reconcile the matter, is, by allowing a reunion of the broken empire represented by the feet of iron and clay. St. John very clearly states, that the ten kingdoms should agree together, to give their power to the beast, and that, in this confederacy, they should be broken by the fifth empire; he, therefore, fully confirms our positions here. [No man of any brains can imagine, that the European states, when confederatcd, can ever be broken to pieces by an extraneous power, unless that extraneous power be a civil government with martial power. 4. The Roman empire, or fourth kingdom, was to be demolished by a power without its borders. The stone was not in any wise attached to the image; it was generated in it, and did not operate upon the image internally; it smote the image outside, and moved toward it from a distance. It was, therefore, a kingdom that did not grow up in the bounds of the Roman empire at all; it did not foment discord in its territories, nor secretly and silently work its ruin by enoral suasion,. On the contrary, as it grew in strength, Rome grew in strength; for as it originated in the broken state of Rome, and did not smite it till Rome was reunited, it is evident that both grew stronger simultaneously. It was an external. foreign power to Rome or Europe, and its country wasnot in the limits of the old Roman empire. 1'4 146 UNITED STATES. 5. The kingdom of the mountain, into which the stone was to grow, every one admits, will be a government in which every thing will be Christianized. From the very nature of the case, the civil and spiritual departments of good government will never be blended. Christ will ultimately be priest of the one and king of the other; but this does not imply that they will ever be blended, but just the contrary. The Millennial government, or mountain, will, therefore, possess a civil department. Now, as the kingdom of the stone is simply to expand into the Millennial government, it follows that it must be possessed of a civil department of government. Those persons who fancy a universal church on earth, with no civil code, have very crude notions of the matter, to say the least of it. The gospel will never admit of any such universal salmagundi.'Forth. C/anzge of Charactetr.-The stone was to grow into a mountain after it had destroyed the political powers of Roman Europe. It was to fill the whole earth. This power, external to the Roman Europe, was to break up its kingdoms, root them out, and extend its own government over them. Nothing can be plainer than the fact now stated. The powers first broken by the stone, were those of the Japhetic race; and the government of the stone would, therefore, include Europe first, and thenceforward extend to Asia and Afiica. The improbability of a general government for the white race, seems chimerical to some politicians, but God has said it shall be, and that all nations shall be included in it; and, of course, the existence of such a great confederacy, is not dependent upon the notions of short-sighted philosophy. UNITED STATES. 14T Fifth. J7ze Pe2iyet1tiy of the ijfth Emnjpire.-The text says, the kingdom of the stone shall change into a mountain form, andl " shall never be destroyed." All of the political empires before it had been destroyed by physical violence, but this one was not thus to be moved. "The kingdom. shall not be left to other people." The empire of the world had passed from people to people, but, according to this, the people of the fifth kingdom were to hold the scepter of empire perpetually. Other political powers were to be wholly removed, " no place was found for them," "they became like chaff of the summer thrashing floor, and the wind carried them away; " but this empire stood up in everlasting continuance. It stood on earth; it stood where the Roman, the Grecian, the Persian, and the Assyrian empires stood; and there it stood, and stood forever. The judgment and the resurrection, and the regeneration of the heavens and earth by fire, did not move it; it shall stand and not be removed forever. In its progress of glory, its territories may be cleansed by fire; its inhabitants may be purified by the judgment; the angels may " gather out of it all things that ofiend, and them which do iniquity," but the kingdomn shall remain standing where it was originally established. It will be remembered, that the promise of perpetuity to the stone kingdom is precisely that made to Israel, when restored to azc/tionality in the latter day, of which, it is said, they shall never be removed, but shall abide forever. Si xth,. DJie Stoze was to be a PolitZical T/eoratio?ep2ublic.-This position, though not stated in so many words, in the vision and interpretation, is yet fully deducible from them, and frolm the very nature of things. 148 UNITED STATES. According to the constitution of man, there can be but two genuine kinds of civil or spiritual government. All governments must either be republics or monarchies; there may be various kinds of each, but there is no harmonious medium kind, nor canl be. There may be absolute, limited, constitutional, or hereditary monarchies, but they all agree in asserting or practicing the doctrine that the right of governing does not exist in the consent of the governed. There may be aristocratic, democratic, representative, and confederative republics, but they all agree that there is no right of government except by the expressed consent of the governed. These two can never exist in a blended state harmoniously, because their principles- are essentially and originally antagonistic. Now, it is an undeniable fact, that the great image represented all the human monarchy that was ever to be universal on earth; and it is also undeniable, that not one fragment of their political character was to remain, for " there was no place found for them." In the annihilation of these monarchies, it follows that the divine right of kings, claimed by them, was swept forever from the earth. Now, as the stone removed all of the political fabric of monarchy, and filled its place with another kind of government, it is evident that the government must be a republican one, because it could be of no other kind. Again; no reason is assigned in the text for the hostility of the stone to the whole system of monarchy; yet it is plain, that it purposed to break up and totally extirpate not one part of the system of monarchy, but it was terribly hostile to the minutest fragment of it. This again indicates its republican character; for there UNITED STATES. 149 is an innate hostility in republicanism to monarchy, nor can it ever rest satisfied while it sees a monarchy in existence. It is belligerent to the very name of a human king, and its highest indignation is never reached, unless it is roused on account of monarchy. We have already shown that God hates monarchy, and loves a theocratic democracy, such as that of republican Israel; and, as he establishes the stone kingdolm, it is evident that hle would conform it to his notions of a true government, which is that of a democracy, with himself as the chosen head. The fifth kingdom or government would, therefore, be a Christian democracy. The stone, it is observable, did not incorporate one particle of clay or of the metals with itself; it preserved its lithological nature, unmixed by any affinity with the political qualities of clay or metal; it must, therefore, have been a republic. Bit as God was its founder, he must have been acknowledged as its head, so that it was just such a republic as that which entered Canaan under Joshua. 7We have now considered all the points of character which the fifth kingdom was to possess; we therefore proceed to identify its realization, by presenting a nation which coincides with the description down to the present age. The fifth kingdom can not represent simple Chlristianity, and it is strange any one could ever be induced to thinkl so. The reason why it does not predict simple Christianity is, that Christianity does not coincide with it. For the satisfaction of inquirers, we will try the analogy, and let it be seen how signally it fails. 1. The stone kingdom was to rise in the broken state of the IRoman empire, indicated by the toes of the image, 160 UNITED STATES. and this state did not even begin before the last part of the fourth century after Christianity had made its full appearance. 2. The stone was to be formed from the mountain kingidom at first. Now Christianity itself is the kingdom of the mountain, and it was not cut out of anything. It was primarily instituted by God, who says, his kingdoml is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 3. The stone was to possess a political department of government, which the Christian church does not possess. 4. The whole body of monarchy was to be broken by a single, sudden, and violent stroke of the stone. The work of suddenly breaking down monarchy by such violence is forbidden to the church. Christianity overturned Paganism in the Roman empire, and this fact has been adduced as proof, that by this act the smiting of the stone was realized. Certainly no exposition can be less worthy of confidence than this. For, in the first place, paganism was not the fourth monarchy, nor is paganism once referred to by Daniel, in the vision. The whole body of human monarchy, and especially of the Roman monarchy, was the thing the stone was to demolish, and not its religion only. Now, instead of Christianity breaking up the empire, by changing the religion of the empire, it rather cemented the empire; and the broken state of the empire, represented by the toes, was produced by northern barbarians, and not by Christianity at all. 5. The time when the empire was to be broken by the stone, was a later period than that of the breaking UNITED STATES. 151 assigned to Christianity. It was to be after the toe period of time, or later than the fourth century, and at the time when the broken fragments should be reunited into a confederacy. Now, Christianity does not coincide with the prophecy here at all. 6. The stone was to be a kingdom entirely without the pale of the tRoman empire, and removed to a distance from it. This can not be said of Christianity, which arose in the very midst of the Roman empire.'7. The stone was not to destroy the IRoman power by any internal agency at all; it was to be altogether an outward attack. But Christianity, to overthrow the Roman empire, could only act gradually upon the elements within, and not from without. The consuming power is all that Christianity constitutionally possesses; but the ~stone was not only to consume, but it was first to break monarchy, and then was to consume it. There were to be two periods in the destruction by the stone: the sudden and violent breaking of the monarchy, and then that of the comminuting of the fragments. Ghristianity might coincide with the latter in some sense, but in no sense with the formrer. 8. The attack upon all monarchy, by the stone, was direct and intentional; but the church makes no attack upon monarchy, nor is it directed to do so: so that the church does not again coincide with the stone. 9. The stone was to abide as a perpetual organization, with a change of form. The church will abide forever, and in this respect it will coincide forever; but then the church will not change its radical character, it will be a spiritual organization, without material change. Now, as Israel, when restored to nationality, will abide forever, 152 UNITED STATES. as truly as the church, and as nationality can change its form, it is plain that there is not a full coincidence in Christianity with the point of character under consideration, while there is with Israel restored. As, therefore, the Christian church does not fully coincide with a single point of character in the stone kingdom, much less with all the points, the stone kingdom and Christianity can not in any wise be identical. We have already observed, that Daniel said, that the period comprehended in the three and a half times, should not be understood till a late period in Christian history. As, therefore, all of his prophecy would have been understood, if the application of the stone to Christianity had been a correct interpretation, it follows that the application was and is erroneous. We will now bring a nation that exactly coincides with the stone in all points, from its incipiency down to the present day. We affirm that the stone corresponds to the restoration of Israel to nationality; and that the nationality was to be that of Christian Israel, and not of the Jewish. It is unreasonable to suppose, that, in a great prophecy, detailing the world's great history, that the restoration of Israel to nationality should have no place; for one great theme of the major and minor prophets was the glory of Israel restored, in the latter day. Indeed, as it was to be one of the greatest events of modern times, it could not have been left out of the vision, according to Daniel's own words; for he said to Nebuchadnezzar, " thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and he that revealeth secrets, maketh known to thee what shall come UNITED STATES. 153 to pass;" and, "The Great God hath made known to the kinog what shall come to pass hereafter." The vision plainly shows, that all the great nations that were to rise, down to the end of the world, and the great events of it, wvere all presented to the king. Now, if Israel restored was not among these nations, then one of the most important features of modern history was not seen by him: which is too absurd to suppose. Every point in the character of the stone finds a fill coincidence in the nationality of Israel restored, as the reader can see at a single glance of thought. Now, we have shown that the restoration of Israel was to be that of Christian Israel; and we will now show that the Christian Israel, or stone spoken of, coincides exactly with the United States of America. As somne may think the notion an absurd one, we may be allowed to ofler a few remarks upon the probability, that the United States would be a theme of prophecy. Prophecy was given for various objects. To the church it was given for encouragement, and to the world it was given to dismay the foes of God, and to be a perpetually recurring proof of the providence of God, and of the divinity of the plan of redemption unfolded by revelation. The whole history of the world is, therefore, given prophetically at different times, and all points of great interest to the church are embraced in prophecy. There is not a single age since the oral prophets, but is the subject of their predictions; nor is any great nation whose existence vitally affects the church, neglected by them, unless the United States be the nation. Indeed, every great epoch of the Christian world, and every era is duly chronicled and described. Now, among all the 154 UNITED STATES. epochs, and eras, and nationalities, that have ever appeared on earth, before and since Christianity, none has ever been so replete with good to man and blessings to the church, as the epoch and era of the United States. Its rise was the great epoch of the freedom of Christianity. Never before, from the days of Christ, was the church freed from foreign domination; never before, since its union with the state, was the control over its purity taken away, and temptation to impurity and corruption removed. The severance of church and state, is one of the greatest and most blessed events with which the church was ever favored. Volumes might be written on the benefits accruing to piety fiom it; and it is one of the great features of our organization which distinguishes us from all the nationalities, except the Jewish, that ever preceded our own. The rise of the United States began the great era of national humanity in the world. Cruelty and blood had been the principal features in the governments, from Babylon down to the Declaration; and the Declaration enumerates a catalogue of abuses and cruelties, on the part of England, for which rebellion was the only remedy. The successful example of a rebellion on the part of oppressed subjects, soon taught monarchies to lighten the pressure of their iron heel upon the necks of the crushed. Hience, the cessation of inquisitions, auto 7de fes, and the general and bloody massacres of the good. The rise of the United States was the era of a national morality. Bad as many of our people are, our plague spots are purity compared to the corruptive courts of other lands. UNITED STATES.. 155 Humanity arose at our dawn; and the wars of our country have been less liquid with blood, than the mlunicipal sword in time of peace, among Europeans. Never did a nation have such a feeling heart as ours. The cry of starving Ireland, wakens no chord in the heart of the Lion and Unicorn; but it thrills the bosoms of our millions, and they give with a free and full hand to the fainting slaves of BrAitis7 FREEDOM. The despairing cry of liberty from Hungary, stirs all, from ocean to ocean; and they nurse the moan upon the breast of memory, till the day- of vengeance comes. They open wide their gates, and with outstretched arms, invite the weary and heavy laden to tarry with them and be refreshed, and sharpen their sword till the hour to strike for the world's release. They say, "whosoever will, let him come;" they say to the starving, "we have bread enough and to spare;" they say to the poor, "come, share our rich inheritance;" they say to the oppressed, "take shelter under the stars of our banner;" and, while millions crowd the way, they say " there's room for millions more." Our kind hearted country is "the desire of all nations;" and to it the nations come. Our rising, was the epoch of knowledge among men; the realization of the prediction, " that many should run to and fro, and knowledge should be increased." With us, the press, that luminary of liberty, arose like a splendid sun from the deeps of chaos, and, through the rifted clouds, flashed a bewildering brightness on the unused eyes of the world. The press was chained before; now it is free. Unnumbered millions of books and printed truths, each year, and month, and day, like bars, and beams, and rays of "massy light" pour their 156 UNITED STATES. fair splendors on the immortal mind, through all our hemisphere. Here burns "' the lamp of eternity" on every table of the rich, and in every cottage of the lowly; lighting the soul with the knowledge of its sublimity, and the luster of Christianized humanity. Here, science and art have sowed seed of perennial fiuit, to grow and blossom no0W, and ripen early in tlhe approaching millennial summer. Like fountains of worth and beauty, schools are among the hills and vales, and everywhere; and " all our children are taught of the Lord." Our rise Awas the epoch of agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and trade. Land had been tilled from Adam, to be sure, but when an empire was at once put under tribute by improved modes of production, then was an epoch. Cotton rules the world; and cotton makes an era in the world's prosperity; and with us its culture fully began. Commerce was but a fishing smack, before our union; now it is a navy on all the seas around the globe. Navigation then was a snail, now it is a tempest; then it was a galley with oars, now it is a palace driven by superhuman and invisible force; then it was toil, now an exquisite luxury. Then manufactories were mere crudities, now they darken and deafen kingdoms with smoke and roar. Then all were poor, now all are independent. Then all was sluggish, now all is motion. Then all was ignorance, now all is information. Then a pillar of cloud led the world, but now a pillar of fire. But again, our rise was the birth of organized and democratic liberty. For such an event the nations had groaned, but never hoped to see. Philosophy had pronounced it impossible, and kings had scouted it as an UNITED STATES. 157 idle conceit; yet it is realized at last. Its country, like a throne, is seated above all lands, upon the highest region of the globe. Its temple, like itself, is new, and free, and glorious. Its dome is the great open sky, adorned by God's own fingers, and lighted by lamps of his own kindling; circled with a cornice of his own painting, and animated with clouds moved, anc gilded, by his own skill. Its floor is the great continent, borderecl by seas on either side; its altar is the nation's heart; its music is the cheerful voice of the mryriads of the free; its worship is the praise of God; and there is no image of a god within its mountain walls, for the true God is there in spirit. Our nation was "a nation born to God in a day,'" —born on Independence day. Upon the world the effects of our birth have been, C' life fiom the dead." Every part of the civilized world, and especially the religious world, has felt our existence as if we had been a universal galvanic battery. Our influence abroad can not be expressed by volumes of words; it can not be measured by a guage, nor be estimated by balances, nor computed by figures. Revolutions are stirred by it; and every throne trembles on account of it; kings feel it, and the people are inspired by it; religion brightens through it, and apostate papacy shrinks from its touch. Blot us from the world, with all the influence we have exerted upon it, directly and indirectly, and how dark the globe would be! Hell would celebrate the catastrophe, and monarchs would invite all hell to a feast of thanksgivinog at an event so delightful to iniquity! Pope and Pagan would leap to youth fiom decrepitude; and Despotism would embrace them again 158 UNITED STATES. in its loving and confraternal arms; and all would dance with delight over their common and dreaded foe. No country ever existed that, in so short a space, affected the world so much, and did so much for the good of the cause of God and humanity; and yet ours is but the state of infancy. Now, then, we ask a question: How can it be, that all other nations aflhcting the cause of God, and man, should be specifically and repeatedly predicted by prophets, and our country, which has done more good than all others, be unmentioned by the prophets. The prophets mention the minutest facts, and the smallest countries and villages that affected God's ancient and his modern Israel; and how happens it that not a word is said of America? Egypt and Greece, Edom and Mhoab, and Tyre, and Damascus, and Sidon, and all the little towns of Asia M/linor, and the Levant, come in for a share of notice, and all the mighty empires affecting the church are carefilly enumerated; the divisions of the Roman empire were specially noticed, down to the end of them all, and yet no notice given of a Christian country that gives more comfort and relief to the Christians and the distressed, than was ever given by all the world put together? How can it be possible that this country was left out of prophecy? how came it to be the alone proscribed nation in all the prophetic calendar? You may talk largely of reformations in church and state, but no great and organic reformations were, or are, complete and free elsewhere. And can the greatest epoch, the brightest era in the history of Christianity, be unnoticed in the scriptures, while all others of minor note are emphasized with a will? Surely no. Right where the prophets place the rise of Israel; right where UNITED STATES. 159 the stone, or fifth, kingdom was to appear; right at that appointed time our Christian country arose, and it must be the fifth predicted kingdom; if so, it will coincide in character with every quality predicted of the stone. We proceed to the identification. Coincidence Fii'st.-The stone was to rise after the broken state of the Roman empire represented by the toes, and before their reunion, and after church and state union. The United States arose in this identical period, and, therefore, coincides with the rise of the stone. No other nation but the United States did arise in this period, except it was represented by the toes of the image, or such as grew up from fragments of the Roman empire, or in the empire. Coincidence Second. —The stone was to be produced from the mountain, which was identical with Christianity. It was, therefore, to possess the dual character so often specified by the prophets, and which is an essential element of civil government. Washington, in his farewell address, says,' with slight shades of difibrence, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles." As the United States possess the double nature of a Christian religion and a Christian civil government, it coincides with the double character of the stone. Again; it is indisputable that the United States government arose out of a Christian people, and that the constitution is essentially Christian, but not sectarian. It recognizes all the great virtues and customs of true Christianity, and especially the sacredness of the Christian Sabbath. And in all our history, the God of the history has been 160 UNITED STATES. authoritatively proclaimed as the king, and the only king of our people. The declaration, the constitution, the statute laws, the executive, the judiciary, and the legislative powers of our country, have manifested uniformly and decidedly, that Christianity was the basis of our political structure. It is not necessary to quote documents by the cart load to establish this position, for it has always been agreed to, and none will take the thankless pains to dispute it. Coinzicle~nce T/i'rd.-The stone, or fifth kingdom, was to possess a political structure. This, of course, will apply fully to the United States. Coincidence Foulrth.-The kingdom of the stone, or fifth empire, was to be a power that should arise external to the Roman empire; it was not to be within its limits, and was to attack it externally. Nrow, the Roman empire's limits embraced all of civilized Europe, Asia, and Africa, or the whole of the old world; and, by consequence, the stone kingdom was to be in some portion of the new world, or America. To this conclusion we are logically and inevitably coerced. Now, the United States was the fifth erapire; was erected external to the Roman empire, and is the only continent out of it, where a great empire could arise. Coincide2nce 7ift. —The fifth empire was to be a republic; and to this characteristic the United States corresponds. Coincideince Sixtl7. —The fifth, or stone kingdom, was to break up the whole fabric of monarchy by war, and was then to annihilate the fragments. It must be remembered, that the image represented all of human monarchy UNITED STATES. 161 that was ever to exist; and the image was smitten by the stone upon its feet, thus showing that the whole body of monarchy was to be smitten, as well as that particular kind specially represented by the feet. The feet were of iron and clay, and not of gold, and silver, and brass. The inference, therefore, to be made, is, that all the monarchies were finally to be embodied under an Assyrian head of gold. As the events here predicted have not transpired, of course no coincidence, by fulfillment, can be affirmed between the fifth kingdom and any power whatever. But, while these things are so, we nevertheless can show that the United States will doubtless engage with ~monarchy for its destruction, and that it will never rest while a monarchy remains. In all ages of the world, there has been a contest between the democratic and despotic element. Since the prevalence of Christianity, with the art of printing, every revolt among European kingdoms has arisen from the conflict for righots between kings and the people. The spread of Christianity is, indeed, essentially the spread of liberalism; and, since the days of Luther in Europe, and of John Knox and Wickliffb in Britain, the democratic element has increased with great rapidity. The spread of the Bible has inflamed the minds of men, and they have grown restless and revolutionary in servitude, and have again and again given evidence of what democracy will do when its locks are grown. Since the origin and success of organized democracy in America, the liberal principle has accumulated and grown with unprecedented rapidity in Europe. The innate hostility between it and monarchy, will, from the 14 162 UNITED STATES. very nature of the case, lead to exterminating hostility of one party or the other; both can not exist together in the world, on a large scale, and be at peace. Democracy is a sympathizing element, which, in addition to its common interest, will never let monarchy alone till it sets everybody free. Sympathy is the strongest excitant of our nature; and liberalism sympathises with all true liberalists, as brother with brother. The democratic element must inevitably harmonize and organize. Now, the United States is the first successful organization of democracy in the world, and it is the representative of the world-wide democracy. It is inseparably allied to democracy every where, fiomr the very nature of things, and must make common cause with it, when it strikes for the great Mlillennial release. We are not yet ready for an issue with monarchy, on democratic principles; it has been our proper and steady aim to mind our own particular business. WVe have never committed ourselves to any unholy alliance with Egypt and Edo m; we have left our way clear to act just as we please, and when we please; and, because we have never joined issues upon democracy, is no reason that we will not, but a premonitory symptom that we will do so at our earliest convenience. With all the governmental efforts to curb the inborn tendency to become implicated in the democratic strife with monarchy, among our people, it is impossible to repress the growth of a universal desire to crush mnonarchy. The ebullition of the feeling in "fillibustering,' and public speeches, secret organizations, in resolutions of conventions, and in the press, reveals a national itching to extend the area of freedom on the ruins of thrones. UNITED STATES. 