Prophetic Expositions Vol. 2

Prophetic Expositions;
or
A Connected View of the Testimony of the Prophets
Concerning
the Kingdom of God
and
the Time of Its Establishment.

BY JOSIAH LITCH.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY JOSHUA V. HIMES,
14 Devonshire Street.

1842.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. THE PROPHECY NOTED IN THE SCRIPTURES OF TRUTH 3

CHAPTER II. THE SOUNDING OF THE SEVEN TRUMPETS.-REV. SEVENTH, EIGHTH, AND NINTH CHAPTERS 132

CHAPTER III. THE LITTLE BOOK AND THE TWO WITNESSES 201

CHAPTER IV. BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH OF MATTHEW 227

CHAPTER I. THE PROPHECY NOTED IN THE SCRIPTURES OF TRUTH

The tenth and eleventh chapters of Daniel furnish us with a detailed prediction of all the great leading events of Medo-Persian, Grecian, Roman, and finally of the papal history; closing up with the French revolution, the career of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the reign of Jesus Christ, at the resurrection of the just, and the glorification of all his saints, forever and ever. Then follows, from the fourth verse of chapter twelfth, a supplement of directions, questions and answers, which closes with the assurance that Daniel shall stand in his lot at the end of the 1335 days.

As the prophecy is extraordinarily explicit, and full, I shall enter more fully into an explanation, of the historical detail it presents, than I have in other parts of this work.

And as I can see no way in which it can be materially improved, I shall give Bishop Newton's exposition of this prophecy entire, or at most with some slight alteration in the phraseology, to verse 14:-

"It is the usual method of the Holy Spirit to make the latter prophecies explanatory of the former;

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and revelation is (Prov. iv. 18) 'As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' The four great empires of the world, which were shown to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a great image, were again more particularly represented to Daniel in the shape of four great wild beasts. In like manner, the memorable events, which were revealed to Daniel in the vision of the ram and he-goat, are here again more clearly and explicitly revealed in his last vision by an angel; so that this latter prophecy may not improperly be said to be a comment and explanation of the former. This revelation was made, (x. 1,) 'in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia,' when Daniel was very far advanced in years. For the third year of Cyrus was the seventy-third of Daniel's captivity; and being a youth when he was carried captive, he cannot be supposed now to have been less than ninety; and not long after this, it is reasonable to believe that he died. Old as he was, he set his heart to understand the former revelations which had been made to him, and particularly the vision of the ram and he-goat, as I think we may collect from the sequel: and for this purpose he prayed, and fasted three weeks. His fasting and prayers had the desired effect, for an angel was sent, and said unto him, verse 12: 'Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God; thy words are heard, and I am come for thy words.' And whoever would attain the same ends, and excel in divine knowledge, must pursue the same means, and habituate himself to study, temperance, and devotion. The angel declares

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the design of his coming, verse 14: "Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days; for yet the vision is for many days." This prophecy therefore contains the fate and fortune of the people of God for many years. As it was said before, verse 1: 'The thing was true, but the time appointed was long:' and consequently this prophecy must extend farther than from the third year of Cyrus to the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, which was not above three hundred and seventy years. In reality it comprehends many signal events after that time to the end of the world: but the types and figures of the things are not exhibited in this as in most of the other visions, and then expounded by the angel; but the angel relates the whole, and not by way of vision, but only by narration, informs Daniel of that which is noted in the Scripture of truth. Verse 21: 'I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth;' as if future events were noted in a book before God: and this prophecy being taken from the Scripture of truth, is therefore deserving of our strictest attention; and we may depend upon the certainty of all the particulars contained therein, if we can but rightly understand and expound them.

"The angel first prophesies of the Persian empire, which was then subsisting. xi. 2: 'Behold 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.' There shall stand up yet; that is, after Cyrus, the founder of the empire, who was then reigning. Three kings in Persia; these were Cambyses, the son of Cyrus;

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Smerdis the Magian, who pretended to be another son of Cyrus, but was really an impostor; and Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who married the daughter of Cyrus. And the fourth shall be far richer than they all. The fourth after Cyrus was Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius; of whom Justin truly remarks: "If you consider this king, 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 unexhausted." Pythius, the Lydian, was at that time the richest subject in the world. He generously entertained Xerxes and all his army, and proffered him two thousand talents of silver, and three millions nine hundred ninety-three thousand pieces of gold with the stamp of Darius, towards defraying the charges of the war. But Xerxes was so far from vanting any supplies, that he rewarded Pythius for his liberality, and presented him with seven thousand Darics, to make up his number a complete round sum of four millions. Each of these Darics was worth better than a guinea of our money. And by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all, both subjects and allies, against the realm of Grecia. Xerxes' expedition into Greece, is one of the most memorable adventures in ancient history. Herodotus affirms that Xerxes, in raising his army, searched every place of the continent, and it was the greatest army that ever was brought into the field; for what nation was there, says he, that Xerxes led not out of Asia into Greece? Herodotus lived in that age, and he recounts, with great exactness, the various nations of which Xerxes' army was composed, and

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computes that the whole number of horse and foot, by land and sea, out of Asia and out of Europe, soldiers and followers of the camp, amounted to five millions two hundred eighty-three thousand, two hundred and twenty men. Nor was Xerxes content with stirring; up the east, but was for stirring up the west likewise, and engaged the Curthagenians in his alliance, that while he with his army overwhelmed Greece, they might fall upon the Greek colonies in Sicily and Italy: and the Carthagenians for this purpose not only raised all the forces they could in Africa, but also hired a great number of mercenaries in Spain, and Gaul, and Italy; so that their army consisted of three hundred thousand men., and their fleet of two hundred ships. Thus did Xerxes stir up all against the realm of Grecia: and after him no mention is made of any other king of Persia. 'It is to be noted,' saith Jerome, 'that the prophet having enumerated four kings of the Persians after Cyrus, slippeth over nine, and passeth to Alexander; for the prophetic spirit did not care to follow the order of history, but only to touch upon the most famous events.' Xerxes was the principal author of the long wars and inveterate hatred between the Grecians and Persians: and as he was the last king of Persia who invaded Greece, he is mentioned last. The Grecians then in their turn invaded Asia; and Xerxes' expedition being the most memorable on one side, as Alexander's was on the other, the reigns of these two are not improperly connected together.

"Alexander is thus characterized, verse 3: 'And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule

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with great dominion, and do according to his will.' That Alexander was a mighty king and conqueror; that he ruled with great dominion, not only over Greece and the whole Persian empire, but likewise added India to his conquests; and that he did according to his will, none daring, not even his friends, to contradict and oppose him, or if they did, like Clitus and Callisthenes, paying for it with their lives; are facts too well known to require any particular proof or illustration.

"But his kingdom was soon to be broken and divided. Verse 4: 'And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up even for others besides those.' These particulars were in good measure suggested before; viii. 8, 22: 'He waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken: and for it came up four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.' Alexander died in Babylon, having lived only thirty-two years and eight months, of which he reigned twelve years and eight months. In so short a time did this sun of glory rise and set: and in the space of about fifteen years afterwards his family and posterity became extinct, and chiefly by the means of Cassander. It was soon after Alexander's death, that his wife Statira, the daughter of Darius, was murdered out of jealousy, by his other wife Roxana; and her body was

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thrown into a well, and earth cast upon it. His natural brother, AridÊus, who succeeded him in the throne, by the name of Philip, was, together with his wife Eurydice, killed by the command of Olympias, the mother of Alexander, after he had borne the title of king six years and some months; and not long after Olympias herself was slain in revenge by the soldiers of Cassander. Alexander ∆gus, the son of Alexander by Roxana, as soon as he was born was joined in the title of king with Philip AridÊus; and when he had attained to the fourteenth year of his age, he and his mother were privately murdered in the castle of Amphipolis, by order of Cassander. In the second year after this, Hercules, the other son of Alexander by Barsine, the widow of Memnon, was also with his mother, privately murdered by Polysperchon, induced thereto by the great offers made to him by Cassander. Such was the miserable end of Alexander's family; and then the governors made themselves kings, each in his province, from which title they had abstained as long as any just heir of Alexander was surviving. Thus was Alexander's kingdom broken and divided not to his posterity, but was plucked up even for others beside those: and it was divided toward the four winds of heaven; for four of his captains, as it hath been shown in former dissertations, prevailed over the rest, and Cassander reigned in Greece and the west, Lysimachus in Thrace and the north, Ptolemy in Egypt and the south, and Seleucus in Syria and the east.

"But though the kingdom of Alexander was divided into four principal parts, yet only two of them have a place allotted in this prophecy, Egypt

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and Syria. These two were by far the greatest and most considerable: and these two at one time, were in a manner the only remaining kingdoms of the four; the kingdom of Macedon having been conquered by Lysimachus and annexed to Thrace; and Lysimachus again having been conquered by Seleucus, and the kingdoms of Macedon and Thrace annexed to Syria. These two likewise continued distinct kingdoms, after the others were swallowed up by the power of the Romans. But there is a more proper and peculiar reason for enlarging upon these two particulars; because Judea, lying between them, was sometimes in the possession of the kings of Egypt, and sometimes of the kings of Syria; and it is the purpose of the holy Scripture, to interweave only so much of foreign affairs, as hath some relation to the Jews: and it is in respect of their situation to Judea, that the kings of Egypt and Syria are called the kings of the south and the north. Verse 5: 'And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes,' that is, of Alexander's princes, 'and he shall be strong above him.' There is manifestly either some redundance, or some defect in the Hebrew copy; which should be rendered as it is by the Seventy, And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of His princes shall be strong above him: or perhaps may be better rendered thus, And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and the king of the north shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion. The king of the south was indeed very strong; for Ptolemy had annexed Cyprus, Phoenicia, Caria, and many islands, and cities, and

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regions to Egypt, as Jerome here commemorates out of the ancients. He had likewise enlarged the bounds of his empire, as Justin testifies, by the acquisition of Cyrene, and was now become so great, that he was in a condition not so much to fear, as to be feared by his enemies. But still the king of the north, or Seleucus Nicator, was strong above him; for having annexed, as we have seen, the kingdoms of Macedon and Thrace to the crown of Syria, he was become master of three parts out of four of Alexander's dominions. All historians agree in representing him not only as the longest liver of Alexander's successors, but likewise as the conqueror of the conquerors. Appian in particular enumerates the nations which he subdued, and the cities which he built, and affirms, that after Alexander he possessed the largest part of Asia; for all was subject to him from Phrygia up to the river Indus, and beyond it; and afterwards he denominates him expressly 'the greatest king of Alexander.'

"Seleucus Nicator, having reigned seven months after the death of Lysimachus, over the kingdoms of Macedon, Thrace, and Syria, was basely murdered; and to him succeeded in the throne of Syria, his son, Antiochus Soter, and to Antiochus Soter succeeded his son, Antiochus Theus. At the same time Ptolemy Philadelphus reigned in Egypt after his father, the first Ptolemy, the son of Lagus. There were frequent wars between the kings of Egypt and Syria. There were so; particularly between Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second king of Egypt, and Antiochus Theus, the third king of Syria. Verse 6: 'And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for

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the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north; to make an agreement; but she shall not retain the power of the arm, neither shall he stand, nor his arm; but she shall be given up, and they that brought her; and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times.' And in the end of years; that is, after several years, for these wars lasted long; Jerome reports out of the ancients, 'and Antiochus Theus fought against Ptolemy Philadelphus with all the forces of Babylon and the east.' They shall join themselves together, or shall associate themselves: at length they agreed to make peace upon condition that Antiochus Theus should put away his former wife Laodice and her two sons, and should marry Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus. For the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make rights, or an agreement: and accordingly, Ptolemy Philadelphus brought his daughter to Antiochus Theus, and with her an immense treasure, so that he received the appellation of the dowry-giver. But she shall not retain the power of the arm, that is, her interest and power with Antiochus; for after some time, in a fit of love, he brought back his former wife, Laodice, with her children, to court again. Neither shall he stand, nor his arm, or his seed; for Laodice, fearing the fickle temper of her husband, lest he should recall Berenice, caused him to be poisoned; and neither did his seed by Berenice succeed him in the kingdom, but Laodice contrived and managed matters so as to fix her elder son, Seleucus Callinicus, on the throne of his ancestors. But she shall be given up; for Laodice, not content with poisoning her husband,

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caused also Berenice to be murdered. And they that brought her; for her Egyptian women and attendants, endeavoring to defend her, were many of them slain with her. And he that begat her, or rather as it is in the margin, he whom she brought forth; for the son was murdered, as well as the mother, by order of Laodice. And he that strengthened her in these times; her husband, Antiochus, as Jerome conceives; or those who took her part and defended her; or rather her father, who died a little before, and was so very fond of her, that he took care continually to send her fresh supplies of the water of the Nile, thinking it better for her to drink of that than of any other river, as Polybius relates.

"But such wickedness should not pass unpunished and unrevenged. Verses 7, 8, 9: 'But out of a branch of her root shall one stand up in his estate', or rather as it is translated in the vulgar Latin, 'out of a branch of her root shall stand up a plant; and he shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress,' or the fenced cities, 'of the king of the north, and shall deal', shall act, 'against them, and shall prevail; and shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes,' or rather 'their gods, with their molten images, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north,' or more literally, he shall continue some years after the king of the north. 'So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land.' This branch which sprung out of the same root with Berenice, was Ptolemy Euergetes, her brother, who no sooner succeeded his father, Ptolemy

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Philadelphus, in the kingdom, than he came with a great army, and entered into the provinces of the king of the north, that is, of Seleucus Callinicus, who with his mother, Laodice, reigned in Syria: and he acted against them, and prevailed so far, that he took Syria and Cilicia, and the upper parts beyond the Euphrates, and almost all Asia. And when he had heard that a sedition was raised in Egypt, he plundered the kingdom of Seleucus, and took forty thousand talents of silver and precious vessels, and images of the gods, two thousand and five hundred: among which were also those which Cambyses, after he had taken Egypt, had carried into Persia. And for thus restoring their gods, after many years, the Egyptians, who were a nation much addicted to idolatry, complimented him with the title of Euergetes, or the benefactor. This is Jerome's account, extracted from ancient historians; but there are authors still extant, who confirm several of the same particulars. Appian informs us, that Laodice having killed Antiochus, and after him both Berenice and her child, Ptolemy, the son of Philadelphus, to revenge these murders, invaded Syria, slew Laodice, and proceeded as far as to Babylon. From Polybius, we learn that Ptolemy, surnamed Euergetes, being greatly incensed at the cruel treatment of his sister, Berenice, marched with an army into Syria, and took the city of Seleucia, which was kept for some years afterwards by the garrisons of the kings of Egypt. Thus did he enter into the fortress of the king of the north. PolyÊnus affirms that Ptolemy made himself master of all the country from mount Taurus, as far as to India, without war or battle; but he ascribes it, by

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mistake, to the father instead of the son. Justin asserts, that if Ptolemy had not been recalled, by a domestic sedition, into Egypt, he would have possessed the whole kingdom of Seleucus. So the king of the south came into the kingdom of the north, and then, returned into his own land. He likewise continued more years than the king of the north; for Seleucus Callinicus died in exile, of a fall from his horse, and Ptolemy Euergetes survived him about four or five years.

"But his sons, that is, the sons of the king of the north, should endeavor to vindicate and avenge the cause of their father and their country. Verse 10: 'But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces; and one shall certainly come, and, overflow, and pass through; then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress.' The sons of Seleucus Callinicus were Seleucus and Antiochus; the elder of whom, Seleucus, succeeded him in the throne, and to distinguish him from others of the same name, he was denominated Ceraunus, or the thunderer. Where, by the way, one cannot help observing the ridiculous vanity of princes in assuming or receiving such pompous appellations without deserving them. Seleucus, the father, was surnamed Callinicus, or the famous conqueror, though he was so far from gaining any considerable victory, that he was shamefully beaten by the Egyptians in the west, and was made a prisoner by the Parthians in the east. In like manner Seleucus, the son, was called Ceraunus, or the thunderer, though he was so far from performing anything worthy of the name, that he was a poor and weak prince in all respects, in mind and

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body and estate. Great and splendid titles, when improperly applied, are rather a satire and insult upon the persons, than any honor or commendation. Seleucus Ceraunus was indeed stirred up, and assembled a multitude of great forces, in order to recover his father's dominions: but being destitute of money, and unable to keep his army in obedience, he was poisoned by two of his generals, after an inglorious reign of two or three years. Upon his decease, his brother, Antiochus Magnus was proclaimed king, who was more deserving of the title of great, than Seleucus was of that of the thunderer. The prophet's expression is very remarkable, that his sons should be stirred up and assemble a multitude of great forces; but then the number is changed, and only one should certainly come, and overflow, and pass through. Accordingly, Antiochus came with a great army, retook Seleucia, and, by the means of Theodotus the ∆tolian, recovered Syria, making himself master of some places by treaty, and of others by force of arms. Then, after a truce, wherein both sides treated of peace hut prepared for war, Antiochus returned, and overcame in battle Nicolaus, the Egyptian general, and had thoughts of invading Egypt itself.

