Table of Contents

Judaism Overthrown

INTRODUCTION

JUDAISM OVERTHROWN: OR, THE KINGDOM RESTORED TO THE TRUE ISRAEL

I. The Kingdom of Israel - what it was

II. The subversion of the Kingdom - when, and for what cause

III. The Restoration of the Kingdom - its heirs and subjects

The Fall and Recovery of the Jews

IV. The Times and Seasons considered

The Two Thousand Three Hundred Days

Judaism Overthrown

with the Scripture Evidence of the Epoch

of the Kingdom in

1843.

By JOSIAH LITCH.

BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY JOSHUA V. HIMES,

14 Devonshire Street.

1843.

INTRODUCTION

Whatever is calculated to throw light on the great subject of prophecy touching the speedy Coming of Our Lord, a subject which is now eliciting great interest and attention in the church, is hailed by every lover of truth, with joy and gladness. Truth should be, with every person, the great desideratum. Although it may infringe upon our prepossessions, and appear quite contrary to all our former education, yet, we should seek it, and hail it, as paramount to everything beside. Neither should it be forgotten that our educational prejudices are frequently a great barrier, intercepting our way to truth. Hence, all our prejudices should be laid aside, and we should seek the truth in the love of it.

The following address is designed to remove one of the grand obstacles (to many minds) in the way of the pre-millennial and speedy Advent of Christ, viz., the restoration of the carnal Jews to the land of Palestine-the land of their fathers. Nothing can be more clear than that the Jews, the literal descendants of the house of Jacob, are in the Scriptures but the shadow of the heavenly family in Christ; precisely the same as their Tabernacle, Temple, Canaan, Jerusalem, Joshua and David, were shadows of the heavenly patterns. As the shadow is lost in the substance, so the Jew disappears in the manifestation of the sons of God; and the Jews' Canaan is lost in the world to come-his Zion in the appearing of the New Jerusalem, and his restoration in the resurrection from the dead. For all the Israel of God will be restored at the resurrection of the just, in the likeness, of Christ, their elder brother, the second Adam, who is the first fruits of the dead, "at his appearing and kingdom." This is the true "restoration of Israel," not to take place in this world, and only to be realized when "death is swallowed up in victory."

If this view of the subject is correct, as we believe the following pages irrefragably show, then we most certainly stand upon the very threshold of eternity; and as we live, there is but a step between us and the judgment of the great day. Craving God's blessing upon this little work, we send it forth to the world, commending it to the careful perusal of every lover of truth, trusting it will prove a means of arousing many of the slumbering virgins, preparatory to the coming of the Bridegroom and the great marriage supper of the Lamb.

J. V. Himes.

Boston, Dec. 14, 1842.

JUDAISM OVERTHROWN: OR, THE KINGDOM RESTORED TO THE TRUE ISRAEL

Acts i. 6, 7-"When they, therefore, were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power."

The question of the disciples in this text, implies three things: 1. That Israel once had a kingdom. 2. That it was then subverted, and had been taken from them. 3. That they understood that it was some time or other to be restored again.

The answer of Christ, so far from correcting their views, or intimating that they were mistaken in their expectations, tended directly to confirm them in the opinion they already entertained. "It is not for you to know," etc. As much as to say, although there are appropriated times and seasons for the occurrence of what you anticipate, and they are yet future, it is not for you to know them.

If it be affirmed that the disciples of Christ expected a temporal kingdom under the Messiah, it is denied, and the proof is demanded. That they expected a visible kingdom is true; but they expected also that it would be eternal in its duration, and not temporal. Their opinion was based on the Scriptures, which everywhere represented the kingdom of Messiah to be everlasting,

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without end. That they erred in respect to the subjects of that kingdom, is freely admitted-they supposing the Jews were the favorites of heaven.

In pursuing the subject, we shall consider,-

I. The Kingdom of Israel-what it was.

II. Its Subversion-when and for what cause.

III. The Restoration of the Kingdom-its heirs and subjects.

IV. The Times and Seasons of its Restoration.

I. The Kingdom of Israel - what it was

The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, when he was probably an idolator, and called him into Canaan, with the promise that he would give it to Abraham and his seed for an everlasting possession; and yet according to Stephen, Acts 7th chapter, he did not give Abraham enough, when alive, to set his foot on; yet he promised he would give it him for a possession, when as yet he had no child. God assured him that his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and be entreated evil 400 years, and afterward come forth and serve him in that land of promise. When the time drew near that the people should be returned to the land of promise, Moses was raised up to deliver them from Egypt. He brought them through the Red Sea into the wilderness, where a civil and political government was organized, derived immediately from Jehovah, their Great King. The system of civil and political jurisprudence, as well as their religious institutions, were of heaven's own legislation. The administrators of this government were of Divine appointment. Under this government, the people, with Joshua, by Divine appointment the successor of Moses, at their head, entered the "land of promise," as God had spoken to Abraham. After casting out and destroying their enemies, the land was divided among them by lot, and the political institutions given to Moses were carried into effect. For 450 years, until Samuel, God governed them by Judges,

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and was himself their King. So it was in fact a kingdom, even under the Judges. But the people became dissatisfied with this system, and requested a king, like the nations around them. Samuel complained to God that he was rejected; "And the Lord said unto Samuel,-Hearken unto the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over; them." 1 Sam. viii. 7. He then raised up Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin, to reign over Israel; and God again legislated for them, and adapted their laws to a kingly government. He gave them the manner of the kingdom. Saul sinned, and was put away, and David, the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, filled his place.

We find the identity of this kingdom to lie in-The royal house-The territory-The heirs and subjects-The capital and government.

1. In the house of David, God promised to perpetuate the royalty of the kingdom forever. 1 Chron. xvii. 9-14.

"9. Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,

"10. And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover, I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore, I tell thee that the Lord will build thee a house.

"11. And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired, that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

"12. He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

"13. I will be his father, and he shall be my son, and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee.

"14. But I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established for evermore."