163 But this is not all that indicates a collision. The same tendency that directs democracy to engage in an annihilating strife, exists also in as strong, if not in a stronger degree in autocracy. Its antipathy to democracy grows daily more intense, as it is obliged to be more and more watchful of its interests. America it regards as the great crater of melted lava, whose streams are reaching its hemisphere; and it would be a matter of intoxicating delight to it, if we were out of the way; and this feeling would lead it to put us out of the way, if it could. It views with surly jealousy all our sympathy for the restless democracy struggling beneath it; and it is fully aware, that to possess a steady throne, America must be disorganized. In view of these very things, a proposition to destroy the American republic was proposed in Russia as early as 1818. Again; it is evident that monarchy will cease during the Millennium, because the prophet says, "' the thrones were cast down," before that period. Now the thrones must have been overturned by the universal democracy of the world in organic form; because no power, less than that, could at once demolish so vast an establishment simultaneously. Hiowv such a brush could take place without our having a hand in the jubilcte it is impossible to imagine. Sound philosophy teaches that we can not avoid a collision with monarchy in general. This collision with monarchy is more clearly foretold in succeeding descriptions of the fifth kingdom, and in all the predictions of Israel restored. The destruction of monarchy by Israel restored is fully predicted by Ezekiel in the destruction of Gog. Daniel also predicts it in the 164 UNITED STATES. political judgment day of the ancient of days, and in the fall of the willful king in Israel's country. John repeats the same thing in the sixth seal: in the reaping of the earth, and in the taking of the beast and prophet by the man on the white horse. Coinceiclence Seventh.-The fifth kingdom was to spread over the whole earth, after the destruction of' monarchy. Of course, no full coincidence can here be shown, as no fulfillment has been realized. The capacity of our government for unlimited expansion is a quality inherent in its federative structure and representative policy. Its tendency is, also, to accunmulate territorial power. This tendency, not arising from individual last of power, can not be mischievous, as when it springs from the monarchal power of aggrandizement. The tendency springs firom a desire to fhlfill a divine command; to fill the ealth, to till it, and subdue, or civilize and refine, and bless it. The easy yoke and gentle burden of our government is desired by almost all people, in preference to the chains of anarchy and iron collar of oppression. Our doctrine is, that " if the people wish a government, they should have it in spite of kings; and if any people wish to be annexed to us, they should have their wishes gratified in spite of the hellish despotisms that crush them." We have annexed Florida, the Mississippi valley, Texas, California, and New lMexico, and are now bargaining for a strip of the old, and we shall soon possess all North America. [Now, if we have a right to annex one country justly, we have as good a reason to annex another; and may annex a European state, as properly as an American one; and moreover, we shall be crtain UNITED STATES. 165 to annex one or more if we get half a chance. The eagle shall spread his wings over all the earth. Some political government will spread over the earth in the 3.1illennium; and it will be a democracy, or it will be no Millennium; and the United States is likely to be that incipient democracy, and its tendencies are all that way. Coincidence Eiglith.-The fifth empire was to be established by the God of heaven. This does not imply any miraculous power at all, but simply providential care in its origin and progress. All "the powers that be are ordained of God," as well as the fifth empire. Yet the language plainly conveys the notion that it would be one that God would approve as proper. Now when we remember that America was kept from the world, till an intelligent Christian people were ready to occupy it; when we see it made use of as a Christian refuge, till millions of a Christian people were ready to organize a government in it; and then remember the commitment of their cause to God universally as a people, and as a government; their choice of God as king; their days of humiliation, fasting, and prayer for civil and religious redemption, the conviction is irresistible, that God especially looked to the United States as a government peculiarly his own. The acts of congress were in the name of God; and, at its very session it adjourned, and on a solemn day of fasting and prayer, dedicated themselves and their country to God; and on that memorable day, the people pledged themselves to God and liberty. Individuals and families, churches and colonies prayed to God to establish a Christian nation of freemen: for this, old men and children prayed; for this, sisters, and wives, and weepinri 166 UNITED STATES. mothers prayed; for this, soldiers, and statesmen, and generals, and Washington, all humbly bowed in prayer to God,-in long and agonizing prayer. From Lexington to the last victory, tears flowed, and prayers ascended in one universal undying cry all over the land, for the salvation of God. " The bannered host inscribed upon their standards, " Nil desperandum C'hristo Duce;" "HE that brought tus over will help us through.;"'"Our appeal is to Heaven." The great Declaration says, "Relying on Divine Providence, we pledge our lives." When "God had gone forth with our hosts," and Yorktown had closed the war, said Washington to congress, "I consider it an indispensable duty to close the last solemn act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy kceeping." To whom the president of Congress, in behalf of that body, replied:' We join you in commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of ALMIGHTY GOD, beseeching him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve the opportunity afforded them, of becoming a happy and respectable nation." Nothing in the valedictories of Moses or Joshua, is replete with nobler or sincerer consecration to Jehovah. The people of the United States in the Revolutionary war, abandoned human monarchy forever, and chose God for their king; and God accepted the office, and "set their feet upon a rock and established their goings, UNITED STATES. 167 and put a song of praise in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand." Coinlcidcence fintf. —The fifth kingcdom was furiously hostile to monarchy. This we all know is exactly clescriptive of the character of the United States. We detest the very name of king, and have no sort of respect for human crowns or scepters. It will be seen that; the United States coincides with every characteristic of which the fifth kingdom was to be possessed, down to the present time. The great and essential points which are given to identify it, are tile time of its rise, the source from which it was to come, the political character it was to possess, its locality outside the limits of monarchy, and its direct hostility to Roman monarchy. With all these great marks of identity the United States perfectly coincides; and, as perfect coincidence of persons, events, and objects, with prophecy, is a perfect fulfillment of prophecy, it follows that the United States is the fulfillment of the fifth kingdom predicted by Nebuchadnezzar's vision. SECTION VI. SIXTIH KINGDOMI —REIGN OF MESSIAH. Visioqn. —' The stone which smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.".19zterpretatbion.-' It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." The fifth empire was to spread over all the earth, and remain forever. This coincides with all the declarations 168 REIGN OF MESSIAH. of the prophets of the finality of the great war for the conquest of the world. God made oath to Moses, that the whole earth should be filled with his glory. The same thing was also, in substance, uttered in the first declaration of war; was repeated to the fathers; announced by Isaiah and all the prophets of the latter day, without exception. The state of the world described by John duringe the }Millennium, and after the renewal of the heavens and earth, coincides with this sixth empire. Ezekiel's vision of Israel's final restoration and his holy land, temple, and city, prledict the same thing; Isaiah's new heaven and earth, also coincide with it; as does Daniel's kingdom of one like the Son of Man, and the resurrection of the dead. It is objected by some, that no civil organization can by possibility endure forever; but we see not why it can not, when God says it can. He says, Israel restored to nationality shall abide forever. (See Ezek. 31 ce. and other places.) The Israel restored being a Christian Israel, there can be no trouble on the point, except in dull minds. At the sixth kingdom the republic will be changed to a royalty, as the republic of Israel was changed to a royalty. No resurrection, or Ml[illennium, is here mentioned; doubtless, because the prophecy was almost a political one, and gives only the great outline of the eternal history of the world. SIX EMPIRES. 169 CHAPTER VII. DANIEL'S FIRST PANORAMIC VISION OF THE SIX KINGDOS3S OF THE WORLD. WE have reimarked that every very important prophetic event is twice repeated, or twice doubledl, and that the symbolic prophecies are mostly accompanied additionally with an interpretation. This principle is especially exhibited in the universal prophecies of the political world, recorded by Daniel. For we find that every character of the whole panorama of the politicals history of the world, exhibited in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, is repeated and enlarged upon by Daniel's vision of the very samrne field. Joseph, before Pharaoh, interpreting his double vision of the seven fat, and lean kine, and the seven full, and blasted ears, said the dream was one, and that the dream was "' doutbled twice," because the dream was established by God. We understand by this, that the second vision was to interpret thle first, or throw more light upon it. The seven full ears explain why the kine were fat, anre the seven blasted ones why the kine were lean; and the twice doubling of seven emphasizes the periods of seven years. And so we understand one of Daniel's visions to be an exponent of the other, and the emphasizer of the certain realization of its events. We may therefore anticipate that the second vision of the same great succession of empires, will give uns 15 170 SIX EMPIRES. additional light in determining their characters, and identifying their names. This second panorama of the six empires is recorded in the seventh chapter of Daniel. It is prefaced with a prophetic introduction, which shows the entire compass of the prophecy. "I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea, and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse from one another." As the four beasts were four empires, and as they came up in different ages of the world, it is plain that the term sea embraces the whole world during their history, or the history of the people. The striving of the winds upon the sea, represents commotions in the political world, and the striving of the foar winds represents the universality of these changes and agitations. All of those symbols having the number four added to them, represent universality. Jeremiah explains the term,' bfour winds," in his forty-ninth chapter, "I will bring against E lam, four wzinds, From the four extremities of the heavens." The universality of agencies, or providence, operating among men, throughout all ages, is, therefore, symbolized by the four winds striving on the great sea. Vision.-' And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse from one another." Izterpretation-" These great beasts, which are four, are four kings which shall arise." The term kings, here represents kingdoms, or governments, and would have been as properly translated kingdoms as kings, from the original text. We shall BABYLON. 171 now find that these four kingdoms coincide with the four of Nebuchadnezzar's vision. We will consider them in order. SECTION I. TmE LION -]3IPIaR OF BABYLON. Visiol. —" The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings; I beheld till the wings thereof were pluclied, and it was lifted up from the earth, and im-ade to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it." In the fourth chapter of Jeremiah, the Babylonian kingdom is described as a lion. " The lion is come'lp from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way." This is a passage of Hebrew poetry, and a feature of it is, that every object delineated in it is mentioned twice, the latter statement always explaining or emphasizing the former; so that the lion and the destroyer of the Gentiles are synonymous. Ezekiel said of Babylon, " He shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab."-Ezek. xvii. He also calls it a' a great eagle with great wings.' The word wings symbolizes variois thlings, as armies, velocity, protection; but, in all cases, eagle's wings imply power and velocity. The plucking of the wings of the lion will, therefore, represent the diminution of national power. The lifting up of the lion from the earth, is translated in the septuagint, " it was removed from the earth." The standing on the feet as a man, and receiving a man's heart after it was lifted up, shows a change of 172 TIEDO-PERSTA. character in the government, from a beastly to a human character, after the king's conversion. These characteristics are agreed to by all writers, as identifying the wing(ed lion with the first of the four great empires; and it is unnecessary to give a detailed list of the points of coincidence. 3SECTION II. THE BE.AR-r EDO-PERSIA. "'And behold another beast, a second, like unto a bear, and it raised itself on one side; and it hlad three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it;; and they said unto it, Arise, devour much flesh." The points in this empire are e as follows: i1. It was the second in thle series of the four. 2. It raised itself' on one side. 3. It had three ribs in its mouth. 4. It was to be very destructive. The coincidences between the bear and the liedoPersian empire are plainly seen: 1. The Medo-Persian. was the second great universal empire, in the series of universal empires of the world. 2. The double dynasty of Medes and Persians coincides with the twmo sides of the bear; and the finai superiority and ascendency of the Persians over the Mledes, coincides with the raising of one side of the bear. 3. The three ribs in the mouth of the bear, finds its coincidence in the three vice-royalties into which this empire was divided, and of which Daniel speaks. iHe MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. 173 says, "it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kinglom, and over these TIriEE PRESIDENTS." 4. The conquests of the AMedes and Persians were very extensive, and very cruel and destructive; and in this respect they jointly coincide with'"the devouring of much flesh."' As complete coincidence is complete fulfillment, it follows that the Persian empire is symbolized by the second beast. The bear with two sides, coincides with the breast and arms of silver, in Nebuchadnezzar's vision. SECTION III. TrE LEOPARD- MACEDONIAN E3irIRE.'c After this I beheld, and, lo! another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.'" The points of character by which to identify the third great monarchy, are as follows: 1. It was the third beast, or kingdom. 2. It had four wings. The four corners of the earth signily also the four wings of the earth; and wings signify powers or governments, and velocity. The four wings may, therefore, signify iour governments, and also the velocity of their movements. 3. The leopard being a spotted beast, represents a mottled or mixed kingdom. 4. The leopard had four heads. Of coulse the kingdom was to be divided into four parts. This, with the 174 MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. four wings, is a double indication of the quadruple character the third kingdom was to exhibit. A head signifies a kind of government, as we learn in the Apocalypse. With these characteristics the Macedonian empire perfectly coincides: 1. As the leopard represents the third body of monarchy, so the MlIacedonian empire was the third universal embodiment of monarchy in the world. 2. As the leopard was to be a rapid kingdom in its conquests, so the Macedonian empire was amazingly rapid in its establishment, and swift in its conquests. In these respects it was unparalleled. 3. The third kingdom was to be motley in its composition, and so was the NMacedonian empire. 4. The leopard kingdom was to be divided into four kingdoms, and so was the Macedonian. After Alexander's death, it was parted among his four captains, Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. Cassander had, for his portion, Macedon and Greece; Lysimraclhus, Thrace and Bithynia; Seleucus had Syria, and Ptolemy had Egypt. And " dominion (over the earth) was given to " this empire. As coincidence is fulfillment, the lMacedonian empire was predicted by the third beast. This beast coincides with the belly and thighs of brass in the preceding vision. ROME. 175 SECTION IV. FOURTH BEAST-ROMAN EMPIRE. The description of this kingdom is very lengthy, and is naturally divided into three periods, and we shall treat of each part separately. There are, properly, three reviews of it, all of which are important: first, the description of it in the vision; second, the interrogative description; and, third, the interpretation. Paragraph I. FIRST PERIOD-BEAST-UNITY OF ROME. Vision. —" After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful, and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns." Interrogation. —" Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadiful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet." Interpretation. —" Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down and break it in pieces." The points of character given in this period of thle fourth kingdom to identify it are very full. i76 ROME. 1. It was to be the fourth universal empire. 2. It was to be exceeding powerful above all nations before it. 3. It was to differ from all the other kingdoms. I. It was to subdue the whole earth by violence. 5. Its political complexion was to be of iron teeth and nails of brass. With these characteristics the Roman empire fully coincides: 1. The Roman empire was the fourth great kingdom that existed after the Babylonian empire. 2. It was the most powerful nation that ever existed. 3. It differed from all the great kingdoms before it in almost every great point of excellence; in systematic government, and warfare, and power, durability, greatness and extent of dominion, it had no rival. Gibbon's Roman History is the smallest work that gives even any tolerable epitome of Roman character. 4. It subdued all nations, and made them tributary to its power. Its vocation, for a thousand years, was that of war for conquest, and it triumphed over all opposition. 5. Its political complexion was Roman and Grecian, or iron and brass. The iron of the legs in the great image in this vision, compose the teeth or destroying policy; the brass toes indicate a Grecian admixture of character. Rome adopted the polish and learning of the Grecians, and appeared with the strength of military power, polished with Grecian learning. The fourth beast of this vision coincides with the iron legs of Nebuchadnezzar's vision in unity and chronology. -1O;IE. 177 PB-rctagph c i7i. SECOND PERIOD-TEN I-IORNS AND LITTLE HORN, OR CH UPCIH AND. STATTE UNION, AN]D THIE BROKEN STATE OR FALL OF ROMlE. Vision.-" "I considered the horns, and behold there came up behind-" them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots; and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things." Jiteroycgation.-Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other horn which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. /ztteSpreication.-" Thus lie said - " the ten horns out of this king'dom, are ten kings (or kingdoms) that shall arise; and another shall arise behind them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and shall subdue three kings. And lie shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Miost HIigh, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his handcl until a time, and times, and the dividing of a time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end." Thle period embraced by these passages, is naturally divided into two characteristic parts; the first describing the ten horns, and the second, the little horn. We shall, therefore, consider them separately. M lWede, Faber, and others. 178 ROME. CLAUSE I. 7T2e.Ten Horns.-The vision before us, is plainly a chronological one; and the body of the fourth beast represents the fourth kingdom in a united state; the horns represent a later and divided state of the kingdom, and, coming out of the head of the empire, they plainly indicate, that the divisions were to occur in that part of the kingdom represented by the head. The horns, it is said, were to represent ten kings. The term king, is mietonymically put for a kingdom, or, the term rendered king, may be literally translated kingdom. The ten toes in the image, are said to represent the broken state of the fourth kingdom; and, as they coincide with the ten horns, the ten horns must also represent the broken state of the kingdom generally, as well as specifically, and its being broken into ten parts. Sir Isaac Newton remarks, that "whatever was their number afterward, they are still called the ten kingdoms froml their first number." With this general division into various kincdomns, and also into ten specifically, the Roman empire corresponds, for it has been broken into various kingdoms in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Europe was the head of the Roman empire; and as out of the head of the fourth beast, or kingdom, the ten horns or ten kingdoms grew, so, out of Roman Europe, grew up the specific number of ten kingdoms, immediately after the days of Theodosius. Bishop Newton says, that "Eberhard, bishop of Saltzburg, noticed it in the diet of Ratisbon, in 1240. At the Reformation it was also ten." Mr. Whiston says, that in 456, the number of kingdoms was exactly ten; and, that in 1706, it had nearly returned to that ROME. 179 number again. Sir Isaac Newton enumerated ten; and Bishop Lloyd anJd MIachiavel, also enumerated ten; and Dr. Thomas enumerates ten, now existing in the bounds of the old Roman empire in Ellrope. But in Europe, there are now just ten great ethnological, or compound and simple nationalities, corresponding to " people, nations, and tongues." We now give the kingdoms as enumerated by the historian Machiavei, who "is considered the best, because the most unprejudiced judge of the manner in which the Roman empire was originally divided. He very undesignedly, and (as Bishop Chandler remarks) little thinking what he was doing, reckons up the ten primcary kingdoms, as follows: Ist, the Ostrogoths in Misia, 377; 2d, the Visigoths in Pannonia, 378; 3d, the Suaves and Alans in Gasgoigne and Spain, 407; 4th, the Vandals in Africa, 407; 5th, the Franks in France, 407; 6th, the Burgundians in Burgundy, 407; 7th, the Heruli and Turingi in Italy, 476; 8th, the Saxons and Angles in Britain, 476; 9th, the Iluns in Hungary, 356; 10th, the Lombards upon the Danube, afterward in Italy, 483 and 5S6. The dates are given by Bishop Lloyd, an excellent chronologer."(Fiaber and NVewtoz.) As the ten horns were to be found in the head of the beast, of course, they were all to be in Europe; and, as we find the kingdom of the Vandals was in Africa, we must look for another kingdom in Europe, not mentioned in the above catalogue. It will be perceived, that Machiavel gives only the new kingdoms, established in the empire by foreigners. Now, during this same period of the erection of new kingdoms in Europe, the kingdom of Rome, or that of the western empire, still existed in 180 ROME. Italy, and just completes the number of the tell kingdoms in Europe. The two lNewtons, elde, and Faber, all agree, and flor reasons differing from each other and our own- that these ten kingcdoms were to be in Europe, and all the reasons are valid. Some persons have contended for the rise of' ten Got/ic kingdoms in Europe; but we think it nonsense to talk so, unless all the folks in Europe are to be called Goths. The kingdoms were composed of Huns, Goths, Germlans, Vandals, and Romans. CLAUSE II. The iJttle Hor'n.- In the divided'state of Rome, and among the ten kiingdoms, another horn, of a diflerent and remarkable character, was to arise. The points in its character are very important, and clearly delineated, and we shall. carefully distinguish them. 1. W7e consider, iirst, the time of its rise. The text sa3rs,' anothe lhorln shall rise beAindc them." We have here adopteid the rendering of the text given by Mr. Mede, and highly approved by Mlr. Faber. The text says, also, "the other which came up;9 "there came tip among them another little horn." As the prophecy is altogether chronological, events in it which are said to be before any others, are, of course, later in time, and, those which are behind, or after such event, are anterior, or before it, in point of time, and farther back than the other events. Mr. Faber and Tr. Miede both agree, and say, that, " in reality, the little horn did not spring up posterior, in point of time, to the other hornis."9 How much farther back the little horn arose, is not here stated, but its influence in the state seems not to have been very great at first, as it was called a "6 ittle horn," no>MT. 181 though aftrerward it became greater than all the other horns, or kingdoms, or "stouter than its fellows." It seems plainly to coincide iwith that power in tlhe fourth kingdom of the irnmae, designated as the clay, in the feet and toes, and which -wTe have shown was called a kingdom. 2. Three of the first kingdoms were to be removed before it. The text says. "befbre whol there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots;" 6before whom three fell;"9 " he shall subdue three lkings."'The term, biebfore, plainly applied to a fulture state in the history of the little horn, as the term 1 a<er), or 7ehicnd"9 applied to a previous or anterior event, or to the rise of the little horn anterior to the ten. The three kingdoms that were to be pl-uckedi up were to be of the yfirs horns. This many mlean, as'Newton thinks, three of the other, or first and differing class of kingdomns; or, as fr. Faber thlinkls, three of the original kingdoms among the ten. They were to be totally extirpated, or plucked up by the roots. 3. The little horn was to di-i~r in political nat're from the other horns. H; Ee shall be diverse from the first."' 4. The little horn was to be a spiritual power, as well as political. "' Behold in this horn were, eyes, like the eyes of a mrna and a mouth speakingo great things."' That horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spaike very great things, whose look was more stout than his fillows." "GHe shall speak great words against the Jlost Iligh, and shall wear out the saints of the }llost High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand."9 182 ROME. Eyes, used as a symbol, denote government and oversight. This is a customary figure to denote supervision. "Tlle eyes of the Lord" signify his governmental oversight of the world. Isaac Newton says, " By its eyes it was a seer; and by its mouth, speaking great things, and changing times and laws, it was a prophet. A seer, )iskco2pos, is a bishop in the literal sense of the word; and the empire church of Europe claims the universal bishoprick." It had two eyes as a man, denoting that as a man sees but one object, through a double medium, so this horn had but one object in its mlind, and attained its view through a dual organization of policy. It was to speak great things, and great words against the Most Hiigh, and the saints were to be given into its hand. From this special oversight of the saints, and its political character diverse from thle other powers, and its eyes and mouth of a prophet, directing words against God, it is evident that thlis holrn as principally a spiritual power, though blended with the political, as is indicated by the union of the two eyes in the horn or head. 5. He was to "think to change times and laws." This is plainly expressive of a will on his part, to change political or spiritual policy, or both. The fact of the horn being a spiritual power, inclines us to the opinion that the laws and times given to it were of a spiritual nature, rather than political. 6. The "times and laws were given into its hand." This implies that it received control over times and laws, from some established authority thlat controlled them. It therefore appears that the little horn was really an inferior power, to the beast, or empire, a sub-controller of delegated authority, and was not possessed of original ROME. 183 and sovereign jurisdiction. As it arose before the other ten horns did, it must have received its power while the fourth kingdom was yet entire. 7. It was to " wear out the saints." The term saints, in the Old Testament, is synonymous with Christians in the New. It is remarkable, that in all Daniel's prophecies of the latter day, he never mentions the name of Israel or Judah, or any thing about Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem. The wearing out of the saints implies general persecuted condition; hence, the little horn was a persecuting ecclesiastical power. 