The king of Egypt at that time was Ptolemy Philopater, who was advanced to the crown upon the death of his father Euergetes not long after Antiochus Magnus succeeded his brother in the throne of Syria. This Ptolemy was a most luxurious and vicious prince, but was roused at length by the near approach of danger. Verse 11: "And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with

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him, even with the king of the north; and he shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand.' Ptolemy Philopater was, no doubt, moved with choler for the losses which he had sustained, and for the revolt of Theodorus and others. And he came forth; he marched out of Egypt with a numerous army to oppose the enemy, and encamped not far from Raphia, which is the nearest town to Egypt from Rhonocorura. And there he fought with him, even with the king of the north; for thither likewise came Antiochus with his army, and a memorable battle was fought by the two kings. And he, the king of the north, set forth a great multitude. Polybius hath recited the various nations of which Antiochus's army was composed, and altogether it amounted to sixty-two thousand foot, six thousand horse, and one hundred and two elephants. But yet the multitude was given into his hand, that is, into the hand of the king of the south; for Ptolemy obtained a complete victory; and of Antiochus's army, there were slain, not much fewer than ten thousand foot, more than three thousand horse, and above four thousand men were taken prisoners: whereas of Ptolemy's, there were killed only fifteen hundred foot and seven hundred horse. Upon this defeat, Raphia and the neighboring towns contended who should be most forward to submit to the conqueror; and Antiochus was forced to retreat with his shattered army to Antioch, and from thence sent ambassadors to solicit a peace.

Ptolemy Philopater was more fortunate in gaining a victory, than prudent in knowing how to make a proper advantage of it. Verse 12:

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'And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many ten thousands; but he shall not be strengthened by it.' If Ptolemy had pursued the blow that he had given, it is reasonably presumed that he might have deprived Antiochus of his kingdom: but his heart was lifted up by his success. Being delivered from his fears, he now more freely indulged his lusts; and after a few menaces and complaints, he granted peace to Antiochus, that he might be no more interrupted in the gratification of his appetites and passions. He had before murdered his father, and his mother, and his brother; and now he killed his wife, who was also his sister, and gave himself up entirely to the management of Agathoclea, his harlot, and her brother, Agathocles, who was his Catamite, and their mother, ånanthe, who was his bawd. And so, forgetful of all the greatness of his name and majesty, he consumed his days in feasting, and his nights in lewdness; and became not only the spectator, but the master and leader of all wickedness. And what availed it to have conquered his enemies, when he was thus overcome by his vices? He was so far from being strengthened by it, that even his own subjects, offended at his inglorious, peace, and more inglorious life, rebelled against him. But the prophet in this passage alluded more particularly to the case of his own countrymen. After the retreat of Antiochus, Ptolemy visited the cities of Cúle-Syria and Palestine, which had submitted to him; and among others in his progress, he came to Jerusalem. He there offered sacrifices, and was desirous of entering into the holy of holies, contrary to the custom and

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religion of the place, being, as the writer of the third book of Maccabees says, greatly lifted up by pride and confidence. His curiosity was restrained with great difficulty, and he departed with heavy displeasure against the whole nation of the Jews. At his return therefore to Alexandria, he began a cruel persecution upon the Jewish inhabitants of that city, who had resided there from the time of Alexander, and enjoyed the privileges of the most favored citizens. And he cast down many ten thousand; for it appears from Eusebius, that about this time forty thousand Jews were slain, or sixty thousand as they are reckoned in Jerome's Latin interpretation. No king could be strengthened by the loss of such a number of useful subjects. The loss of so many Jews, and the rebellion of the Egyptians, added to the male-administration of the state, must certainly very much weaken, and almost totally ruin the kingdom.

"Peace was to continue between the two crowns of Egypt and Syria for some years, and then the king of the north should attempt another invasion. Verse 13: 'For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come, after certain years,' (at the end of times, that is, years,) 'with a great army, and with much riches.' The following events, you see, were not to take place till after certain years; and the peace continued between the two crowns about fourteen years. In that time Ptolemy Philopater died of intemperance and debauchery, and was succeeded by his son, Ptolemy Epiphanes, a child of four or five years old; Antiochus; too, having taken and

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slain the rebel AchÊus, and having also reduced and settled the eastern parts in their obedience, was at leisure to prosecute any enterprise, and could not let slip so favorable an opportunity of extending his dominions. He had acquired great riches, and collected many forces in his eastern expedition: so that he was enabled to set forth a greater multitude than the former, and he doubted not to have an easy victory over the infant king. Polybius expressly informs us, that from the king of Bactria and from the king of India he received so many elephants as made up his number one hundred and fifty, besides provisions and riches. Jerome, out of ancient authors, affirms that he gathered together an incredible army out of the countries beyond Babylon: and contrary to the league, he marched with this army, Ptolemy Philopater being dead, against his son, who was then four years old, and was called Ptolemy Epiphanes, or the illustrious. Justin also says, that Ptolemy Philopater, king of Egypt, being dead, in contempt of the childhood of his son, who, being left heir to the kingdom, was a prey even to his domestics, Antiochus, king of Syria, resolved to take possession of Egypt, as if the thing were as easily executed as resolved.

But Antiochus was not the only one who rose up against young Ptolemy, Others also confederated with him. Verse 14: 'And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, but they shall fall.' Agathocles was in possession of the young king's person; and he was so dissolute and proud in the exercise of his power, that the provinces

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which before were subject to Egypt, rebelled, and Egypt itself was disturbed by seditions; and the people of Alexandria rose up against Agathocles, and caused him, and his sister, and mother, and their associates to be put to death. Philip, too, the king of Macedon, entered into a league with Antiochus, to divide Ptolemy's dominions between them, and each to take the parts which lay nearest and most convenient to him. And this is the meaning, as Jerome concludes, of the prophet's saying, that many shall rise up together against the king of the south."-[Newton's Dissertations, pp. 221-234.]

"The robbers of thy people,"-"It is literally," says Bp. Newton, "the breakers of thy people"-were the Romans, who, at the time here spoken of, interposed in the behalf of the infant king of Egypt, to protect him from the ruin proposed by Antiochus and Philip. As this was one of the first important interferences of the Romans with the affairs of Syria and Egypt, and formed, so to speak, the stepping-stone to their future conquests and dominion, it will be proper to give the account Rollin has furnished us of it:-

"Antiochus, king of Syria, and Philip, king of Macedonia, during the reign of Ptolemy Philopater, had discovered the strongest zeal for the interest of that monarch, and were ready to assist him on all occasions. Yet, no sooner was he dead, leaving behind him an infant, whom the laws of humanity and justice enjoined them not to disturb in the possession of his father's kingdom, than they immediately joined in a criminal alliance, and excited each other to shake off the lawful heir, and divide his dominions between

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them. Philip was to have Caria, Libya, Cyrenaica, and Egypt; and Antiochus all the rest. With this view the latter entered Cúle-Syria and Palestine; and, in less than two campaigns, made an entire conquest of those two provinces, with all their cities and dependencies. Their guilt, says Polybius, would not have been quite so glaring, had they, like tyrants, endeavored to gloss over their crimes with some specious pretence; but so far from doing this, their injustice and cruelty were so barefaced, that to them was applied what is generally said of fishes, that the larger ones, though of the same species, prey on the lesser. One would be tempted, continues the same author, at seeing the most sacred laws of society so openly violated, to accuse Providence of being indifferent and insensible to most horrid crimes; but it fully justified his conduct, by punishing those two kings according to their deserts; and made such an example of them, as ought, in all succeeding ages, to deter others from following their conduct. For, whilst they are meditating to dispossess a weak and helpless infant of his kingdom, by piecemeal, Providence raised up the Romans against them, who entirely subverted the kingdoms of Philip and Antiochus, and reduced their successors to almost as great calamities as those with which they intended to crush the infant king."-[Rollin, vol. VI., p. 232.]

"Aristomines was appointed by the Romans, guardian of the young monarch, and prime minister of Egypt."-[Ibid., p. 237.]

"To establish the vision." The Romans being one of the principal subjects of Daniel's prophecy, their first interference with the affairs of these

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kingdoms is here noted, as the first point of their prophetic history; and as being the establishment or demonstration of the truth of the vision which predicted the existence of that power.

"But they shall fall." The "many" who shall stand up against the king of the south, shall fall by the interposition of the Romans in behalf of Egypt. For Rome from that time continued to encroach on those Grecian kingdoms, until they fell, and left Rome an universal monarchy.

Verse 15: "So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand."

"Antiochus, being willing to recover Judea, and the cities of Cúle-Syria and Palestine, which Scopas had taken, came again into those parts. Scopas was sent again to oppose him, and Antiochus fought with him near the sources of the river Jordan, destroyed a great part of his army, and pursued him to Sidon, where he shut him up with ten thousand men, and closely besieged him. Three famous generals were sent from Egypt to raise the siege; but they could not succeed, and at length Scopas was forced by famine to surrender, upon conditions of having life only granted to him and his men; they were obliged to lay down their arms, and were sent away stript and naked. This event, I conceive, was principally intended by his casting up a mount, and taking the city of munition; for Sidon was an exceeding strong city in its situation and fortifications. But if we take the phrase more generally, as our translators

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understand it, Antiochus, after the success of this battle and of this siege, reduced other countries and took other fenced cities, which are mentioned by Polybius, and recited by Jerome out of the Greek and Roman historians. The arms of the south could not withstand him, neither his chosen people, neither Scopas, nor the other great generals, nor the choicest troops who were sent against him."

Verse 16: "But he that cometh against him, shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed."

Although Egypt had no power to resist Antiochus, the king of the north, yet "he that cometh against him," and who is to be the instrument of the overthrow of Syria, the Romans, "shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him." He shall conquer Syria, and add it to his own dominions. This was done B. C.65, when "Pompey," a Roman general, "deprived Antiochus Asiaticus of his dominions, and reduced Syria into a Roman province."-[Rollin's Chronology.]

"And he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed." On Pompey's return from his expedition against Mithridates, into Syria, he took cognizance of the quarrel between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, two competitors for the crown of Judea. He sent for them to meet him in Syria; they went, and also a great number of the Jews, who represented that they ought not to be ruled either by one or the other.

"They represented that they ought not to be

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ruled by kings; that they had long been accustomed to obey only the high-priest, who, without any other title, administered justice according to the laws and constitutions transmitted down to them from their forefathers: that the two brothers were indeed of the sacerdotal line; but that they had changed the form of the government for a new one, which would enslave them, if not remedied.

"Hyrcanus complained that Aristobulus had unjustly deprived him of his birthright, by usurping everything, and leaving him only a small estate for his subsistence.

"Pompey heard enough to discern that the conduct of Aristobulus was violent and unjust: but he would not, however, pronounce immediately upon it, lest Aristobulus, out of resentment, should oppose his designs against Arabia, which he had much at heart: he therefore politely dismissed the two brothers; and told them, that at his return from reducing Aretas and his Arabians, he should pass through Judea, and that he would then regulate their affairs, and settle everything.

"Aristobulus, who fully penetrated Pompey's sentiments, set out suddenly for Damascus, without paying him the least instance of respect, returned into Judea, armed his subjects and prepared for a vigorous defence. By this conduct, he made Pompey his mortal enemy.

* * * * * * * *

"Aristobulus, incensed at the violence which had been offered him, as soon as he was released, made all haste to Jerusalem, and prepared everything for the war. His resolutions to keep the crown made him the sport of two different passions, hope and

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fear. When he saw the least appearance that Pompey would decide in his favor, he made use of all the arts of complaisance to incline him to it. When, on the contrary, he had the least reason to suspect that he would decide against him, he observed a directly opposite conduct. This was the cause of the contrariety visible in the different steps he took throughout this affair.

"Pompey followed him close. The first place where he encamped, in his way to Jerusalem, was Jericho; there he received the news of Mithridates' death.

"He continued his march towards Jerusalem. When he approached, Aristobuius, who began to repent of what he had done, came out to meet him, and endeavored to bring him to an accommodation, by promising an entire submission, and a great sum of money to prevent the war. Pompey accepted his offers, and sent Gabinius, at the head of a detachment, to receive the money: but when that lieutenant-general arrived at Jerusalem, he found the gates shut against him; and, instead of receiving the money, he was told from the top of the walls, that the city would not stand to the agreement. Pompey thereupon, not being willing that they should deceive him with impunity, ordered Aristobulus, whom he had kept with him, to be put in irons, and advanced with his whole army against Jerusalem. The city was extremely strong by its situntion and the works which had been made; and had it not been for the dissensions that prevailed within it, was capable of making a long defence.

"Aristobulus's party was for defending the place;

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especially when they saw that Pompey kept their king prisoner. But the adherents of Hyrcanus were determined to open the gates to that general. And as the latter were much the greater number, the other party retired to the mountain of the temple, to defend it, and caused the bridges of the ditch and valley which surrounded it to be broken down. Pompey, to whom the city immediately opened its gates, resolved to besiege the temple. The place held out three whole months, and would have done so three more, and perhaps obliged the Romans to abandon their enterprise, but for the superstitious rigor with which the besieged observed the sabbath. They believed, indeed, that they might defend themselves when attacked, but not that they might prevent the works of the enemy or make any for themselves. The Romans knew how to take advantage of this inaction upon the sabbath-days. They did not attack the Jews upon them, but filled up the fosses, made their approaches, and fixed their engines without opposition. They threw down at length a great tower, which carried along with it so great a part of the wall, that the breach was large enough for an assault. The place was carried sword in hand, and a terrible slaughter ensued, in which more than 12,000 persons were killed.

"During the whole tumult, the cries, and disorder of this slaughter, history observes that the priests, who were at that time employed in divine service, continued it with surprising calmness, notwithstanding the rage of their enemies, and their grief to see their friends and relations massacred before their eyes. Many of them saw their

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own blood mingle with that of the sacrifices they were offering, and the sword of the enemy make themselves the victims of their duty; happy and worthy of being envied, if they had been as faithful to the spirit as the letter of it!

"Pompey, with many of his superior officers, entered the temple, and not only into the sanctuary, but into the holy of holies, into which, by the law, the high-priest alone was permitted to enter once a year, upon the solemn day of expiation. This was what most keenly afflicted the Jews, and enraged that people so bitterly against the Romans."-Rollin, col. VII, pp. 288-291.

This for the first time placed Jerusalem, by conquest, in the hands of that power who "consumed" the "glorious land." For Pompey, having put an end to the war, demolished the walls of Jerusalem, and dismembered several cities from the kingdom of Judea and added them to Syria, and imposed tribute on the Jews.

Verse 17: "He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her; but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him."

Having previously conquered Macedon and Thrace, and now also Syria and Judea, only Egypt remained of all the empire of Alexander, before the Romans would be left in possession of universal empire.

"To enter with the strength of his whole kingdom;" "or rather," says Bp. Newton, "he shall also set his face to enter by force, the whole kingdom." The whole kingdom of Alexander, which

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the possession of Egypt would give him; that being ail that remained unconquered by Rome.

After the death of Ptolemy Auletes, which happened B. C. 51, having left his crown and kingdom to his eldest son and daughter, and ordered by his will that they should marry together, and govern jointly; and because they were both young, he left them under the guardianship of the Romans, Pompey, the Roman general, was appointed by the people the young king's guardian.

Not long after, a quarrel having broken out between Julias CÊsar and Pompey, the great battle of Pharsalia was fought between the two generals. CÊsar was victorious, and Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was basely murdered by the order of Piolemy, whose guardian he had been appointed. CÊsar followed him into Egypt, and found him dead. He went to Egypt with a small army, 800 horse and 3200 foot; but confiding in his reputation and success at Pharsalia, he made no scruple of landing at Alexandria with what few men he had. But Egypt was in commotion from intestine wars, Ptolemy and Cleopatra having fallen, out, and Cleopatra was deprived of her share in the government. CÊsar took cognizance of the quarrel, and undertook its settlement. The troubles of Egypt every day increasing, CÊsar found his small number of troops to be insufficient; and being unable to leave Egypt, on account of the north winds which blew at that season, sent immediately for all the troops he had in Asia, to march thither as soon as possible. The Egyptians were finally incensed and took arms against him, by the haughtiness with which he ordered both Ptolemy and Cleopatra to appear before him,

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for the settlement of their difficulty. He decreed that both should disband their armies and appear before him for an adjudication of the difficulty, and submit to his sentence. This was an affront to Egypt, as being an interference with the royal dignity of Egypt, an independent kingdom. But CÊsar replied that he only acted by virtue of their father, Auletes, who had, by his will, put his children under the guardianship of the senate and people of Rome, the whole authority of which was vested in his person, as consul; that, as guardian, he had a right to arbitrate between them.

The affair was brought before him, and advocates appointed to plead the cause.

"But Cleopatra, who knew CÊsar's foible, believed that her presence would be more persuasive than any advocate she could employ with her judge. She caused him to be told, that she perceived that those whom she employed in her behalf betrayed her, and demanded his permission to appear in person. Plutarch says it was CÊsar him self who pressed her to come and plead her cause.