From this text we learn, 1. That David's throne and

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kingdom was to be eternal. 2. That the son of David, who should fill that throne, will be the Son of God. So Paul applies it, in Heb. is "To which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son." And again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be my son." 3. That the kingdom in which he should reign, is "the kingdom of God." "I will settle him in 'my house' and in MY KINGDOM forever: and his throne shall be established for evermore." 4. That this promise is unconditional and immutable. "I will not take my mercy away from him as I took it away from him that was before thee." Saul sinned and was rejected entirely; David was elected to the office forever. But, said God, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by 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 forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." Ps. lxxxix. 30-37.

The heir of David's throne is thus described by Isaiah, ix. 6, 7,-"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of 'his' government and peace 'there shall be' no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this."

This king is "THE MIGHTY GOD-THE EVERLASTING FATHER." The government is on "the throne of David and his kingdom." Is not the kingdom of God on earth and the kingdom of David one and the

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same thing? But who is this child? Lake, first chapter, answers-"And shall call his name Jesus; and he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever." There can be no doubt but that Christ is the true and promised heir to David's throne, and under him it is to endure forever.

Solomon was a type of Christ, and built an house of cedar-but Christ is to build a church or temple of living stones-a habitation of God through the Spirit.

2. The territory over which David bare rule, was the land of promise, described by God to Abraham thus-"Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates." Gen. xv. 18. Over this territory, the kingdom of Israel was extended in the days of Solomon. 1 Kings iv. 21, 24. "And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him."

3. The heirs and subjects of the kingdom were an elect people. 2 Chron. vi. 5, 6. "Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there: neither chose I any man to be over my people Israel. But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name should be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel." Israel is an elect people. Abraham was elected from all the families of the earth to be the father of the whole church of God-the father of the faithful-the father of many nations-the family in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed. And this promise was when he had no child. His first-born, and the natural heir, Ishmael, was rejected, and the second, Isaac, was elected. In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Of Isaac's

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seed, to whom the promise was confirmed, Esau was rejected and Jacob chosen, and his name was called Israel. Of his seed, God raised up a church, and gave it an independent and divine system of civil and political government, under his own supervision-the twelve tribes of Jacob were its heirs. Others were conditionally elected to the same privileges. A provision was established in the law of Moses, by which Gentiles might be admitted to a participation in the privileges and immunities of the kingdom. But they came in by identifying themselves with the elect family.

4. The metropolis, or capital of the kingdom, was Jerusalem. 2 Samuel v. 3-9. "So all the elders of Israel came to the king, to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron, before the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. And the king and his men went to Jerusalem, unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land; which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither; thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless, David took the strong-hold of Zion: and the same is the city of David. And David said on that day. Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Milo and inward." Also 2 Chron. vi. 6. "I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there, and have chosen David to be over my people Israel." The reader can find abundant testimony on this point by a little pains.

From the foregoing particulars, we learn that the identity of the kingdom consists, 1. In the royalty of David's house. 2. The territory, the land promised

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Abraham and his seed. 3. Subjects and heirs, an elect people of Abraham's seed or family. 4. The capital at Jerusalem, and the government of divine origin.

II. The subversion of the Kingdom - when, and for what cause

Although God promised unconditionally, and by an oath, to perpetuate David's throne, kingdom, and seed eternally; yet the temporal succession was conditional. "Yet, so that thy children take heed to their way to walk before me as thou hast walked before me." Again, "If thy children transgress my law," etc., "then will I visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquities with stripes; nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." The Lord also made the same covenant with Solomon, 1 Kings ix. 2-7: "The Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before me. I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there forever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments; then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised to David, thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them; then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a by-word among all people." The conditions of this covenant are plain. If Solomon and his children were obedient,

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his throne should continue, and the premise to David. "There shall never fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel." But if either he, or his children, turned from God's commandment, "Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given, and Israel shall be a proverb and a by-word among all people." Solomon violated that covenant, and the kingdom was rent from, his son. 1 Kings xi. 6, 9, 13: "And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared to him twice; and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding, in thy days I will not do it, for David thy father's sake; but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom but will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen" When the ten tribes were rent from the house of David and given to Jeroboam, it was with this declaration on the part of Jehovah: "And I will afflict the seed of David, but not forever." 1 Kings xi. 39.

After Solomon's death, Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead in Jerusalem. He oppressed the house of Israel, and the ten tribes revolted from him, and left only Judah and part of Benjamin to the house of David. Rehoboam reigned over them in Jerusalem on the throne of David, and Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria. Hoshea was the last king of the ten tribes, and was carried captive by the king of Assyria, B. C. 742. 2 Kings xvii. 1-6, 13-23. "In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, began Hoshea the son of Elah, to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,

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but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozen, and in the cities of the Medes. Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments, and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the necks of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even to calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. Also, Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them,

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and delivered them into the hands of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them. Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day."

The supremacy of Judah was broken, B. C. 677, in the days of Manasseh, king of Judah. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 9-11. "So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people; but they would not hearken. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon." This was the first time the whole house of Israel was entirely broken. Judah had previously been afflicted, and Israel remained independent-Israel had been in bondage, and Judah remained independent. But at the time of Manasseh's captivity, Israel had also been broken, that it was no more a people; and Judah also went into captivity. Manasseh repented, and was reprieved and restored as a tributary to his kingdom. From that time, the house of David never regained its independence. Kings, however, of the house of David, continued to reign on David's throne in Jerusalem, as tributaries to Assyria and Babylon, until the captivity of Zedekiah, king of Judah. 2 Kings xxiv. 18-20; and xxv. 1-10. "Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah,

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until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And it came to pass, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth, month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night, by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, (which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,) came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: and he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about."

This ended the temporal dynasty of David's house. When Nebuchadnezzar came up and besieged Jerusalem, and took it, God, by the mouth of Ezekiel, pronounced its doom. Ezek. xxi. 25-27. "And thou, profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end; thus saith the Lord God, REMOVE THE DIADEM, AND TAKE OFF THE CROWN; this shall not be the same: exalt him

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that is low, abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; AND IT SHALL BE NO MORE UNTIL HE COME WHOSE RIGHT IT IS; AND I WILL GIVE IT HIM."