8. The period or epoch of the giving of the " times and laws" into his hand is not stated in the text, and is left to be ascertained by the facts. Of course as each point in the miniature description of the prophet, embraces a large and emphatic epoch or characteristic in the realization of his prediction, the epoch of giving times and laws into the hands of the spiritual will be by no means an obscure or minute one. Those who look to small matters in detail, will never find a realization; for "no prophecy is of any private (or obscure) interpretation," or applies to obscure events. 9. The length of the era during which these laws and times were to be under control of the horn, is said to be "time, times, and the dividing of a time," or three and a half times; or just half a week of years, or of years of years, for twice three and a half make seven times or years. This is a IIebrew expression of the exact length of time the little horn was to have "dclominion"1 over the laws, and times, and Christians. It is also stated, that there would be two distinct epochal periods at which the jurisdiction of the little 184 ROME. horn should terminate. Expositors have never noticed themn; but Daniel gives them. I-e says:; I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against the-m, until the ancient of days ccame, and jwdc~/~.nt was given to the saints of the MAost High; and the tbnze came that the saints possessec t/ew Hecre two distinct points of time are mentioned, which are some distance apart; bor, in addition to the separalteness of them in this sentence, the prophet shows us that the ancient of clays came sometime before the lingdom. was possessed; and also shows that the ancient of days conquered the beast before the kingdolni of the world was possessed by the kingdom. It therefore follows that the three and a half times must also have a double ending. Our discovery shows that three and a half times have from two to four distinct lengths. Two of them are certainly applicable here, and the others may possibly be; and these two we mention. The first is 1,451 years and 17 days long, or 529,984 days; the second is oneseventh less, and 1,243 years and 277 clays long, or 454,272 clays. 10. The little horn was also to be a political power. The text says, C"they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it unto the end." The term dominion implies authority, and the fact that he was to be 1" more stout than his fellows," indicates that he was to exercise superior authority as a secular ruler. 11. The dominion of the little horn was to be in Europe. This follows from this fact: the head of the beast represents the head of the kingdom, and the head 1oxi. 185 of the beast, or Roman empire, was altogether in Europe. As, therefore, the ten horns were confined to Europe, the little horn is confined there also, because all were in tile head of the beast. We have now given all the points by which to identify the little horn; we proceed to identity it with the papal power in Europe. Coincidence.First.-The little horn, we have seen, was to rise in advance of the ten kingdoms, and of course prior to the year 356, for, in that year the first of the ten kingdoms arose. Now, it so happens, that the Roman patriarchate was joined with the patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, and others, and made up the great Roman church of Christians. Each of these patriarchates had its own well-defined limits, and the patriarchate of Roime had its own jurisdiction separate from all other jurisdictions. To each of these patriarchates was assigned the control of its own ecclesiastical affairs; and each was amenable to the church head, or emperor, and not one to another. The emperor was head of all the churches, in name and in fact. There has been a world of disputation about the time when the Pope was made head of all the churches. If this point had been settled to the satisfaction of the parties, nothing would be gained by it that would interpret the prophecy; for nothing is said about the universal headship of the Pope throughout the Roman empire; but simply the headship of the little horn in Europe, or among the ten horns, is all that is referred to. Now, the Pope never was made head of all the churches in the Roman empire. In the days of Justinian a decree was passed to the effect that he should bear that title; but. in the first place, Justinian did not 16 186 ROME. have jurisdiction over the original Roman empire, for the Western empire was far gone in its decadence in his day; and, in the second place, Justinian retained all power over the church in his part of the old empire, in his own hands, and the Pope only enjoyed a delegated power, for which he was responsible to'the emperor. This subject has been reviewed, within a few months past, by the Royal Society of Literature. It was agreed that the theories of AMr. Elliot, and Mr. Faber, making epochs in papal universal supremacy in the days of Justinian and Phocas, were not sustained by history. They affirm, that the power of the papacy was far greater before these dates than for some time subsequently. They say that, " the eastern emperors gave the title of universal bishop to the patriarchs of Constantinople, while they maintained their own autocratic supremacy; and the western emperors, on the other hand, fully admitted the spiritual claim, but withheld the specific title." " If Justinian intended to confer exclusive powers on the papacy, yet those powers had already been conferred on it by Theodosius, A. D., 380, by the exertions of Leo the Great, and by the decree of Valentinian III." "It is clear that Justinian held that the imperial sanction was necessary to impart the power of law even to ecclesiastical ordinances." " Again, the character of Justinian as a legislator, is against it, (the supremacy of the Pope). Of his own will he drew up a complete code of laws for the universal church, entering into all the minutia of doctrine, discipline, &c. Such a ruler may have disregarded, but almost certainly did not intend to promote the power of the Roman bishop." —(Epochal ROME. 187 Periods Pcfpal fistory.) With these statements we cordially agree, for they are exactly accordant with our own deductions from history. We now quote firom Eusebius, proving that the Roman patriarchate was not above any other in authority, and that Constantine was head of the churches, and no one else, except by delegated power. " CANON VI.- Of the distinguished honors which were decreed to the C7(ief Bishops in Ecclesiastical Government.-Let the ancient usage prevail of Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, that the bishop of Alexandria have jurisdiction over all these provinces, since this is the custom with regard to the bishop of Rome. In like manner at Antioch, and in the other provinces, let the churches preserve their privileges. It is very clear that if any one be made a bishop without the consent of the metro-politan, the great council has decreed he ought not to be a bishop." This decree of Constantine clearly shows that all final authority was vested in himself, and that the bishop, or patriarch of Rome was not president over the other patriarchates, and that he endorsed the acts of the Council of Nice. The truth of the whole matter of the papal power in Europe, is this: the church was united to the state in the year 325, A. D., on the 19th of June, on the thirteenth of the kalends of July; and Constantine * We place church and state union on the opening day of the Council of Nice, because it was on that day that the first great ecclesiastical assembly met by order of the imperial decree; and in the morning the emperor appeared in the assembly, and in an oration, proclaimed formally the powers he conferred upon them in the state. He stated, impliedly, that the decisions of that assembly should be 188 ROME. was a priest, and was the real head of the church, and controller of it, and the supreme legislator, executive, and judge in it. The church was divided into large districts called sees, or patriarchates, and the district, or patriarchate, of the Roman bishop comprehended all of Europe. Each patriarch controlled as supreme executive, legislator, and judge, in his own great district, and was responsible to the emperor, and not the bishop of Rome; and no independent control, free from imperial oversight, was ever given to any bishop, or patriarch, in the Roman empire. The Roman patriarchate was, however, more honorable, influential, and wealthy, than any other, and accumulated greater power, subsequently. A claim to supremacy was made by the Roman bishop, but was resisted by the other patriarchs, and a controversy and severance of the Greek and Latin churches, was the result; and the contest still goes on between them about it, and will yet be the ruin of Rome. Neither in law nor fact, was the Latin church ever made head of the church throughout all the patriarchates by an imperial decree of the Roman empire. The power of the Roman See was greatly augmented respected as law in the empire, by imperial sanction; and from that day to this that speech he made has been the understood basis of church and state union. IHe proposed to settle church differences, and enforce unity of faith; " hoping, (says he,) by MY INTERFERENCE, a remedy might be applied to the evil, I SENT rOR You all without delay." The various decrees of that beginning of iniquitous councils, were sanctioned by imperial authority; and on the first day of the council was formally begun a system of ecclesiastical despotism under which -millions have suffered martyrdom. It was the first formal meeting of civil and ecclesiastical power in union. ROME. 189 by several emperors, after Constantine, down to the days of Justinian. He reorganized all Roman law, and in doing so, he reorganized the civil and ecclesiastical departments of government, generally. His code of laws settles distinctively the powers of the church, and of the several patriarchates, and of that of Rome in particulalr. He gave it its limits, and its prerogatives, and -distinguished then from those of his own and others; and let it be understood that he was the first head in the churcti in Europe, and that the bishop of Rome was second. Justinian, in these laws, certainly gave precedence to the Roman bishop, over the bishop of Constantinople and over other patriarchates, but this precedency he had enjoyed before; it was a precedency of honor, and not of power; for Justinian says, he gives him only that which had been allowed by the councils. "c Sancimus, secuncdnum (sacrarum synodorumn) defnitiones, sanctisimnznm senioris Roma3 pcaztn pa criorumln esse orn-.nizm saceerdotum?: beatissimuin? ctntem archiepiscopum Conzstantinpoltlos nove Romce secundum ahcbere locum post sanctam apostolicam senmioris8 Rome sedem; alies autem omnibus sedibus proponcztr.'" —(Jfustin. JVovell. —Tit. 14, Constitut. cxxxi: cap. 2.) The decree of Phocas, so much dwelt upon by many, as given in 604, 6, or 8, A. D., gave no new power to the papacy. The very existence of any such decree, is now generally doubted; it certainly can not be proved to have existed. The reorganization and full consummation of church and state union, transpired in the days of Justinian, and between the years 529 and 534. The work of reorganization of Roman law, was begun by Tribonian, in consequence of a decree of Justinian 190 ROME. to that effect, dated February 3d, 528.' In little more than a year the new code, containing in twelve books all the imperial laws, from the accession of the Emperor Adrian, was ready to appear. Justinian affi-xed the imperial seal to the new constitution in A. D., 529."' In three years more, the digest or pandects were completed, and invested with the authority of law, December 16th, 533. A revised code was published in 534, November 16th. In these, the laws of church government are embraced, and "laws and times" in Europe, were given to the empire church. The beginning of this union was in the days of Constantine. No critical historian will impeach our historical account of the papal power, unless he is a prejudiced person. It is unquestionably true, that the papalipower, as such, took its rise from the decrees of Constantine, and from the union of church and state; for then it received delegated power from the civil government, fbr the first time, and has held it ever since. Papal control being always nearly limited to Europe, it agrees well with the little horn kingdom, which was limited to the head of the beast. Coincidence Second. — Three kingdoms were to be removed before the little horn kingdom, and these were to be of the first horns or kingdoms. Of course, the little horn was to have come up antecedent to them. As Rome, since its broken state began, has been filled with a great succession of kingdoms, far exceeding the number, ten, which were to arise, it is evident that there must be a particular era in which these first ten are to be found. No expositor has ever touched this point, and here we are unaided by co-laborers. ROME. 191 The limit of this period of the first ten kingdoms, we suppose common sense will decide. It must be supposed to be finished as soon as ten kingdoms made their appearance in Europe. The first ten kingdonms in Europe, after the broken state of the Western empire began, we reckon as follows: 1. Visigoths; 2. Suaves; 3. Franks; 4. Burgundians; 5. Britons; 6. Huns; 7. Saxons; 8. Lombcard8; 9. OstrogotAs; 10. We-stern empire in Italy. This list comprises the first ten ]kingdoms that existed simultaneously in Europe, just as the horns are represented on the head of the beast. It is not therefore liable to the objections to which any other list, that has ever been presented, must be. The last tiree, were of the first list of ten kingdoms that appeared in Europe; and these three were all removed before the papal power in Italy. It is true, the Ostrogoths were located first in Moesia; but they removed to Italy and conquered it, and were themselves conquered and uprooted there. The Western empire, which lingered as a small state, ceased to exist under Augustulus, in 476. The Lombards, whose kingdom was first on the Danube, removed to Italy, and possessed it; but were subdued by Pepin, and their territories given to St. Peter. Bishop Newton has presented another list, differing from ours; and Mir. Faber, another. But they are objectionable on various grounds. Bishop Newton, to make up his list of the three that were uprooted, has made a list of a second set of ten kingdoms, which appeared later than the first ten, which seems improper. Mr. Faber makes the kingdom of the I-eruli and Rugii, or of Odoacer, one of the horns; but as this kingdom 192 ROME. was of only seventeen years continuance over Rome, we have not counted it, it not corresponding with the general scope of the prophecy which notices only the larger features of history. Ours may be thought not to coincide with the text, which says,' he shall subdue three kingdoms." But it will be remembered, that it is once affirmed, that three shall fall before the little horn, and that before it, three of theJiret were plucked up by the roots, and then, that it shall subdue three. Now, a king is said to subdue a people when he does it, instrumentally, or through other agencies; and; such is the case here. We have here shown that three of the first fell before the papal power; and Bishop Newton shows, that three others, not of the first ten, but of a second ten, were overthrown at the instigation of the papal power. So, that we are both correct; and the prophet meant two sets of "' three kingdoms.' This double showing of coincidences between the little horn and papacy, is a double proof of the fulfillment of the prophecy in the papacy. The minute accuracy of this description of papacy is very remarkable. Sir Isaac and Bishop Newton both show that the Lombards, the state of Rome, and Ravenna, were removed at the instigation of the Roman See, and that the Roman See then became a political power in the territories occupied by these several kingdoms. Coincidence 71iird. —The little horn was to be different from all of its ten associates. This is true of the papal power, which, in its double nature of a politicoecclesiastical government, was diverse from all the kingdoms of Europe. Coincidence,Fourt?.-The little horn was to be an ROME. 193 ecclesiastical power. This is what the empire church was from the beginning, and still claims to be. Cointcideznce Fift7. -The little horn was to speak great swelling words against the Mfost High. The blasphemy of the papal power has been echoed, in papal thunder, in all of its history. No government ever erected. on earth, has been such a pure embodiment of great swelling claims, arrogant pretensions, and Godlike expressions, and lordly assumptions, as the empire church. Its self-adulation has been its fame; and it has consented to be called the Lord God; its glory has been to bestow empire on kings, as a God; and it claims to be the vicegerent of Jehovah, and to dispense favors, and to receive worship, are as notorious as its existence. Massive volumes of its bulls and thunder lie open before us; and its history is one of blasphemy against God. Those who believe in the divinity of its claims, regard all of its character as proper and consistent; but they who deny them, can not but consider them as making the ecclesiastical power equal with God, and of setting a rival deityship to the Almighty. Coincidence Si xth.-He was to think to change times and laws.' The appointing fasts and feasts; granting absolution and indulgences for sin; instituting new modes of worship; imposing new articles of faith; enjoining new rules of practice, and reversing at pleasure the laws bothl, of God and of men," are parts of the changes introduced into primitive Christianity by the church power; it has claimed supremacy and infallibility in these and all of' its acts and changes. The empire church power, il. spiritual matters, has been emphatically a law and time 17 194 ROME. changing power, and freely claims the authority to make these changes. Coincidence Sevenztz. —Times, and laws, and Christians, in Europe, were given into its hand. These were ecclesiastical laws and times. Now, papal power claims to have its spiritual power from St. Peter; yet, what it claims in this respect, it was not allowed to make use of until the union of church and state. At that time supreme ecclesiastical power in Europe was granted to the Roman See by Constantine, and by his successors. By virtue of this authority the papacy could decide who were heretics, and hand them over to the civil authority to be punished; and by virtue of this very authority, millions of the pious suffered torture, privation, and death, on account of their religion. The Council of Nice, which met on the 19th of June, 325, was the first great common council to which authority to change " times" was given; and in it, the legate of the Pope presided. The Roman church being the European part of this council, received its pro-rata share to change the times and laws of Christianity. "The question relating to the observance of Easter was still undecided. It was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice; being the most important subject to be considered after the Arian controversy. It was decreed to celebrate Easter on the same day, and the Oriental prelates promised to conform to the practice of Rome and of all the west."-(Eyusebizs, Ec. HI.) The various canons and decisions of this most famous of all councils, have resulted in vast persecutions. In this council it " was proposed that bishops, priests, deacons, and sub-deacons, should abstain firom cohabitation ROME. 195 with the wives they had married while laymen." This infamous proposition, together with the more infamous one of the celibacy of the clergy, was enacted by the papacy. —(See HistorF, Coupncil of NVice.) The decisions of these councils were those of the church united to the state, and became authoritative by civil reaffirmation, and each patriarch was bound to see the decisions of the councils carried out. Times and lacws were given to the hands of the patriarchs, at the union of church and state, in general, but to each the control of them in his own district; and of course, at that time, Rome had the times and laws of the chlrch in Europe given into its hand, for it presided over Europe. Coinzcidcnce ig7yAth.-The little horn was to wear out the saints. It is universally agreed, that l"the persecution of Christians, by those Of the same name, began almost as soon as the corrupt alliance of the Catholic church with the state." -(Ezcyc. R. E~.) To compute the endless numbers of professed Christians who have been destroyed by the instrumentality of the established Roman cllurch, is impossible: massacres, judicial murders, fires, chains, axes, rocks, gibbets, bayonets, wheels, knives, swords, guns, powder, water, prisons, dungeons, famine, wild beasts, inquisitions, wars, and crusades, have been used as general and particular agents by the Romeatn Christians, to wear out the professed followers of Jesus Christ, ever since church and state were united. We appeal to the page of impartial history, to confirm, and more than establish our position, that the empire church of Europe has worn out the saints of the lMost High. 196 ROME. Coincic7ence.7inth. —The period of the giving the laws and times into the hand of the little horn. If we trace the history of the ecclesiastical power of papacy, we find its authoritative power, to enforce its decrees by the civil arm, begins with the Council of Nice and the decrees of Constantine; and that they were ratified by Justinian, in his reorganization of the IRoman law. Coincicdence Tenth.- The little horn was to continue in power over the Christians, while church and state union continued, or for three and a half times. This was to be for 529,984 days, and for 1,243 years, and 277 days. Now, if we date the origin of the papal power on the 19th of June, 325 A. D., the day of the session of the Council of Nice, and its opening by the emperor; and then add to it 529,984 clays, and it brings us down exactly to the 4th of July, 17T6. On that very day the United States declared their independence of civil and ecclesiastical monarchy, and that day was the first on which the church had been freed from the domination of civil and ecclesiastical power from the days of Constantine. If we now date the end of the other period of 1,243 years, and 277 days, at the 4th of July, 1776, we are carried back to the year 532, and the month of October. Now, it is well known, that just at this very point of time, Justinian's laws, confirming and completely establishing the papal jurisdiction over the church in Europe, were made. For explanation of these times, see discovery. There were to be two ending epochs to the power of the little horn; the first was when a Christian nation, ROME. 197 called the Ancient of Days, was to rise, and the second when it was to conquer Europe. But we consider those points, which re]ate to the future, in their proper place; here we are simply adducing proofs of our correctness. There never was a religious persecution in the United States. Since its rise, the papal power in Europe has been almost shorn of its persecuting power, but still it possesses it to a certain extent. Coinecidence Eleventh.-The little horn was to continue in power over Christians in the west, while church and state union continued; and this was to last for three and a half times. WVe have already seen that there were to be two ending epochs to these times. Now, three and a half times equal 529,984 days, and 1,243 years, and 277 days, and also 1,539 years, 312 days. Dating these at the 19th of June, 325, and at 532, when church and state union began, and we are landed at the 4th of July, 1776, exactly; and carried firther down to 1865. (See discovery.) Now, on the fourth day of July, 1776, the first great epoch of church and state union in the west took place, at the rise of the United States of America. On that very day, independence of church and state monarchy was proclaimed to the world. This was the first day that the church had been free from civil domination since the reign of Constantine. The fulfillment of the " limes" was thus realized to a day. As to the future date of 1865, we can not be positive, for the times have four interpretations, and the last one ends in 1878. The interpretation which ends in 1865, is purely firom analogy. No coincidence of events with prophecy was ever more accurate than the one here shown to end in July, 198 ROME. 1776. It settles the question of our accuracy with mathematical precision, and we challenge the whole world to overthrow it. It was predicted that church and state union should begin to be dissolved three and a half, or 529,984 days after it began; and just exactly this number of days from its beginning, on June 19th, 325, it began to cease, at the rise of the United States, July 4th, 1776. Can any thing be more astonishingly correct than this 2 We may look for the last epoch soon. Coincidence loe7fth. -- The little horn was to be confined properly to the west, or to the region generally occupied by the broken powers of the empire. This has also been true of the western church. It has claimed much beyond this diameter, but it has never enjoyed dominion out of the range of the west. It has been limited mainly to Europe. Coincidence _T/,irteent/t. —The little horn was to possess political dominion. The western church existed, as an ecclesiastical kingdlom, from 325 to 754 or 800, when Pepin and Charlemagne conferred political power upon it as a settled country, and definite seat of empire. We now claim that we have shown a perfect and minute coincidence between the little horn and the western, or Latin church, and that we have not failed in a single point; and as a perfect coincidence of history and prophecy is infallibly a perfect fulfillment, we claim to have shown, infcallibly, that the little horn among the ten, predicted the western, or Latin, church, in Europe, as distinct from the Greek church. ROME. 199 Paragraph III THIRD, PERIOD OF ROME —-.REORGANIZATION. Vision. —" I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time." It is remarkable that no interpretation of this point is given by the prophets. The other parts of the vision being- understood, there will be no trouble in understanding this. As the vision was a chronological one, and as it is plain that the fourth beast was the Roman empire, it is also equally plain, that the broken state represented by the horns, is an entirely different one from that represented by the beast after the coming of the ancient of days. The body of the empire having been broken up, it must of course exist again, in order to realize the prediction, which says, "the beast was slain and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.'" The reorganization of the fourth kingdom seems, therefore, inevitable, in order to its final and total destruction as described. The taking away of the dominion of those beasts, or empires, whose capitals were in Asia, and the prolongation of their lives for some period beyond the destruction of Europe, coincides with the other prophets, who show the Millennial government first to embrace America and Europe, or the white race, and allow Asia to remain pretty much in its former condition. Ancient Rome was an empire in three continents, and so at its reconstruction it will embrace similar-portions of three 200 UNITED STATES. continents. This coincides with the feet, gold, silver, and brass, of the former vision, with the willful king, who possesses portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and with the eighth head of the beast, allied with the kings, who is to be taken with the false prophet, as related by St. John. SECTION V. FIFTII KINGDOM, OR THE ANCIENT OF DAYS, OR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. This vision of Daniel, coincides throughout, with that of Nebuchadnezzar; the one presents us with six kingdoms, so does the other. The final kingdom of the mountain, in the first, corresponds with the final kingdom of the Son of Man, in the second; and the four kingdoms of gold, silver, brass, and iron, coincide with the four kingdoms of the beasts; and the remaining fifth kingdom of stone, in the former, coincides with the fifth kingdom of the ancient of days in the latter. -We may remark, that no regular and systematic interpretation of the ancient of days, has ever been attempted. Opinions, as to its signification, have been given, but the best expositors have passed over it as inexplicable in their day. We affirm, that it symbolizes the United States of America. Our proofs will be, the coincidence of our country with every point of character the ancient of days was to possess. We now quote Daniel's description: Vi'son.-" I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure UNITED STATES. r01 wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened." Ldte~rrogcttiozn.-" The same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints; and the timre came that the saints possessecd the kingcZom."?nterpretation. — But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end." We shall now show that these passages predict the rise, and progress, and triumph of a Christian empire, or Israel outside of Europe; and, that it was to rise just 1,451 years after church and state union, or on the 4th of July, 1776. Some persons have said, that the ancient of days, was God the Father. Dr. Clarke says, " He is never so called in the scripture elsewhere, nor ever represented as incarnate." This bare assertion by wise men, is by no means sufficient proof of its truth, and the very fact, that no proof its truthfulness was ever pretended, is prima facie evidence of its error. Indeed, nothing can be farther from the truth. W7e shall not, however, spend time in combating unsustained opinion, but proceed at once, to interpret the vision, and let logical exposition stand opposed to blind conjecture. 