"That princess took nobody with her, of all her friends, but Apollodorus the Siclian; got into a little boat, and arrived at the bottom of the walls of the citadel of Alexandria, when it was quite dark night. Finding that there were no means of entering without being known, she thought of this stratagem. She laid herself at length in the midst of a bundle of clothes. Apollodorus wrapped it up in a cloth, tied up with a thong, and in that manner carried it through the gate of the citadel to CÊsar's apartment, who was far from being displeased with the stratagem. The

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first sight of so beautiful a person, had all the effect upon him she had desired."-[Rollin, vol. VIII., pp. 118, 119.]

Being thus charmed with Cleopatra, he at length decreed, as guardian and abitrator, that Ptolemy and Cleopatra should reign jointly, according to the intent of the will. Pothinus, the chief minister of state, and who had been the principal agent in expelling Cleopatra from the throne, fearing the result of her restoration, began at once to excite jealousy in the public mind, and renewed hostilities against CÊsar; alleging that the Romans had only placed the brother and sister on the throne through fear of the populace, but that the true design was, as soon as it could be done, to set Cleopatra alone on the throne. Achillas, at the head of 20,000 men, advanced to drive CÊsar out of Alexandria. But CÊsar so disposed his small body of men in the streets and avenues, that he found no difficulty in resisting the attack. The Egyptians then attempted to take his fleet; but he defeated them by burning theirs, and possessing himself of the tower of Pharos and garrisoning it. By this conflagration of the fleet, the vessels driving so near the quay, some of the houses took fire, and the famous Alexandrian library was burned, containing near 400,000 volumes.

CÊsar, seeing so dangerous a war on his hands, sent into all the neighboring countries for help. A large fleet came from Asia Minor, an army under Mithridates, which had been raised by him in Syria and Cilicia; Antipater, the Idumean, joined him with 3000 Jews, [upright ones] and had engaged several neighboring cities to send him help. The Jews, who had possession of the

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passes into Egypt, gave them up for the passage of the army without interruption, without which the whole plan must have miscarried. The arrival of this army decided the contest. A battle was fought near the Nile, which proved decisive; the victory turning in favor of CÊsar. Ptolemy, attempting to escape in an open boat, was drowned in the Nile. Alexandria and all Egypt submitted to the victor.

"And upright ones with him." The Jews, without whose assistance CÊsar must have fallen; but by whose assistance, Egypt fell into his hands, B. C. 47.

"He shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her." Cleopatra, after being corrupted by CÊsar, was placed alone, virtually, on the throne of Egypt; as the creature of CÊsar.

"CÊsar returned to Alexandria about the middle of our January; and not finding any further opposition to his orders, gave the crown of Egypt to Cleopatra, in conjunction with Ptolemy her other brother. This was, in effect, giving it to Cleopatra alone; for that young prince was only eleven years old. The passion which CÊsar had conceived for that princess, was properly the sole cause of his embarking in so dangerous a war. He had by her one son, called CÊsarion, whom Augustus caused to be put to death when he became master of Alexandria. His affection for Cleopatra kept him much longer in Egypt than his affairs required. For though everything was settled in that kingdom by the end of January, he did not leave it till the end of April, according to Appian, who says he stayed there nine months. Now he

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had arrived there only about the end of July the year before.

"CÊsar passed whole nights in feasting with Cleopatra. Having embarked with her upon the Nile, he carried her through the whole country with a numerous fleet, and would have penetrated into Ethiopia, if his army had not refused to follow him. He had resolved to bring her to Rome, and to marry her; and intended to have caused a law to pass in the assembly of the people, by which the citizens of Rome should be permitted to marry such and as many wives as they thought fit. Helvius Cinna, the tribune of the people, declared, after his death, that he had prepared a harangue, in order to propose that law to the people, not being able to refuse his assistance upon the earnest solicitation of CÊsar."-[Rollin, vol. VIII., p. 124.]

"She shall not stand, neither be for him." She afterwards devoted herself to Antony, the enemy of Augustus CÊsar, and lent her whole power against Rome, as we shall see hereafter.

Verse 18: "After this shall he turn his face unto the isles and shall take many: but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him."

"What at length made him quit Egypt, was the war with Pharnaces, king of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, and son of Mithridates, the last king of Pontus. He fought a great battle with him near the city of Zela, defeated his whole army, and drove him out of the kingdom of Pontus. To denote the rapidity of his conquest, in writing to one of his friends, he made use of only these

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three words, Veni, vedi, vici; that is to say, I came, I saw, I conquered."-[Rollin, vol. VIII., p. 125.]

Verse 19: "Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble, and fall, and not be found."

After the conquest of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, he returned to Rome, the fort of his own land, where, on his being elected by the senate to imperial power, he was murdered in the senate chamber, by Brutus and Cassius, with other conspirators. He stumbled and fell, and was not found.

Verse 20: "Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom; but within those days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle."

The successor of Julius CÊsar, was Augustus CÊsar. He was nephew of Julius CÊsar; and had been ADOPTED by him as his successor. On hearing of his uncle's death, at the age of 19 he placed himself at the head of an army and marched to Rome; combining with Mark Antony and Lepidus, to avenge the death of CÊsar, they formed what is called the Triumvirate government. He publicly announced his adoption by Julius, and took his uncle's name, to which he added that of Octavianus. He soon found himself firmly established in the empire, and the senate gave him the title of Augustus.-[See Rollin's Hist., and Durioage's Cyclopedia of History, article Augustus.]

At the time of the birth of Christ, there went out a decree from CÊsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.-[Luke ii. 1. Josephus, Ant, book 17, chap. 5, sec. 2.]

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"In the glory of the kingdom." The reign of Augustus was in the height of the glory of the Roman empire, when they had gained universal ascendancy, and the earth was at peace and acknowledged their power, so that the temple of Janus was closed, signifying that universal peace prevailed. Rome never saw a brighter hour. It was emphatically "the glory of the kingdom." He died peaceably in his bed. Two conspiracies were formed against him, which miscarried.

Verse 21: "And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries."

The successor of Augustus CÊsar was Tiberius CÊsar. He was raised, through the influence of his mother over Augustus, at an early age, to the command of an expedition against some revolted Alpine tribes, in which he displayed much ability; in consequence of which he was raised to the consulate in his twenty-eighth year. Circumstances afterwards occurred which induced him to retire from public life to the isle of Rhodes. "At Caius's permission," says Usher, "Tiberius was recalled" from his exile in Rhodes, "but on condition that he should bear no office in the common-wealth. After the death of Lucius, Augustus would have ADOPTED Tiberius; but he vehemently refused it, fearing the envy of Caius." "They shall not give him the honor of the kingdom." How strikingly is this fact illustrated above. The emperor "would have adopted him, but he vehemently refused it." "But he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by FLATTERIES." This will be illustrated by an extract

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from the Encyclopedia Americana, article Tiberius:-

"During the remainder of the life of Augustus, he [Tiberius] behaved with great prudence and ability, concluding a war with the Germans in such a manner as to merit a triumph. After the defeat of Varus and his legions he was sent to check the progress of the victorious Germans, and acted in that war with equal spirit and prudence. On the death of Augustus, he succeeded, without opposition, to the sovereignty of the empire; which, however, with his characteristic dissimulation, he affected to decline, until repeatedly solicited by the servile senate."

Such is the prophecy, and such the history; he came in peaceably, and obtained the kingdom by dissimulation on his part, and flattery on the part of the servile senate.

"A vile person." The following sketch, also from the Encyclopedia Americana, will show the vileness of his character:-

"Tacitus records the events of this reign, including the suspicious death of Germanicus, the detestable administration of Sejanus, the poisoning of Drusus, with all the extraordinary mixture of tyranny with occasional wisdom and good sense, which distinguished the conduct of Tiberius, until his infamous and dissolute retirement (A. D. 26) to the isle of CapreÊ, in the bay of Naples, never to return to Rome. On the death of Livia, in the year 29, the only restraint upon his actions, and those of the detestable Sejanus, was removed, and the destruction of the widow and family of Germanicus followed. At length the infamous favorite extending his views to the

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empire itself, Tiberius, informed of his machinations, prepared to encounter him with his favorite weapon, dissimulation. Although fully resolved upon his destruction, he accumulated honors upon him, declared him his partner in the consulate, and, after long playing with his credulity, and that of the senate, who thought him in greater favor than ever, he artfully prepared for his arrest. Sejanus fell deservedly and unpitied; but many innocent persons shared in his destruction, in consequence of the suspicion and cruelty of Tiberius, which now exceeded all limits. The remainder of the reign of this tyrant is little more than a disgusting narrative of servility on the one hand, and of despotic ferocity on the other. That he himself endured as much misery as he inflicted, is evident from the following commencement of one of his letters to the senate: 'What I shall write to you, conscript fathers, or what I shall not write, or why I should write at all, may the gods and goddesses plague me more than I feel daily that they are doing, if I can tell.' What mental torture, observes Tacitus, in reference to this passage, which could extort such a confession!"

Josephus says of him, (Ant., book 18, chap. 6, sec. 10,) that "this Tiberius had brought a vast number of miseries on the best families of the Romans, since he was easily inflamed with passion in all cases, and was of such a temper as rendered his anger irrevocable, until he had executed it, although he had taken hatred against men without reason."

"Seneca remarks concerning Tiberius, that he never was intoxicated but once in his life; for he continued in a state of perpetual intoxication from

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free from the law of sin and death. And while his faith continues in exercise, by which he is united to Christ, he has victory over all sin and does not commit sin. Tempted we always shall be; a war with nature we always shall have; but the victory, through the power of an indwelling Christ, is certain. The love of God dwells in the believer, because the Holy Ghost dwells there; and is a spirit of love. Where God dwells, love dwells; "for God is love." The love of God dwelling in us, it will be the moving motive power of all our acts. An action flowing from love may be erroneous, wrong in itself, but it cannot be imputed to the believer as sin, nor can he be condemned for that ignorant violation of God's law. He rests, not in his own obedience for justification, but in Christ alone; and through him has a continual justification, and the witness abiding of his sonship. God is both faithful and just to cleanse from all unrighteousness all whom he forgives. We cannot obtain forgiveness until we confess our sins; when we do that, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It is only unbelief which says he is not thus faithful.

XIII. THE MILLENNIUM AFTER THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST

The doctrine of the universal triumph of the gospel for a thousand years before the second advent of the Saviour, thus making the reign of Christ on earth as king of saints, purely spiritual, and saying that the Lord delayeth his coming for at least a thousand years, next demands our attention.

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The doctrine of the world's conversion will first be examined in the light of Scripture.

1. It is argued that there must be such a state of universal holiness on earth, and before the second advent, to fulfil such promises as the following. Heb. viii. 11: "They shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying know the Lord; for all shall know me from the least to the greatest." Again, Isa. xi. 5-9: "And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fattling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Also, Isa. ii. 4: "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

It is alleged that these promises can never be fulfilled, if they are not fulfilled before the second coming of the Lord. And that a fulfilment of them implies a state of universal holiness. In replying to this argument, I Would remark, it is impossible to fulfil them in this world unless there is an entire change in the constitution of

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both man and beast. For while man remains under his present depraved constitution, and comes into the world as he does now, there can be no such thing as an universal knowledge of God without instruction. But in that promised state they will need none, but all, from the least to the greatest, will know the Lord without it.

But it is said in reply, by most persons who adopt the theory, "we do not expect that every one will be pious, but the great mass will." Then you have no right to claim the text in question for the support of your cause; for it proves too much for you, and you abandon it when we apply it to your theory. If it proves aught for you, it proves the universal knowledge and holiness of the human race on earth at that time. The constitution of brutes must be changed. For it is now the nature of "the wolf" to devour "the lamb," and for the leopard to tear the kid. It is the nature of "the lion" to eat flesh, not straw; and for the cockatrice and asp, to bite, sting, and poison the hand that approaches their den. But it is answered, "We do not except that it will be literal; but that the wolfish and ferocious passions of the human heart will be subdued; and that these strong expressions are used to represent the great change which will he apparent in human society." Indeed! And have we not just the same right to the figures, if figures they are, to express our millennium, and the universal peace of the heavenly state, the kingdom of God, under the great Prince of peace? But we are willing, if it shall so please the great Deliverer, that he should bring back Paradise, with all its beasts, birds, and reptiles. And, as we know nothing of that state

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but what is revealed, if God has revealed the fact that they will be there, and has nowhere said they will not, it will be the part of wisdom to believe God, and not man's tradition.

The Psalmist, in the eighth Psalm, has ascribed to "the Son of man" universal dominion over all creatures, beasts, fowls and fishes, and declares he was made a little lower than the angels, to have dominion over the works of God's hands. Paul has taken up the Psalm, in Heb. ii., 5, and onward, and says that it is the dominion of Jesus Christ in "the world to come," (literally, the oikoumine, the habitable earth to come,) "whereof we speak." That now, although "we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels," "crowned with glory and honor," yet, "we see not yet all things put under him." It is in the world to come, that the 8th Psalm will be fulfilled; when the kingdom given to man, and prepared for him from the foundation of the world, will be given to the saints, by Christ. All there is in the Bible, is in favor of the restitution of the brute creation; but I know of nothing, from Genesis to Revelation, to contradict it, and say it will not be thus. I have long looked on Mr. Wesley's argument on this subject, viz., the restitution of the brutes in the new earth, as conclusive and irrefutable, and do so still. The reader will find his view in his sermon on the general deliverance.

If these texts are to be understood in a literal sense, it must carry us forward to a state when there will have been a radical change in the constitution of human nature above what grace can do for it; and a change in the brute creation, such as we are not authorized to expect until the

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by the 7th of April-the fourth day after the passover-to obtain the news of his death, in Judea. From these facts the truth of the fulfilment of the 22nd verse, is established; and also, an additional argument is afforded that Christ's ministry was seven years.

DEMONSTRATION THAT THE ROMANS ARE THE SUBJECT OF THIS PROPHECY

That the Romans are the subject of this prophecy from the fourteenth verse, where they are called "the robbers of thy people," is demonstrated by the fulfilment of the prophecy in three individuals who were at the head of the Roman government. 1. The first, on returning home in triumph, stumbled and fell, and was not found. 2. The second was to succeed him, and reign in the glory of the kingdom:-he was to be a raiser of taxes, and to die peaceably. 3. The third person was to refuse the honor of adoption, and thus receive the honor of the kingdom from his predecessor, but obtain peaceably and by flatteries, after the death of the emperor, the supreme authority; he was to be overflown and be broken or murdered. 4. The next event is, the same fate will attend the prince of the covenant. Tiberius was betrayed and destroyed by the treachery of his own servants and friends; so also was Christ. These four events did successively transpire in the Roman history, and in the personal history of Julius, Augustus, and Tiberius CÊsar; and immediately after the death of the last, Christ was betrayed and crucified. They never did, nor can they ever occur in

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the history of any other government; because under no other government was Christ crucified; and he can never be broken or put to death again. All the learning of the world can never carry this back to Antiochus, and show that the PRINCE OF THE COVENANT was broken under the Syrian government and immediately after the death of Antiochus.

I wish here to follow out the argument of those who apply all the prophecies of the latter part of this chapter to Antiochus-and contend that he "took away the daily and placed the abomination which maketh desolate," as in the 31st verse. Bp. Newton has applied this prophecy to Antiochus; and I suppose all who give it the same application as he does, dispose of this difficulty in the same way. He says, "'The prince also of the covenant was broken,' that is, the high priest of the Jews; and so Theodoret understands and explains it: 'The prince of the covenant. He speaketh of the pious high-priest, the brother of Jason and foretelleth that even he should be turned out of office.'" This is the best and only exposition of the place which can be given, on the hypothesis that Antiochus is the vile person here predicted! Reader, look at it; God sent his angel to inform Daniel, some hundreds of years beforehand, and that after the revolution and division of two of the greatest empires of the world, a certain vile person should stand up and overthrow some of the neighboring nations, and even the PIOUS HIGH PRIEST should be turned out of office!!! That fulfils the great prophecy that the prince of the covenant shall be broken!!

One word on the raiser of taxes. This, according

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to Bishop Newton, was Seleucus Philopater, who "succeeded Antiochus the great, in the throne of Syria: but as Jerome affirms, he performed nothing worthy of the empire of Syria and of his father, and perished ingloriously without fighting any battles. As Appian also testifies, he reigned both idly and weakly, by reason of his father's calamity. He had an inclination to break the peace, and shake off the Roman yoke; but had not the courage to do it. He raised an army, with intent to march over mount Taurus to the assistance of Pharnaces, king of Pontus; but his dread of the Romans confined him at home, within the bounds prescribed to him; and almost as soon as he had raised, he disbanded his army. The tribute of a thousand talents, which he was obliged to pay annually to the Romans, was indeed a grievous burden to him and his kingdom; and he was little more than 'a raiser of taxes' all his days. He was tempted even to commit sacrilege; for being informed of the money that was deposited in the temple of Jerusalem, he sent his treasurer, Heliodorus, to seize it. This was literally causing an exactor to pass over the glory of the kingdom, when he sent his treasurer to plunder that temple, which 'even kings did honor and magnify with their best gifts,' and where Seleucus himself, 'of his own revenues, bare all the costs belonging to the service of the sacrifices.' 'But within few days (or rather years according to the prophetic style) he was to be destroyed;' and his reign was of short duration in comparison of his father's; for he reigned only twelve years, and his father thirty-seven. Or, perhaps, the passage may be better

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expounded thus, that within few days or years, after his attempting to plunder the temple of Jerusalem, he should be destroyed; and not long after that, as all chronologers agree, he was 'destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle,' neither in rebellion at home, nor in war abroad, but by the treachery of his own treasurer, Heliodorus. The same wicked hand that was the instrument of his sacrilege, was also the instrument of his death. Seleucus having sent his only son, Demetrius, to be an hostage at Rome, instead of his brother Antiochus, and Antiochus being not yet returned to the Syrian court, Heliodorus thought this a fit opportunity to despatch his master, and in the absence of the next heirs to the crown, to usurp it to himself. But he was disappointed in his ambitious projects, and only made way for another's usurped greatness, instead of his own."