It was under this doom Zedekiah was carried away to Babylon: and since then, no king of David's house has reigned in Jerusalem. The kingdom was subverted under Hezekiah, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, B. C. 588. The cause of it was God's indignation at their sins. It was on this account that God gave his people into the hand of the Assyrians, and is thus declared by Jehovah, Isa. x. 5-7: "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger; and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down as the mire of the streets. Howbeit, he meaneth not so. But it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few." Had it not been for God's INDIGNATION, the Assyrian and Chaldean could not have prevailed against Israel.

Under the Medo-Persians, the government of Israel was restored, but as a tributary government. See Neh. ix. 32-37.

We learn from this passage, that from the times of the kings of Assyria to that day, Israel had been in a state of suffering; and that they were then servants to the kings who were over them. Those kings had dominion over their bodies, and over their cattle, and they were distressed at the pleasure of those kings.

This sentiment was uttered when the kings of Persia had, at their own expense, ordered the temple at Jerusalem to be rebuilt, the worship of God restored and maintained, and had granted an order of protection to the Jews in the enjoyment of all their privileges. Yet they were servants in their own land. And they ever after remained tributary to, or dependent on some one of the great Gentile nations, except when in a state of actual rebellion against their enemies to throw off the yoke.

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When Christ was born, even David's royal house went up to Bethlehem to be taxed. When he was crucified, the Jews acknowledged no king but Cesar. That they have never regained their liberty since then, is too notorious to need remark.

The Church, whether Jewish or Christian, still in bondage.

The Christian church is equally in bondage with the Jews. True, Christians have equal privileges with others in the various governments where they live; but they have no political and civil government of their own. Daniel and his companions in Babylon, were exalted to political power next the king; still they were in bondage. When the king made an image, and called on all his subjects to worship it, they could refuse to do so, to be sure, but only on condition that they should go into the burning fiery furnace. They did refuse, and went into the fire. Thus, the Christian is at liberty to obey the law of God in preference to human laws. But life, limb, liberty or property, must pay for his temerity. As long as we, as Christians, can go along with those laws, they are not felt; but let them but come in collision with our conscience and the laws of God, and the iron enters the soul. All Christians are, as Nehemiah was, (under the kings and governments where they reside,) servants;-they have dominion over our bodies and property. If it be said, in our own government, Christians have a controling influence, in consequence of the elective franchise, and can model the government as they please through the ballot-box: it is answered-true, if they could out-vote the world, and were united among themselves-neither of which is true. They are but a moiety of the people. If all Christians could be gathered in one body, they might become independent of the world; but this is not the case; they are scattered all over the earth-"The power of the holy people" is "scattered." Dan. xii. 7. And until Michael begins his reign, they will never be delivered from their dispersion. They must be in political bondage

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until then. But the Son will then make them free, and they "shall be free indeed." The Jews, when this sentiment was uttered by the Savior, resented it, saying, "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man! And how sayest thou, the Son shall make you free?" So, in all probability, will many American Christians scorn the thought in the same way. But it is true, nevertheless. It was on this principle that Christ directed Peter to take a fish, find a piece of money in his mouth, and give it to Cesar's tax-gatherer-"Lest we should offend them." So should all Christians be good and peaceable subjects of the governments under which they live, so far as they can with a good conscience. When they cannot do that, then do as did the worthies in Babylon, obey God, and suffer the human penalty.

Our Sovereign is the rightful heir of all the kingdoms of the world, but is now an exile, and his dominion is in the hand of the usurper. But he will come, and in due time bind the strong man, and cast him out, and then he will spoil his goods, and take possession of his house.

III. The Restoration of the Kingdom - its heirs and subjects

The identity of the kingdom is found, as under our first head, in-1. The territorial dominion being the land of promise. 2. The heirs and subjects being an elect people, of Abraham's family. 3. The royalty of the kingdom is in the house of David-and the government of Divine origin. 4. The capital, Jerusalem.

When it is restored, therefore, we must find all these marks in the kingdom.

1. The territory will be the land of promise-the land God promised to "Abraham and his seed." The territory of David's dominion was from the river of Egypt, to the great river, the river Euphrates. But there is another promise-Abraham is the father of many nations-and in him and his seed, all the families of the earth are to be blessed. "The promise that he should

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be the HEIR of the WORLD was not to Abraham or his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Rom. iv. 13. Thus, "the world" is the land of promise to Abraham and his seed. But not in its present ruinous condition. For he sought "a better country, that is, an heavenly:"-The new heavens and new earth. Heb. xi. 16.

The promise of the heirship of the world is given to Christ, the seed and heir of Abraham. "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Ps. ii. 6-8.

But what will he do with the heathen, and the uttermost parts of the earth, when they are given to him? Just what God directed his people to do to the inhabitants of the land when he brought them out of Egypt to put them in possession of the land of promise-utterly destroy them-their iniquity is full. "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, and shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." "Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me." Luke xix. The land of promise is the new earth, "the world to come." The dominion of it is promised to Christ, Ps. viii.; applied by Paul, Heb. ii. 5-8. A paradisical earth, with all its creatures, animate and inanimate. The stone which will dash in pieces the great image (Dan. ii.) will then fill the earth.

2. The heirs and subjects will be an elect people of Abraham's family.

God exercised his sovereignty, his elective franchise, in the selection of Abraham from all other families, to be the holy family, and progenitor of the Messiah, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. This election was made when as yet Abraham "had no child," and before circumcision, "that the promise might be sure to all the seed." Of the two sons of

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Abraham, Ishmael was rejected and Isaac elected; and the promise renewed to him and his seed, before he had any child. Of his two sons, Jacob was elected and Esau rejected. Thus God reserved to himself the right of election, even in the holy family. Did he lose that right when the twelve sons of Jacob were born? Not at all. He had the same right to make another election in the family of Jacob, that he had in Abraham and Isaac. He has made another and final election; and that "elect" "in whom [his] soul is well pleased," is Christ. He is the seed promised to Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth are blessed. And he is the heir of all the promises. The election is still in the original family, the house of Abraham.