1. The ancient of days and his chariot throne, are symbols of a Christian people with a dual nationality. That this man and his throne are symbols, is presumable, because all the rest of the vision is symbolic, and this 202 UNITED STATES. part must be so, also, to preserve the harmony of the prophecy. Again; the very fact of its being interpreted to Daniel, shows that it was not literal, but symbolic; and, again, the interpretation itself, shows plainly that it was symbolic. The whole vision was interpreted in two brief sentences, in which the four beasts are said to be four monarchies, and all the rest of the vision is said to predict the triumphs of the saints or Christians. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." As, therefore, the ancient of days was symbolic, we inquire what it symbolizes. The answer is, that a man as a symbol, always represents a government of some kind or other. Thus, Judah is put for the Jewish nation; so, also, is Israel, and Ephraim, and Jacob. The great image of Nebuchadnezzar's vision, also, represents a body of government; and so, also, does the " Mlan of sin." The two horned beasts, or false prophet in the book of Revelations, also symbolizes a nation; so, also, a woman is put for an ecclesiastical government; and, in general, a human person represents any organized body of power. The ancient of days, therefore, as a symbol, must represent a body of government. The throne upon which he sits, being also a symbol, represents a government of some kind. A throne, in scripture, is put for a kingdom; thus, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "only in the throne will I be greater than thou." Again; kingdom and throne are used synonymously; thus, "to translate UNITED' STATES. 203 the kingdonm from the house of Saul; and to set up the throne of David over Israel."-2 Sam. iii. 10.'By all the oneirocritics, a throne is explained of power. These two symbols representing governments, must, as they are united, represent a dual government. And this dual character exactly coincides with the two departments of Israel that were to be restored in the latter day, called Judah and Israel, or the Christian church, and the civil government arising from it. Again; as the ancient of days coincides with the stone kingdom, his throne must coincide with the mountain, out of which the stone was carved. This position is further proved by the text itself. The vision represents the ancient of days as destroying Roman Europe; this is a clear case. It also represents him as giving the kingdom to the Son of Man, after he had taken it. Now, the interpretation says, the saints shall take the kingdom, and the people of the saints shall possess it: the saints and the people of the saints are represented as synonymous with the throne and the ancient upon it. Again; the vision emphatically shows that these people of saints, existed in a terrible and glorious organization; for all of the imagery representing them is most vividly organic. Again; the thousand thousands that ministered to the ancient, shows that an organic mass of people were united to execute one single design. But farther still; the work which the ancient had on hand, shows that he represents a nationality: his work was to destroy a mighty empire; to overthrow Europe; to cast down thrones; to sit in judgment on a hundred millions of people, and to annihilate the empire church, as well as the Roman state of Europe. Such a 204 UNITED STATES. work necessitates him to be a political fabric, as well as a spiritual one. Having shown briefly, but truly, that the fifth symlol predicted the rise of a great and good people, as a nation in the latter dclay, we shall particularize all of its prophetic biography. 2. T/epturity cad zobleness of tle nationcdl character of the anczient of days. These are represented by his garment and his hair; " whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool." The garment of dignity and honor, worn by ancient priests and princes, was white. The hoary head represents honor, age, and great superiority and wisdom.(Sym,. Dic.) 3. Thle nactze of is tlhrone. 1. "His throne was like the fiery flame." The word of God is represented as a fire: as, "behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire."-Jer. v. 14. Fire is also used as the symbol of energy, and purity, and strength: as, " he mnaketh his angels winds, his ministers a flaming fire."' This fiery throne, therefore, represents the purity and energy of God's church. 2. "His wheels as burning fire." These wheels represent locomotion, and the speed with which the nation progresses. Being of fire, and burning fiercely, shows that its progress was irresistible; that its velocity was incalculable; and, that it was a progressive nation. No symbol could more impressively and appropriately express the nature of a lightning age; nor better symbolize expansion over the world. The throne was not to be stationary; it was on wheels; it was to travel; it was to do so rapidly; it was to do so irresistibly; it was to roll forward in terror and fury upon Roman monarchy in Europe and everywhere. 3. The UNITED STATES. 205 diffusiveness and destructiveness of his external influence on Europe. This is vividly symbolized. "A fiery stream issued and came forth before him." Fire signifies destructiveness to all impurity; it denotes war and furious vengeance; and also light and truth. A river of lava not only lights up the darkness of the night, but devastates all before it; it removes forests and towns, disrupts hills and mountains, and is utterly resistless. This " fiery stream issuing from, and going before, this Christian nationality, and rolling as a river of lava, indicates not only light and heat, but the terrible revolutions it was to instigate by its influences that went before it. This stream went out against the world, before the nation engaged in judging the world. 4. The number of people that waited upon the ancient, as ministering servants, plainly represent the people who composed this new nationality, and adhered to its Christian principles. Their number is distinctly stated to be " thousand thousands;" this sum is just three millions. It does not say there were thousand oF thousands; the word OF would have implied multiplication, and as it is left out, the addition of these is rather to be implied. The phrase "time times'" is just three times, and so "thousand thousands"' is just three thousand. Each thousand, it would seem, should be multiplied into itself, as " the ten thousand times tenll thousand " of the wicked are who stood before the judge. Now, multiply each thousand by itself, and add the sums, and they are equal to just three millions. 5. The qvumber tlatt were to be juclyecZ. Those who stood before the ancient, were plainly them who were to be judged, and their number is "' ten thousand times 206 UNITED STATES. ten thousand." This is just equal to a hundred millions of people. 6. The persons to be judged were Europeans. These facts are seen from the very nature of the case. The ancient of days destroyed the beast and the little horn, which represent Roman Europe, church and state together. The judgment when it was set, and the books when they were opened, were set and opened on account of the great words spoken by the little horn, and the ravenous character of the beast. 7. The ancient of days was to have two epochs in his history. The first is that of his rise, or coming; and, the second, that of his destruction of the beast. These facts are seen in the text. " Until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints," is plainly one epoch; and " the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom," is plainly another. The sitting of the ancient of days, is also a different epoch from that in which " the judgment was set and the books were opened." 8. Dlie judgment was to be a political one. This is manifest in the work the ancient accomplishes, which is the destruction of the fourth monarchy. Again; as " all judgment is committed to the Son," and as the Son of Man is represented as coming after the judgment of the ancient of days was over, it is plain that the spiritual judgment is not here implied, but a judgment day of a political nature only. This judgment of the ancient corresponds clearly with the one which St. John mentions as occurring at the beginning of the Millennium, for both occur immediately after the destruction of Rome, or after " the thrones were cast down." UNITED STATES. 207 9. The government of the ancient of days is expressly stated to be a government of the Christians, or a Christian democracy. The term, "the ancient of days and JUDGMENT was given to the saints of the Most High, and the saints possessed the kingdom," is fall proof of this. The strength of our affirmation rests in the true definition of the term "judgment given to the saints." The term saints, when the latter day is spoken of, or the Christian dispensation, signifies Christians, for so the Apostles all applied the term. The term judgment, signifies authority to rule or govern, as well as interpret law, or to condemn. We commonly, in our country, give it the specific meaning of the law-interpreting power. But, in scripture, it has a generic sense, and signifies both interpreting and executive power; for, among the Israelites, the shaphetim, or chief executive officer, was called the judge; and these judges interpreted and executed law. Christ says also of the Apostles, that they should sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Here the term judging plainly signifies executive or governmental authority. The "judgments of the Lord," are used by Moses and David, repeatedly, as synonymous with statute law. Indeed, nothing can be plainer, than that the term judgment, as used in the Bible, signifies executive and legislative, as well as interpreting power; it signifies the whole body of government. Governmental authority being, therefore, given into the hands of the saints, or Christians, is, from the nature of the case, synonymous with a democracy. Again; the very antagonism of the ancient of days to the whole system of monarchy which he destroys, is 208 UNITED STATES. prima facie evidence that he was a democracy; and, as his forces were Christians, he represents a Christian democracy. 10. The sitting of the judgment on the beast, represents the decision of the ancient to destroy monarchy, and the accomplishment of it. The opening of the books shows, that the democracy brought up all the history of monarchy, and, on account of its universal character in history, it determined its doom; it represents the actual beginning of the political judgment on Europe. 11. The ancient was plainly a nation beyond the limits of the Roman empire. For a universal monarchy and a great Christian republic, could not exist upon the same territory. 12. The name of the ancient of days, implies its priority of existence, as a nationality in kind. It had ceased to exist, but now rises into being again; indeed, the very coming of the ancient, implies his absence from a position he once occupied. As it was in a Christian dress, it is evident that it must have existed previously in a different style. As there was no democracy in olden times, with which the ancient could be compared except the Hebrew republic of ancient days, it is clear that the allusion is to that. And, as the restoration of Israel to nationality in the latter day, was promised, and, as that nationality was to be a Christian one, it is conclusive, that the ancient of days was the promised nationality of Israel restored-the democracy of Israel in a Christian dress. 13. The exact time of the rise of the ancient of days, is seen in the statement, that three and a half times after the union of church and state in Europe, this Christian UNITED STATES. 209 nationality was to appeax. That is, it was to arise just exactly 529,984 clays after this union of church and state took place, or on July 4th, 1776. 14. The ancient was to destroy church and state, and overturn every throne. No statement is plainer than that the monarchies of Europe were to be utterly annihilated by him. "The judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion." The term C they," plainly refers to the people represented by tile ancient, for it can refer to nothing else. Those persons who are so silly as to suppose the ancient was a single person, will see by the term " they," that the ancient represented a great plurality of persons. Again; "I beheld till the thrones were cast down." This refers to the Romnan empire, or monarchies of the fourth beast; and indicates, that not one throne only, but many, were confederated in it. To this, St. John agrees. After the overthrow, the ancient is represented as possessing the kingdom, just as the stone kingdom is represented as changing into a mountain. We have now pointed out all the characteristics of the ancient of days, and proceed to show that the United States coincides with every point of its character. Coincidence First.-The ancient of days, was a dual Christian nationality. With this character the United States coincides. The church is not united in corrupt alliance with the state, but the religion of Christ is free and pure; it exists in conjunction with the state department as a legitimate partner, but not as its incestuous paramour, as it does in Europe. Coincidence Second.-The political character of the ancient of days, was just and noble. It is useless to say, that the constitution of the United States gives the 18 210 UNITED STATES. l)est and most righteous government the world ever k;new. The character of our country as a nation, hlas nIever been sullied by a single act of national inljustice. Charges of injustice lhave been brought, but they have never been sustained. For Iumanity, for benevolence, for enterprise, fobr sympatlly, for the good, and for pure religion and undefiled, our name is justly celebrated, and ever has been. For every ennobling trait of national character, we have beenl distinguished fiom the beginning. Coinzcclenqce Third.-The relig'ion of the fifthl lkinodom, or ancient of days, was to be pure and energetic. The history of the purity, energy, and prosperity' of the Clhristian religion in our country, has been unexanmpled in the history of manlind. Miian can not write the deep and wide worth of its progress; heaven alone, can properly portray its tlrue listory. Coizcide~nce Fortlz.-The fifth empire, or the ancient of clays, was to afiet Europe and the world, before it attacked monarchy. The continued floocl of infoilnation that has rolled upon printed pages, from our country to Europe, has gone like a flood of lava; and revolution after revolution, by consequence, has filled Europe Nith dismay. HIistorians date the great period of revolutions in Europe, from the rise of our country, and its successful establishment of Christian democracy. The French revolution, the first in the great series of political eartllquakes in Europe, was generated by the tide of democratic fire that rolled thither fi'om America. Coincidence Fvfj?,.-The fifth empire, or ancient of days, was to sit in judgment on one hundred millions of people in Europe. At the rise of the United States, Europe's population was just about a hundred millions. UNITED STATES. 211 Coincic7e7nce Sixth.-The fifth kingdom was to judge, or overthrow, the European thrones. This has not yet been done; but every shadow on the political horizon indicates its approach; and unseen lightnings in the moral atmosphllere, are aofectino the great barometer of the world's politics, and its pointer is turned toward tlhe retgion of hurricanes. The peace of the past generation is the lull before the great tornado that slhall tear down all the kin-gdoms of the world in its angry mnarch. Coincizence Seventh.- The fifth empire was to be a Christian democracy. This is the precise character of the United States, as everybody knows. Coincicenzce Eighth. —The fifth empire was to be erected beyond the limits of the fourth monarchy, and out of Europe, Asia, and Afiica. The United States is in America, and fhir removed friom the old empire of iome. Coinciccnce N~iWNth.-The ancient of days, or fifth empire, was to be like the democracy of ancient Israel. The United States, at its rise, was exactly such a democracy as that of ancient Israel, except, that it was in a Christian rather than a Hebrew dress. The number of its states was the very same; its confederacy was like it; and its principles were identical. The Christian difference was, thlat the United States, lilke Christianity itself, was constructed to elmbrace the world. IHence, in its constitution, provision was made for the addition of new states, and the principle of'qrepresentactive democracy was incorporated. By these, its universal expansion was provided for. The fifth empire, or ancient of days, was to rise 529,984 days after the union of church and state, or on the 4th of July, 1776. Now, on this veritable day and year, the United States arose. 212 MESSIAH S EMPIRE. We have now shown, that every characteristic the fifth empire of Daniel's vision was to possess, finds a full coincidence in the United States of America, excepting one, and that one belongs to the future, and is by no means necessary to the identification. We therefore claim, that as perfect coincidence between prophecy and history is infallibly a fulfillment of prophecy, that tho United States was predicted by the ancient of days, or fifth empire of Daniel's vision of the world. SECTION VI, THIE SIXTH EMfPIRE, OHt MESSIAH'S KINGDOM. Vision. —'I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Aan, came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed." Interroygtory.-" The time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." Interpetatioo. —'' The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the, saints of' the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." This vision of a single person, in the likeness of Messiah, is symbolic of the revelation of the veritable Son of God with his holy angels, at "his appearing MESSIAH'S EMPIRE. 21 and his kingdom." All the exposition given of its meaning is, that the people of the Christians shall possess the world, regenerated forever. The term, " peoplen of the saints," is clearly an expression for a Christian nation. If this were not so, it is impossible to account for the expression; for the terms saints, alonej would have expressed Christians generally, without any special nationality. It is coincident with the stone kingdom. which was to possess the kingdom of the wo'ld. Noi spiritual judgment day, or removal of the heavens aniI earth, are here alluded to at all. The reason seems to be, that the vision prominently embraced only political kingdoms, and departments of kingdoms; and the spiritual department of government was only mentioned incidentally, when mentioned at all. This sixth empire embraced all the globe, and it was never to pass away, or be removed froniom it-nevernever-never. As soon as the IRoman empire was out of the way, the fifth empire, or the Christian Israel, filled its place, and dominion over the world was given to it. At the coming of the Son of IMan, we learn that lie shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity. This implies that many, spiritually wicked, would exist among the people of the saints. The Millennial period, mentioned by St. John, is not noticed here as being a separate degree in the sixth kingdom, but is blended with it. The Millennium of John is, however, plainly the beginning of the worldwide dominion of the Christian democracy. The fifth empire was the Elias of Alessiahb's kingdom. The text;affirms that the likeness of the Son of Mlan came to the: ancient of days, or fifth empire, after its conquest of 214 MESSIAR'S EMPIRE. Europe; that is, the dominion represented by it, came to the United States, or the Son of Man came to it in person. "They gave him dominion and a kingdom." The term "they," again refers to the ancient of days, or Christian nation. They gave the kingdoml to the Messiah; that is, they chose him as their chief; for the reins of government had been given to them as a democracy. The United States chose Jehovah for its king, at its very inception; and when He shall be revealed, the original choice will be ratified by the Christians. The residence of Christ, will, from these things, be on this globe eternally, for so the text affirms. CONCLUSION-THE FUTURE. We have now interpreted each vision separately, and have separately seen their coincidence with the four kingdoms, and the United States. It also can not fail of being seen that they each coincide throulghlout in the minutest particulars, and yet they each interpret each other. lWhat interests us more than all, is the fifth political power in each vision, and the martial work that lies be-fore it. WVe see, fromi both visions, that the kingdoms of Europe are to confederate again under one head, and that the United States is to dash them all to pieces, and utterly annihilate them. The Millennial epoch will begin in 1878, and this conquest of Europe must come within the space of twenty-six years, perhaps in ten or fifteen. There are some persons who will give our theory no credit, and who do not believe in Christianity at all; to such, we have a proposition to make. It is this: if our calculations, drawn from scripture, are realized, will you embrace Christianity? FIVE EMPIRES. 215 CHAPTER VIII. SECOND VISION OF DANIEL'S FIVE KIlNGDOM3S. THIS vision is recorded in the eigltll chapter of Daniel, and was given in the reignI of Belshazzar. It contains a view of the whole world, fiom that time, leaving out the Babylonian ]kingdom, which was about to ihail. It contains a history of Persia, the 2Macedonian, and Roman enmpires, and the destruction of Rome, and the re-establishmient of the nationality of God's Israel. It, thereolbre, goes over the same ground alreacly viewed by the two preceding visions, and adds some thlings of importance, not contained in them; it has also an interpretation, as thle preceding ones lhave. We give the vision and the interprietation of each power separately. SECTION I. THE PERSIAN E:,mIPIRE-:RAMI. Vi'sionz.- " Behold there stood before the river a ram which had two horns; and the two horns were higll; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northwardl, and southward; so that no beast miight stand before himn, neither was any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his wvill, and became great." l;izteipretation.-" The rain thou sawest are the kings of Media and Persia." 216 FIVE EMPIRES. No interpretation of ours is requisite here. It may be noticed, that the two horns of different lengths coincide with the two arms of' silver and the two sides of the bear, one of which was raised higher than the other. The term king represents a kingdom. SECTION II. FoUR HORNED GOAT —THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. Vision.-" Behold, an he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and tochedc not the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram. Therefore the he-goat waxed very great, and when he was strong the great horn was broken, and for it came up fotr notable ones toward the four winds of heaven." Interpretation.-" The rough goat is the king (kingdom) of Grecia, and the great horn is the first king. Now, that being broken, whereas four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." Here is a declaration that the goat is the kingdom of Macedonia. Tile four horns represent the same kingdoms as the four heads in the preceding vision; that is, the kingdoms of Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucuns; and, as they ultimated in the kingdoms of Syria, and Egypt, this kingdom coincides with the brass illngdom of the great image. ROME. 217 SECTION III. LITTLE HORN-THE Ro03AN EIPIRE. iszion. —' And out of one (of these four) came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great ttward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stalnpedl upon them. Yea, lie magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given himm against the daily sacrifice, by reason of transgression; and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practisedl and prospered." iznterprctation,. —" And in the latter times of' their kingdom, whien the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark scntences, shall stand u-p. And in his power shall he bc mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destro) wonderfully, and shall prosper and practise, and destlro the mighty, and the holy people. And through hi, policy, he shall cause craft to prosper in his handl; an! he shall miagnify himself in his heart, and by peace shal: destroy many; he shall stand up against the Prince ol princes; but lie shall be broken without hand." That this little horqn that becomes so great, is the Ro man power, we shall briefly, but clearly prove. Man: expositors have understood this little horn to indicat. Antiochus Epiphanes, a great Syrian persecutor of thb 19 218 ROME. Jews. Sir Isaac, and Bishop Newton have both shown tlat there are very strong characteristics in this horn that can not, in any wise, agree with Epiphanes, and of course it is certain that this horn can not predict ihim. The Newtons, and most moderns, say it was Rome. First chcracteei-stic and coincidence of Iome with -(l`e little horn. Vision.-" And out of one of them (one of the four horns) came forth a little horn." Interpretation. —'" And in the latter time (or last time) of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up." Iere, a horn and a king, are said to be synonymous. Now these must represent a kingdom, just as the little horn represented one, for a king symbolizes a kingdom nsually, and a horn always. No instance is found where a horn is used as a symbol, where it represents a single person. Of course Antiochus can not be designated by this little Iorn. Again; this horn was to rise out of one of the four. It must here be remembered, that the prophet had been describing, hitherto, in previous visions, the Roman empire, and its particular manifestations in Europe, rather than in the Asiatic and African portions. He now, in this vision, describes the progress of the Roman power, in these latter directions. The horn was to rise out of one of the preceding four, and it was to rise in the latter end, or last end of their kingdom. Now, the.Roman power arose in an ecasterly direction, by the conquest of Macedon, one of the four horns mentioned, and ROME. 219 in the last stages of the dominion of the four horns; and thence extended over Syria, in the east; Egypt, in the south, and conquered Judea, or " the pleasant land." It did this, too, when the " transgressors were come to the full;" for, at that time, the Jewish state and people had become more corrupted than at any previous period. This kingdom was to be very powerful and martial; for such is indicated by the words, "a king of fierce countenance." This kingdom was also to be very politic; for such is to be understood by the words, "understanding dark sentences." —(Bisfzolp N2ewton.) In all these respects, the Roman power coincides with the little horn. Mr. Faber thinks this last expression refers to a spiritual power, possessed by the little horn; and with his exposition we fully agree, as it harmonizes with all of the preceding descriptions of Rome, and with the facts of the case. 6oizcidence Second. —' It waxed great, even to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." /~teepretatlion.-"'And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power, and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and shall destroy many in negligent security." "It waxed great," &e. The Roman power was never very great, until the conquest of Macedon; previously, it had been comparatively small. As the little horn among the ten became more stout than his fellows, so this little horn became, after it gained Greece, the 220 ROME. greatest power ever in the world. " But not by his own power." The destruction of Judea, we have seen, was to be when " tle tralsgressors were come to the full,:" and this event did not transpire until our Saviour's day. He said to his enemies,' Fill ye up, then, the measure of yo01r fathers, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shled upon earth." Christ, also, said to the Roman governor, 1" Thou couldest have no power at all against mle, except it were given thee from above." Here, we learn, that the Roman power was sustained by God, to do his will among the nations. The waxingo great, against the host of heaven, and the casting down t-he stars, is interpreted to mean the destruction of' the holy ones among God's people. All of the descriptions in the passages, lave been so fully shown to coincidcle with the Iomauns, by Newton, that it is needless for us to particularize further. Coincidence T?~id.-" Yea, he magnified himself, even to the prince of the host, and by him thle daily sacrifice was taken awiay, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down." Jnteprtecattion.C-" He shall also stand up against the PrFince of princes." Thie terms Prince of the host, and Prince of princes, is, plainly, the MIessiah; for such terms are applcable to hiim only. Beside thiis, it is said, the sanctuary of the prince of the host was cast down; and as the sanctuary was the Lord's only, the Lord, or Messiah, must be thle person meant. Now, the Prince of princes, or Christ, was put to death by the Romlan power, and by its dlcry, ROME. 221 Golncidcgnzm Faz6uzt7. Vision.