Why will men of common sense persist in holding on to such constructions, when there is a most natural sense in which the prediction was fulfilled to the letter? The difficulty with our opponents, is, if they admit Rome to be the subject of prophecy, as is here demonstrated, they cannot get back to Antiochus to take away the daily, etc. So they fulfil all prophecy in his wonderful reign.

THE ROMAN LEAGUE

Having introduced the Roman power, and that in such a way as to demonstrate the certainty of its identity, and having terminated the 70 weeks, we are next taken back, in the order of time and

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events, to the first direct connection between the Roman government and the Jews, the church of God; for such they were at that time. From thence we are taken down, in a direct line of events, to the final triumph of the church, in the resurrection of the Just, and the everlasting reign of Jesus Christ. The object of the divine messenger, was not merely to give a prophetic history of the Gentile nations, but to make Daniel understand what should befall his people in the latter days. Thus far he had given the history of the Roman conquests of the Gentile world; their collision with other kingdoms, and their civil and domestic history. This done, he goes back and traces their history as connected particularly with the church, and introduces them at the point where the church first became dependent on them by entering into a mutual league.

Chap. xi. 23. "And after the league made with him, he shall work deceitfully; for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people."

"The league made with him." "Him" must refer to the subject of prophecy, which is the Romans, as has just been proved. The revelation was to show what should befall the church. It was to make a league with the Romans. That league was made, and it is the first ever made between the Jews and Romans, B. C., 61. (See Josephus, Ant., B. 12, chap. 10, sect. 6.) "But now, as the high-priest, Alcimus, was resolving to pull down the wall of the sanctuary, which had been there of old time, and had been built by the holy prophets, he was smitten suddenly by God, and fell down. This stroke made him fall down

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speechless upon the ground; and, undergoing torments for many days, he at length died, when he had been high-priest four years. And when he was dead, the people bestowed the high-priesthood on Judas; who, hearing of the power of the Romans, and that they had conquered in war, Galatia, and Iberia, and Carthage, and Lybia; and that, besides these, they had subdued Greece, and their kings, Perseus, and Philip, and Antiochus the Great also, he resolved to enter into a league of friendship with them. He therefore sent to Rome some of his friends, Enpolemus, the son of John, and Jason, the son of Eleazer, and by them desired the Romans that they would assist them, and be their friends, and would write to Demetrius that he would not fight against the Jews. So the senate received the ambassadors that came from Judas to Rome, and discoursed with them about the errand on which they came, and then granted them a league of assistance. They also made a decree concerning it, and sent a copy of it into Judea. It was also laid up in the capitol, and engraven in brass. The decree itself was this: 'The decree of the senate concerning a league of assistance and friendship with the nation of the Jews. It shall not be lawful for any that are subject to the Romans, to make war with the nation of the Jews, nor to assist those that do so, either by sending them corn, or ships, or money; and if any attack be made upon the Jews, the Romans shall assist them, as far as they are able; and again, if any attack be made upon the Romans, the Jews shall assist them. And if the Jews have a mind to add to, or to take anything from this league of assistance, that shall be done with the

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common consent of the Romans. And whatsoever addition shall thus be made, it shall be of force.' This decree was written by Eupolemus, the son of John, and by Jason, the son of Eleazer, when Judas was high-priest of the nation, and Simon, his brother, was general of the army. And this was the first league that the Romans made with the Jews, and was managed after this manner."

The reader will also find this history related at large, in 1 Maccabees, eighth chapter.

It seems from Maccabees, that the Romans interposed in behalf of the Jews; and the senate wrote to their enemies to refrain from their oppression and affliction of the Jews, and threatened them if they persisted. The war between the Jews and Macedonians ended 158 B. C.

"He shall work deceitfully; for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people." That the Romans were a comparatively small people at the time of the league entered into with the Jews, is a fact; and the rapidity of their triumphs from that time until they became masters of the world, will be best shown in a few words by presenting the general index to Rollin's history, under the term "Romans," from the league with the Jews onward. "The Romans declare the Jews their friends and allies; they acknowledge Demetrius king of Syria; conquer the Ligurians, and give their territory to the people of Marseilles; defeat Andriscus, and two more adventurers, who had possessed themselves of Macedonia, and reduce that kingdom into a Roman province, etc.; declare war against the Carthaginians; order them to abandon Carthage; besiege and demolish

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it entirely; decree of the senate for separating several cities from the AchÊan league; troubles in Achaia; the Romans defeat the AchÊans, and take Thebes; they gain another victory over the AchÊans, take Corinth, and burn it; reduce Greece into a Roman province; renew the treaties made with the Jews; inherit the riches and dominions of Attalus, king of Pergamus; reduce Aristonicus, who had possessed himself of them; Ptolemy Apion, king of Cyrenaica, and Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, leave the Romans their dominions at their deaths; the Romans reduce those kingdoms into Roman provinces; they reestablish the kings of Cappadocia and Bithynia, expelled by Mithridates; first war of the Romans against Mithridates; massacre of all the Romans and Italians in Asia Minor; the Romans gain three great battles against the generals of Mithridates; they grant that prince peace; second war of the Romans with Mithridates; they are defeated by that prince in a battle; gain a great victory over him, and compel him to retire into Armenia, to Tigranes, his son-in-law; declare war against Tigranes, and defeat him in a battle; second victory of the Romans over the united forces of Mithridates and Tigranes; they again gain several victories over Mithridates, who had recovered his dominions; subject Tigranes, king of Armenia; drive Antiochus Asiaticus out of Syria, and reduce that kingdom in to a Roman province-The Romans, by the will of Alexander, king of Egypt, are declared heirs of his dominions; end of the war with Mithridates; the Romans drive Ptolemy out of Cyprus, and confiscate his treasures; they invade Parthia, and are defeated; they declare Ptolemy

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Auletes their friend and ally; reduce Egypt into a Roman province; Cappadocia is also reduced into a Roman province."-[Rollin, Harpers' ed., vol. II., pp. 687, 688.]

Verse 24. "He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches; yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time."

"He shall enter peaceably." A great part of the tributaries and dependencies of Rome were left it by will of the kings. The following remarks from Rollin will illustrate the text. "Alexander, being driven out in this manner, went to Pompey, who was then in the neighborhood, to demand aid of him: Pompey would not interfere in his affairs because they were foreign to his commission. That prince retired to Tyre, to wait there a more favorable conjuncture.

"But none offered, and he died there some time after. Before his death, he made a will, by which he declared the Roman people his heirs. The succession was important, and included all the dominions Alexander had possessed, and to which he had retained a lawful right, of which the violence he had sustained could not deprive him. The affair was taken into consideration by the senate. Some were of opinion that it was necessary to take possession of Egypt, and of the island of Cyprus, of which the testator had been sovereign, and which he had bequeathed in favor of the Roman people. The majority of the senators did not approve this advice. They had very lately taken possession of Bithynia, which had been left them

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by the will of Nicomedes; and of Cyrenaica and Lybia, which had been also given them by that of Apion; and they had reduced all those countries into Roman provinces.

"This is the fourth example of dominions left to the Roman people by will; a very singular custom, and almost unheard of in all other history, which undoubtedly does great honor to those in whose favor it was established. The usual methods of extending the bounds of a state, are war, victory and conquest. But with what enormous injustice and violence are those methods attended, and how much devastation and blood must it cost to subject a country by force of arms! In this there is nothing cruel and inhuman, and neither tears nor blood are shed. It is a pacific and legitimate increase of power, the simple acceptance of a voluntary gift. Subjection here has nothing of violence to enforce it, and proceeds from the heart.

"Attalus, who was the first, if I am not mistaken, that appointed the Roman people his heirs, had not engaged in any strict union with that republic during the short time he reigned. As for Ptolemy Apion, king of Cyrenaica, the Romans, far from using any arts to attain the succession to his dominions, renounced it, left the people in the full enjoyment of their liberty, and would not accept the inheritance afterwards, till they were in some measure obliged to it against their will. It does not appear that they employed any solicitations, either public or private, towards Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, or Ptolemy Alexander, king of Egypt."-[Rollin, Harpers' ed., vol. II., p. 269.]

Extension of dominion by these means was

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never before known. They did that which neither their fathers, nor fathers' fathers had done.

"He shall scatter among them the prey and spoil," etc. The lenity of the Romans toward the nations who thus peaceably came under their yoke, will be best illustrated by extracts from Rollin's History, vol. II., p. 270, Harpers' ed., 1841:

"The other nations suffered nothing of that kind; and, generally speaking, of all foreign yokes, none ever was lighter than that of the Romans. Scarce could its weight be perceived by those who bore it. The subjection of Greece to the Roman empire, even under the emperors themselves, was rather a means to ensure the public tranquillity, than a servitude heavy upon private persons, and prejudicial to society. Most of the cities were governed by their ancient laws, had always their own magistrates, and wanted very little of enjoying entire liberty. They were by that means secured from all the inconveniences and misfortunes of war with their neighbors, which had so long and so cruelly distressed the republic of Greece in the times of their ancestors. So that the Greeks seemed to be great gainers in ransoming themselves from these inconveniences by some diminution of their liberty.

"An evident proof of the wisdom of the plan adopted by princes, of leaving their dominions to the Romans after their death, is, that their people never exclaimed against that disposition, nor proceeded to any revolt of their own accord, to prevent its taking effect.

"I do not pretend to exculpate the Romans entirely in this place, nor to justify their conduct in all things. I have sufficiently animadverted

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upon the interested views and political motives which influenced their actions. I only say, that the Roman government, especially with regard to those who submitted voluntarily to them, was gentle, humane, equitable, advantageous to the people, and the source of their peace and tranquillity."

It was by this moderation and kindness, rather than by the power of their arms, that the Romans gained their influence and secured the good will of their tributaries.

Thus far we have a general history of the Roman conquests until the final and decisive stroke in the downfall of Egypt, the last division of the Greek empire, and the universal supremacy of the Roman power. That point was not to be achieved without a struggle. The last clause of the 24th verse should be read in connection with the 25th, as follows:

"And he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds even for a time. And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand, for they shall forecast devices against him."

"Against the strong holds, even for a time." Bishop Newton, who applied this to Antiochus Epiphanes, interprets it thus; that Antiochus went to fortify his own strong holds, and forecast his devices against his enemies from thence. The construction seems to me to be a correct one, so far as the strong holds are concerned. I would render the passage thus, "From the strong holds." The strong holds are the citadel or metropolis of

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the empire the city of Rome. The date of this characteristic I should understand to be, when they had gained universal dominion. From that time the government of Rome would, in its strong holds, forecast ways and means of holding the nations, their tributaries, in obedience and subjection.

"Even for a time." A prophetic time of 360 years, as in Daniel vii. 25.

The chronology of its date is thus given: "And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south, with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army, but he shall not stand."

The amount of it is, Rome would come against Egypt with a great army, and Egypt would come against the Romans with a very great and mighty army; but in the issue, Egypt, the king of the south, shall fall. When the battle in which Egypt is conquered by the Romans, takes place, the prophetic time to the existence of the seat of empire in the west will commence. As this battle was a most important event in the history of Rome's triumph, I shall give it at large. Mark Antony, a Roman general, and one of the triumvirate who had sworn to avenge the death of Julius CÊsar was brother-in-law to Augustus CÊar, by the marriage of his sister. Antony having been sent to Egypt, by the government, on, business, had been captured by the charms and arts of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. His passion was so strong for her that he gave himself up to the most flagrant debauchery, and finally espoused the Egyptian interests, sent a divorce to his

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wife, Octavia, the sister of Augustus, ordering her to leave his house immediately with her children. This, together with other indignities offered by Antony to the Roman people, induced CÊsar Augustus to declare war against Egypt, at the head of whose affairs Antony was then placed. A reference again to Rollin, (vol. II., p. 346,) will illustrate this point.

THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM

"When CÊsar had an army and fleet ready, which seemed strong enough to make head against his enemy, he also declared war on his side. But in the decree enacted by the people to that purpose, he caused it to be expressed, that it was against Cleopatra: it was from a refinement of policy, that he acted in that manner, and did not insert Antony's name in the declaration of war, though actually intended against him. For, besides throwing the blame upon Antony, by making him the aggressor in a war against his country, he did not hurt the feelings of those who were still attached to him, whose number and credit might have proved formidable, and whom he would have been under the necessity of declaring enemies to the commonwealth, if Antony had been expressly named in the decree.

"Antony returned from Athens to Samos, where the whole fleet was assembled. It consisted of five hundred ships of war, of extraordinary size and structure, having several decks one above another, with towers upon the head and stern, of a prodigious height; so that those superb vessels upon the sea might have been taken for floating

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islands. Such great crews were necessary for completely manning those heavy machines, that Antony, not being able to find mariners enough, had been obliged to take husbandmen, artificers, muleteers, and all sorts of people void of experience, and fitter to give trouble than to do real service.

"On board this fleet were two hundred thousand foot and twelve thousand horse. The kings of Libya, Cilicia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Comagenia, and Thrace, were there in person; and those of Pontus, Judea, Lycaonia, Galatia, and Media, had sent their troops. A more splendid and pompous sight could not be seen than this fleet when it put to sea, and had unfurled its sails. But nothing equalled the magnificence of Cleopatra's galley, all flaming with gold; its sails of purple; its flags and streamers floating in the wind, whilst trumpets and other instruments of war made the heavens resound with airs of joy and triumph. Antony followed her close in a galley equally splendid. That queen, intoxicated with her fortune and grandeur, and hearkening only to her unbridled ambition, foolishly threatened the Capitol with approaching ruin, and prepared with her infamous troop of eunuchs utterly to subvert the Roman empire.

"On the other side, less pomp and splendor were seen, but more utility. CÊsar had only two hundred and fifty ships, and eighty thousand foot, with as many horse as Antony. But all his troops were chosen men, and on board his fleet were none but experienced seamen. His vessels were not so large as Antony's, but then they were much lighter and fitter for service.

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"CÊsar's rendezvous was at Brondusium, and Antony advanced to Corcyra. But the season of the year was over, and bad weather came on; so that they were both obliged to retire, and to put their troops into winter quarters, and their fleets into good ports, till the approach of spring.

"Antony and CÊsar, as soon as the season would admit, took the field both by sea and land. The two fleets entered the Ambracian gulf in Epirus. Antony's bravest and most experienced officers advised him not to hazard a battle by sea; to send back Cleopatra into Egypt, and to make all possible haste into Thrace or Macedonia, in order to fight there by land; because his army, composed of good troops, and much superior in numbers to CÊsar's, seemed to promise him the victory; whereas a fleet so ill manned as his, how numerous soever it might be, was by no means to be relied on. But Antony had not been susceptible of good advice for a long time, and had acted only to please Cleopatra. That proud princess, who judged of things solely from appearances, believed her fleet invincible, and that CÊsar's ships could not approach it without being dashed to pieces. Besides, she rightly perceived that in case of misfortune it would be easier for her to escape in her ships than by land. Her opinion, therefore, took place against the advice of all the generals.

"The battle was fought upon the second of September, at the mouth of the gulf of Ambracia, near the city of Actium, in sight of both the land armies; the one of which was drawn up in battle upon the north, and the other upon the south of that strait, expecting the event. The contest was doubtful for some time, and seemed as much in

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favor of Antony as CÊsar, till the retreat of Cleopatra. That queen, frightened with the noise of the battle, in which everything was terrible to a woman, took to flight when she was in no danger, and drew after her the whole Egyptian squadron, which consisted of sixty ships of the line; with which she sailed for the coast of Peloponnesus. Antony, who saw her fly, forgetting everything, forgetting even himself, followed her precipitately, and yielded a victory to CÊsar, which, till then, he had exceedingly well disputed. It, however, cost the victor extremely dear; for Antony's ships fought so well after his departure, that, though the battle began before noon, it was not over when night came on; so that CÊsar's troops were obliged to pass it on board their ships."

This battle was Egypt's ruin and Rome's triumph. The battle was fought in the autumn of 31 B. C. "A time," or 360 years would carry us to 329, when the supremacy of the western strong holds would cease, and the capitol of the empire be removed. As we shall see, in its proper place, it was done at the time appointed.