Who, then, is heir to the land of promise? The Jew? In no wise. Let us listen to the apostle Paul while he argues the case. First, he lays down a principle of law:-that a covenant once made and confirmed, cannot be changed, "though it be but a man's covenant." How much less God's covenant! To whom, then, does the original deed or covenant convey the land of promise? He answers, "Now 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."

But the Jew comes up again, and claims it on the ground of the law-that under the law of Moses, God gave it to his fathers. Paul answers, "This I say that the law which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise." That is, a law 430 years later than the promise to Christ, cannot take the inheritance from Christ and give it to the Jews. Who then owns the land? Christ.

But says the Jew, "Wherefore serveth the law?" If it does not entitle us to the inheritance, why did God make it, and under it bring in our fathers and put them in possession of the inheritance? Paul replies, "It was

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added because of transgression, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made." "Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster that it might bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, but ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to promise."-Gal. iii. 15-22.

"Baptized into Christ." by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the body of the Christian is as literally a temple of the Holy Ghost, the seed and principle of eternal life, as our natural bodies are temples of the blood of Adam-the principle of our mortal life. We shall be filled with, and quickened by that spirit in the resurrection, as we are now filled with and quickened by the blood of Adam. God has made of one blood all nations of men that now dwell on the face of the earth. He will then make of one spirit all who dwell on the new earth. "The first Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam, a quickening spirit." "As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall bear the image of the heavenly." "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." It must be our mortal body, QUICKENED by the spirit which raised up Christ from the dead. A spiritual but not ethereal body. Spiritual, because quickened by spirit and not blood; and because spiritual, incorruptible, immortal and glorious. Thus, all who have that spirit by which Christ was quickened from the dead, have put on Christ, are members of his body-are Abraham's seed, and heirs to the inheritance, "according to promise."

Then not the Jews, all Abraham's seed through Jacob-but Christians-all Abraham's seed through faith in Christ, the seed of Jacob, are heirs.

The Fall and Recovery of the Jews

I have a few words to say on this subject. What is the fall of the Jews? From what and how did they fall?

This subject is fully discussed by Paul in the 11th of Romans, verse 12. "Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness."

The figure Paul has chosen to illustrate the subject, is an olive tree. We may as well follow it. The Jews are its natural branches; the believing Gentiles its engrafted branches; Christ is the good olive tree. He is so because he is the promised seed of Abraham, in whom the world was to be blessed. That blessing is salvation-eternal life. The Jews were the legal heirs and representatives of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob, to Christ, when the final election from Abraham's family took effect. They were of the same blood of Abraham with Christ, and were by that tie one common body; the same as the church is by the spirit of Christ. That was the only relation the Jews sustained to him by their natural birth-a blood relation. Now let us suppose a case. Suppose Christ to be of the blood of Abraham, and to have no other principle of life than that blood. He lives forever by it, and is the source of life eternal to all who are to be saved. He gives them life. Can they inherit more than he possesses? that is, the blood or life of Abraham. Then in the resurrection he must quicken into life those who are saved, by that blood; and none but those who are its partakers could live by it. He would call forth the natural branches and quicken them.-but he could not impart the blood of Abraham to the Gentile, and quicken him by it, and thus engraft him into the good olive tree, the Abrahamic family.

But Christ shed his blood and dissolved his natural relation to the Jews. The SHEDDING OF CHRIST'S BLOOD-his death-WAS THE FALL OF THE JEWS. Christ was no more their brother in his death,

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than he was of the Hottentot. He was brother by natural ties to neither the one nor the other. He was dead, and if he ever lived again it must be by some other principle of vitality than blood. That principle was the quickening Spirit of God. Abraham is dead, and if he ever lives again, it will be by the same Spirit, and in Christ. He can never benefit the natural seed by his natural life. Abraham, the father of the faithful, and Christ the promised seed, are both dependent on the Spirit of God for eternal life. The death of Christ being the fall of the Jews, they can never be restored to that from which they fell until Christ lives again by the blood of Abraham.

The death of Christ was both the riches of the world, and the fall of the Jews. Let the reader pause here, and settle this question. If this was not "the fall of them," what was? What else but the shedding of Christ's blood enriched the world? If nothing else did enrich the world, that death must be the Jewish fall!!

"The diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles." The Jews all fell from their natural relation to Christ, but all did not fall from their spiritual relation, and cease to be branches:-for some Jews were in Christ when he died, and remained in him in his resurrection. Thus the natural branches of Christ were diminished, and the diminishing was the riches of the Gentiles:-that is, the Gentiles were brought on the same ground with the Jews:-they could be branches of the good olive tree on the condition of faith.

If, by the diminishing of the Jews, or if the Gentiles are enriched when only a few Jews are brought in, how much more rich the church and the world would be if they had all remained as spiritual branches! It was necessary to the salvation of the world. Jews as well as Gentiles, that the Jews should fall from their natural relation, by the death of Christ: but not that they should fall from their spiritual relation. The Gentiles would be just as rich had they remained.

Again: "If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but [except] life from the dead."

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"The casting away of them," is the same as "the fall of them." They were cast away from the election, as natural branches, by the death of the Saviour. "What," then, "shall the receiving of them be but [except] life from the dead;" or a participation of the spirit of Christ, the seed of eternal life, and the principle by which they are to be raised from the dead? They can only be restored, as the Gentile is, by the new birth.

They must be like Christ-spiritual. He is the "first fruit,"-"the root,"-and is spiritual not natural;-then "the lump-the branches"-must be like him.

If God took some branches of the wild olive-tree, the Gentiles, and grafted them in among the branches which remained of the good olive-tree, and made them living, fruitful branches, he can and will take the natural branches, which were broken off by their unbelief, and if they continue not in unbelief, graft them in again, and make them flourishing branches. But their restoration is wholly conditional-"if they continue not in unbelief."