-"3 By him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given himn against tlhe daily sacrifice, by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised and prosperecld." No interpretation of this is given, because it was a literal prophecy. Three things are here specially predicted: i. The cessation of the daily sacrifice. 2. The destruction of the temple, and of Jerusalem; and 3. The castina down of the truth. The first two were accomplished by the Romans, and by no other power. Thlle truth, spoken of, evidently refers to the gospel, which was cast down by the iRornans, as well as was Judaism. This little horn coincides, chronologically, with the iron, or fourth kingdom of the great image, and with the fourth beast, or fourth kingdom, of the preceding vision. SECTION IV. ISRAE L. ]Visioz. —;"Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spale, "How long a time shall the vision last, the daily sacrifice be taken away, and the transgression of desolation continue to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot." —(Lowth,'s Translation. Arabio asd Vu'lgar Veraionz, 23isop.Newton.) 222 UNITED STATES, "And he said unto me, unto two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."-J-'. The " sanctuary and host," are evidently metonymic terms, because the Jewish temple or Mosaic sanctuary, will never be rebuilt. They coincide with the two departments of the nationality of God's people: the sanctuary being put for the worshipers or church, and the host for the civil department of the nationality, and with them only. The desolation of the nationality of Israel, was accompanied with the domination of a foreign and unclean power over the church of God. It is said, that this was not to be removed for twenty-three hundred evenings and mornings; or, as some versions have it, 2400. It is likely that both numbers are correct, as this cleansing was to have two epochs, as we have seen in the other visions. As Israel's restoration is here affirmed; and as it was to be a Christian nation when restored; and as it was to be 2300 evenings and mornings firom the destruction of the Jews and the cessation of the daily sacrifice, to this restoration, it is evident, that the nation of Christians arising at the end of this period must be the one predicted. The destruction of Jerusalem took place in 68, A. D., and the daily sacrifice ceased on the 9th of July; and the 2300 evenings and mornings are just 1708 years long; and this added to the 8th of July, 68, just brings us to the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, when a Christian democracy was organized, and the church or sanctuary was cleansed from all foreign domination. It therefore follows, that the United States is Israel restored. DOOM OF MONARCHY. 223 SECTION V. DooM OF MONARCHY. Jnterpretction.-m" lIe shall be broken without hand."' This indicates the final destruction of the Roman power on earth. The term "broken without hand," signifie3, not that it will be broken without means, but without help or succor affbrded at the time of his destruction. The term, cut out of the mountain " without hands,"7 signifies an organization without foreign influence, as the American constitution. The term, "broken without hands," is also equivalent to a description of the doom of Rome in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, which says, " he shall come to his end and, none shall help him." The final triumph of Christianity, is indicated. in the prophecy. Rome being the world-wide obstacle to the triumph of pure Christianity, and being entirely removedt, and the sanctuary being fully cleansed, shows that the cause of Christianity would prevail universally. CONCLUSION. This vision, it will be seen, coincides with the two which precede it, and shows additional particulars of the works of the Roman empire in Asia. The notion that Antiochus Epiphanes coincides with the little horn, is preposterous; as he meets the case in but a very fevT unimportant particulars, while, with the most importani; he does not coincide at all. For a fuller exhibition of this subject, we refer anxious inquirers to Bishop Newton's excellent work. In this vision, Persia, or the twohorned ratn, coincides with the silver breast and arms 024 DANIEL'S THIRD VISION. of the image, and with the bear of Daniel's first vision; Mlacedonia, or the goat with four horns, coincides with the third kingdom of brass, and the four-winged and four-headed leopard; and the little horn coincides with the iron and clay; and with the fourth beast, or fourth kingdom; and the host and sanctuary restored, coincide with the stone cut out of the mountain, and with the ancient of days and his throne; the destruction of the little horn, or king of fierce countenance, coincides with the fall of the great image of monarchy, and taking of the beast or fall of the fourth empire, completely. C HAPTERl IX. DANIEL'S THIRD VISION OF THE WORLD. THIS vision extends fitom the beginning of the eleventh chapter of Daniel to the end of the twelfth. It is the explanation of all the previous universal visions to Daniel, and is made by some angel, perhaps Gabriel. It appears that Daniel had a vision in the third year of Cyrus, and that he had set himself to study to understand it, and had been engaged in prayer for that purpose. An angel came to him while he was thus engaged, and told he would show what was "' noted in the scriptures of truth." By this we understandcl, that the angel was further to explain the visions before given and recorded; and, also, to explain his last vision. The object of the angel was to explain Daniel's last vision; and, as he proposes to explain all that had occurred TEE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 225 before it, it is presumable that they all signified about tile same things. It must, tlowever, be recollected, that the explanations of visions, while they cover the ground of the vision, often add particulars which are only given in a general manner by the vision. This interpretation was given in the third year of Cyrus. SECTION I. THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Izter~pretation.-" iBehold there shall stand up yet, three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all; and by his strength through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia." As this was stated in the days of Cyrus, the four kings mentioned must succeed him. These wele, Cambyses the son of Cyrus, Smerdes the Magian, Darius Hystaspes, and Xerxes. Of Xerxes, Justin says, " You may praise his riches, not the general; of which, there was so great abundance in his kingdom, that when rivers were dried up by his army, yet his wealth remained nnexhausted." Xerxes' invasion of Greece, is one of the most memorable events of history. SECTION II. THE GRECIAN EMPIRE. "And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when lie shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven: 226 ROME. and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those." That this describes Alexander and his kingdom, every one can see. Alexander died in Babylon, and in fifteen years his posterity was extinct, and his kingdom was divided into four parts, to the four winds. Macedon and Greece formed the western part; Thrace and Bithynia, the northern; Syria, the eastern; and Egypt, the southern part; and each was ruled by persons not of Alexander's family. The angel, after these declarations, proceeds to describe the history of the two principal branches into which the tMacedonian empire was divided, under the name of north and south, or kings of Syria and Egypt. He proceeds with this description very minutely, and gives a better history than any other ever written of them. At the latter time of their kingdom, he introduces the Roman power. As his description of Syria and Egypt is minute and lengthy, we shall not interpret it, but refer the inquisitive to the perfect interpretation of Bishop Newton. We begin our next exposition at the appearance of the Roman power in Asia, which is mentioned in the thirtieth verse. SECTION III. RO MAN E]MPIRE. The succeeding portion of the prophecy is symbolic, and, of course, doubled. It gives a history of the Ptoman power coinciding with the iron legs of the great image, and with the iron and clay, and follows it by the great restoration of Israel, and the resurrection of the dead. ROME. 227 Paragralph 1. SHIPS OF CHITTIM, OR ROME. "For the ships of Chittim shall come against him, (that is, against Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king,) therefore, shall he be grieved, and have indignation against the holy covenant; so shall he do." The ships of Chittim are the ships of Rome. The prophet Balaam had predicted this very event. He said, S Ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he, also, shall perish forever." Chittim, or Kittimr, was one of the grandsons of Japhet, and settled in the south of Europe, and the Romans were, most probably, his descendants; at any rate, his name was given to south Europe, according to ancient scholars. Bishop Newton, in his fifth dissertation, has shown this fully. In Balaam's prediction, Asshur and Eber are paut for their posterity: Eber standing for the Hebrews, for they received their name fiom him. Balaam makes the term he refer to the ships of Chittim, and thus it becomes a prophetic term of multitude, and denotes one embodied people, or nation. As no doubt of our exposition can be entertained here, we pass on. Antiochus, in his last descent into Egypt, was grieved at interferences with his plans, by ambassadors, who came in ships from Rome, and peremptorily ordered him to desist from his designs. He complied, reluctantly, with their demands, and returned homeward. On his way back, he vented his indignation upon the Jews. IHe detached Appolonius with 20,000 men, who went to Jerusalem, slew great multitudes, plundered the 228 ROME. city, set it on fire, and shed blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled it. Josephus ascribes these calamities to the factions who communicated with Antiochus, and persuaded him to invade Judea. Thus, "'he had intelligence with them that forsook the holy covenant." Parrcagrcp7t II. ARMIS, OR THE ROMIAN IIILITARY POWER. 1. "And after himn (Antiochus) ARMS shall stancl lip." Bishop Newton says, this is the literal rendering of the original term mnzimmncuz. Arms are always used to represent the military power of a king'doml.-Ezel. xxx. 21; Jer. xlviii. 25. As a symbol of a great power, it must properly represent a military nation, and thus coincides with Rome, which was, emphatically, a military empire. At this period of historyr, Rome conquered ]Macedon, one of the four horns of the he goat, in the preceding vision, and then grew up out of it in the east, and expanded toward Asshur and Eber. The countries of Illyricunm, and Pergamos, soon became theirs; so that they " stood up" in the cast, as far as the Taurus. All Egypt and Syria, including the Jews, also, soon fell to them. "ArLms standing up," after "Antiochus in Asia," must refer to the Romans, who succeeded him in Asia and Egypt. This prophecy of Rome in Asia, matches the preceding vision. 2. " They (arms) shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice." The Romans polluted the temple with the blood of thousands; and they, by war, caused the daily worship in the temple to cease, by the interruption of the daily ofitrings. ROMrE. 229 3. "' And place the abomination that maketh desolate." We understand this not to refer to the standards of the soldiers, as some do, because it gives prominency to things entirely too small to be noticed in a prophecy about great objects only. The Roman power itself, as represented by thle armies and their standards around Jerusalem, seems only that which can be understood. "'To place the desolation," signifies to establish it permanently. To this passage Christ plainly refers, when he says, "wellen ye see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, standing where it outght not, tlen let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains." I-le here plainly refers to the desolating and unholy army of Rome, which encamped in the suburbs of Jerusaleim, or on holy ground, on the 14th of Nisam, A. D. 68. 4.' And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shlall bl corrupt by flatteries; but the people that do know their God, shall be strong and do exploits."' Two classes are here mentioned; the first, who were averse to the covenant, and those who fatvored it. As at this time the old covenant had passed away, and the new covenant succeeded it, the term covenant lere used lmust represent the gospel, or Christianity. They who did wickedly against it, and were corrupted by the Romans, must be those Jews who rejected it, or those who, having ernbraced it, apostatized. M3any great offers were made to the primitive Christians to firsake their religion, and many were induced to comlply by flatteries. T!he other class remained firm to tleir profession, and performed miracles, and suf-fred nmartyrdom gloriously. This period seems to refler exclusively to the Apostolic age. 230 ROME. 5. " They that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by captivity, and by flame, and by spoil, many days." This embraces the era fi'om the apostles to Constantine. The " men of understanding " are plainly put fbr Christians generally, who, after Jerusalem's destruction, went every where preaching the word. During the ten persecutions of pagan ILome, they fell in multitudes, by sword, fire, captivity, and by the joyful spoiling of their goods. 6. "Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries." This clearly coincides with church and state union under Constantine. During the ten great universal persecutions, the last of which was desolating, and immediately prior to Constantine, the Christians had fallen as if their fall was irrecoverable. The union of church and state gave them some relief for awhile; but it is properly termed, "holpen with a little help." This very rest proved, ultimately, most disastrous to the piety of the church; for many adhered to it, or to the Christian power, allured by the flattering prospects of preferment; so that the state church became a most wicked and worldly political establishment. During this state, it is said,' some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge them, and to make them white." Notwithstanding this "help,>" still many true Christians were to fall, and their sufferings were to continue down to " the tilme of the end," says th. text. This has been most fearfully true, as all know. 7. "To the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed." This period, therefore, of falling, was ROME. 231 to continue from the time of the "little help," down to an appointed time. This era is called " the time of the end," and is, of course, a considerable era, as it is called a " time," and not the end itself. It is the period between the two endings of the three and a half times, or that between the 1,290 days and the 1,335 days. The first of these ended at the rise of the United States. Now, it is remarkable, that persecution and death for religion's sake ceased at the rise of the United States; and we have since heard of few judicial murders for religion's sake. The prisons that before were crowded with victims, are moldering and empty. An occasional sufferer is dragged to prison for conscience sake, but the beast is careful not to draw blood. It was not so before the Declarcation. Paragracph] Il. THE WILLFUL KING —ROME AND RUSSIA. "The king shall do according to his will." Two principal interpretations of this power have been given to this kingdom; one by Bishop Newton, and another by MlIr. Faber. Newton thinks it was the Roman church in Europe; but Faber tries to identify it with France. Bishop Newton is partially right, and only so; for it is impossible to explain this power of the church only, for the willful king was, without doubt, one of the mightiest political powers on earth, as we shall see. We shall identify it with the Roman empire in all the stages of its history, and also see that it coincides with the iron and clay, or church and state united in the Roman empire; and also with the restoration of 232. ROME. the empire under Russia. We shall sift the subject thoroughly. h7irst. Our reasons for identifying the willful king with Rome, are because the word ARMS is proved to be the Romaan empire; and, it is plain, that the pronoun E, whlich follows it in the thirty-second verse, refers to ARMS, or the Roman empire, as its antecedent, for it has no other antecedent; and, it is also equally plain, that the term king, which follows the term -IE, has no other antecedent; and, therefore, it is the very same power as that indicated,by the terms iIE and, ARES. Again; the description of the Roman power previously given by the angel, was symbolic, and the other descriptions lhad been literal; and it is an invariable principle in Daniel's visions, that symbols all receive an interpretation, so that this repetition of the description of Rome was to be expected, as interpretative of the first or symbolic description of Rome. Again; this power must be the PRoman empire, because it is described as perishing on the mountains of Israel, and at the last end of the indignation, or late during the period of the time of the end. In addition, lhe is represented as conquering Europe, Asia, and Africa, and then passing beyond their limits, and meeting his doom. Now, these things can not be said of the Roman cllurch, for it is not anything like the national organization requisite to such immense conquests. Besides these things, he is said to give all those things to that power which Newton identifies as the church; and, of course, he existed as a superior power, because he was the bestower of these favors. Indeed, the Roman ROME. 233 empire was a consolidated government of church and state, and the emperor was head of both, and, in describing the empire, the description of its religion would be a natural part of its history. Lastly; the interpreting angel promised to interpret the substance of all Daniel's visions at this time; and unless this is a vision of the Roman empire, as represenlted by the iron, and iron and clay, and fourth beast, and king of fierce countenance, the angel does not fulfill his promise. Second. "He shall magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods." The term, " every god," implies a plurality of gods, and therefore must be applicable only to such deities as are called gods by men. Indeed, the scripture does not always confine the term to the Almighty, as we learn from the words of iMoses and of Christ; thus, "Is it not said in your law, ye are gods? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came, and the scripture can not be broken," &c. "Ye shall not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people." Here the chief persons of Israel are called by this name. The "magniifying himself above every god," indicates, therefore, that he would claim superiority over all persons high in office in the church. "He shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods." Here the Almighty Ruler is plainly distinguished from all inferior sovereignties. This power was even to arrogate to himself divine honors, and, of course, was to be a religious as well as political power. St. Paul's description of the " Man of sin," so perfectly coincides, not only with this very character, but 20 234 ROME with the very words used by Daniel, that he must have described the same identical power. Ile says,' that man of sin (slhall) be revealed, wlho opposeth and exalteth huimself above all that is called GodJ, or that is N7orshlipped; so that he as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing that he is God." It is well ]known that the Roman emperors claimed divine honors, and that tile Roman churchl claims, and hlas claimed, that the Pope is in the roonm of God on earth: and it is certain that he has received honors as a god, and that he claims to be above every earthly priest, ruler, king, and potentate, in the world, and claims infallibility equal to God in heaven. T7zird. " Ite shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished." This coincides with the very words spoken of the little horn that was to arise out of one of the horns of the Mlacedonian kingYdomn or the rise of Rome in Asia. "It cast clown the truth to the ground, and practised and prospered." " I will make thee to know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be." This domination was to last, also, " even to the time of the end; for it is for a time appointed."-v. 35. As it still subsists, the last end of the indignation is not yet reached. Fo2urtt/. "' Neither shall he regard the God~ of his fathers.' The lRoman empire renounced its ancient * The term, God of his fathers, is here so plainly a figure used to designate the religion of his fathers, as to need no illustration. It therefore follows, that the strange God he embraced, and which is spoken of antithetically to the God of his fathers, must also repreeent a new or strange religion which the empire was to embrace. ROME. 235 religion, and adopted Christianity, which it soon corrupted. Asthis great change was to be the great act or law of an empire, it must be a matter of vast notoriety. A change of national religion is clearly indicated by the terms used in the text, nor can they find any coincidence in the world, but in that we have noticed. The rejection of the God of his fathers, was the rejection of Roman paganism by the Roman empire. lif?72. 1" Nor the desire of women." This expression indicates a disregard of marriage, or rejection of it. The desire of women is spoken of in the curse on woman: "Thy desire shall be to thy husband," or on account of a husband. ConQjugal affection is a primary law of nature. The Roman power first deprived its priesthood of second marriage, and finally of any at all, at least in Europe. It also encouraged vast orders of monks and nuns, and organized them so, that the mother of harlots was naturally an appropriate name for the Roman church, over the whole empire, in three continents. Sixth. "Nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above all." The history of the ecclesiastical department of the Roman power has been but a regular systematized effort to exalt itself above all other authorities, nor has it ever respected any religion, or ministers, or governors, or gods, not of its own order. It has assumed unequaled authority, has claimed supremacy over kings, and nations, and churches, and has made unceasing' eflbrts to raise itself to a level with its claims. It has truly magnified ITSELF. Seventh. "And the God AIahuzzim in his estate shall lie honor." The septuagint reads, " He shall glorify Maodzim in his place." The word forces is properly 2386 ROME. expressive of the meaning of Miahuzzim; it signifies munitions, bulwarks, fortresses, or, as abstracts are used by the Hebrews for concretes, it may signify protectors, defenders, and guardians. The God of guardians, plainly signifies a consolidated power. The term God, is not only used for a prince, but plainly for one of a spiritual character; hence, tlhe power represented is a spiritual power of guardians. Now, the worship of saints and angels was established by the secular, as well as ecclesiastical, power of Rome. The Roman church is very properly a church of monasteries and guardianships. This spiritual power was to be honored by the political; for the term " he," represents this. The honoring of the church after it became a great community of monkeries, and nunneries, and a worshiper of saints and angels, as protectors and defenders, was a peculiar and general characteristic of the civil power of the Roman empire, after church and state union. Bishop Newton has argued this point extensively. "In his estate as a God of forces," implies his jurisdiction. Eiyghth. " A God, whom his fathers know not, shall he honor with gold and silver and precious stones, and pleasant things."' We have before seen that the empire had changed its religion, and now the fact is repeated, and the character of its deportment to the new religion is designated. The church establishment has * Gibbon says, "Constantine, while he influenced the debates, humbly professed that he was the minister, and not the judge, of the successors of the apostles, who had been established as priests, and as gods upon the earth."-Vol. I. 434. ROME.,28 received as gifts from the state, the greatest of riches and honors. The richest lands, the noblest buildings. the richest endowments, and the most extraordinaryv revenues, legacies, and gifts, have been bestowed on the church by the civil power. Nothing can equal the costly gems, or the gold and silver ornaments and treasures with which the whole empire church has been favored. Its saints of silver, and shrines of gold, and gems, and pearls, are but an index of the mighty wealth heapei upon it by the kings and princes of the empire, througi; many ages. The god M1ahuzzim, represented a corrupi Christianity; and thus this corrupted religion has been honored by the ruling power of Rome, in all ages since Constantine. Ninth. " Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory." Here is a reiteration of the change of religion, and the honors that were to be conferred upon it. The repetition is made, as in all similar cases, to emphasize the important fact, that the church was to become exceedingly rich, by political influence. The very states over which the Pope rules were a gift of the state. Tenth. "IIHe shall cause them to rule over many." The pronoun "them," refers to the strange god, which further shows that that term was symbolic of a body of men; and this is additionally seen in the fact, that this god, or " they" were to rule over many. Of course the term applies to an organized body of men. The bishops, cardinals, popes, abbots, montks, and jesuits, who together form the government of the state church, wer;' constituted by law, the governors in ecclesiastical matters, over millions of men; and they received tlb, c 288 ROME. executive authority from the state, originally, and it has been perpetuated to them by the state authority. The term, " he," shows a lifferent power firom the term " they," yet both are plainly united. E'leventh. " And shall divide the land for gain." This division was, of course, to be extensive with their jurisdiction; it was to be made by the church in addition to its ruling power conferred on it. Now, the whole empire of Rome was divided into dignities and benefices. " The name diqrZity, applies only to bishoprics, deaneries, archdeaconries, and prebends; benefices apply to all ecclesiastical preferments under these degrees, as rectories and vicarages. Benefices are also divided into regular and secular: regular benefices are those held by monks of any order, abbeys, priories, or convents; secular ones, are those held by secular cures." —(Einc. R. HK.) The revenues derived to the church fiom these divisions have been incalculable. In addition to this, the crime of simony, or sale of benefices, has prevailed to an unlimited extent in Europe. We have now shown a minute coincidence between the willful king and the Roman power, in all its phases, to the present time. It is very plain that the political power of Rome is here treated of as erecting and glorifying the Roman church, for it is utterly impossible, logically, to interpret it of the church alone. Now, history teaches us that the civil power of Rome was head of the church, and that the church derived its glory and authority from it; and prophecy teaches us the same things. Though the unity of the Roman empire was broken, yet prophecy does not regard this as vitiating ROME. 239 its existence, but teaches us that it was to have a representative existence down to the very end of imonarchly. Thus Daniel said, that tlhoughl the empire should be broklen, tle strenogth of iron slhould abide in it until the destruction of the reconstructed empire should transpire; and Jolhn says, it should hlave a representative existence in seven hleads and ten horns, or in ten great empires and many small kingdoms. Ttlese empires have been tihe Western, Charlemlagne's, tile Papal, the empire of Clharles V., tile British, the French, and now Iussia is the seventhll, or eighllt. Eight empiles are i-ound, by counting in the Roman before its disruption, and seven since that tirlme. Russia, being the last power of the seven, is to go into destruction, and is the one at which the king of the south is to "C push." The ships of Chittim, and allms, and the willful king, and the strange god, of thiis proplhecy, coincide with the iron, and iron and clay, of the great image; with the fourth beast, his ten hlorns, and little horn; and with the little horn from one of the iour horns of the he goat, and the kilng of fierce countenance. The willfuil king is, also, synonymous with ARMis, and Chittim. Twef7th. "'And at the time of the end." This period was to be that between tile first and last endings of the three and a half times, or between 1 776 and 1878, or between the 1290 and 1335 days. During this period, this willful kinog was to come to his end; but, before his end, he was to eng(age in war for some outlying countries, and was to be interrupted by two great powers, but was to conqcuer and prosper, till the " last end of the indignation." As this was to be the great 240 ROIME. monarchy power represented by the image that was to be broken by the stones, (since it was Rome,) it is evident that its head must be in Europe, and must be the empire represented by the septimo-octave head of the beast in Revelation. Now, the great po'wer which fills half of Europe and overshadows and controls the rest, is the rising colossus Russia; Russia, therefore, must be the power intended, as falling in the holy mountain. Now, as Ezekiel, almost literally, describes Russia as falling on the mountains of Israel, in the latter day, he furnishes further evidence that the fourth kingdom, in the time of the end, was to be resurrected in, or by, Russia. The willful kingdclom, was an autocrat among nations, and so is the Russian kingdom. IT'irteendt7. " The king of the south, shall push or butt at him; and the king of the north, shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships." The two kingdoms, under the names north and south, are to be identified by their relative positions to the Russian power, or to each other. The king, or kingdom of the south, would, very naturally, apply to Turkey, on the south of Russia, but as Turkey exists by the sufferance of France and England, it is possible, that the two great western powers, which hold to each other the relation of north and south, nay be intended. At any rate, the southern king makes a short fight of it, if any thing is to be understood by the figure of butting at the willful king, or he brings on the fight. The kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, called the kingdoms of the north and south, held about the same close relation to each other, and to Rome, that England and France do to each other and to ROME. 241 Russia; only, they were on the east of Rome, and tlhe case is now just reversed. The king of the north, is Great Britain. This is evident from its northern position, as a great power, and from the immense naval, as well as land forces, it possesses. No nation, but a very great one, would attack the autocratic king; and no nation has such a navy as Britain. This north nation, was to come like a whirlwind, with his great naval and] land forces, which are indicated by " many ships," and " chariots, and horsemen." The attack was to be great and furious, but, finally, unsuccessful; for the autocrat moves right on to his purpose, and more than gains it, according to the prophet. Foturteenth. " I-e shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow, and pass over." His entering the countries, intimates that this was his original design, in which lie had been interrupted by the. two great powers that had confederated against him. England and France, or England and Turkey, will unite against Russia. And it seems as if a considerable effort was to be made to check Russia's designs; yet Russia is to take the countries this side the crossings, and is the:, to pass over into Asia, it would seem. The word' " overflow," signifies the great increase of his armies. and triumphs. To " pass over," implies the advancement of conquest, by some great crossing, into a new scene of warfare. 