"For they shall forecast devices against him."

Verse 26. "Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow, and many shall fall down slain."

The cause of Egypt's defeat in this battle, was the treachery of the troops of Antony and Cleopatra. The first disaster, as will be seen in the above extract, was the flight of Cleopatra and sixty ships of the line with her. A second stroke was the desertion to CÊsar of Antony's land army, as follows:

"The land army still remained entire, and consisted

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of eighteen legions, and twenty-two thousand horse, under the command of Canidius, Antony's lieutenant-general; and might have made head against CÊsar, and given him abundance of difficulty. But seeing themselves abandoned by their generals, they surrendered to CÊsar, who received them with open arms."

A third blow, was, that when Antony arrived in Libya, he found his army under Scorpus, whom he had left there to guard the frontier, had declared for CÊsar.

The fourth and final stroke was the betrayal of Cleopatra, while she was professing the greatest regard and love for him; yet, at the same time, was secretly endeavoring to ruin him, and betray him into the hands of CÊsar. Another engagement ensued in Egypt, as follows:

"Upon arriving there, he encamped near the Hippodrone. He was in hopes of making himself master of the city soon, by means of the intelligence which he held with Cleopatra, upon which he relied no less than upon his army.

"Antony was ignorant of that princess' intrigues, and, being unwilling to believe what was told him of them, prepared for a good defence. He made a vigorous sally; and after having severely handled the besiegers, and warmly pursued to the gates of their camp a detachment of horse which had been sent against him, he returned victorious into the city. This was the last effort of expiring valor; for, after this exploit, his fortitude and sense of glory abandoned him, or were never after of any service to him. Instead of making use of this advantage, and of applying himself seriously to his defence, by observing the

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motions of Cleopatra, who was betraying him, he came, completely armed as he was, to throw himself at her feet, and to kiss her hands. The whole palace of Alexandria immediately resounded with acclamations, as if the siege had been raised; and Cleopatra, who had no thoughts but of amusing Antony, ordered a magnificent feast to be prepared, at which they passed the rest of the day and part of the night together.

"Early on the morrow, Antony resolved to attack CÊsar by sea and land. He drew up his land army upon some eminences in the city; and from thence kept his galleys in view, which were going out of the port in order to charge those of CÊsar. He waited without making any motion, to see the success of that attack; but was much astonished when he saw Cleopatra's admiral strike his flag when he came in view of CÊsar's, and surrender his whole fleet to him.

"This treason opened Antony's eyes, and made him, when too late, give credit to what his friends had told him of the queen's perfidy. In this extremity he was for signalizing himself by an extra-ordinary act of valor, capable, in his opinion, of doing him abundance of honor. He sent to challenge CÊsar to a single combat. CÊsar made answer, that if Antony was weary of life, there were other ways to die besides that. Antony, seeing himself ridiculed by CÊsar, and betrayed by Cleopatra, returned into the city, and was, a moment after, abandoned by all his cavalry. Seized with rage and despair, he then flew to the palace, with design to avenge himself upon Cleopatra, but did not find her there."

It was in this manner that they that fed of the

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portion of his meat destroyed him; and many fell down slain.

Verses 27, 28. "And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed. Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land."

Antony was the chief in the Egyptian government at this time, and was properly king of the south, Egypt. He and CÊsar had formerly been in alliance, and had the same common interests at stake. They spoke lies at one table: Octavia, the wife of Antony and sister of CÊsar, declared to the people of Rome, at the time of Antony's divorcing her, that "she had consented to her marriage with Antony, solely with the hope that it would prove a pledge of union between CÊsar and Antony." But it did not stand; the rupture came; Antony and Egypt fell; CÊsar became master of the world, and "returned to his own land with great riches." Antony fell by his own sword, and Cleopatra poisoned herself with the bite of an asp.

THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM

"And his heart shall be against the holy covenant." After the overthrow of Egypt and the return of the Romans to their own land with great riches, being masters of the world, they engaged in no great enterprise until their persecutions; first, of the Christians, under Nero, the Roman emperor, A. D. 64; and then, soon after, the overthrow of Judea, and the capture and destruction

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of Jerusalem. The holy covenant is the covenant God had made with Abraham and his seed, to give them the land of Canaan for an inheritance; and the ratification of that covenant to Israel, when they were put in possession of the land of promise under Joshua; with the assurance that if they were obedient they should never be plucked up out of the land. The condition of their retaining it after Christ should make his appearance as the true heir, and prophet like unto Moses, was, that they should hear that prophet in all things whatsoever he should say to them. And every soul who would not obey that prophet, should be destroyed from among the people. That prophet came; the Jews, as a nation, rejected him; but a people, of both Jewish and Gentile extraction, the believers in and servants of Christ, became the true heirs of the land, and children of Jerusalem. But under the destroying hand of the Romans, both Christians and Jews suffered; and the holy place was desecrated and then destroyed. The Christians escaped from the city and were saved; the Jews entered into it and perished. This war is thus described by a historian:

"Under Vespasian, the Romans invaded the country and took the cities of Galilee, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, where Christ had been rejected; destroyed the inhabitants, and left nothing but ruin and desolation.

"Jerusalem was destroyed A. D. 70. Its destruction was distinctly foretold by Christ; but no tongue can tell the sufferings of its devoted inhabitants. Josephus, who was an eye-witness of them, remarks, 'that all the calamities that ever befel

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any nation since the beginning of the world, were interior to the miseries of his country men at that awful period.

"After the death of Herod, the Jews were subject to Roman jurisdiction, but they were divided into violent factions, led by profligate wretches, and soon openly revolted from the imperial dominion. Warned by Christ, before his crucifixion, of the storm that was about to burst upon the devoted city, the Christians all fled to Pelia, a city beyond Jordan. On the day of the passover,-the anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ-Titus, the Roman general, encamped before Jerusalem with a formidable army. A tremendous siege ensued. The Jews defended themselves with astonishing valor; but they were unable long to resist the power of the Roman engines To accelerate the ruin, Titus enclosed the city by a circumvallation, strengthened by thirteen towers, by which the prophecy of Christ was fulfilled: 'The days shall come upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee around on every side.' Then ensued a amine, the like to which the world has never witnessed. An eminent Jewess, frantic with her sull rings, devoured her infant. Moses had long before predicted this very thing: 'The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness, her eye shall be evil towards her young one, and towards her children which she shall bear, for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.' Heading of the

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inhuman deed, Titus swore the eternal extirpation of the accursed city and people.

"The Roman commander had determined to save the temple, as an honor to himself; but the Lord of Hosts had purposed its destruction. On the 10th of August, a Roman soldier seized a brand of fire, and threw it into one of the windows. The whole temple was soon in flames. The frantic Jews, and Titus himself, labored to extinguish it, but in vain. Titus entered into the sanctuary, and bore away the golden candlestick, the table of shew bread, and the volume of the law, wrapped up in a rich golden tissue. The complete conquest of Jerusalem ensued. Christ had foretold that 'there should be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world.' During the siege, which lasted five months, eleven hundred thousand Jews perished, and ninety-seven thousand were taken prisoners. The number destroyed during the war, which lasted seven years, is computed at one million four hundred and sixty-two thousand. This city was amazingly strong. Upon viewing the ruins, Titus exclaimed, 'We have fought with the assistance of God.' The city was completely levelled, and Tarentius Rufus ploughed up the foundations of the temple. Thus literally were the predictions of Christ fulfilled: 'Thine enemies shall lay thee even with the ground, and there shall not be left one stone upon another.'"

It was thus he did exploits, and returned again, as he did after the conquest of Egypt, to his own land.

THE SEAT OF EMPIRE REMOVED FROM ROME TO CONSTANTINOPLE

Verse 29. "At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south: but it shall not be as the former or as the latter."

"At the time appointed," is the time mentioned in the last clause of verse 24; "even for a time." A time is 360 days or years. The date of it, as already shown, was the battle of Actium, in the autumn of B. C. 31. The 360 years would carry us to A. D. 329; when, according to Daniel-

"He shall return and come toward the south." The Roman government was to come back toward the south, Egypt, by the same way in which they returned from the great exploit, the destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of the church from Jerusalem. But-

"It shall not be as the former"-As when the Romans went to Egypt for the conquest of that kingdom, and the extension of their power over the earth, and as the signal of its full triumph-

"Nor as the latter,"-When they overthrew the Jewish nation, and scattered abroad the church of God. But he shall come back as the signal of his own ruin. For such, in fact, was the removal of the seat of empire from the west to the east, by Constantine. The city of Constantinople was founded as the seat of imperial power, by Constantine, in Nov., A. D. 329. [Encyclopedia Americana, art. Constantinople.]

From this point, the pagan power of Rome received

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its death-blow; Constantine embraced the Christian faith, and established the Christian religion by law, as the religion of the empire.

On the death of Constantine, the Roman empire was divided among his three sons, Constantius, Constantine II., and Constans. Constantius possessed the east, and fixed his residence at Constantinople, the new metropolis of the empire. Constantine, the second, held Britain, Gaul and Spain. Constans held Illyrica, Africa and Italy. The two latter quarrelled, and Constans being the victor, enjoyed the dominion of the whole west. He possessed it, however, but a few years before he was slain by one of his own commanders. This rebel was soon defeated by the surviving emperor of the east, and in the rage of despair, ended his own days, A. D. 353. [See Sabine's Eccl. Hist., p. 155.]

The barbarous hordes who overran Europe, soon after this began their depredations on the Roman empire, and continued them until, finally, the imperial power of the west expired under this scourge, in 476. Constantine forsook Rome and left it to be a prey to merciless hordes of barbarians and savages.

THE CONQUEST OF ROME BY THE BARBARIANS

Verse 30. "For the ships of Chittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant; so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant."

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"The ships of Chittim." What country is meant by Chittim, expositors are in doubt. The general explanation given, is, that Europe is meant; and some say all the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean are intended. Dr. A. Clarke, on Isa. xxiii. 1,-"From the land of Chittim it is revealed to them,"-has the following remarks: 'The news of the destruction of Tyre, by Nebuchadnezzar, is said to be brought to them from Chittim, the islands and coast of the Mediterranean; 'for the Tyrians,' says Jerome, on verse 6, 'when they saw they had no other means of escaping, fled in their ships, and took refuge in CARTHAGE, and in the islands of the Ionian and ∆gean seas.' So also, Jochri on the same place."

But did the ships of Carthage have any hand in the final ruin of IMPERIAL ROME?

As the fall of Rome is a matter of deep interest and importance to the student of prophecy, copious extracts from Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of Rome, will be given in this place. The first invasion and sack of Rome, was by Alaric, the Gothic chieftain, in 408, and is thus related by Gibbon:

"While the ministers of Ravenna expected, in sullen silence, that the barbarians should evacuate the confines of Italy, Alaric, (in the year 408.) with bold and rapid marches, passed the Alps and Po; hastily pillaged the cities of Aquileia, Altinum, Concordia, and Cremona, which yielded to his arms; increased his forces by the addition of thirty thousand auxiliaries; and without meeting a single enemy in the field, advanced as far as the edge of the morass which

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protected the impregnable residence of the emperor of the West. Instead of attempting the hopeless siege of Ravenna, the prudent leader of the Goths proceeded to Rimini, stretched his ravages along the seacoast of the Adriatic, and meditated the conquest of the ancient mistress of the world. An Italian hermit encountered the victorious monarch, and boldly denounced the indignation of Heaven against the oppressors of the earth; but the saint himself was confounded by the solemn asseveration of Alaric that he felt a secret and preternatural impulse, which directed, and even compelled, his march to the gates of Rome. He felt that his genius and fortune were equal to the most arduous enterprises,-and he pitched his camp under the walls of Rome. During a period of six hundred and nineteen years, the seat of empire had never been violated by the presence of a foreign enemy.

"The edifices of Rome, though the damage has been exaggerated, received some injury from the violence of the Goths. At their entrance through the Salarian gate, they fired the adjacent houses to guide their march, and to distract the attention of the citizens; the flames, which encountered no obstacle in the disorder of the night, consumed many private and public buildings; and the ruins of the palace of Sallust remained, in the age of Justinian, a stately monument of the Gothic conflagration."-[Gibbon's Hist., vol. V., chap. 30, pp. 253, 255.]

Alaric died in 410, and in 412 the Goths voluntarily retreated from Italy. The citizens were encouraged to repair the ruins of the Gothic invasion, and peace and plenty were soon restored to Rome; so that in less than seven years the marks

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of the Gothic invasion were almost obliterated. The next stroke falls on Rome from Chittim, or Africa.

"The apparent tranquillity," continues Gibbon, "was soon disturbed by the approach of an hostile armament from the country which afforded the daily subsistence of the Roman people. Heraclian count of Africa, who, under the most difficult and distressful circumstances, had supported, with active difficulty, the cause of Honorius, was tempted, in the year of his consulship, to assume the character of a rebel and the title of an emperor. The ports of Africa were immediately filled with the naval forces, at the head of which he prepared to invade Italy; and his fleet, when he cast anchor at the mouth of the Tiber, indeed surpassed the fleets of Xerxes and Alexander, if all the vessels. including the royal galley and the smallest boat, did actually amount to the incredible number of three thousand two hundred. Yet with such an armament, which might have subverted or restored the greatest empires of the earth, the African usurper made a very faint and feeble impression on the provinces of his rival."-[Gibbon's History, vol. V. ch. 31. p. 351.]

But although Heraclian, the Roman rebel, with his armament of 3200 vessels from the ports of Africa, did not succeed in his assault on Rome, another agent of Providence was in reserve to accomplish the task.

"The gates of Spain,-the passes of the Pyrenees,-were treacherously betrayed to the public enemy. The consciousness of guilt, and the thirst of rapine, prompted the mercenary guards of the Pyrenees to desert their station; to invite the

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arms of the Suevi, the Vandals, and the Alarici; and to swell the torrent which was poured with irresistible violence from the frontiers of Gaul to the sea of Africa.' "-[Ibid., p. 235.]

The Roman governor of Africa having revolted from the emperor in 427, and finding himself in need of assistance, he "despatched a trusty friend to the court, or rather camp, of Gonderic, king of the Vandals, with a proposal of a strict alliance, and the offer of an advantageous and perpetual settlement. The vessels which the Vandals found in the harbor of Carthagena might easily transport them to the isles of Majorca or Minorca, where the Spanish fugitives, as in a secure recess, had vainly concealed their families and their fortunes. The experience of navigation, and, perhaps, the prospect, encouraged the Vandals to accept the invitation which they received from Count Boniface; and the death of Gonderic served only to forward and animate the bold enterprise. In the room of a prince, not conspicuous for any superior powers of the mind or the body, they acquired his bastard brother, the terrible Genseric; a name which, in the destruction of the roman empire, has deserved an equal rank with the names of alaric and attila."-[Ibid.]

Under Genseric the Vandal supremacy was established in Africa. He landed his army, consisting of fifty thousand effective men, on the shores of Africa, in 429.

"The Vandals, who, in twenty years, had penetrated from the Elbe to Mount Atlas, were united under the command of their warlike king, and he reigned with equal authority over the Alarici who had passed, within the term of human life

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from the cold of Scythia to the excessive heat of an African climate."-[Ibid.]

His band of barbarians formed but the nucleus of a growing power, which soon swelled into the magnitude, and assumed likeness, of a burning mountain.

"His own dexterity, and the discontents of Africa, soon fortified the Vandal powers by the accession of numerous and active allies. The ports of Mauritana, which border on the great desert and the Atlantic Ocean, were filled with a fierce and untractable race of men, whose savage temper had been exasperated rather than reclaimed by their dread of the Roman arms. The Moors, regardless of any future consequences, embraced the alliance of the enemies of Rome; and a crowd of naked savages rushed from the woods and valleys of Mount Atlas to satiate their revenge on the polished tyrants, who had injuriously expelled them from their native sovereignty of the land.

"The long and narrow tract of the African coast was filled with frequent monuments of Roman art and magnificence. On a sudden, the seven fruitful provinces, from Tangiers to Tripoli, were overwhelmed by an invasion of the Vandals. The Vandals, where they found resistance, seldom gave quarter; and the deaths of their valiant countrymen were expiated by the ruin of the cities under whose walls they had fallen. The calamities of war were aggravated by the licentiousness of the Moors, and the fanaticism of the donatists. The maritime colony of Hippo, about two hundred miles westward of Carthage, had formerly acquired the distinguished epithet of Regius,

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from the residence of Numidian kings; and some remains of trade and populousness still adhere to the modern city, which is known in Europe by the corrupted name of Bona. The city of Hippo was burnt by the Vandals. The loss of a second battle irretrievably decided the fate of Africa. And Carthage was at length (in the year 439) surprised by the Vandals, five hundred and eighty years after the destruction of the city and republic by the younger Scipio.