"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."

"What is the fulness of the Gentiles?" Either the full number of Gentiles who will ever be saved, will be gathered in, and the door of mercy be closed to them; or the times of the Gentiles, spoken of by the Saviour, Luke xxi. 25, will be accomplished, and the Church delivered from her bondage to the Gentiles. In either case it will not end until Christ comes. For as long as he sits on the mercy-seat and pleads for sinners, "there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek." But "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." And when the dispensation of mercy closes, unless God raises up again the middle wall between the Jew and Greek, and has respect of persons, it will cease with the Jew as well as Greek.

It is not true that the Jews have not had an equal

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privilege with the Gentiles-for they have had the same chance. God never cast them away from that privilege. They had their privilege before Christ-they have had it equally with the Gentiles. Will they have another exclusive privilege after the Gentiles are shut out? It is objected, if blindness is happened to them, how have they had an equal chance with the Gentiles? I answer, it is only in part; and it is the same with the Gentiles. They do not all see. Or, if it means "the times of the Gentiles," then the Lord's determination is, "to gather the nations, to assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them his indignation, even all his fierce anger."

Isaiah has settled the question of the national conversion of the Jews,-vi. 8-13.

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saving, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I: send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and convert and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate: and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten; as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof."

From this quotation we learn, 1. That blindness and hardness is happened to the Jewish people, "lest they convert and be healed!" 2. That this blindness is to continue on the nation until the cities be wasted without inhabitants, the houses without man, and the land be UTTERLY DESOLATE, or as in the margin, "DESOLATE WITH DESOLATION." Will such a desolation ever occur until the scene described, Isa. 24th chapter, and 2nd Pet. 3rd chapter?

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Until then, the blindness is on them as a nation. Will it be said, that the "land," "cities," "houses," etc., are only the land of Palestine; and was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans? If so, then the blindness was then ended. But is it so? If not, it cannot be terminated until the end of the present state of things.

But there is to be a tithe who will return, after this desolation ends. That tithe is the "HOLY SEED."

"All Israel shall be saved." But "they are not all Israel," do not constitute "all Israel, who are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called." The elect of Abraham's family, not all his descendants, are the Israel of God. "We, brethren," says Paul, "as Isaac was, are the children of promise." The salvation of Israel, here spoken of, is not the conversion of the Jews, but the gathering of the holy seed into the heavenly inheritance, by the resurrection of the just. Eternal salvation. "As it is written," in Isa. lix. 20:-"And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob." Let the reader keep in mind, that the elect seed of Abraham's family, according to the last election, is Christ and his children. "Behold I, and the children which thou hast given me," is his language. The Jew has now no more right to the promise, than Ishmael, after Isaac's birth; or Esau, after Jacob was chosen of God. The subject of the latest election being come, it is in his family alone. Ishmael and Esau have the same right in him, as Isaac and Jacob, provided they come in at the door. "Henceforth," then, "know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now (since his death) know we him so no more." He was a Jew, but is not so now. He is henceforth the Son of God, because he lives by the quickening Spirit of God. He laid down his blood or life, an ETERNAL SACRIFICE, and is now a new creature. Therefore, if any man be in him, he is a new creature, a spiritual heir of Abraham.

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That when the kingdom is restored, it will not he restored to the Jews, is clear from Christ's parable, Matt. xxi. 33-45; where, by the parable of the householder, he taught the Jews, that for their rejection and murder, first of God's prophets, and then of his Son, the heir of the inheritance, that when he shall come, he will take THE KINGDOM OF GOD from them, and give it unto a "nation bringing forth the fruit thereof." That nation, Dan. vii. 18, 27, is "the saints of the Most High." The elect people, the heirs and subjects of the future "kingdom of Israel," are "the house of Jacob," through Christ-the saints of the Most High.

3. The royalty of the kingdom is in David's house, and the government of divine origin.

The heir of David's throne has already been shows to be Christ. Acts ii. 30, further illustrates the same point. "Being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath unto him, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would raise up CHRIST to sit on his throne; he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ." David well knew that a mortal man could not fill his throne forever; hence he predicted the resurrection of Christ from the dead, to endure forever.

Solomon, also, in his dedicatory prayer, understood Christ to be the promised heir of David's throne. Rehearsing the promise to his father David, that there should not fail him a man to sit on his throne, he prays that God might remember, and fulfil his promise. "But," he exclaims, "will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" Thus he evidently believed the kingdom of God and the kingdom of David or Israel to be one; and that Christ, the son of David, would reign personally on the earth. Christ, likewise, claims to have the key of the house of David, and to be able to shut, and no man open, and open, and no man shut. See Revelation iii. 7.

When God subverted the kingdom of Israel by Nebuchadnezzar, as shown under our second head, he declared, Ezekiel xxi. that "it shall be no more until

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he comes whose right it is, and i will give it him." Christ has come once, but that he did not at that time restore the kingdom is clear from our text, which was uttered just as he was about to leave the world. "Wilt thou at this time restore," etc. "It is not for you to know," etc. Had the kingdom been then restored, it would have been perfectly easy to have corrected the impression of the disciples, that it had not been restored. Had he only told them, "My disciples, you are mistaken on this point, the kingdom is restored, only it is a spiritual kingdom; the reign of David's spiritual seed on David's spiritual throne;" it would have settled the question forever. But he could not have taken a course more directly calculated to establish them and the church, forever, in the opinion that the restoration is yet future, and will be at his second appearing. Indeed, all our opponents admit that the times referred to, are the times of Christ's second advent, by quoting this very text to prove that we can know nothing of that time. But when he comes again whose right it is, God will give the kingdom to him, and he will restore it to his people. "Come, ye blessed of my father," he will say, "and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matthew xxv. Its royalty will then be in David's house forever.

The Government will be of Divine origin. Thus, the prophet Isaiah-xxxiii. 22. "The Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our King, and he will save us." Ezekiel xxxvi. 24-28, God has promised to put his Spirit in them, and cause them to walk in his statutes, etc.