7ifteenth,. "He shall enter into the glorious land." This at once reveals his advancement into Palestine. and shows that the passing over related to the conquest of Asia Minor, and the Turkish empire generally. 21 242 ROME. Sixteenth?. "'M any countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon." This would literally imply the cor:cquest of a great portion of Asiatic Turkey, with some exceptions. These were conquests in Asia. Seventeenth. "E He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape." This expression implies thle exertion of severe sovereignty. Afrlican countries are here referred to, as Egypt is used as a specific for a generic term, or a part fobr the whole. "HIe shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious thingrs of Egypt."' E'igteenzth. "The Libyans and Ethiopians shall be at his steps." This still further teaches the unlimited dominion over Afiica in the west and south. Thus having obtained nearly all Europe, Asia, and Africa, he becomes indomitable, and his empire almost limitless; it emulates old Pome, as the possessor of three continents. IVilzeteenth. "But ticings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him."' While engaged in these southern conquests, he hears news, fiom two directions, which enrages him. The eastern news Inay be from Asia or America, and the northern news is from Europe or Britain. Twenztiet. "'Therefore shall he go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many." The Russian empire has two great final worlks to do; the first is to destroy the Roman church in Europe, and the other is to attackl the United States. The tidings firom the east and north, may be the news of the disaffection ROME. 243 of the papal power on account of the superiority which Russia gives to the Greek church, and on account of holy places in Judea. The word tidings seenes also to indicate great insurrections. Tuwenty-first. "He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain." As the Roman power restored was to attack Israel restored, and be overthrown, so the willfuil 1ing, or autocrat, is here seen planting his imlperial tents for battle in the ]and of Israel restored. The terlm " holy mnountain," signifies the Christian country and government. The term "'1between the seas," is most graphically expressive of the situation of' our Christian democracy between the Atlantic andi the Pacific; and, we doubt not but thle description here is to the same effect as that given by Ezekiel, when he says Russia shall fill on the mountains of Israel; "I-le shall come to his end, and none shall help lim."' SECTION IV. MICHAEL —UNITED STATES. "And at that tinme shall Michael stand up the great prince, which standeth for the children of thy people." We slall now show that the United States is represented by MIichael, and that thle time of trouble is the destruction of monarchy by our coui)try. F',irst. The time of tlhe standing up of MIichael, is the time of the destruction of thle willlul king, which we have seen was to be in "lthe time of the end," and 244 UNITED STATES. at " tile last end of tlle indignation," and the timne of tlhe invasion ofl Israel repr esented by tile planting of the tabernacles of tile willfutl king between thle two seas; for tile text definitely staotes, tilat " Miclael sliall stand up at that tilne, and that the willfill king, or great mouarelhy, shall then be destroyed by Michael. We hlave already seen, that this very body of monarchy was to be destroyed by tlhe Christian democracy that was to rise in 1l76, and that it was to extend over the iwhole world; it tllerefore follows, that Iichael, who stands up fbr the Christians, is synonymous with the Christian Israel, or United States. That an1gels take charge of kingdoms, and that Michael takes charg:e of God's Israel, is shlown in the Bible clearly; but Mlicllael is never'visible, as is the power that destroys maon'arch~y; henee, the terml is symbolic, or metonymlic. Again; in the Apocalypse, this very Michael is, with his angels, relpresented at thle end of thle tlhree and a half times. as fighlting, with thle dragon and his angels, and driving thle dragon out of the dominions of the Christian demlocracy into Europe. The dragon, with his seven heads and hlis angels, are no other than Roenan monarechy and its armies; and M3iclhael and hlis angels are the opposing Chr'istian powers. As he is, therefbre, a Christian power in the one case, he nust be in the other. Again; as the prophecy is plainly symbolic, tthe term Michael must be so, also; and as it is so unquestionably snch in the Apocalypse, it lnust be so lhere; ior thley bothl coincide. It is not, by any, mnileans, an improper siynblll)! of Israel restored, for, in the Apocalypse, thlis very power is represented as "one like the son of man on a white cloud." UNITED STATES. 245 Again; " Michlael, the great prince, shall stand np for thle children of thy people," is synonymous with the stonle kingcdom, and the ancient of days; and these we have seen represented a Christian democracy, that would stand up fobr the Christian democracy throughout the whole worlld, and break down all oppressive powers and deliver them. That the United States will ultimately make the cause of true Christian democracy its own cause througllhout the world, is as certain as it exists; for its tendencies to this end are inevitable. Again; this strife comes on before the Alilennium, and coincides with the smiting of the stone, the taking of the beast, and the taking of tlhe beast and false prophet; and, therefore, to expect a literal revelation of an archangel, is fanatical. To expect a literal and visilble archangel on earth at this tilte of tronble, is fanatical; for Christ says, he (and his angels) will not conle till " after that tribulation of' those (lays." Seconcl. "'Then shall be a tinme of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that samle time." From a misunderstanding of the similar words of Christ, in the gospels, this period has been applied exclusively to tile destruction of Jerusalem. Christ said, "in thlose clays shall be affliction, such as was not firoll the beginning of thle creation wlhich God created unto this timle, neither shall be." N'ow, as Daniel places these troubles at thle final doom of monarchly, lhe and Christ must coincide in reference to thie samle events. Now, if we renimember that Christ said, "these tilings (tlle destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity) were the beginning of sorrows," and also, that bhe said, 66 they 246 UNITED STATES. shall faill by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,' and that lie said,' these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled;" we shall then see that both Christ and Daniel referred this great distress to the close of the times of the Gentiles. But again; as the destruction of the corrupt Jewish government, civil and ecclesiastical, may be regarded as typical of the corrupt Roman church and state, it follows, that what is said of the type and not realized by it, must be completed in the antitype. This time of trouble plainly coincides with the " battle of the great day of God Almighty." How fearful will be the sufelrinucs of that day! what national calamities will we endure I yet, we shall come off conquerors. The " powers of heaven shall be shaken" then, by the awful onset of the world in arms against us; but " God shall be the hope of his people."' We are poorly prepared as a nation, by defenses, to resist the invader; we are careless about them; and to be urged by prophetic warning, is considered preposterous. We would as soon exhort the man in the moon, as to exhort our nation to be ready for the danger before it; they would consider us as aflteted with lunacy, to preach for truth the prediction of the scriptures; and we say, it can just travel on, and foot the bill, if it will not hear. Tl/ircd. "And at that time, thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." The people of Daniel, or the'"holy people," UNITED STATES. 247 as he often calls them, when speaking of the latter day, are not synonymous with carnal Israel, but with Christians. St. Peter speaks of Christians, in language expressive of this fact, when he says to them, "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of' God." The deliverance here promised is a political one, from the very nature of the case; and is identical with the deliverance promised in all ages to the Christians, and whicll now transpires, because the beast, or Roman empire, is destroyed, and the saints possess the kingdom and dominion of the world. We do not understand by this, mere personal salvation, but the universal deliverance of Christianity iifom worldly alliance and domination. Fourth. ":Every one that shall be found written in the book." As the ancient of days coincides with Michael, and, as their destruction of the fourth monarchy and deliverance of ChrIistians coincide, so the books of the ancient of days and the books of Michael coincide. A book in judgment, represents the laws or principles of the judge; and a record book of names with the judge, represents those who subscribe to, and abide by, the laws of the judge. As the judge is a Christian democracy, when he sits in judgment or war, he will destroy all those who oppose his principles, and favor and assist with deliverance all who subscribe to his law of liberty. The fall of the willtill king, and the deliverance by Michael, coincide with the fall of the monarchy image, by the smiting of the stone; with the destruction of the fourth beast, by thie people of the saints, and the judgment -of the ancivel of days upon 100,000,000 of people; with 248 FINAL KINGDOM. the breaking of the fierce king without hansd; with the destruction of the willful king on the holy mountain between the seas; and with the destruction of Gog on the mountains of Israel. SECTION V. TIIE FINAL KINGDOM OF MESSIAH. Almost all of the prophecies of the latter day, whether political or spiritual, close with an account of Messiah's kingdom. The first two in Daniel, close with the kingdom of the mountains and of the Son of Man; and here, the angel, in interpreting all the visions, gives a further and particular account of other things connected with it. As the stone smites monarchy, and becomes a mountain; as the ancient destroys monarchy, and receives the Son of Man, so Michael destroys the great autocracy, and then comes the final kingdom, ushered in complete by the resurrection of the dead. We will notice the points, given hlere, carefully: First. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." As no interpretation is given of this passage, we take it to be literal; and as it coincides with the " resurrection of the just and unjust," we take it to be spiritual. TIow soon it will occur, after the last great war, is not stated, and we must look elsewhere to find its nmode and time. In the close of the vision, Daniel is told, that all the war shall be finished at the end of a certain number SEALIiNG THE VISION. 249 of years; and tthat hle shall then stand in his lot. Joln tells us, that as soon as tile war closed, there was a first resurrection, and lihe th!en describes a final one, occurring a thousand years later. The resurrection, occu rring immediately after the days of great tribulation, coincides with the words of Christ. lie saJs, " immtediactely after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkeled, ~'. and the powers of heaven be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Mian, in heaven.:' Se ond. "ALnd they that be wise, shall shine as the brighitness of thle firmament, (or the sun) and thley that turn nmany to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." Tllis is explained and enfbrced by the Saviour's words, " The Son of Man shall send -forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom (on earth) all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furinace of fire. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father." SECTION VI. THE SEALING OF TIIE VISION, AND THE DISCOVERY. P But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge sllhall be increased. Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." First. The words to be sealed were those which related to the willful king, and the history of the world, during his existence, down to the time of his destruction. 250 SEALING THE VISION. This must be so, because, a part of the interpretation is expressly literal, and it is almost perfectly so, in every word, down to the destruction of the HIebrews by the willful king, or by ARMs. Here it changes into symbolic prophecy, or interpretation, and we are left altogether in the dark about both. As tile prophecy of this period is said, by the angel, to be an interpretation of all the others, of the same period, it is evident, that if this was understood, all the rest could be; and if any others, of the same period, could be interpreted, this could be also; hence, it follows, that all prophecy of that period of the world, between the destruction of Jerusalem, was to be clearly understood by no one, " till the time of the end." Of the truth of this affirmation we need not write, for the whole Christian world agrees to the proposition, and all hold the book of Revelation, itself, to be a mystery, and yet all know that it predicts the great features of this period. Who has written a clear explanation of Daniel's visions of this period? Who has explained the times, and days, and months of the prophets? Who, that has adhered to prophetic expositions of this period, but has been obliged to hold his views as mere speculations, for want of any certain evidence upon which to ground them? Every thing, on all sides, has proved that the words relating to this great era were closed up and sealed. Since the German reformation, many men have applied to the study of these predictions, yet they have seldom agreed together, and have done little more than to prepare the way for a final discovery; in some cases, they were very nearly right, yet le who follows them, will find he is following as much error as he is truth, for SEALING THE VISION. 251 the words were to be sealed until a later period, and in the age of the IMedes and Newtons, there was still a vail over the law and the prophets. Second. The words were to be sealed until a certain period, called "'the time of the end." This appears, very plainly, to be the period between the 1290 and 1335 days. That the signification of the prophecy was then to be unnderstoodl, seems not to be doubted, since the sealing " till " the time of the end, leads us to imply, necessarily, that their mystery would be then understood. Again, it is also stated, that they shall be understood by the wise, and not by the wicked. These terms are to be taken in their widest sense, and, of course, refer to nations, for they are prophetic terms of multitude. They seem to affirm that Israel restored will understand them, and Christian democracy generally, but that the monarchy system will not; and that they will not, because they are so wicked that they shall still be blinded, and shall hasten to their ruin. They were to be understood in an age of "' running to and fro;" that is, in an age of great travel, and trade, and emigration, and discovery; such as the present. They were to be understood in an enlightened age, or one of great knowledge, as is the present. Lastly; it was to be made by somebody, and not by chance, and its very delay was to be promotive of immense good to the church and the world. Its benefits will be without limit. The discovery of the mystery of this period we profess fully to have made; and if we are not mistaken, the great mass of people in our country will agree to our views. 252 THE INDIGNATION. SE'CTION VII. LENGTH OF TIIE " INDIGNATION." We now come to the exact number of years during which the willtil king wras to domineer over the people of God. This number of years is affirimed in the vision, and is then repeated in an interpretation. Their beginninr and endincg are each distinctly stated, so tlhat no difficulty can possibly occur on these points. We shall first take up the vision, and then the interpretation. Pa:crayraLh 1; THREE AND A HALF TIMES. izrst. Period qf 1Thondzers. Vision.' And one said to the man clothed in linen * I-low long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" The wonders here spolen of, can not date fartller back in the vision than the destruction of Jernsalem by ARMS," or the Romans, for all the previous part of the vision is literal, and not mystic, or wonderfill. This is proved, also, by the passage which inimmediately follows, explanatory of the term wonders, which says, " and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the POWER of the holy people, all these things shall be finishled." In this passage, tlhe pronoun " he " is represented as the scatterer of Israel's power, and plainly reelrs to the wilifil lking, or ARMs; and, of course, the period of' the Roman power from the destruction of Jerusalem is referred to, because the first we hear of' this power of RMs, is when he is casting down the sanctuary. Againz THE INDIGNATION. 253 the period of the destruction of the nationality of God's people is expressly affirmied to be the period ol' the wonders. Tile term, powver, as hlere used, represents nationality; for it can have no other sense. "' Tihe powelrs that be, are ordained of" God," means the governments ordained of God; and in the above passage tile word is used in the very same sense. This period, also, plainly coincides with that which is called the period of " indignation," which is so irequently repeated, and i-which all lknow is synonymous with the destruction and desolation of Israel's nationality, or with the " times of tile Gentiles upon Jerusalem." Second. Exact lenyth of the period of the scattering of the nzatioznatity of Isrcel. y2sionz.-" I- e held up hlis rigllt hand and hlis left hand unto heaven, and sware by thim that liveth forever and ever, that it slhall be for a time times and a half." The solemnity of thlis oath leads us to consider bow very definite the lengthl of this period was to be, and how important an era would transpire at its close. The end of it was to be signalized by the cessation of the broken condition of thle. PowEn or nationality of the saints or Christians. Of course, the reorganization of God's Israel into nationality is plainly tauglht; for the cessation of scattering is thle beg(inning' ofi unlion, and also tlhe consummation of it. Thlis gatllerin~g is also synonymous Nwith the deliverance, by Michael, of those written in the book; and coincides with the great predictions of Israel's restoration. The restoration to nationality must require considerable time, and is called " the last end of the indignation, 254 THE INDIGNATION. or time of the end." It would, therefore, seem natural to suppose that the three and a half times would mark the limits of this period, when explained. Now, our discovery shows that it has a double signification, or has two distinct lengths; and that one of them is 1,708 years long, and the other is 1,810; and one ended in 1776, and the other will end in 1878., Paragqrap I. TWELVE HUNDRED AND NINETY AND THIRTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTYFIVE DAYS. As each symbolic vision hlas an interpretation, so hlas the vision of the length of the desolation of the nationality of God's Israel. And it will confirm our views above given. 1. Jiteipretation.-" And I heard, but I understood not; then said, O nmy Lord, how long shall be these latter times, or latter wonders?'" Such is Bishop Newton's translation of the passage, and it is very accurate. Daniel had seen and heard what was to be upon the people of God, and the exact length of the time of their suffelrings is now emphasized in his ears, but he does not understand the terms used, and he asks for an explanation, and the explanation of the times is given. The reply to him is, that the words are closed up and sealed till the period of their fulfillment; but still the whole vision is briefly repeated, and the times explained in a different form. 2. Intepretaton.-" Thle words are closed up and sealed till the time of the endcl. IMany shall be purified and made white; but the wicked (kingdom) shall do THE tNDIGNATION. 255 wickedly; and none of the wickled (kingdoms) shall understand, but the wise (nation) shall understand. And fiom the time the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waitetih and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." In these pasages are repeated: first, the fact that there is to be a period at the close of the sufferings of God's people, called the time of the end. Secondly; the sufferings of God's people through this long period of depression, is again mentioned. Thirdly; the wickedness of Rome is reaffirmed. Fourthly; in the end the people of God are to understand the prophecy with great profit. Fifthly; the Roman monarchies are not to understand or to believes in it. Sixthly; the 1290 and 1335 days represent the very same periods as the three and a half times. This must be so, because they are given in explanation of these very three and a half' times. One lengtht of the three and a half times must, therefore, be equal to 1290 days; and the other the 1335 days. Here we see that the times are resolvable into days. Now, the 1290 days are equal to 1708 years, and the 1335 days to 18093 years. 3. The time when these days were to be dated, is plainly at the destruction of Jerusalem; for the text most emphatically and constantly, throughout the vision, pins the beginning of these days right down to that epoch. The' wonders; " the " time of scattering the power of the holy people," and "the indignation," all begin right there; and the interpretation reiterates that there is the place and time to begin the days; for they 256 THE INDIGNATION. are to begin at the cesscation of the daily 8acriftce, and at the setting up of the desolation over Israel. HIow any expositor could venture to begin these days at any other epoch, away fiolll the destruction of Jerusalem, is very singular, and demonstrates that the words were truly closed up and sealed to all such violators of the plain words of holy writ. Paragrap7h1 IlL. APPLICATION OF TIIESE TIMES. The destruction of Jerusalem by the.omrans, occurred in the year 68 A. D. On the 14th of the month Nisan, the Roman army encamped at Jerusalem, but had entered Palestine somewhat earlier. On the 7th of Jyar, or on the fifteenth day of the siege, the Romans got possession of the first wall. The whole city was encompassed by a wall some time within the months of Jyar or Sivan. This wall was the cause of the great desolation by fankmine. On the 17th of Panemus, thle daily sacrifice ceased; on the 10th of Ab, the temple was burned; on the 8th of Elul, the city was burned, and, about the middle of Tisri, the wralls and whole city were demolished. The period of the destruction of the daily sacrifice, and the setting up of the desolator, occupied, as near as can be estimated, about six months. It will be allowed that the period represented by these clays mlay begin within the limits of the time the Roman army entered Judea and finished its conquests. No reasonable person would require a more specific point than this to begin with. THE INDIGNATION. 257 Now, the 1290 days are equal to 1708 years, and if we add this to A. D. 68, it brings lS down to the year 1776 A.. And, as three and a half times also equals 1708, we are also brought by this down to 1776. These two, therefore, coincide, and point to 1776 as the beginning of the restoration of Israel, or restoration of the saints or Christians to nationality; and also the beginning of "the time of the end," or "last end of the ind.ignation." Again; the 1335 clays are equal to 1809k- years, and if we date these at the close of the Jewish war, or the time when the desolator was established, or 68- A. D., we are brought down to about A. D. 1878~. Then, as the three and a half times are equal to 1810 years, if we date them at the beginning of the war, or 68L A. D., we are brought down to 17 78- A. D. These coincidences must be esteemed wonderful, and we may look to 1878 as the close of the time of the end; as the finishing point of the indignation; as the victory over monarchy; as the possession of the world by the Christian democracy; and as the end of war forever, and the erection of the Millennial republic. " Go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." 258 EPITOME. SECTION VIII. EPITOME OF DANIEL'S PROPHECIES AND THEIR MUTUAL COINCIDENCE. The four great visions of universal empire given by Daniel, all coincide with each other, point to point; the last two visions leaving out Babylon, which had passed away at the time they occurred. In the first two. the four metals and four beasts coincide in representing the four great monarchies; and after these two, leaving out Babylonia, they all agree together. The gold head, and lion, both symbolize Babylon; the silver breast and arms, the bear with the two sides, the ram with the two horns, and the king of Persia, all coincide with the Medo-Persian empire; the belly and thighs of brass, the leopard with four wings and four heads, the he goat with one horn, divided into four horns, and the mighty king of Grecia, and the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, all coincide with the Macedonian empire and its four divisions, ultimating in two. The legs of iron, the foulth beast; the little horn friom the lie goat, or king of fierce countenance, and the willful king, or ARMS, all coincide with the IRoman empire. The iron and clay, the little horn and ten horns, the fierce king understanding dark sentences, the willful king and his new god, all coincide with church and state union in the Roman empire. The ten toes and the ten horns coincide with the broken state of the Roman empire. The fall of the whole monarchy image, the taking of the fourth beast, the fall of the fierce king, EPITOME. 259 and the brealking of the willful king on the mountains of Israel between the two seas, all coincide with the destruction of Gog by Israel, or with the general destruction of monarchy. The mountain, and stone cut out of the mountain, the ancient of days, and locomotive throne of fire, the saints and people of the saints; the sanctuary and host, the holy people and the PowER of the holy people, all coincide with the Christians and the government growing up from them in the United States of America. The 2300 evenings and mornings of the casting down of the sanctuary, the three and a half times of tile scattering of the power of the holy people, and the 1290 days from the cessation of the daily sacrifice, coincide with 1708 years, in civil measure, and dated at the 17th of Panemus, or 189th day, 68 A. D., and on July 4th, 1776. In spiritual measure, they are 1451 years long, and agree with the three cand a half times of the little horn of the fourth beast, and, dated on June 19th, 325, at church and state union, they end on the 4th of July, 1776. The three and a haclf times in civil measure, are also 1810 years and ten days long, and, dated at the last passover Nisan 14th or 97th day, 68 A. D., they end 1878 A. D., and 117th day. The 1335 days equal 1809 years and, 244 days, and dated at the burning of Jerusalem the 8th of Elul or 239th day of 68 A. D., and we are brought to 1878 and 117th day. Thus, do all four versions most wonderfully harmonize, even down to days, though they cover a field of vast ages. We now turn to Revelation, and shall find it harmonizing with Daniel's visions of the fourth empire. 