"The vandals and Alarici, who followed the successful standard of Genseric, had acquired a rich and fertile territory, which stretched along the coast from Tangier to Tripoli; but their narrow limits were pressed and confined on either side by the sandy desert and the Mediterranean. The discovery and conquest of the black nations that might dwell beneath the torrid zone, could not tempt the rational ambition of Genseric; but he cast his eyes towards the sea; he resolved to create a new naval power, and his bold enterprise was executed with steady and active perseverance. The woods of Mount Atlas afforded an inexhaustible nursery of timber; his new subjects were skilled in the art of navigation and ship-building; he animated his daring Vandals to embrace a mode of warfare which would render every maritime country accessible to their arms; the Moors and Africans were allured by the hope of plunder; and, after an interval of six centuries, the fleet that issued from the port of Carthage, again claimed the empire of the Mediterranean. The success of the Vandals, the conquest of Sicily, the sack of Palermo, and the frequent descents on the coast of Lucania, awakened and alarmed the

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mother of Valentinian, and the sister of Theodosius," etc.-[Ibid., vol. VI., pp. 145, 146.]

"The naval power of Rome was unequal to the task of saving even the imperial city from the ravages of the Vandals. Sailing from Africa, they disembarked at the port of Ostia, and Rome and its inhabitants were delivered to the licentiousness of Vandals and Moors, whose blind passions revenged the injuries of Carthage. The pillage lasted fourteen days and nights; and all that yet remained of public and private wealth, of sacred or profane treasure, was diligently transported to the vessels of Genseric. In the forty-five years that had elapsed since the Gothic invasion, the pomp and luxury of Rome were in some measure restored, and it was difficult either to escape or to satisfy the avarice of a conqueror, who possessed leisure to collect, and ships to transport the wealth of the capital."-[Ibid., pp. 152, 153.]

After Genseric had secured the empire of the Mediterranean, the emperors of Rome and of Constantinople strove in vain to dispossess him of his power. Majorian, unable to defend "the long extended coast of Italy from the depredations of a naval war," made great and strenuous preparation for the invasion of Africa, and a fleet was constructed to transport his army.

"The woods of the Appenines were felled; the arsenals and manufactures of Ravenna and Misenum were restored; Italy and Gaul vied with each other in liberal contributions to the public service; and the imperial navy of three hundred long galleys, with an adequate proportion of transports and smaller vessels, was collected in the secure and capacious harbor of Carthagena in Spain. But

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Genseric was saved from impending and inevitable ruin by the treachery of some powerful subjects, envious or apprehensive of their master's success. Guided by their secret intelligence, he surprised the unguarded fleet in the bay of Carthagena; many of the ships were sunk, or taken, or burnt, and the preparations of three years were destroyed in a single day.

"Italy continued to be long afflicted by the incessant depredations of the Vandal pirates. In the spring of each year they equipped a formidable navy in the port of Carthage; and Genseric himself, though in a very advanced age, still commanded in person the most important expeditions. His designs were concealed with impenetrable secresy till the moment that he hoisted sail. When he was asked by his pilot, what course he should steer-'Leave the determination to the winds,' replied the barbarian, with pious arrogance-'they will transport us to the guilty coast whose inhabitants have provoked the divine justice.' The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts of Spain, Liguira, Tuscany, Campania, Leucania, Brutium, Apulia, Calabria, Venetia, Dalmatia, Epirus, Greece, and Sicily; they were tempted to subdue the island of Sardinia, so advantageously placed in the centre of the Mediterranean, and their arms spread desolation or terror from the column of Hercules to the mouth of the Nile. In the treatment of his unhappy prisoners, he sometimes consulted his avarice, and sometimes his cruelty; he massacred five hundred noble citizens of Zante, or Zaynthus, whose mangled bodies be cast into the Ionian sea."-[Ibid., pp. 180-182, 187, 188.]

A last and desperate attempt to dispossess

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Genseric of the sovereignty of the sea, was made in the year 468, by the emperor of the east.

"The whole expense of the African campaign amounted to the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds of gold-about five millions two hundred thousand pounds sterling. The fleet that sailed from Constantinople to Carthage, consisted of eleven hundred and thirteen ships, and the number of soldiers and mariners exceeded one hundred thousand men. The army of Heraclius, and the fleet of Marcellinus, either joined or seconded the imperial lieutenant. The wind became favorable to the designs of Genseric. He manned his largest ship of war with the bravest of the Moors and Vandals, and they towed after them many large barks filled with combustible materials. In the obscurity of the night these destructive vessels were impelled against the unguarded and unsuspecting fleet of the Romans, who were awakened by a sense of their instant danger. Their close and crowded order assisted the progress of the fire, which was communicated with rapid and irresistible violence; and the noise of the wind, the crackling of the flames, the dissonant cries of the soldiers and marines, who could neither command nor obey, increased the horror of the nocturnal tumult. Whilst they labored to extricate themselves from the fire-ships, and to save at least a part of the navy, the galleys of Genseric assaulted them with temperate and disciplined valor; and many of the Romans who escaped the fury of the flames were destroyed or taken by the victorious Vandals. After the failure of this great expedition, Genseric again became the 'tyrant of the sea;' the coasts of Italy, Greece,

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and Asia were again exposed to his revenge and avarice. Tripoli and Sardinia returned to his obedience; he added Sicily to the number of his provinces; and before he died, in the fulness of years and of glory, he beheld the final extinction of the empire of the west."-[Ibid., pp. 203, 205.]

Thus the ships of Carthage or Chittim ruined Rome.

THE EFFECT OF THE BARBAHIAN CONQUESTS ON THE IMPERIAL POWER

"Therefore shall he be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant." The barbarians who conquered Rome, the Goths, Huns and Vandals, embraced the Arian faith, and became bitter enemies of the Catholic church, and waged several severe persecutions against the Roman church. The Roman emperors, both of the east and west, were, for the most part, staunch friends of the Catholic church, and some of them most violent partisans in the religious disputes of the age. And it was for the purpose of exterminating heresy, especially the Arian heresy, which the Goths and Vandals had embraced and maintained, that the emperor Justinian gave his entire power as head of the church to the pope, and constituted him the true and effective corrector of heretics; and also subjected and united to him all the priests of the whole east; submitting to him for decision, all questions belonging to the state of the church. The Bible, the holy covenant,

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was, in their estimation, the grand source of error, and the right of each Christian to read and interpret the word of God for himself, must be denied and restricted. Hence, the decision of all questions must be submitted to the pope and the Catholic church. The Roman church forsook God's word and turned to the decisions of general councils and popes, as infallible guides in all matters of faith and practice.

That the church of Rome has, by the Council of Trent, prohibited the free translation and circulation of the Scriptures, will be clear from the following extract from the fourth rule of the Congregation of the Index, (a committee of the council,) appointed by the Council of Trent to decide as to prohibited books:-

"Seeing it is manifest by experience, that if the Holy Scriptures be permitted to be read everywhere indiscriminately ('sine discrimine') in the vulgar tongue, more harm than good would result thence, through the rashness of men; let it therefore be at the pleasure of the bishop or inquisitor, with the advice of the parish priest or confessor, to permit the reading of Bibles translated by Catholic authors, to those who, in their opinion, may receive not harm, but an increase of faith and piety. This license let them have in writing. But whosoever shall presume, without such license, to read or possess them, he cannot receive forgiveness of his sins until such Bibles be returned to the ordinary."

The Vandal war of 533 and the Ostrogothic war of 536-8, were commenced and consummated by the imperial power to put down heresy and exalt Catholicism, and finally to establish the supremacy

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of the Roman Catholic church. The emperors had indignation against freedom of opinion in the church and on religious questions, and had intelligence with the church of Rome,-which forsook the holy covenant, and became the apostacy or "falling away" "the man of sin,"-for the purpose of putting down the barbarous Arians. The final result of the establishment of popery by the Greek emperor, was the overthrow of the Goths and Vandals, and the termination of the Arian controversy.

THE DAILY SACRIFICE - ABOMINATION THAT MAKETH DESOLATE

Verse 31: "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate."

"Arms shall stand on his part." "Arms" signify power, military power; stand up, signifies to reign. His power, although destroyed in the west, retained its independence in the east, whither the imperial power was all transferred on the conquest of Rome by Odoacer, in 476.

"They shall pollute the sanctuary of strength." They, the barbarians, shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, Rome. Sanctuary of strength, is a term which nowhere else occurs in the Bible. In chapter viii. 11, there is a use of the term sanctuary which seems to refer to the same event here spoken of. "Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by [from him, in the

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margin] him the daily was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down." That the city of Rome was the sanctuary of the empire, and that paganism had found a sanctuary there long after it was abolished by Constantine, and Christianity adopted, is certain. That this sanctuary of paganism was cast down and polluted by the barbarians, is also true. First by Alaric, the Gothic king, 410; then by Attila, the Hun, 451, and by the terrible Genseric, the Vandal king, in 455. And at length the imperial power of the west died by the conquest of Rome by Odoacer, in 476.

The account given by Gibbon of the capture of Rome by Genseric, and the depredations made by his voracious army, will best illustrate the casting down of paganism's sanctuary and its pollution.

"On the third day after the tumult, Genseric boldly advanced from the port of Ostia to the gates of the defenceless city. Instead of a sally of the Roman youth, there issued from the gates an unarmed and venerable procession of the bishop at the head of his clergy. The fearless spirit of Leo, his authority and eloquence, again mitigated the fierceness of a barbarian conqueror: the king of the Vandals promised to spare the unresisting multitude, to protect the buildings from fire, and to exempt the captives from torture; and although such orders were neither seriously given, nor strictly obeyed, the mediation of Leo was glorious to himself, and in some degree beneficial to his country. But Rome, and its inhabitants, were delivered to the licentiousness of the Vandals and Moors, whose blind passions revenged the injuries

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of Carthage. The pillage lasted fourteen days and nights; and all that yet remained of public or private wealth, of sacred or profane treasure, was diligently transported to the vessels of Genseric. Among the spoils, the splendid relics of two temples, or rather of two religions, exhibited a memorable example of the vicissitude of human and divine things. Since the abolition of Paganism, the capitol had been violated and abandoned; yet the statues of the gods and heroes were still respected, and the curious roof of gilt bronze was reserved for the rapacious hands of Genseric. The holy instruments of the Jewish worship, the gold table, and the gold candlestick with seven branches, originally framed according to the particular instructions of God himself, and which were placed in the sanctuary of his temple, had been ostentatiously displayed to the Roman people in the triumph of Titus. They were afterwards deposited in the temple of peace, and at the end of four hundred years, the spoils of Jerusalem were transferred from Rome to Carthage, by a barbarian who derived his origin from the shores of the Baltic. These ancient monuments might attract the notice of curiosity, as well as of avarice. But the Christian churches, enriched and adorned by the prevailing superstition of the times, afforded more plentiful materials for sacrilege; and the pious liberality of pope Leo, who melted six silver vases, the gift of Constantine, each of an hundred pounds weight, is an evidence of the damage which he attempted to repair. In the forty-five years that had elapsed since the Gothic invasion, the pomp and luxury of Rome were in some measure restored; and it was

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difficult either to escape, or to satisfy, the avarice of a conqueror who possessed leisure to collect, and ships to transport the wealth of the capital. The imperial ornaments of the palace, the magnificent furniture and wardrobe, the sideboards of massy plate, were accumulated with disorderly rapine: the gold and silver amounted to several thousand talents; yet even the brass and copper were laboriously removed. Eudoxia herself, who advanced to meet her friend and deliverer, soon bewailed the imprudence of her own conduct. She was rudely stripped of her jewels; and the unfortunate empress, with her two daughters, the only surviving remains of the great Theodosius, was compelled, as a captive, to follow the haughty Vandal; who immediately hoisted sail and returned with a prosperous navigation to the port of Carthage."-[Gibbon, vol. VI., pp. 123-5.]

"And shall take away the daily." What the term daily signifies, is a matter on which a diversity of opinions exists; and as it is an important word, and much depends on the meaning of it, it will receive a careful examination.

The first instance of the occurrence of the term is in the passage already quoted, Dan. viii. 11: "And from him the daily shall be taken away." From whom? From the little horn. The little horn, as has been shown in Vol. I., is Rome, either pagan and papal, or papal alone. If the former, which the word from would seem to require us to understand, then it was the overthrow of paganism in Rome by the irruption of the Vandals. If we understand popery to be the little horn, then I would render the particle for, rather than from; "and for him the daily was taken away." This

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would well accord with Paul's view of the subject, (2 Thess. ii.,) where he tells us "the mystery of iniquity [paganism] doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed." From this it would seem that the apostle understood that there were to be two systems which should oppose themselves to God; the one paganism, "the mystery of iniquity," the other popery, "that wicked;" the one working and putting to death the saints of Paul's day, under Nero, the other to come when the first was removed to make way for him. To take away the daily for him, would be to remove it as something that hindered popery, the transgression of desolation, from gaining its power in Rome.

Again, Dan. viii. 13: "How long the vision, the daily and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and host to be trodden under foot?" Here there are two systems of abomination which were successively to tread down the sanctuary and host. The one was to be taken away for the other, to make way for it. The little horn was the transgression of desolation, the power that cast down truth to the ground, and practised and prospered; that also destroyed the mighty and the holy people.

They shall take away the daily, refers to the ships of Chittim, or the barbarous conquerors of Rome. The foregoing account of what Genseric did in Rome, will suffice on this point.

THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION

The question is often asked, does not Christ speak of the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem? And if so, how can it mean popery? I answer, the passage to which Christ, in the 24th of Matthew, refers, is not the 11th of Daniel, but the 9th. Vet. 26: "After three-score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and unto the end of the war desolations [in the plural] are determined." The people here spoken of, were unquestionably the Roman army, who did destroy Jerusalem, as both Daniel and Christ predicted. This was one of the abominations which was to desolate the sanctuary, and tread under foot the host. But Daniel, ix. 27, says: "For the overspreading of abominations [the plural again] he shall make it desolate till the consummation. There was to be, according to Daniel, more than one abomination which should desolate the church. Paganism put the Hebrew worthies in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the den of lions, the Jews under their heathen persecutors before Christ, and Christians under the Roman emperors, to all manner of tortures and indignities. Popery has since done the same.

"And they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." The barbarians, having been the instruments of overthrowing one system, were to be the agents of placing another. The first papal war ever waged, where the Catholic church was arrayed in arms against the state, and

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all others that opposed its dogmas, was terminated in favor of the Catholic church and the pope, by the interposition of Vitalian, a Gothic chieftain, as the champion of the Catholic faith; and the story is thus related by Gibbon:-

"[A. D. 508-518.] In the fever of the times, the sense, or rather the sound of a syllable, was sufficient to disturb the peace of an empire. The Trisagion, (thrice holy,) 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!' is supposed, by the Greeks, to be the identical hymn which the angels and cherubim eternally repeat before the throne of God; and which, about the middle of the fifth century, was miraculously revealed to the church of Constantinople. The devotion of Antioch soon added, 'who was crucified for us!' and this grateful address, either to Christ alone, or to the whole Trinity, may be justified by the rules of theology, and has been gradually adopted by the Catholics of the East and West. But it had been imagined by a Monophysite bishop: the gift of an enemy was at first rejected as a dire and dangerous blasphemy, and the rash innovation had nearly cost the emperor Anastasius his throne and his life. The people of Constantinople were devoid of any rational principles of freedom; but they held as a lawful cause of rebellion the color of a livery in the races, or the color of a mystery in the schools. The Trisagion, with and without this obnoxious addition, was chanted in the cathedral by two adverse choirs, and when their lungs were exhausted, they had recourse to the more solid arguments of sticks and stones: the aggressors were punished by the emperor, and defended by the patriarch; and the crown and mitre were

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staked on the event of this momentous quarrel. The streets were instantly crowded with innumerable swarms of men, women, and children; the legions of monks, in regular array, marched and shouted, and fought at their head. 'Christians! this is the day of martyrdom; let us not desert our spiritual father; anathema to the ManichrÊan tyrant! he is unworthy to reign.' Such was the Catholic cry; and the galleys of Anastasius lay upon their oars before the palace, till the patriarch had pardoned his penitent, and hushed the waves of the troubled multitude. The triumph of Macedonius was checked by a speedy exile; but the zeal of the flock was again exasperated by the same question, 'Whether one of the Trinity had been crucified?' On this momentous occasion, the blue and green factions of Constantinople suspended their discord, and the civil and military powers were annihilated in their presence. The keys of the city and the standards of the guards were deposited in the forum of Constantine, the principal station and camp of the faithful. Day and night they were incessantly busied either in singing hymns to the honor of their God, or in pillaging and murdering the servants of their prince. The head of his favorite monk, the friend, as they styled him, of the enemy of the Holy Trinity, was borne aloft on a spear; and the fire-brands which had been darted against heretical structures, diffused the undistinguishing flames over the most orthodox buildings. The statues of the emperor were broken, and his person was concealed in a suburb, till, at the end of three days, he dared to implore the mercy of his subjects. Without his diadem, and in the posture

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of a suppliant, Anastasius appeared on the throne of the circus. The Catholics, before his face, rehearsed the genuine Trisagion; they exulted in the offer, which he proclaimed by the voice of a herald, of abdicating the purple; they listened to the admonition that, since all could not reign, they should previously agree in the choice of a sovereign; and they accepted the blood of two unpopular ministers, whom their master, without hesitation, condemned to the lions. These furious but transient seditions were encouraged by the success of Vitalian, who, with an army of Huns and Bulgarians, for the most part idolaters, declared himself the champion of the Catholic faith. In this pious rebellion, he depopulated Thrace, besieged Constantinople, exterminated sixty-five thousand of his fellow-Christians, till he obtained the recall of the bishops, the satisfaction of the pope, and the establishment of the Council of Chalcedon, an orthodox treaty, reluctantly signed by the dying Anastasius, and more faithfully performed by the uncle of Justinian. And such was the event of the first of the religious wars, which have been waged in the name, and by the disciples of the God of peace."