Hebrews, 8th chapter, presents the fact that a new covenant will be given the church differing from the old Mosaic covenant or law. That covenant will be in a state of perfection, where they will need no instruction; but all will know God intuitively.

4. The capital of the kingdom is Jerusalem. The election of Jerusalem was made when David was chosen king. "I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be THERE." 2 Chron. vi. 6. "The Lord hath

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chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever, here will I dwell, for I have desired it." Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14. "The time to favor Zion, yea the set time is come, for thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof." "When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory." Ps. cii. Also, Isa. xxiv. 23. "Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." "Nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king," said the Saviour.

Again, Matthew, 23rd chapter; addressing Jerusalem as distinguished from her children, the inhabitants, he says, "Ye shall not see me henceforth, until ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Then he will return to Jerusalem, and find a race of children who shall say, "blessed;" not the children of the old "Jerusalem, which is in bondage, with her children;" but the children of the "Jerusalem which is above and is free:" the children of promise-the glorified saints. Ezekiel, 37th chapter, where, under the symbol of the valley of dry bones, the resurrection of the just is predicted, God promises to set his sanctuary among them forevermore. "My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people" John, in vision, witnessed the fulfilment the scene, when he said, "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and GOD HIMSELF shall be with them, and be their God." This TABERNACLE is the NEW JERUSALEM. There Jesus Christ will dwell in the midst of them forevermore. There "the LORD OF HOSTS will reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." Then Jerusalem shall enlarge the place of her tent, and stretch forth the curtains of her habitation. She shall break forth on every side, as foretold in Isaiah, 54th chapter. The city, according to Rev. 21st chapter, will be 12,000 furlongs, i. e., 1500 miles square.

IV. The Times and Seasons considered

"It is not for you to know the times and seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." Thus said the Saviour, when about to leave the disciples and ascend into heaven. It is a clear intimation that there were appointed times for the event, but they were then future, and not to be understood by the apostles. Those times are referred to by the Saviour, Luke xxi. 25, "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES BE FULFILLED." Until then it cannot become the capital or kingdom of Israel. Until then, also, the people of God are to be carried captive into all nations. The Psalmist also speaks of the times, in Ps. cii. 13. "The time to favor her, (Zion,) yea, the set time, is come." "This shall be written for the generation to come." "When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory."

The first times appointed for the Gentiles to REIGN OVER THE CHURCH for her sins, and the BREAKING OF THE PRIDE OF HER POWER, is Levit. xxvi. 18. "I will punish you seven times more for your sins." This punishment is four times repeated in the same chapter. First, They were to be afflicted in various ways, for their disobedience, as they were under the judges and early kings. If ye will not for all this be reformed, "I will punish you seven times more for Your sins." "I will break the pride of your power." The first CAPTIVITY of the house of Judah in Babylon, was in the reign of Manasseh, king of Judah, by the king of Assyria. B. C. 677. 2 Chron. xxxiii. He repented, was reprieved and restored as a tributary to the Assyrians. But still, the Lord continues, if ye will not for all this he reformed by me, "I will bring seven times more plagues on you." They were sent again into bondage or bereaved of children in the Babylonish captivity in the third year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, 2 Chron. xxxvi. Jehoiakim was reprieved and restored to his throne, but the people did

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not reform, and the denunciation of seven times punishment was still on them. Lev. xxvi. 24. And accordingly, in the 11th year of Zedekiah, the kingdom of Judah was finally subverted. 2 Chron. xxxvi.

The people again repented in the days of Cyrus, and were reprieved, as in Ezra i. They continued to have a national existence until the time of Christ; when they rejected Christ, and he fulfilled the threatened judgment of Lev. xxvi. 28. "I will walk contrary to you, in fury; and I, even I, will chastise; you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest, because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it."

This great judgment came in the desolation of Jerusalem by the Romans, A. D. 70. It was then declared by the Saviour, "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Not that the seven times should begin there, but the old execution issued in the days of Manasseh should be enforced from that time until the full term of punishment was filled up. They had (to use a figure) been bailed out three times on their penitence, but the fourth time they were put in bondage, and there could be no more reprieve or bail until the full term expired. That the latter punishments were inflicted on the ground of the first execution, issued in the days of Manasseh, is clear

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from Jeremiah xv. 4,-"And I will cause them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem." This, let it be remembered, was threatened 76 years after the captivity of Manasseh, and about the time of the captivity of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Yet the punishment was threatened to be inflicted on the old execution. So Christ declared in denouncing the final doom of Jerusalem, Luke xxi., "These be the days of vengeance when all things which are written shall be fulfilled." From that time Jerusalem was to be "trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

This punishment was to be inflicted by the four great monarchies of the earth, as represented in Daniel's four beasts. Jer. xv. 3, "I will appoint over you four kinds." In the margin it reads "FAMILIES," four families. The family of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Half this period of punishment was to be inflicted by the kingly power, the dragon: half of it by the papal power, the beast. Rev. xii. and xiii. A time, times and half, the woman fled before the dragon. That period is reduced to days, 1260 days. The next chapter gives the history of the beast, popery, who made war on the saints for 42 months. The kingly or secular power began to oppress the church and bring it into bondage in Babylon. B. C. 677, in the captivity of Manasseh. The secular or kingly power prevailed for 1215 years, up to A. D. 538, when the saints were put under the pope, or the ecclesiastical power, for 1260 years, or 42 months, and the 42 months ended in 1798. Then 45 years remained for the church under the secular governments, which end in 1843.

The time, times and a half, being reduced to days by John, Rev. xii. 14 and 6,-1260 days,-twice that will be seven times, or 2520 days. Subtract B. C. 677, from 2520, the whole period, leaves A. D. 1843.

The objection to the understanding of a time of 360 days to be 360 years, is, that in that case Nebuchadnezzar

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was made to eat grass like oxen for 2520 years. This objection would lay against us if we always used a day for a year; but we do not. We always understand time literally, if the subject will admit of it. If it will not admit of its being understood literally, without contradicting matter of fact or scripture, we are obliged to understand it symbolically.