260 SPIRITUAL WORLD. CHAPTER X. THE SPIRITUAL WORLD IN THE APOCALYPSE. THE book of Revelation was written by St. John in the days of Domitius Nero, and not in the days of Flavius Domitian, a later emperor. It consists of a set of prophecies addressed to the Christian church, and containing its future history; and, also, of a complete history of the political world. The spiritual prophecies begin their accomplislhment with the fall of Jerusalem, and the political with the union of church and state. The style of the book is figurative in the most refined degree, and involved and inrolled in the most systematic, yet apparently complicated manner. Nothing can exceed the perfect symmetry of the whole book. The proof that it contains the history of the church and of the Roman Empire, is found in the fact, that it is expressly stated that the events were close at hand; such is the signification of Eairos enygzts8, in the very opening of the book. And, also, in the facts, that at the close of the book, a IIll view of the final judgment is given, and that a consecutive series of events are represented, as filling the entire era between the beginning and end of the prophecies. Now, as Daniel's prophecies embrace all the greater features of this long era, it is SPIRITUAL WORLD. 26 plain that John must predict the same events as Daniel: but, as he is a later prophet, he must be expected to give more particulars than Daniel. WVe now take up the two great classes of prophecy in this book, hoping that we shall be able to explain the great features of them, if not every minute shade of symbol and figure. In our expositions we shall pay no sort of attention to the arbitrary and unauthorized divisions into chapters. but follow up each vision till it closes. The introduction to the whole book of Revelation ic: couched in few words, by the apostle. Hel simply states that God gave Christ this Revelation, and that Christ sent his angel to tell the matter to him; saying, that they were things which must shortly begin to be fulfilled. HCe then addresses the churches, and communicates what things were expressly directed to them, by Christ, andc tells the mode in which he received them. SECTION I. SEAT OF SPIRITUAL PROPHECY. The seat of these spiritual prophecies, first claims our attention. John says, "I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white as snow, and' his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto 262 SPIRITUAL WORLD. fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. - * Write the things which thou hast seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter." This is, plainly, a symbolic representation of Christ, and not of his literal person; for various parts of the image are subsequently shown to be symbols; as " the mystery of the seven stars, and the seven golden candlesticks." It may be proper, here, to show the signification of all these symbols: 1. Tlbe seven golden ccandleslickcs.-This symbol is a double figure: first, it represents the seven churches in Asia Minor; second, it represents the whole Christian church. These things are so, because, first, the text says, " The seven candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven churches;" second, the seven churches are put by synecdoche, for the whole church. That this last is true, arises from several considerations, which may be named. It stands to reason, that one part of the church of God, is as much the subject of God's promises and rebukes as another, for God is no respecter of persons; beside this, every Christian feels, that if he performs the commands of God, he has as much a claim to the rewards severally promised to these particular churches, as any individual member in them; since it is written, "Ye are all one in Christ Jesus,"' and, "What I say:unto one I say unto all." Again; as the great intent of prophecy is for the general good of the church throughout the world. " no prophecy (to the churches) can be of SPIRITUAL WORLD. 263 any private interpretation," but embraces all. Again; the very language of promise and threatening is, plainly, not confined by the text to a specific portion of the church, but is generic, and embraces all; as, " Ile that overcometh," &c., " Be thou faithful unto death," &c., HIe that bath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith (not) unto (some, but unto) the e7zurches." Lastly, the style of the apocalypse being figurative throughout, the seven churches must also be so, to conform to the style of the book. It is, indeed, hardly necessary to advance these things, since the whole Christian world has regarded the address to the seven churches, as an address to a part as representatives of the whole; the number seven being the sacred nulmber of perfection, seven churches are chosen to represent universality, rather than any other number. Let it be constantly borne in mind, that almost every figure of speech used by John, has a double significancy, and must he translated twice, to reach its true import, or, that two symbols mean but one thing. 2. The seven stars. —' The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches." These, from the nature of coincidence, must also possess a double signification, as well as the seven candlesticks. These angels were the governors, or body of government, of the seven churches, and, hence, represent the body of the social government of the church, throughout the Christian world. Here we see the same dual power represented, which is recognizable in all descriptions of God's people throughout the Bible. 3. "' One like unto the Son of Mlan." This is, therefore, only a resemblance, a symbol, of the person of 264 SPIRITUAL AWORLD. Christ, and through which form Christ manifests himself to a mortal. 4. " Clothed with a garment down to the feet." As celestials are not clothed in mortal apparel, which is a badcle of human disgrace, this garmpent must signify the nature of the spotless character that wears it. A robe of white is a symbol of honor and dignity. 5. " His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow.' This, also, is emblematic of superior wisdom and glory; for,' a hoary head is a crown of glory." 6. l His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." "' How beautiful upon the mountains, are tlhe feet of inm that bringeth good tidings, tthat publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reicgneth." 7. " I-Iis voice as the sound of many waters." That is, as the voice of multitudes; it shows vast authority and famte. 8. " Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." A sword symbolizes authority, as, "' e beareth not the sword in vain." Coming from the mouth, it is the word of God, which is called the sword of the Spirit, and " sharper than any two-edged sword." 9. "His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." A face symbolizes justice, severity, or favor; here it must represent the light of God's countenance, or favor to his people. SPIRITUAL WORLD. 265 SECTION II. THE PROPirEZIE s. "' Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which s/ial b4e hereafter." The address and prophecy to the churches, are plainly included together, under the terms, " which thou hast seen, and the things which are;" 11-for when John is subsequently invited to receive a -view of political prophecy, he is called to look only at the " things which shall be hereafter." NTowr, the temporal state of the churches predicted under the " things that are," seem limited to the period designlated by ten days. "Ye shall lhave tribulation ten days." A day signifies a certain limited period, and is generally put for it. Now, these ten days of tribulation had their coincidence, and by consequence their fulfillment, in the ten great persecutions under the pagan emperors, and closed in the days of Constantine the Great. So that the prophecy of "the things thcat are,' seems clearly bounded by this ten days. This is further confirmed, by the fact, that the political prophecies began to be realized at the union of church and state. The very expression, " things that are," seems to imply things that will transpire, while the church is under the then present pagan government, in the world. 23 266 PROPHIECIES OF REVELATION. CHAPTER XI. POLITICAL PROPHECIES OF REVELATION. THIEr visions of John and Daniel, being in the same great field, they must coincide; and it is plain, that as Daniel prophesied in fill of the political state of Rome, so John must also do the same, and that, in the principal features of the fourth 1kingdom, they must agree together. It will, thereifore be expected that there will be a similarity of tile construction of their imagery; and such we shall find to be the case. As Daniel gives a twice doubled view of thle world from his times, so does John, from his. John begins his political visions at the union of church and state, and thence proceeds to the final kingdom; but of the Ronman world he gives four distinct views. The first view is that by seven seals, extending down to the [lillennium; the second,. is by seven trumpets, rehearsing great eras of the samne period. HIe then gives a view of Rome, during the same great era, under the form of a dragon and a beast, and under the symbols of a beast and harlot. In addition to this, he gives a double history of tihe dual Israel, through the same period, under the symbols of two witnesses, and the wornan and her man child. Besides these, he gives two episodical descriptions; one of the destruction of the IRoman church, and one of the destroyer of the Roman state. PROPHECIES OF REVELATION. 267 We shall first interpret the seals, and then the episodical descriptions of Rome and Israel, and then of the seven trumpets. The seat of prophecy, whllence the book of seals is given, is worthy of attention, as it is a prophetic one. SECTION I. THE SEAT OF POLITICAL PROPIIECY. At the seat of spiritual prophecy, no tlirolne was to be seen; but only Christ amuong thle chnlrches; hlere the scene is chaned, and the snymbols of civil dominion over tile world are introduced. The inagery before us claims attention, as it is all of a dual character. WYe shall quote the descriptive text of thie second seat of' prophecy, as it may be needed. 1. "A door was opened in heaven." This was a symbolic heaven, as any one can see at a glance; for, in tile " third Ileaven," no such obljects as beasts or doors exist. Tile term, heaven, was originally applied by God to the atmosphllere, om firmament, and is figuratively nsed as the etherial dwelling of the true Christians after death; and on earth it is used variously to represent sublimity, or exaltation; and, symbolieally, it represents tlhe place oft' the church on eartl, or tle dominion of God on er'tl, &c. Many passages of scripture teach us this fiulrative sense of thle term. 2. " Conme ip Ilitller, and I will show thee things hereafter." Itere John clltanes hlls locality of view. 3. " Behold a tthrone was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne, and there was a rainbow round about the 268 SEAT OF PROPHECY. throne, in sight like unto an emerald." God is a spirit; he can not be represented by any imlage; yet his ruling poXwer and governrnent can be, and these may represent limself. The worship, therefboe, paid to this person, must be symbolic of the praise ofi'ered to the God who rules over the kingdoms of tile world. The throne, and the person on it, represent the dual and supreme government of Jehovah; the throne, representing his spiritual snpremacy, and the person upon it his civil or regal supremacy. 4. "And I beheld, and lo, in thle midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the, world." This lamb received the worship of' countless millions. The lamb is, plainly, symbolic of the kingdomi of Jesus Christ, for a beast, universally, in scripture, symbolizes a kingdom. The seven horns and seven eyes, further represent the dual and perfect nature of this kingdomn. Tile whole, however, having a double significancy, must symbolize, not merely Christ's kingdom, but Christ himnself; lbr, Christ's kingdom, when used as a symbol, must represent himself; just as we have seen that the throne and person upon it signify God's great kinngdom; and that then, God's kingldom symbolizes himself. This double representation is the most beautiful imagery imnaginable. 5. The seven eyes and seven spirits are representatives of the very same things as " the seven spirits of God and seven stars," which are synonymous with the seven candlesticks and seven stars, which represent the church alnd its socQial government, as we have seen SEAT OF PROPHECY. 269 already. The duality of God's kingdom. is preserved in all descriptions of it. The spirits, or eyes, sent into all the earth, represent the Christian church tthrough the world. But here the double imagery must again be kept up, and, as the spirits represent the clhurch, the clnhrch must represent the power that inspires it, which is the Holy Ghlost. The seven horns, also representing the civil power, must represent God himself, as its author, so that the Trinity is represented in the lamb, and the unity of Godhead by the throne and him that sits upon it. 6. The rainbow symbolizes that God's throne is the seat of the promises, and represents its final establishment in the world. T. "And round about the throne were four-and-twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw Ibur-and-twenty elders sitting, clothed in wllite raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold." 1. The secats.-A seat represents, in symbolic language, a separate power. Twenty-four seats would symbolize twenty-four seats of dominion; but, as the figures in this scene are all double, the twenty-four will represeit but twelve. 2. T7ie elders. —A man represents a body of government. Twenty-four elders, therefore, as the symbols are double, will represent twelve governments. 3. TIhe crowns. —There are two difierent words, inl the original scripture text, which are translated crown; but one should be rendered diadem, and the other clown; for one word is stephAcaios, and the other diacdemca. The diadem is a symbol of independent power, and the stephanos of delegated power. The crowns of the elders 270 SEAT OF PROPHECY. are of this latter class, and signify thllat their power or civil authority was received friom a higher source, and was responsible to it. These twelve seats of delegated power and elders, doubly represented, perfectly coincide with the twelve dominions the apostles are to receive from Christ in the final kingcdonm. 8. "And in the imidst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts, full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings, and they were full of eyes within."' Some persons rnake a great ado about these living creatures being called beasts, bnt, as one was a lion, and another an ox, our translators were tolerably correct. 1.'The becsts. —A beast is always used to represent a civil power, and two of these f;ur beasts are a lion and an ox. A man is, also, used to symnbolize a government,, as the willftl king, the ancient of days, &Gc. and one of these creatures was like a man. An eagle is often used, by the proplhets, as a symbol of a civil power. These four beasts must, thereibre, represent civil power; and as they are all blended together in the same work and throne, they must be a twice doubled representation of the velr same power. " They lad eyes before and behind.' This shows that their power was external, or national, and that they watched over the exterior department of power. It is remarkable, that the four national standards of Old Israel precisely coincided with these four beasts, and were the representatives of nationality. A lion was the SEAT OF PROPHECY. 271 standard of Judali and twmo tribes on the east of the camp of' Israel; a calf, or ox, was the standard of Ephraim and two tribes on the west; a man's face was the standard of Renben and two tribes on the south; and an eagle flying was the standard of Dan and two tribes on the north. To these the vision is plainly conformed. 2. T/he twenty-four wings ftll of eyes.-A wing is a symbol of a power. Isa. xviii. 1: "Wo, thou land shadowed with wings,"'- or governments. As these twenty-four wings (each beast having six) were full of eyes within, a spiritual power must be represented, which looks to internal affairs, as the state looks to outward matters. The number twenty-four, is just a double symbol for twelve. As these wings give imotion to the beasts, so the church of Israel gives velocity and power to its nationality. 9. " And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And befbre the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal.." These two symbols are associated by their locality, and must be counterparts of each other. The seven spirits, we have already shown, symbolized the church and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost is but one spirit, but a capital letter being used of the seven, seems directly to show a symbolic reference to divinity. A sea denotes a body of people; and a sea of glass shows a pure people; and, as glass is of a thicker consistency than water, it would seem to represent the civil authority of Israel and of Chlrist; while the lamps represent the church and the HIoly Ghost. 272 CHURCH AND STATE UNION. In all this description, the supreme government and the Trinity are represented double by a single symbol; and the subsidiary kingdoms of God are represented by double symbols. This doubling is in accordance with Joseph's dreams, and his declaration to Pharaoh, that the dream was twice doubled, because the dream was certain and the interpretation was sure. NBow, as one of Pharaoh's visions was given to interpret the other, so in this vision there are double fobrms of the very same things, so blended as to make one glorious picture. The worship of the redeemed millions before the throne, is prophetic; and, indeed, the whole vision of the heavens before John, was prophetic of the final and universal prevalence of God's kingdom on earth; and, as Christ's second advent is placed at the beginning of Revelation, so this final kingdom also comes before the prophecy is delivered, as indicative of what would result when prophecy was all ended. SECTION II. THIE BOOK OF SEALS-FIRST PANORAMA OF THE ~WORLD.' I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals."'" And no man was able to open the bookwithin to look thereon." " And he (the Lamb) came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne." "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to loose the seals thereof." CHiURCH AND STATE UNION. 273 Before the giving of thlis prophecy to Christ, the history of the world was already in the hands of Israel but Daniel hlad declared that it would be "a sealed vision, until the tinme of the end; " and this sealed book coincides with the declaration, " the words are closed up and sealed." As God gave the prophecy of the book of Revelation to Christ, and he to John, and John to the world; and as it, like Daniel's vision of the same great period, has ever been sealed to men, we can not unclerstand the breakling of the seals by Christ, to refer mlerely to the giving a new prophetic history of the church and the world; but we understand it to be symbolic of the giving of the prophecy; and this, then, of the greater exercise of tile power to bring the prophecies to a complete fulfillmcent, in the establishment of the throne of God and the Lamb forever among men. This interpretation is in accordance with the double symbolism of John's writings, and with a scriptural consistency of interpretation of the Old and New Testament prophecies. The seven seals show that the book contained seven great prophecies; and, being written without and within, shows other prophecies additionally. Paragrcph 1. THE FIRST SEAL-OR CHURCH AND STATE UNION. "When the Lamb opened one of the seals, I heard as it were the voice of thunder, one of four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering and to conquer." 274 CHURCH AND STATE UNION. Right here we must state tile principles of interpretation essential to determiIling the mleaning of symbolic prophecy. Tilhe principle is simple: first%, the signrltication of a symbol must be determined by the Bible; and, secondly, by the tilfillment itself' Nor can the specific character of any event be determined flom thle symbolic text, until the agents engaged in the event have been shown to coincide with the symbols of the text. It, therefbre follows, that not one of the great symbolic characters of prophecy could be known until they existed; and as ages were required to develop their historic character, it resulted naturally that Daniel s visions, and the apocalypse, have been sealed visions fior ages past. We now begin our exposition of the first seal. 1. The first beast, or lion, calls John's attention. As this beast coincides with Judah's station on the east, we miglht naturally expect the characters to which attention is called should be manifested on the east of Roome, or of the Christian Israel. 2. l'he lIorse.-" I saw, and behold a white hlorse." We must now look to scripture for an interpretation of tile symbol beibre us. The symbol is a horse, and his symbolic complexion is white. Zachariah says, that " God hath made Judah as his goodly horse in battle." tHere Judah is figuratively represented by a horse, and Judah is a figure of speech for the Jewish nation.. Isaiah says, " which bringeth forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power." As it is a feature of Hebrew poetry to repeat the same idea in different words, the chariot, and the army, and the horse, are synon0ymo1us with power. Zachllariah uses the term horse as a symbol. lIe says: "I saw, and behold a iman riding upon a red CSURCH AND STATE UNION. 275 horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees in the bottom, and behind him were red horses, speckled, and white. Then I said, 0 my Lord, what are these? And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees, answered and said, These are they whom the Lord sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle-trees, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest. Then answered the angel of the Lord and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah." Here the angel on horseback, praying for Israel's restoration from his wanderings, plainly represents Israel praying for deliverance from Babylonish captivity. Again; the horses without riders, are lepresented as conversing, which shows that they represented bodies of men; and their wanderings, while all else had rest, refers to the captivity and wanderings they suffered in Babylon; for God immediately says, "I am sore displeased with the heathen that are at rest." The various horses may properly represent the various tribes of Israel, but being without riders, shows a church without the state in their captivity. In the sixth chapter of Zachariah, it is stated that the four chariots, and four horses to each, represent the four spirits that stand before God, and that go into all the earth. As these were mere symbols, they represented great organizations; and, as they were symbolic spirits, or minds, they must represent organic bodies of power. White color signifies prosperity and purity, or honor.(Syzn. Dic.) A white horse was therefore a symbol of an organic body of a pure character, and moving with 276 CHURCH AND STATE UNION. the velocity of the war horse, whose neck is clothed with thllnder. A horse being an organic symlbol, mnust, from the very nature of symbols, represent an organic power or body of power. 3. The?i7der.-A man, when used as a symbol, represents a government or organic bodly of some kind; and when riding symbolizes ftlicity and successful progress. —(Sym. Dic.) 4. T/e -Bow. —This signifies anger or power to avenge or punish others. Thus, in Ps. vii, God is said to be C' angry witlh the wicled every day. If lie turn not, he will whet his sword; he bath bent his Bow, and mlade it ready." It may also represent virtue; as Joseph's "bow abode in strength;" but it seems to denote warfare in the passage before Lus, ending in victory. —(Syn,. Die.) 5. _The Cjrown.-This crown was not a diadem, and, therefore, represents the royalty conferred as a delegated, and not an independent one. The body of government represented by the man with the bow of victory, was not, at fmlt,; a royalty, but became such after victory, denoted by the bow. This vision, itlllust be rememlbered, filled the whole field of view, over the whole symbolic heavens, and nothing coexists with it to compare in magnitude. We must now look for a coincidence to this seal, in the Roman empire, somewhere between John's day and this; and, properly, irnmediately after the ten persecutions. Now, we shall look in vain for any such a double character, crowned and victorious, before or after the days of Constantine. The white horse and llis rider crowned will, therefore, represent thle church of Christ, united to the state, after outriding the ten great persecutions. Coinzcdence First.-The scene was to be in the east. Cllristianity first arose and conquered in the east. Coinioenzce &oond —The horse represents a movimn CIIURCH AND STATE UNION. 277 body of warlike power, but of a pure character. Christianity was just such a moving body, in all respects. Coincidence Third. —The horse and his rider represent a double organization, a body of moving principle, and a government, without regal power or sanction. Now, according to all history of the fourth century, it appears that the churches had gradually formed themselves, not merely into Christian societies, but lhad founced a great ecclesiastic or social confederate republic, which, however, liad no legal power to enforce its rules of order.- Gibboin. Coincideic2ce ibe, rtz.- It was to be a victorious power, as was indicated by the bow. Now, although the Christian confideracy was impaired by the persecutions, yet it rode through the ten great persecutions, or "ten days' tribulation," and exhibited a victorious strength after them all. Coincil'encee Fifth. —The rider received a crown. So the Christian conIfederate church government received royal sanction; was united to the state and made second only in the throne of power, as the crown is second to the diadem. The time of the giving the crown, was the time the horse appeared, with his rider and bow; so tljat this seal is fixed to this epoch of church and state union as its goal. Froma that point it begins to move on. Coinzcidece SixiA.-.-"And he went forth conqluering and to conquer." Christianity, after its union with thle state, soon prevailed over every thing, and paganism1 was soon routed friom the empire, and fin-ally renounced by imperial law, in the clays of Theodosius. All the points to identiify the first seal being found in Christianity in the fourth century, and being found in nothing else, and at no other time, it follows that this ifill coincidence is fill proof of fulfillment. 278 WESTERN CHURCH. Parcagrcalph I. SECOIND SEAL, OR WESTERN CHURCHI. "Ancd when he Iad opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Colme and see. And there went out another horse that was red; and power was given unto him to take peace froml the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto hiam a great sword." This represents the western politicoecclesiastic power in Europe. 1. The station of the second beast was on the west, or Ephraim's place. Of course, then, we look fbr a manifestation of a religious power of a red cast, in the weste'n empire. In this direction the empire church was manifested in all its mighty strength, as a ccorruption of nhristianity, and a very much altered religion. 2. As the 1orse symbolizes a body of moving religion, so we findcl the Latin religion, in the west, made vast strides toward universality. 3. Thle horse wacs red.-Recd and blood are explanatory of each other.' ThoLugh your sills be red lilke crimson."' A bloody religion was, therefore, represented by thlis horse. Now, the Christian religion soon changed its character, after its union with the state. It imrnmediately began a persecution of the Arians, and the blood of the pleople has flowed, like rivers, by its influence, ever since. 4. " Power was given him that sat thereon, to take peace firom the earth." Ever since the overthrow of the Roman empire, and the rise of' corrupt Christianity, the wars, that have extensively prevailed in Europe, htave been on account of religion, and have been instigated, or infliamed, by the fanaticism of the church. The crusades are sotme instances of it. 5. "' That they should kill one another." Hlere, the WESTERN CIURCH. 279 term " they" shows that the rider represented a vast body of people. Their killing one another represents war among themselves, or civil wars. These were to be a consequence of taking religious peace from the earth. Now, if we look at the cause of civil wars in the western empire, we find they were generally of a religious character, and the wars have been almost without limit. 6. The Rider.-The man on the white horse represented the social organization of his religion; and the seven stars represented the ecclesiastical polity of the churches; and so this red, or bloody religion, has its polity, or ecclesiastical government, represented by a man, or rider. The church, after its union with the state, was, in polity, a great ecclesiastical despotism; but it had no supreme magisterial authority given it in the state, at first, but afterward it became the civil ruler of Europe, by nsnrpation. 