In this war the Catholic church for the first time waged a successful war against both the civil authority of the empire and the church of the east, which had for the most part embraced the Monophosite doctrine. The extermination of 65,000 heretics was the result. Thus they, the Goths, Huns and Bulgarians, for the most part IDOLATORS, place the abomination which maketh desolate; they forgot their pagan character,

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and espoused the papal cause. This war, let it be kept in remembrance, according to Gibbon, originated in 508.

Verses 32, 33: "And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days."

Having thus introduced us to the first papal war and the victory of the Catholic church over the heretics, we are presented with a brief view of the whole course of papal persecutions.

"Such as do wickedly against the covenant,"-have more regard for human traditions, and the decisions of popes and councils, than they have for God's word,-"shall he," the pope, "corrupt by flatteries." They shall be beguiled by the show and glitter of pompous ceremonies, and high-sounding titles, and drawn away from the simplicity of the gospel, and purity of Christian faith and practice. They shall do homage to the creature rather than the Creator.

"But the people that do know their God,"-the true, humble followers of the Savior, who love and keep to the word of God,-"shall be strong and do exploits." They shall keep pure religion alive in the earth, during the darkest times. Such were the Waldenses, the Albigenses, and the Huguenots, who, under the dominion of the man of sin, fell "by the sword, by flame, by captivity, and spoil, many days." The number of days is named in Daniel xii. 11.

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Verse 34: "Now, when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries."

"Shall be holpen with a little help." During the period of papal supremacy, when the man of sin is in his full strength, a partial deliverance of the church from his hand will be effected, by the reformation under Martin Luther; when the German, states will espouse the protestant at cause, and grant toleration and support to the reformers, protecting them from the violence of the Roman church in its efforts to exclude the dawning light as it breaks in upon the world. But when this help comes, and. the protestant cause becomes popular-

"Many shall cleave to them with flatteries." A multitude will come into the reformed churches from unworthy motives. Such was the case of Henry VIII., of England, who seceded from the church of Rome, because the pope refused his sanction to the divorce of queen Catherine, and Henry's marriage with Ann Boylen. After this refusal of the pope, Henry appealed to the universities of Europe on the question; the result of this appeal was favorable to his views and wishes, and he divorced his wife and married another, and immediately renounced popery, and was himself declared by the parliament and people of England, to be the supreme head on earth of the church of England.

Verse 35: "And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed."

"Shall fall, to try them," etc Although the

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power of the pope over the heretics was in a measure broken, yet it did not entirely cease. Some still fell, despite the protection of protestant princes and kings. Such was the state of the English church especially. The religious state of that kingdom was fluctuating; at one time being under protestant, and at another under papal jurisdiction. The bloody queen Mary, was a mortal enemy of the protestant cause; and during her reign, multitudes of Christians were victims of her unrelenting persecutions.

"To the time of the end." The power of the church of Rome, although greatly restricted and held in check by the protestant governments, was not to be taken away until "the time of the end" should come. Then it must fall.

"Because it is yet for a time appointed." The time of the end is not when the partial deliverance or "little help" comes; but after the reformation, and before "the time of the end," another government of a purely atheistical character was to arise.

THE WILFUL KING - THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

That an event of such magnitude as the French Revolution, and coming, as it does, within the range of the great leading events of prophecy, the history of the four great governments of the earth, should receive no notice in the prophecy, is not to be credited. And if it is to receive notice anywhere, what more likely place to find it than in this most singularly definite and particular prediction in the 11th chapter of Daniel? And where in this

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chapter, except in the decline, and before the overthrow of popery? In short, where, but in the very place in which we find the following exact description of a government perfectly answering the history of the revolution in France?

Verses 36, 37: "And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every gods and shall Speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all."

Such a system as is here described was the French Revolution. It was founded in Atheism, and triumphed in the overthrow of everything which interposed a barrier to their object. The seed of this revolution were sown by Voltaire, the noted French infidel, who in early youth vowed to dedicate his life to the extermination of Christianity. He used to say, "I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion. I will prove that one man may suffice to overthrow it". To accomplish his object he associated with himself a band of philosophic infidels, such as Rousseau, De Alembert, Didervit, and others. Their numbers rapidly increased, and their success was beyond measure. In speaking of Christ, one of the watchwords of the fraternity was, "Crush the wretch." They held the following language and sentiments:-"The fear of God is so far from being the beginning of wisdom, that it is the beginning of folly. Modesty is only an invention of refined voluptuousness.

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THE SUPREME KING, the God of the Jews and Christians, IS BUT A PHANTOM. JESUS CHRIST IS AN IMPOSTOR."

With millions of Frenchmen, imbued with a spirit and sentiments like these, as the materials for revolution, the engine was first brought to bear on the French government, in 1789. The first blow was struck by the capture and destruction of the Bastile. In 1790, all the spiritual orders and cloisters were suppressed, and also the parliaments were suppressed soon after. Next followed the abolition of all the titles of the nobility, coats of arms, and decorations of the orders of chivalry. (June 19, 1790.)

In 1792, France became a republic, and on the 26th day of August, 1792, an open profession of Atheism was made by the national convention. The reign of terror then commenced in earnest; and the most horrid scenes were constantly occurring. On the 21st of January, 1793, the king of France was beheaded; and the queen shared the same fate on the 1st of October of the same year. At this juncture all religious worship was prohibited, save of LIBERTY and the COUNTRY.

It was thus that the government magnified itself above every god, and spoke marvellous things against the God of gods, and did not regard any god.

I do not know that I can in a few words give the reader a more full idea of the reign of Atheism, than by an extract from Smith's Key to Revelation, pp. 323-4:-

"In August 26, 1792, an open profession of atheism was made by the National Convention;

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and corresponding societies and atheistical clubs were everywhere fearlessly held in the French nation Massacres and the reign of terror became the most horrid. Hear one report of the National Convention of January 30, 1795: 'Last year you maintained 1,100,000 fighting men. France stood armed on the one side, and Europe on the other; and victory constantly followed the tricolored standard. Holland is conquered; and England trembles; twenty-three regular sieges terminated; six pitched battles gained; 2,000 cannon taken; 2,000 towns submitted;-such is the glorious result of the last campaign; the next promises, if possible, more surprising success! The loss of men in the armies of France, from 1789 to 1796, slain, was said to be 1,200,000, besides the huge hosts of slaughtered citizens, men, women, and children, who were said to amount to 2,000,000. General Denican, a French officer, declared that 3,000,000 of the. French perished within five years of the revolution in 1789. The 'Terrible Republic' (a name they assumed before they became an empire) having by public authority denied God and the Christian religion, were prepared to patronise any and every enormity; the burning of the Bible in a public place; the parading of the sacramental vessels through the streets on an ass, in contempt; posting in their places of burial, 'Death is an eternal sleep!' abolishing the Sabbath, and shutting up the houses of God; declaring Christ an impostor; the gospel a forgery; and swearing to extirpate Christianity from the world; assuring the public as follows,-'Man, when free, wants no other divinity than himself!-reason dethrones both

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the kings of the earth and the king of heaven;-no monarchy above, if we wish to preserve our republic below;-every other than a republic of atheists is a chimera;-if you admit the existence of a heavenly sovereign, you introduce the wooden horse; what you adore by day, will be your ruin by night.' A comedian, as a priest of Illuminism, publicly attacked God thus: 'No, thou dost not exist! If thou hast power over the thunderbolts, grasp, and aim them at the man who dares to set thee at defiance in the face of thine altars. But no!-I blaspheme-thee, and yet I live! No, thou dost not exist!'"

"Nor the desire of women." The abolition of the marriage covenant was one of the acts of the revolutionary government, and on the 6th of June, 1794, fornication was established by law, and the most unbounded licentiousness prevailed.

Verse 38: "But in his estate shall he honor the god of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things."

"Honor the god of forces."-Liberty and the country were the objects of adoration.

"A god whom his fathers knew not."-The goddess of reason. This system was established in January, 1794. The history of this event will be best given by a quotation from Scou's Life of Napoleon. This extract will show how they renounced the worship of God, and vowed henceforth to pay homage to liberty, equality, virtue, and morality. The next step was the worship of the GODDESS OF REASON, and the abolilion of THE MARRIAGE VOW.

Reader, ponder well this article, and learn what

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man is when he is left to himself, and what infidelity is when the restraints of law are thrown off, and the power is in its own hands.

I. THE DENIAL OF A GOD

"An unhappy man, named Gobet, Constitutional Bishop of Paris, was brought forward to play the principal part in the most impudent and scandalous farce ever acted in the face of a national representation.

"It is said that the leaders of the scene had some difficulty in inducing the bishop to comply with the task assigned him, which, after all, he executed, not without present tears and subsequent remorse. But he did play the part prescribed. He was brought forward, in full procession, to declare to the Convention, that the religion which he had taught so many years, was, in every respect, a piece of priestcraft, which had no foundation either in history or sacred truth. He disowned, in solemn and explicit terms, the existence of the Deity to whose worship he had been consecrated, and devoted himself in future to the homage of Liberty, Equality, Virtue, and Morality. He then laid on the table his Episcopal decorations, and received a fraternal embrace from the president of the convention. Several apostate priests followed the example of this prelate.

"The gold and silver plate of the churches was seized upon and desecrated; processions entered the convention, travested in priestly garments, and singing the most profane hymns; while many of the chalices and sacred vessels were applied by

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Chaumette and Hebert to the celebration of their own impious orgies. The world, for the first time, heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which man's soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of a Deity. For a short time the same mad profanity continued to be acted upon."

II. THE ADORATION OF THE GODDESS OF REASON

"One of the ceremonies of this insane time stands unrivalled for absurdity, combined with impiety. The doors of the convention were thrown open to a band of musicians; preceded by whom, the members of the municipal body entered in solemn procession, singing a hymn in praise of liberty, and escorting, as the object of their future worship, a veiled female, whom they termed the Goddess of Reason. Being brought within the bar, she was unveiled with great form, and placed on the right hand of the president; when she was generally recognised as a dancing-girl of the opera, with whose charms most of the persons present were acquainted from her appearance on the stage, while the experience of individuals was farther extended. To this person, as the fittest representative of that reason whom they worshipped, the National Convention of France rendered public homage.

"This impious and ridiculous mummery had

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a certain fashion; and the installation of the goddess of reason was renewed and imitated throughout the nation, m such places where the inhabitants desired to show themselves equal to all the heights of the revolution. The churches were, in most districts of France, closed against priests and worshippers-the bells were broken and cast into cannon-the whole ecclesiastical establishment destroyed-and the republican inscription over the cemeteries, declaring death to be perpetual sleep, announced to those who lived under that dominion, that they were to hope no redress in the next world."

III. ABOLITION OF THE MARRIAGE VOW

"Intimately connected with these laws affecting religion, was that which reduced the union of marriage,-the most sacred engagement which human beings can form, and the permanence of which leads most strongly to the consolidation of society,-to the state of a mere civil contract of a transitory character, which any two persons might engage in, and cast loose at pleasure, when their taste was changed, or their appetite gratified. If fiends had set themselves to work to discover a mode of most effectually destroying whatever is venerable, graceful, or permanent in domestic life, and of obtaining at the same time an assurance that the mischief which it was their object to create should be perpetuated from one generation to another, they could not have invented a more effectual plan than the degradation of marriage into a state of mere occasional cohabitation, or licensed

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concubinage. Sophie Arnoult, an actress famous for the witty things she said, described the republican marriage as the sacrament of adultery."

IV. A SYSTEM OF HEATHENISM - THE RELIGION OF FRANCE

"Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god." A system of paganism, was next introduced into France, and the national assembly enacted a heathen ritual for the use of the French people. This system continued in force until the appointment of Napoleon to the provisional consulate of France, in 1799. The abolition of the ritual is thus recorded by Lockhart, in his Life of Napoleon, vol. I., p. 154:-"A third and bolder measure was the discarding of THE HEATHEN RITUAL, and re-opening of the churches for Christian worship; and of this the credit was wholly Napoleon's, who had to contend with the philosophic prejudices of almost all his colleagues. He, in his conversations with them, made no attempts to represent himself a believer in Christianity; but stood only on the necessity of providing the people with the regular means of worship, wherever it is meant to have a state of tranquillity. The priests who chose to take the oath of fidelity to government, were re-admitted to their functions; and this wise measure was followed by the adherence of not less than 20,000 of these ministers of religion, who had hitherto languished in the prisons of France." Thus terminated the reign of terror and the infidel revolution,

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leaving Bonaparte at the head of the French government, to give direction to the turbid waters, and turn them to his own account, and raise himself, upon the ruins of the revolution, to the throne of the empire, and to be the terror of the world.

CAREER OF BONAPARTE - THE TIME OF THE END

Verse 40: "And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over."

"At the time of the end." The time of the end is the period first introduced in chapter viii., ver. 16: "Understand, O son of man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision." That is, at the time of the end the vision shall be understood. Again, it is introduced in verse 35th of the 11th chapter, where we are told that the persecution of the saints will continue, in a measure, to "the time of the end." The French revolutionary government was then introduced to fill up the period to the time of the end. It is now, in the 40th verse, again introduced. It is the period of the fall of the papal power. That period was 1798, when, as will be seen by the extract which follows, the pope's power was destroyed, and he carried into captivity.

"Acts of violence were committed on the part of the French, first in Italy, where a numerous army stayed, even after the conclusion of peace. They fell upon the pope whose defenceless situation

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invited to aggression. General Duphot, attached to the embassy of Joseph Bonaparte, at Rome, lost his life in a popular tumult caused by the cries of 'Vive la Republique,' long live the republic, Dec 28th, 1797. The ambassador took his departure immediately, and General Berthier, who had succeeded Bonaparte in the command of the Italian army, entered Rome, Feb. 10th, 1798, where, five days after, the revolution was consummated.

"The papal government was abolished, and the 'Roman republic' proclaimed. At the head of the government were placed five consuls, assisted by a senate and a tribunate. But the heavy contributions imposed upon the people by the French army, and the shameless pillage of treasures of art, diminished the joy of the liberated. The pope, although he had signed his abdication in relation to his temporal power, was nevertheless conveyed to France as a prisoner, and treated with indignity. This aged man (he was eighty-two) bore his sufferings with fortitude, and died a prisoner in Valence, Aug. 29th, 1799."-[Rotteck's Hist. of the World, vol. IV., pp. 113-14.]

"The king of the south shall push at him." At whom? The answer is, at the subject of prophecy in the preceding verses-the revolutionary government of France. That power is clearly antecedent to "him," in this verse.

"The king of the south." And who is the king of the south? The answer is given in the exposition of the first six verses of the chapter, which the reader can examine. It is clearly the government of Egypt. I do not know that there is a dissenting voice to the application of this

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term to Egypt in the former part of this chapter; nor can I see any good reason why there should be in the latter part, as long as it was literally fulfilled in Egypt.

That a collision did actually take place between the French and Egypt is notorious. In the winter of 1798, after Bonaparte's return from his Italian campaign, he was appointed by the directory, commander-in-chief of the foreign armies of the French nation; and in that character he left France, on the morning of May 20th, 1798, with a fleet "of thirteen ships of the line, and fourteen frigates, and four hundred transports. They carried 40,000 picked soldiers and officers." On the 1st of July they reached the coast of Egypt, and landed the army about a mile and a half from Alexandria.

"Shall push." The weakness of this term signifies only a feeble and ineffectual resistance. The contrast is the more remarkable when compared with the strength of the next clause-"The king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind;"-shall come with an overwhelming power. Egypt pushed as follows, as described by Lockhart:-

"Egypt was, of course, wholly unprepared for this invasion. The Turks, however, mustered what force they could, and shutting the gates of the city, held out until the French forced their way through the old crumbling walls, and it was no longer possible to resist at once superior numbers and European discipline. Two hundred French died in the assault: the Turkish loss was still greater."

Napoleon left Alexandria on the 7th of July;

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and "on the 21st of July, the army came within sight of the pyramids, which, but for the regularity of the outline, might have been taken for a distant ridge of rocky mountains. While every eye was fixed on these hoary monuments of the past, they gained the brow of a gentle eminence, and saw at length spread out before them the vast army of the beys, their right posted on an intrenched camp by the Nile, their centre and left composed of that brilliant cavalry with which they were by this time acquainted. Napoleon, riding forward to reconnoitre, perceived (what escaped the observation of all his staff) that the guns on the intrenched camp were not provided with carriages; and instantly decided on his plan of attack. He prepared to throw his force on the left, where the guns could not be available. Mourad Bey, who commanded in chief, speedily penetrated his design; and the Mamelukes advanced gallantly to the encounter. 'Soldiers,' said Napoleon, 'from the summit of yonder pyramids forty ages behold you;' and the battle began.