In the case of Nebuchadnezzar, there is nothing in the nature of the event which renders it necessary to understand anything but literal time; seven times, or 2520 days. But in the case of the "seven times" punishment of the church, it began in the days of Manasseh, B. C. 677, but it is not yet accomplished. Hence we must either deny matter of fact, or it is symbolical time. What does a day symbolize? I answer a year. Thus God explains it, Ezek. 4th chapter, "I have given thee each day for a year." It may be said that this was only in a single instance that God gave the rule, and in reference to a particular and specified event, and so cannot form a general rule. To this it is answered, that such a rule is given; other symbolical periods are given; also, but no other rule for understanding them. Hence, we are bound to follow the rule we have, until we find another. And following it in all the periods which have transpired, we have an exact fulfilment. This was the case of "the time times, and dividing of a time" of Daniel vii. 25, and Rev. xiii. 6, the 42 months when the dragon gave the beast his power, his seat, and great authority, and way to continue 42 months, and then he was to be led into captivity. The Greek Emperor conquered Rome from the Ostrogoths in 538, and gave it to the pope; in 1798 just 1260 years from that point, the French took Rome abolished the papal government, erected Rome into republic, and carried the pope into captivity to France

The 1260 days were years in this instance; and the rule must be considered as general.

Again, it should be observed, that a time is not year. A year is a revolution of the earth round the sun and has been the same in all ages. The Jewish yea

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was a solar year; 19 of their years being equal to 19 of our solar years, they reckoning their time by moons-12 moons of a little more than 294 days, amounting to 355 days, a year. Two years of 355 days or 12 moons, the third of 383 days or 13 moons. Once in 19 years, 1 year of 12 and two of 13 moons, making 19 solar years.

A time is God's arbitrary measuring rod, and is defined to consist of 360 days.

I have long hesitated on the "seven times," whether they are to be understood as a prophetic period; but after years of investigation and earnest study, I am constrained at length to acknowledge it as such, and have accordingly given it in this place. But still I look on the following argument on Dan. viii. 14, as the strong bulwark of the cause.

The Two Thousand Three Hundred Days

Daniel's vision, as recorded in the 8th chapter of his prophecy, relates to the time of the treading down of the sanctuary, Jerusalem, and especially Mount Zion, the capital of the kingdom of Israel, and the host, the church, on account of God's indignation. 1. The vision consisted of "a ram having two horns," verse 4;-"the ram having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia," said Gabriel, in verse 20. 2. The next emblem was "a rough goat," with a great "horn between his eyes." That "was broken, and four stood up for it, and out of one of them came forth a little horn," etc. Verse 21 says, "The rough goat is the king of Grecia; the great horn between his eyes the first king. That being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up Out of the nation, but not in his power."

Then Daniel heard the question, verse 15. "How long the vision," "to give both the sanctuary and host to be trodden under foot!" "Two thousand three hundred days. Then shall the sanctuary be justified." So the margin reads.

The powers mentioned in verse 13, to tread down the

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sanctuary and host were, "the daily (or continual) and transgression of desolation." The one is what Paul calls "the mystery of iniquity;" the other "that wicked, that man of sin." The one hindered till he should be taken out of the way, then that wicked was to be revealed. The first was paganism, the second, popery. The one gave way to the other. But both were abominations, and crushed the church of God.

Daniel wished to know the import of his vision, and sought for the meaning; and Gabriel was sent to make him understand the vision. He began the execution of his commission by saying, "Understand, O son of man, for at 'the time of the end' shall be the vision." That is, the vision is to be understood "at the time of the end." "But," he continued, "I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the INDIGNATION; for at the time appointed, (2300 days,) the end shall be." The "indignation" is the cause of Jerusalem's desolation; and it will continue desolate until the "indignation" ceases, or "her iniquity is pardoned." Isa. x. 5. "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger; 'the staff' in 'their' hand 'is mine' indignation." "And it shall come to pass when the Lord shall have accomplished his 'whole' work on 'Mount Zion' and 'Jerusalem, 'I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks." "For yet a very little while and I will cause the 'indignation' to cease, and mine anger in their destruction." This passage shows that the "indignation" is the cause of the desolation of Jerusalem and Mount Zion. The 2300 days reach to the LAST end of the indignation; that is until the people of God are delivered from their dispersion, and the wicked city is pardoned. The vision begins with the ram with two horns; Media and Persia. The "indignation" has not yet ceased; for the people are yet scattered, and Jerusalem is yet desolated and trodden down of the Gentiles. Then the days cannot mean literal days, but symbolical. To say they were fulfilled literally, in Antiochus Epiphanes, is to throw away a great part of the vision-the

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whole of the ram and goat. And then they must show that the "last end" of the "indignation" came then, which they cannot, for it yet continues. Then the days must be symbolical and mean years. That the sanctuary signifies Jerusalem and Mount Zion, see Exodus xv. 17. Ps. lxxviii. 54, 67-69, etc.

The date of the 2300 years is the next thing in order. It begins with Media and Persia, when both horns were high, and one was higher than the other, and the last that came up was the highest. It was also when no beast or government could stand before the ram. This was not in the days of Xerxes the Great, for although he invaded Greece with an army of 5,000,000, he fled from the campaign almost alone and desolate. There was then a beast that did successfully meet him. But Artaxerxes, his son, was a powerful monarch, and continued his triumphs to the 25th year of his reign, when his good fortune seemed to forsake him, and the monarchy to decline. Then somewhere within his reign the vision begins. But at what point, the chapter does not say. That Daniel was no more than an amanuensis, and wrote without understanding the import of the instruction, is clear from the concluding remark of Daniel, and Gabriel's closing instruction. Gabriel said, "The vision of the evening and morning which was told is true, (2300 'evening-morning,') wherefore shut thou up the vision, for it shall be for many days. And I Daniel fainted and was sick certain days, and afterward I rose up and did the king's business; and I was 'astonished at the vision,' but none understood it."