7. "And there was given unto him a great sword." A sword is a symbol of magisterial authority; it represents a destroying executive power, and, also, war and slaughter by the civil arm. —Isa. xxxiv. 5; Ezek. xxi; Lev. xxvi. 25; Rom. xiii. 4. "For he (the civil magistracy) beareth not the sword in vain, for lie is the minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." The corrupt, or Roman religion, in Europe, existed, for a long time, solely as a politico-ecclesiastical power, but afterward it received the civil sword, and it was a most powerfulf one; for it existed as the dominant power in Europe for more than two centuries. It destroyed thousands of thousands; it mustered the great crusades, and lolded it over God's heritage, with a nigllty and vengeful hand. This power was to extend, by the symbol, over the whole west; and so this power, 280 SARACENS. chiefly manifested in the west the station of the second beast. We have now shown a perfect and full coincidence between the second seal and the western church; and, of course, we have shown a complete fulfillment. Paragrcanh III THE THIRD SEAL —OI-IAMBEDANISM IN TIHE SOUTII. "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo! a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice, in the midst of the four beasts, say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou lhurt not the oil and the wine." As these seals opened in chronological order, the subjects they disclose must occur chronologically. The first seal began with Constantine; and Justinian, in the early part of the second century afterward, fixed the whole establishment, represented by the red horse, upon a permanent foundation. The black horse must, therefore, represent a subsequent spiritual power, and the next great religious power that arose was the M[ohalmmedan, or Saracenic. Wye shall criticise each point of this seal carefully. 1. "A BlceA, florse."- A horse symbolizing a religion, a black horse must designate its moral character, since color designates moral character. " ]3lack represents, in ancient prophecy, affliction, disaster, anguish." -(Symbol. Diet.) A black horse would, therefore, represent a destroying power, that would greatly afflict with anguish, as did the locusts, which also represent the Saracenic power. 2. "lHe that sat on him." This represents the ecclesiastical polity of the religion. SARACENS. 281 3.' HI-ad a pair of balances in his hand." A balance is used to wreigh things, and, of course, refers to the dernandcs of conformity to the standard weight or measure of this ecclesiastical government, for the balances were in its hand, and it did the weighing according to its own standard. 4. "' A voice from the four beasts." As these represented the Israel of God, the voice is a declaration fi'om it, and relating to it, or an order from God's providence. 5. " A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny." Provisions were cheap at this rate, and many expositors have said so; but others say it means iamine: the first are correct. For in the locust vision, the people who had the seal of God, were to be spared from devastation, and tlhe corrupt Christians, ornly, were to be tormented. "'They should not hurt the grass, nor the earth, nor any green thing." This coincides with plenty of corn, and barley, and grapes, and olive trees, or oil and wine. Let it also be remlembered that the balances did not measure out the corn and barley, for they were among the four beasts, or pious Israel. The whole, therefore, teaches, that among the true Chlristians there would be no attack by the black horse, but only amrong the false Christians. 6. " See thou hurt not the oil and the wine." Now, these terms, and the corn and barley, may, if used as symbols, represent the choice people of God, who were to be preserved. As, however, a literal accomplishment is found, it is likely that both were intended; indeedl, the preservation of the one would be attended naturally by the other. If we now look for a coincidence to this power, we shall find it only in the Mlohammedan fanaticism. CoincicZence Flfirst.-I' A black horse symbolizes an afflicting and disastrous religion. Every body knows 24 282 SARACENS. that the Mohammedan imposture was one of this very character. Coinciden.ce Secozd. —This religion was to have a well orglanized ecclesiastical polity. Siuch was the cllaracter of the ecclesiastic organization of Mohamnmedanism, that it has had the tenacity to adhere together for ages. Coincidence Thlird.-This religion was to bring every one to its own exact standard. Such was the character of Mohammedanism. It demanded exact agreement to its doctrines, or death. Abu-Beker, who, on the death of 3Mahomet, succeeded to his great authority, set out for conquest, and to convert the world by the sword and fire. 1His charge to his chief comnlmander was couchled in these words, " As for those members of the synagogue of Satan who shave their crowns, cleave tllheir skulls, unless they embrace Islatnism, or pay tribute."' Death or Islamtism was the watchword of the Saracenic host. Observe, that the balances had nothing to do with the measuring of the corn, barley, wine, and oil, for they are not measured in balances, but in liquid and dry measures. Coincideence h Fou't/h.-The church of God was to remain intact, or, as the corn, and barley, and wine, and oil, in security. Now, the great body of the true evangelical Christians were found in the interior, and northwestern portions of the empire, and in Britain; and these countries were not seriously affected, and never overcome by the Saracens; while all of the great bo dy of the corrupt Christians suffered terribly from the Saracens, for near two hundred years. Coincidence Efl/h.- The agricultural interests, among the true Christians, were not to be desolated by the invasion of the black horse and his rider. And none of the countries, where the true witnesses of God were most SARACENS. 283 abundant, were invaded by the Saracenic armies. Spain, Italy, and the southern and south-western coasts of Europe, where the red holse had dominion, were invaded, and tleir inl abitants awfully scourged. Coinciclence, &xit. —The station of the third beast was on the three parts of the south, and the scene was to be in that direction. Now, the attack of Miohammedanism was in the east of the southern part of the Roman world, and thence extended all along its southern border, including all Afiica and south Europe, and Spain, or thle west portion of the south. There being, therefore, a full coincidence between the Mlohaminedans and the fourth seal, in the time of its rise and all of its characteristics, we have a perfect fulfillmenlt. Pactragraph IV. FOURTH SEAL-DEIS31 AND FRANCE. "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourtll beast say, Come and see. And I looked and beheld a pale horse; and Iris name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." 1. "The fourth seal." This represents, chronologically, another prophetic era in the religious and political world. 2. " The fourth beast." The station of the eagle was on the north parts, corresponding to Dan and the two tribes on the rightt and left of him. 3. "A pale horse." Here, another religion appears, and its moral character is represented by a pale color. "Pale color signifies mortality and affliction. It is a 284 DEISM AND FRANCE. usual epithet of death."'-(Synz. Die.) Applied to a religion, it must signify a ruinous one in spiritual things, and be the basis of ruin in political. 4. " HIis name that sat on him was Death." "Death symbolizes a destroyer, as a plague or pestilence."'-(Sym. -Die.) As a man has symbolized the polity of a religion, and its distinctive political complexion has been symbolized by a bow and crown, a sword and balances, so, here, the political texture of the polity of this rider is represented by the term death. As Death is a destroyer, he umust be, here, the representative of destruction to the existing state of affiirs at his appearance. The name Death, and the paleness of his lorse, are well adjusted to each other. 5. "And Itell followed with himn." The word hell, or hades, signifies the grave of the soul or body. As it follows death, and is symbolic of earthly matters, it must refer to distinctive political effects that would naturally attend a church and soul-destroying religion. This living impersonation of death must symbolize destruction to all other spiritual powers beside itself; and the living personification of hell, or the grave, shows the state of ruin that would ensue. 6. "And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth." This shows that these symbols were to operate on earth, and were human agencies or embodiments of power. "The fourth part of the earth.' This is the only place in prophecy, of Rome, that a fourth part of it is mentioned; in all other places a part is expressed by a third. As this power would not rise till very late, it may have reference to the new state of the world after the discovery of America. Before this event, the world consisted of three great parts, Europe, Asia, and Africa, but, on the discovery of America, it was said to consist of' four parts. At any rate, it was to be DEISM AND BRANCE. 28 confined in its operations within one quarter of the earth, or to one continent. 7. " To kill with sword and with hunger, and witl; death, and with the beasts of the earth."' This great dlestrtuction of men could not result but fromn great political strength; hence, the union of death and hell, in this work, shows the union of a destroying religion with th, state, or its collusion with the state. W'e now affirm that atheism, or French infidelity, anci its polity, associated with France, are represented by th,, pale horse, by death, and by hell. coinzcicdence First.-The fourth seal was the fourtl great era in religions in chronological order; and the infidelity of France was the fourth great spiritual systenm of doctrine taught after the rise of Christianity. It was called Deism. Coinzciceince Secon2. —This system was to be manihest in the north of the Roman empire; and France was in the west part of the north, and extended its doctrines all along the north of the old empire. Coinicidence T2/ird.-A ruinous and dead religious system was to appear. With this, French infidelity most accurately coincides; for it denied life and immortality, and wrote upon its gateways to the grave, " Death an eternal sleep." Coiezcidence Fourtl. —The polity of this religion, or body of religious or rather irreligious doctrine, was to be destructive of all others within its range. With this, French infidelity corresponds; for it threw down all religions in France and in the countries it could control, and began a crusade against all systems of divinity except its own. Coigncidence Fiftl.-The political power was to fol low within the same track as the spiritual; hell wag 286 DEISM AND FRANCE. accompany death. Now, it is notorious that the French revolutionists of 1T92 adopted the doctrines of infidelity; and that their political system was based upon infidel doctrines and theory of governmlent, that the relign ofterror, and all the great tides of blood of that day, and many since, were the results of this great deadly system of infidel religion. Liberty and equality were deified by the French, and all other gods were proscribed for a time. Coincicdeze Sixth. —This system of doctrine and government was to have power to destroy or desolate a fourth part of the earth. Now, the French infidel system threw all Europe into the wildest confhision, and into the fiercest and most desolating wars; death to priests, and religion, and kings, and government, was their well-observed motto. They were fiercer and more destructive than the age of the Goths, or the barbarity of the Vandals. Their power, however, was confined to one fourth part of the earth, or to one continent. They troubled every nation in Europe, and made Europe a fresh graveyard. Their doctrines and their practice might well be called death and hell, liom the vengeance they inflicted, and the millions they destroyed and tormented. Coincidence Sevenzth.-The destruction of men was to be a political and real one, as is indicated by death, famine, sword, and beasts. In all of these ways, even literally multiplied, thousands upon thousands perished in the great wars ilnstigated by infidel France; but figuratively the destruction was also as great. As between French infidelity, its philosophic polity, and France and the pale horse, his rider and hell, there is a perfect coincidence; there is in them a fulfillment of the fourth seal. PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE. 287 Pcararaph17 V. THE FIFTH SEAL-DESTRUCTION OF CHURCHES, AND OPPRESSIONS. " And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of thlleml which were slain f-1 thle word of God and the testimony they hecl. And they cried with a loud voice, sayingc, 1How long, 0 Lord, hloly and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood upon them that dwell upon the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of thlem; and it was said unto them, that thley should rest for a little season, until their fellow servants, also, and their brethren, that shlould be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." This is the mnost difficult of ail the seals to interpret; its locality, however, being fixed clhronologically between the French reign of death, or terror, and the sixth seal, which coincides with the taking of the beast, or final destruction of the fourth monarchy by the Christians, we know the period in whllich to look for its symbolized realities. 1. We first take up the symbolic altar and souls; this symbolizes the gospel body, as we shall show in another place. The souls of the slain did coincide with the worshipers at the altar, in the imagery of the two witnesses; and they must represent church organization as it is represented by the angels of the churches, and the rider on the white horse, &c. 2. The slaying' of these souls. Spirits, we have already been infbrmed, represent tle doctrines of the church, or the churches themselves; the souls, or spirits will, therefore, here represent the worslhipers of God. The slaying will, therefore, represent thell disorganization and scattering of the true Christians, and the impossibility of their resurrection, to perform the services of the 288 PRESENT STATE OF EUROPEe altar, or gospel, in their slain condition. The terms can not be understood literally, fobr it is against all reason to do so; for departed Christian spirits go to the third heaven, and are with Clhrist; and they are not placed under an altar there, but worship God; and there is no sacrificial altar there, and no complaint of sorrow. 3. They were slain for two things; one was for the word of God, and tile other fbr the testimony which they held. These two things coincide with the principles represented by the two witnesses; that is, for religious and civil liberty; for religion and freedom; the "word of God" being put for the trune religion, and "the testimony," representing the civil riglhts they claimed. Their being under the altar shows that they had becomle victims to their filelity, and that they had ceased to be a visible organization. This coincides with the suppression and destruction of all the dissenting, churches of true Christians, which had, for a long period, been crushed by the civil arm, in the dominions of the established church in Europe.,Many true Christians have, during many centuries, existed in Europe, but have had their churches overthrown; ml-any of them have been murdered, and others have been obliged to hide their worship from public observation, as if tinder the very altar of God. 4. They desired vengeance on their destroyers. This shows a struggle for independence, and an appeal to God for help. These struggles have been made, but hitherto, unsuccessfully. 5. They were clothed with white robes. This shows that they and their cause would be held in honor among men somewhere in the world. 6. They were to rest; that is, to cease to struggle, until the set time of the sufferings of their fellow POLITICAL JUDGMENT-DAY. 289 Christians, that should be also oppressed, should be fulfilled. This destroying of other Christian dissenting churches coincides with the slaying of the two witnesses, by the beast out of the pit. We can not but think this refers to the late suppression of Hungarian and Italian liberty by Russia, Austria, and the tyrants in other portions of Europe. We are, certainly, now living in the period of the fifth seal. Plaragraplh VI SIXTH SEAL-DESTRUCTION OF )MONAIRCHY. "And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo! there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were removed out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the rocks and to the mountains, Fall on us, and hide us from the fce of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; tbr the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? " This sublime and extensive description reveals a period of vastly greater interest than has ever yet transpired in prophecy. It is, however, most clearly symbolic, as it. comes with symbolic characteristics- from the seat of symbols. We shall consider the symbols separately. 1. "A great earthqcuake." An earthquake is a symbol of great revolutions and changes in the government 25 290 POLITICAL JUDGMENT-DAY. of the world.-Jer. iv. 23; Joel iii. 16; iagggai ii. 6-7. It is frequently used in the apocalypse in this sense. 2. " The sun became black." As tle sun rules the day, so the civil government rules the kingdom, and it must here represent the whole civil power of monarchy, as this seal coincides with the destruction of the fburth empire. 3. " The 1moon became as bloofld." The moon is alwayis used as the symbol of a chnrch. As the sun, or civil power, disappears in great affliction, so the moon, becoming as blood, shows the dissolution of the empire church in great slaughter, since blood and carnage are synonims in prophecy. 4. " The stars of heaven fell unto the earth." A star symbolizes a prince, " as a star out of Jacob; " and, also, a deity, as " the star of your god Chiun;" " the eleven stars" represented eleven sons of Jacob, the heads of the tribes of Israel. The falling of the stars will represent the collateral fall of all princes, at the time of the fall of monarchy. 5. "'AnnI the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled tooether." This is a symbolic representation of the old political world; for after it is gone, we see men still on the earth running for shelter. The political world is here to be understood by the terms heaven and earth; they are so frequently used in the old prophets, in this sense, that every one is familiar with the proofs. Indeed, if any one doubts that these are symbolic heavens and earths, all we have to say is, that he is very simple, for the proofs that they are so, are as abundant as could be desirec. We have here a double description of the same great events; the first by the s-un, moon, and stars; and the second by the quaking earth, and removing heavens, and mountains, and islands. Moan POLITICAL JUDGMENT-DAY. 291 tains and islands symbolize the governments of the political heavens and earth. This rci-moval of the heavens and earth, sun, moon, and stars, nmountains, and islands, is fi'ther interpreted to be the overthrow of monarchy, for the king(s of the earthll, and princes, and all together, are represented as flying for shelter iiom the wrath of the Lamb. 6. " The wrath of the Lamb." As this represents a scene beobre the Millennium, the Lamb must represent some great power conformed to Christianity, fbor a Lamb must represent a kingdom of a kiind like itself; or actuated by the gospel of Chlrist. Wrath is not a quality of a Lamb, but it must be remembered, that at the same time Christ is called a Lamb, lie is called a Lion. 7. "The great day of his wrath is come." This must be a clay that had been anticipated, because predicted. It conforms, in time and circumstances, to the smiting of the great image; the taking of the beast; the judgmentday of the ancient of' days; and the predicted triumph of Israel; and must, therefbre, represent the same general destrnection of monarchy predicted by "the casting down of thrones," in Daniel, for it is just before the Millennium. 8. Immediately after this great victory, follows a description of the organization of the Millennial government, under the symbol of the sealing of Israel, and of the gathering together of the good of all nations. The twelve tribes coincide with Israel restored, before the other nations were received into confraternity. This period coincides with the changing of the stone into a mountain; the possession of the kingdom by the saints, and of the deliverance by Michael of those written in the book; and of the end of the time of the end; and with the marriage supper of the Lamb; and the first 292 SEVENTH SEAL. resurrection. It must be kept in constant memory, that the prophets represent two general judgments; the one is a political judgment-clay, and the other is a spiritual judgment-day; the first precedes the Millennium, the second succeeds it. The great clday of the wrath of the Lamb symbolizes the former, and the great white throne symbolizes the latter. Christ certainly will not appear till after the first; he will appear on the throne at the second. There will also be two coincident resurrections; the first at the beginning of the 3Millennium, the other subsequent to it; the first may be purely political, and the next will be a literal one. Paragraph VI]. SEVENTIH SEAL. "And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven abourt the space of half an hour." Silence signifies a cessation from action, and as this was a cessation in the heaven, it was a cessation of the vision in the temple, for a season, to be resumed again at another time. The apostle is next directed to a set of prophecies without the temple. Now, these other prophecies are not said to be in the seventh seal at all, but quite the contrary is seen to be true. John, within the temple, had been looking principally at the religious history of the world down to the Millennium, and he now views the scene outside, as the altar was outside; that is, the political prophecy of the same period embraced by the seals. The seven trumpets will be treated of in regular order in another place; and we shall here bring in the interpretation of the period given in the little book. The seventh seal is renewed at the spiritual judgment-day. or at Millennium. LITTLE BOOK. 293 CHAPTER XII. THE LITTLE BOOK OF INTERPRETATION. ALL symbolic prophecy is twice repeated, as we have befobre observed, and is also interpreted. The second vision of the same events is regarded as an interpretation of the first; and it generally adds some new particulars in the same symbolic language. This is stated by Joseph to Pharaoh, when he said, "the dream is twice doubled, because it is certain and the interpretation is sure." As no interpretation had been given when Joseph spoke, it is plain, that he referred to the second vision as the expositor of the first, though both needed a literal translation. Daniel's visions, while they are twice doubled, have each of them also an interpretation; and John's visions, being symbolic, must be expected to follow the general law of symbolic visions. John's receiving a little book which goes over the same field with that of the seals and trumpets, must be but a book of interpretation, since he inwardly digested it. This prophecy of this book, like all others, has a magnificent introduction, which, with the book itself, we shall now notice. We first quote the introductory text: "And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, and he had in his hand a little book open. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me, saying, Go and take the book which is open in the hand of the angel. X And I went unto the angel and said unto him, Give me the little book. 294 LITTLE BOOK. And he said unto me, Take it and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth as sweet as honey." This angel, it will be seen, is very much like the symbolic representation of Christ, given in the beginning, and must be that angel of Christ who was sent by Christ to signify to John the things which he received from his father. His symbolic dress is glorious, and he seems to attend John to the very last of the book after this, and, as he represents himself finally as one from earth, we may have some faint notions of the glory of the saints in heaven. As the first book of seals was a prophetic book, so this little book must be one also; and as it is open, it professes to contain an exposition of the events before relatedl, by the seals and trumpets, down to the seventh trumpet, for it is introduced just at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. We introduce it here, so as not to interrupt the regular chronology of the trumpets by an episode. We shall take up the contents of this little book in regular order. It contains a vision of the temple and Gentiles; and one of two witnesses; one of a woman and twelve stars; one of a seven headed dragon; one of a seven headed beast; and one of a two horned beast. SECTION I. HOLY CITY AND THE GENTILES-CHURCH AND STATE UNION. " And there was given me a reed, like unto a rod, and the angel (the one that had the little book) stood, saying, Rise, measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not; for it is given DEPRESSION OF TRUE CHRISTIANS. 295 unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." 1. The FlMeaszuring.-To measure any thing, is symnbolically equivalent to sealing it; as in Zech. ii. 2, to measure Jerusalem is equivalent to taking charge of it. It here plainly means that God would take special care of the temple, and altal, and worshipers, and that he would not take care of the outer court. 2. Tike Temnple. —The temple is here plainly used as a symbol. It is figuratively used by Paul to represent the church, but by the prophets it represents the civil power. Jeremiah twice speaks of the "vengeance oi God's temple" going forth to destroy Babylon, and as such destruction could not go forth from the church proper, the temple must stand for the civil power of Israel. Again, it is said, that in the last days, the fallen. tabernacle of David, or Israel's civil power, or nationality, shall be restored, and, as the temple and tabernacle are convertible terms, the temple, in prophecy, is used as symbolic of the government of Israel. That this is its sense here, is further obvious, from the fact that another symbol is conjointly used, whichl clearly stands ior the church, and as Israel, on account of dual nature, is always represented by two figures, so it is here; and one refers to the civil polity, and the other to the spiritual. 3. Thie Altar and the JooroshfI)ers.-The altar is used not only as an instrument of worship, but as a sanctuary, or place of refuge. It was surrounded by the court of Israel, and of the priests who brought their sacrifices to it, to be ofi-ered; and as thle worshipers are represented as worshiping in the altar, it must, by synecdoche, represent the court of Israel, a part of the court being put for the whole. The worshipers, therefore, properly represent the organic church, and the altar their 296 DEPRESSION OF TRUE CHRISTIANS. religious system of faith and worship, or religion. This distinction between the church government and religion, is elsewhere clearly noticed among the symbols, as also the distinction between the church government, and the civil government of Israel. 4. " The ourt without the Altar."-That is, the court outside of the court of Israel, in the temple, which was separated from it by a partition wall. In this court the Gentiles were allowed to worship, and their worship was considered inferior in character to that of Israel. As no altar was in it, it must stand for the church of the Gentiles, or for an impure church. This view is confirmed by the fact, that it was not measured or cared for by God. 5. The Holy CUity.-This, as a figure, represents the church, but as Jerusalem was called Ariel, that is, the double city, or two lions of God, and as the capital of Israel is put for the Jewish nation, by synecdoche, it must, as a symbol, represent the Christian Ariel. 6. The Gentiles were to tread the Ariel of God under foot for forty-two mnonths. —As the Jerusalem here mentioned is not the literal Jerusalem, but the Christian Jerusalem, or Ariel of God, those who tread it down must be spiritual Gentiles. 7. Forty-two months.-These months amount to 529,984 days, or 1451 years and 17 days, and also to 1243 years and 277 days. As the true Israel of God was trodden down by spiritual Gentiles, from the days of church and state union till the rise of the United States, the 42 months must be the exact measure of the period between these two epochs. The length of this period, therefore, is the number of days between the 19th of June, 325, and July 4th, 1776; for church and state union began on the former date, and began to end gloriously at the latter. The length of this period is exactly CIRBISTIANITY DEPRESSED. 297 529,984 days, and thus it coincides exactly with the first length of the 42 months. Again; church and state union was completed, under Justinian, about 532 A. D. Now, from October 1st of this year, to July 4th, 1776, is just equal to the other length of the 42 months, or 1243 years 277 days. It is, however, obvious that the church of God is still trodden down in Europe; so that there must be another length of the 42 months to be fulfilled. That length ends as early as 1865 or 1878, but perhaps much earlier.-(See discovery.) SECTION II. THE Two WrITNESSES- CHRISTIANITY DEPRESSED. "