From this confession of Daniel, we learn that he and all else were in the dark on the subject of its import. Daniel, of course, was left to make up his judgment on the time of the justification of the sanctuary, from other data. This he did; for in the first year of Darius, as he informs in the 9th chapter, he learned by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. That 70 years, beginning in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, ended

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with the death of Belshazzar. Daniel had been a captive during that period. In the first year of Darius, the Mede, he concluded that, the 70 years being ended, the time for the deliverance of the city and people had arrived. Accordingly, he began to pray and confess his sins and the sins of his people, on account of which they were desolate, according to what was written in the law of Moses. He prayed that God would then turn away his wrath from his city and people, and cause his face to shine on his SANCTUARY, which was desolate. The great theme which occupied Daniel's mind in this prayer, was the desolation of the sanctuary and host, or people, and their forgiveness. Reader, look at the prayer, and say what it was, if not that. But he mistook the time of justification, and Gabriel was sent again to stop him in the midst of his prayer, and give him understanding on the subject of his prayer. "He informed me and talked with me," etc. "Understand the matter and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined," literally "cut off." This rendering is sanctioned by all Hebrew scholars whom we have consulted. The 70 weeks are cut off.

But from what are "seventy sevens," or weeks, "cut off?" For clearly we cannot "cut off" a period from nothing, nor yet "cut off" a period without a remnant. What then is the period from which they are cut? The answer must be, some period relating to the subject of Daniel's prayer and Gabriel's conversation. That subject was the cleansing of the sanctuary and host, city and people. Gabriel directed him to understand the matter in hand, and, to do it effectually, to consider the vision. What vision? The vision, to be sure, which gives the length of time to the cleansing of the sanctuary. Now, Daniel, seventy weeks are cut from the vision, for thy city and thy people, "sanctuary and host," to finish the transgression, and make an end of sins; or, to fill up the rebellion of the Jews and Jerusalem, that their national doom might be sealed. This they did when Christ was rejected. Then he proceeds to divide the seventy weeks. "From the commandment

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to restore and build Jerusalem to Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. And the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." That is, although there would be a rebuilding of the street and wall of Jerusalem before Messiah came and the iniquity filled up, yet it would not be the end of the indignation: but it should be built even in troublous times, while the people were yet in bondage to the Persians. So Nehemiah, 9th chapter, declares they were when it was built. They were still servants in the land God gave to their fathers, and they were so because of their sins, the sins of their fathers, kings, princes, priests, prophets, etc. The sin was not pardoned then. "After three-score and two weeks Messiah shall be 'cut off,' but not for himself; and the people of the prince that shall come," after the sin of the people and city is full, "shall destroy the city," the lower city, "and the sanctuary," the city of David, Mount Zion itself. "And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." Or, in the margin, unto the end of the war it shall "be cut off by desolations." The war is the one begun by the Assyrians, renewed by the Babylonians, carried on by the Medo-Persians and Grecians, until finally the Romans came up and destroyed the city, and carried the people into captivity. It is to be cut off by desolations to the end of the war. Christ expressed the same thing by saying, "there shall not be left one stone on another," etc., and "Jerusalem shall be trodden down"-"till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

"He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week (or half part) he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abomination he shall make it desolate, even to the consummation; and that determined, shall be poured upon the desolate," or desolator.

The desolator was Rome. The desolation to be poured on it, is, to be broken to pieces. Dan ii. It is to be destroyed and given to the burning flame. Dan. vii. It is to be broken without hand. Dan. viii.

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Could Gabriel more distinctly go over the events of the desolation of the sanctuary, and show how long it was to he desolate? I cannot conceive how he could. This being settled, that the 9th chapter relates to the self-same subject with the 8th, only is more definite, and the seventy weeks being "cut off"-they most be "cut off" from the full period of the sanctuary's desolation, which is 2300 days, at the end of which the "last end" of the indignation comes, and the sanctuary will be justified. Will it be said, the vision from which the seventy weeks are "cut off," is "the seventy weeks vision?" It is replied, there is no seventy weeks vision; but an open communication made to Daniel. Besides, if it were a vision, seventy weeks could not be cut off from seventy weeks-it would be a whole without cutting. But it can be cut from the events of the 9th chapter, says one. Indeed! Can time be cut from matter? must not time be cut from time, and matter from matter? Cut seventy weeks from 2300 days. 7◊70=490. 2300-490=1810.

But were those weeks fulfilled as predicted! They were. The command to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes king of Persia. Seven weeks and sixty-two weeks to Messiah. He came and declared it fulfilled, when he entered his ministry. Mark i. 14, 15, when he was about 30 years of age. Luke iii.

If Christ was correct in declaring the "time is fulfilled," when he entered his ministry, then one week more makes up the 70 weeks.

The remaining question, then, to be settled is, did Christ continue his ministry for one week of years? Let us appeal to the chronology in the margin of our reference Bibles. In the margin opposite the 2nd chapter of Matthew, where Christ's birth is recorded, we have the following chronological note: "4th year before the account commonly called Anno Domini." Turn we now to Matt. 28th chapter, and in the margin we have A. D. 33. Now put A. D. 33 to B. C. 4, and we have 37, as the age of Christ at his death. This fact is demonstrated by astronomical calculation. Then

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such as was the last week of the 70, such were all of them-weeks of years-490 years. Then such as were those cut off, such must be the nature of the remainder, and the 1810 after Christ's death are years. A. D. 33 Christ's death, 1810 added to it, 1843. Then the times and seasons for the restoration of the kingdom to Israel expires in A. D. 1843. And I believe Christ will then come.

"It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." So said the Saviour, and he said it because it was true. It was not for those disciples to know. But he did not mean to contradict himself where he had said to his disciples who should live to see the signs of his coming, "THEN KNOW that it is near, even at the door." But had he meant that it would never be known, he would have contradicted both himself and Daniel, who declares that at the time of the end, "the wise shall understand." And Paul to the church, "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." Christ, then cannot come till his humble watchful people know it. Reader, prepare and watch. Amen.