"The French formed into separate squares, and awaited the assault of the Mamelukes. These came on with impetuous speed and wild cries, and practised every means to force their passage into the serried ranks of their new opponents. They rushed on the line of bayonets, backed their horses upon them, and at last, maddened by the firmness which they could not shake, dashed their pistols and carbines into the faces of the men. Nothing could move the French: the bayonet and the continued roll of musketry by degrees thinned the host around them; and Bonaparte at last advanced. Such were the confusion and terror of

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the enemy when he came near the camp, that they abandoned their works, and flung themselves by hundreds into the Nile. The carnage was prodigious. Multitudes more were drowned. Mourad and a remnant of his Mamelukes retreated on Upper Egypt. Cairo surrendered: Lower Egypt was entirely conquered."-[Lockhart's Life of Napoleon, vol. I., pp. 117-18.]

In; his way Egypt pushed, or feebly and ineffectually resisted the invasion.

"Like a whirlwind." The king of the north, it is universally acknowledged, signifies in this chapter, Syria, as being the northern division of the empire of Alexander the Great.

Having established his authority in Egypt, Bonaparte commenced, early in 1797, another campaign. It was his design to march his army by land to the British East Indies. With an army of ten thousand picked men, he left Egypt, and took the fortress of El-Arish, (15th Feb.) and pursuing his march, took Gaza without opposition. He next stormed Jaffa, (the Joppa of the Bible;) after a desperate resistance, the city and garrison surrendered. Three thousand Turks were killed in the siege; and from twelve hundred to three thousand more, who surrendered themselves as prisoners of war, were led out into the field unarmed, and shot down by the French in cold blood; their bodies were heaped up in a pyramid and left to consume.

Next came St. Jean D' Acre, in Syria, "the king of the north," which was to come against him "like a whirlwind." An extract from Lockhart, (vol. I., pp. 127-129,) will show the instrumentalities by which Bonaparte was defeated. First,

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chariots of war, artillery; his own artillery being taken and used against him in the siege. Second, horsemen, a large body of whom were gathered in the mountains of Samaria, preparing to descend upon Acre, and attack the besieged. Third, many ships; the British fleet under Sir Sydney Smith, and the Turkish fleet, which came to the relief of the garrison.

"Bonaparte had now ascertained that the pacha of Syria, Achmet-Djezzar, was at St. Jean D'-Acre, (so renowned in the history of the crusades,) and determined to defend that place to extremity, with the forces which had already been assembled for the invasion of Egypt. He in vain endeavored to seduce this ferocious chief from his allegiance to the porte, by holding out the hope of a separate independent government, under the protection of France. The first of Napoleon's messengers returned without an answer; the second was put to death; and the army moved on Acre in all the zeal of revenge, while the necessary apparatus of a siege was ordered to be sent round by sea from Alexandria.

"Sir Sydney Smith was then cruising in the Levant with two British ships of the line, the Tigre and the Theseus; and, being informed of Napoleon's approach by the pacha, hastened to support him in the defence of Acre. Napoleon's vessels, conveying guns and stores from Egypt, fell into his hands, and he appeared off the town two days before the French army came in view of it. He had on board his ship colonel Philip-peaux, a French royalist of great talents (formerly Bonaparte's school-fellow at Brienne;) and the pacha willingly permitted the English commodore

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and this skilful ally to regulate for him, as far as was possible, the plan of his defence.

"The loss of his own heavy artillery, and the presence of two English ships, were inauspicious omens; yet Bonaparte doubled not that the Turkish garrison would shrink before his onset, and he instantly commenced the siege. He opened his trenches on the 18th of March. 'On that little town,' said he to one of his generals, as they were standing together on an eminence, which still bears the name of Richard Cúsur-de-lion,-'on yonder little town depends the fate of the East. Behold the key of Constantinople, or of India.'

"From the 18th to the 28th of March the French labored hard in their trenches, being exposed to the fire of the extensive batteries, arranged by Philippeaux, so as to command their approach, and formed chiefly of Bonaparte's own artillery, captured on the voyage from Alexandria. The Turks also were constantly sallying out, and their pacha personally set the example of the most heroic resolution. Nevertheless, on the 28th, a breach was at last effected, and the French mounted with such fiery zeal, that the garrison gave way, until Djezzar appeared on the battlements, and flinging his own pistols at the heads of the flying men, urged and compelled them to renew the defence. In the end, the French retreated with great loss, and the Turks, headed by the English seamen, pursuing them to their lines, a great mine, designed to blow up the chief tower of Acre, was explored, and means taken for countermining it.

"Meanwhile, a vast Mussulman army had been gathered among the mountains of Samaria,

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and was preparing to descend upon Acre, and attack the besiegers in concert with the garrison of Djezzar. Junot, with his division, marched to encounter them, and would have been overwhelmed by their numbers, had not Napoleon himself followed and rescued him (April 8) at Nazareth, where the splendid cavalry of the orientals, were, as usual, unable to resist the solid squares and well-directed musketry of the French. Kleber, with another division, was in like manner endangered, and in like manner rescued by the general-in-chief at Mount Tabor (April 15.) The Mussulmans dispersed on all hands; and Napoleon, returning to his siege, pressed it on with desperate assaults, day after day, in which his best soldiers were thinned, before the united efforts of Djezzar's gallantry, and the skill of the allies. At length, however, a party of French succeeded in foreign their way into the great tower, and in establishing themselves in one part of it, in despite of all the resolution that could be opposed to them. At the same critical moment, there appeared in the offing a Turkish fleet, which was known to carry great reinforcements for the pacha. Everything conspired to prompt Napoleon to finish his enterprise, at whatever cost, and he was gallantly seconded.

"Sir Sydney Smith, however, was as resolute to hold out until his fleet should arrive, as Napoleon was eager to anticipate its coming. The English commander repaired, with his gallant seamen, to the tower, and after a furious assault dislodged the occupants. Bonaparte did not renew the attack in that quarter, but succeeded in breaking the wall in another part of the town; and the heroic Lannes headed a French party who actually entered

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Acre at that opening. But Djezzar was willing they should enter. He suffered them to come in unmolested; and then, before they could form, threw such a crowd of Turks upon them, that discipline was of no avail; it was a mere multitude of duels, and the brave orientals, with their scimetars and pistols, overpowered their enemies, and put them to death, almost to a man. Lannes, himself, was with difficulty carried back, desperately wounded.

"(May 21.) The siege had now lasted sixty days. Once more Napoleon commanded an assault, and his officers and soldiery once more obeyed him with devoted and fruitless gallantry. The loss his army had by this time undergone, was very great. Caffarelli, and many other officers of the highest importance, were no more; the ranks of his legions were thinned by the plague, as well as the weapons of the defenders of Acre. The hearts of all men were quickly sinking. The Turkish fleet was at hand to reinforce Djezzar; and upon the utter failure of the attack of the 21st May, Napoleon yielded to stern necessity, and began" his retreat to Jaffa."-[Lockhart's Napoleon, vol. I., pp. 127-130.]

Thus ended the Syrian campaign; and the overflowing and passing over of the French army.

What more perfect demonstration can we have, that we have the true subject of prophecy, than the fact that just at the point where the papal hierachy was overthrown, and the saints delivered from the hand of the man of sin, this collision took place between the French, Egypt, and Syria. The first pushed, simply; the other came like a whirlwind. These three facts also demonstrate that "the time of the end" came in 1798.

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Verse 41. "He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon."

"The glorious land." Palestine is the glorious land; and through that land the French passed and repassed; and both Gaza and Jaffa were cities of Palestine.

"And many," not countries, but persons, were overthrown or perished. But the ancient countries of Edom, Moab, and Ammon, escaped his hand, by his defeat in Syria; he was driven back into Egypt without the opportunity of invading them.

Verses 42, 43. "He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps."

"Shall not escape," implies that he already has a grasp upon Egypt, and that by means of his defeat in Syria, he would be driven back on Egypt, and retain his hold:-

"And have power over the treasures," etc. Egypt was completely under his control, and all its riches were at his disposal. "Libya and Ethiopia" were "at his steps," but not conquered by him, as Egypt was.

Verse 44. "But tidings out of the east, and out of the north, shall trouble him; therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many."

"Out of the north." Tidings from Syria were

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to reach him, and induce him to leave Egypt and return to France. I will permit the historian to illustrate this point also:-

"Napoleon once more returned to Cairo, on the 9th of August; but it was only to make some parting arrangements as to the administration, civil and military; for from the moment of his victory at Aboukir, he had resolved to intrust Egypt to other hands, and admiral Gantheaume was already preparing in secret the means of his removal to France.

"Bonaparte always asserted, and the Bonapartist writers of his history still maintain, that this resolution was adopted in consequence of a mere accident; namely that Sir Sydney Smith, in the course of some negociations about prisoners which followed after the battle of Aboukir, sent a file of English newspapers for the amusement of the general. Some say the English commodore did so out of mere civility; others, that he designed to distract the movements of Napoleon, by showing him the dangerous condition to which, during his absence, the affairs of France, both at home and abroad, had been reduced."-[Lockhart, p. 135.]

"He shall go forth with great fury," or desperation, and "destroy and utterly make away many." A more desperate enterprise was hardly ever undertaken, than that of escaping to France, with such a power to watch his movements and cut off his escape, as the British fleet which filled the waters of the Mediterranean. But the enterprise was undertaken and achieved.

"Napoleon reached the coast on the 22nd August, and was there met by Berthier, Andreossy, Murat, Lannes, Marmont, and the savans Monge,

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and Berthollet; none of whom had suspected for what purpose they were summoned. Admiral Gantheaume had, by this time, two frigates and two smaller vessels (which had been saved in the harbor of Alexandria) ready for sea; and on the morning of the 23rd, the wind having fortunately driven the English squadron of blockade off the coast, Bonaparte and his followers embarked at Rosetta.

"Napoleon's voyage had been one of constant peril; for the Mediterranean was traversed in all directions by English ships of war, in whose presence, resistance would have been hopeless. He occupied his time, during this period of general anxiety, in very peaceful studies: he read the Bible, the Koran, Homer; conversed with his savans on the old times and manners of the East; and solved problems in geometry. On the 30th of September they reached Ajaccio, and he was received with enthusiasm at the place of his birth. As soon as the wind proved favorable, on the 7th of October, the voyage was resumed. Gantheaume, descrying an English squadron off the French coast, would have persuaded him to take to the long-boat; but he refused, saying, 'that experiment may be reserved for the last extremity.' His confidence in fortune was not belied. They passed at midnight, unseen, through the English ships, and on the morning of the 9th, were moored in safety in the bay of Frejus."-[Ibid., pp. 136, 141.]

"Make away many." Who can read the history of his fifteen years' reign, from 1800 to 1815, and not feel the force of the expression? Millions of the flower of Europe fell on the field of battle

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during that period, as sacrifices at the shrine of his insatiable ambition. And, in addition to this, who can begin to estimate the amount of suffering which resulted, either directly or indirectly, from his destructive wars!

Verse 45. "And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him."

"And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces." A palace is the permanent residence of royalty; a tabernacle is a temporary abode, the dwelling of a pilgrim or wayfaring man. Bonaparte had both: his palace was at Paris, but wherever the head-quarters of his camp were, there was the seat of the French empire.

"Between the seas." Europe is surrounded, as every school-boy knows, by a vast chain of seas. Within that chain of seas, on the continent of Europe, there was not one kingdom, with the exception of Turkey, where Bonaparte did not, at one time or other, pitch his tabernacle, and from thence issue his imperial mandates. It was his boast, on his return from Vienna to Paris, in Oct., 1809, "that no enemy opposed him throughout the continent of Europe, except only a few fugitive bands of Spanish rebels, and the English 'Leopard' in Portugal, whom he would ere long cause to be chased into the sea." Some think Italy to be meant, on account of its location between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Venice. They allege the beauty of the locality, and the fact of Bonaparte's palace at Milan, where he was crowned king of Italy. To this I reply, that there he had a palace, to be sure, but the text speaks of

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the tabernacles, or tents, (in the plural,) of his palace. These he had all over Europe. It includes Italy, and extends over Europe. Hence, this seems to be the most satisfactory explanation.

"Glorious holy mountain." Or, as in the margin, "the mountain of delight of holiness." It is an expression which has no parallel in the Scriptures, and of course cannot be interpreted by any other text, but its meaning must be determined by the use of the term here. Europe has been the theatre of most of the great persecutions of the church, whether pagan or papal; the saints who have been martyred have the greatest portion of them been sacrificed in those kingdoms. Bonaparte was "the scourge of God," on a wicked and persecuting land, to avenge the blood of the saints who had been martyred there. To accomplish this work, Providence seems to have watched over him, and rendered him invincible until his task was accomplished. That done-

"Yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him." What a striking fulfilment of this stroke of the pen of inspiration, does the history of Napoleon's fall, banishment, and death, present! He was crowned emperor of France, 1804; and after desolating Europe with wars for ten years, he met with a fatal defeat from the allied sovereigns of Europe at the battle of Waterloo. At the request of the Chamber of Deputies, he voluntarily abdicated the throne of France, in favor of his son, on the 22nd of June, 1815. In his declaration of abdication, he thus expressed himself: "My political life is ended; and I proclaim my son, Napoleon the Second, emperor of the French." But this proclamation was a mere sound; for on the 8th of

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July following, "Louis," the hereditary monarch of the French, made his public entry into Paris, and took formal possession of the throne of his ancestors. Thus came to an end the government of Napoleon, the man at whose nod the world had trembled.

After his abdication he left Paris, and reached Rochefort on the 3rd of July; and made preparation for sailing for America. But the port being blockaded by eleven English ships of war, and finding himself unable to escape, he resolved to trust to the magnanimity of the English government; and entered into negociations for embarking on board one of the British ships, and going to England. After arrangements had been made for his reception, he bade farewell to France, went on board the Bellerophon, commanded by Capt. Maitland, and sailed for England. When he arrived there, he was not permitted to land, but was doomed by the British government, against all his remonstrances and entreaties, to banishment on the island of St. Helena, in the Atlantic Ocean. There he arrived on the 15th of October, 1815, With a few of his most intimate friends. On this desolate and barren rock, the conqueror of Europe was doomed to fill up his days. The first part of his residence on the island, his health was good; but the latter years of his life, disease preyed upon him, until May 5th, 1821, when, amidst a dreadful storm of wind and rain, which tore up trees by the roots, and laid waste almost all which came in its way, Napoleon's spirit left the scenes of earth and time, to appear before God. Thus, as the angel had foretold, 2355 years before, this

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man of blood "came to his end, and" there were "none to help him!"

What a demonstration is here afforded of the Divine authenticity of the word of God! A prophecy relating to a chain of events, in which so many and strange governments were to be the actors, and relating to the individual character and history of men born hundreds and thousands of years after the prophecy was recorded, could not have been framed except by inspiration of the Holy Ghost! And blind indeed must he be, who, with such a document before him, and the plain, unsophisticated history of the world,-recorded, in many instances, by men diametrically opposed to the word of God and the religion of the Bible,-to illustrate and prove its truth and correctness step by step in the most exact order, can perceive in it nothing but the work of crafty priests and designing men. It could only have been given by inspiration of God. And if, up to this point, each event has been most literally and truly accomplished, why are we not bound to look for the next event of the series to be fulfilled in the same literal manner? It must be so.

We have found the fall of Bonaparte to be the last event of the 11th chapter; and the next in order, is the reign of Michael, or Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the just, and glorification of all his saints. These events, which follow in the first three verses of the 12th chapter, close the series.

TIME OF THE END, CONTINUED - CHRIST'S REGIN BEGAN - THE SAINTS GLORIFIED

Chapter xii., verse 1. "At that time shall Michel stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."

"At that time." The time here spoken of, is not the fall of Bonaparte, but "the time of the end," mentioned verse 40, of the eleventh chapter. The time of the end is not the end itself, but a period to precede it, and terminate in the end itself, with the glorification of the saints. This is clear from the circumstances of the events which are to take place during that period-events which must take place in time, because they relate to the history of earthly governments, and require time for their accomplishment.

But before it terminates, and after the fall of Napoleon-

"Michael shall stand up." Who is Michael? it is asked. I answer, Jesus Christ.

"Michael." The first time this word occurs, we believe, is in Dan. x. 13: "But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me."

On this text, Bishop Horsley remarks: "Now Daniel calls him 'one of the chief princes,' or 'one of the capital princes,' or, 'one of the princes that are at the head of all;' for this I maintain to be the full, and not more than the full import of the Hebrew words. Now we are clearly got above the earth into the order of celestials; who are the

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princes that are first, or at the head of all? Are they any other than the three persons in the God-bead? Michael, therefore, is one of them. This is not left in doubt. Gabriel, speaking of him to Daniel, calls him, 'Michael, your prince,' and, 'great prince which standeth for the children of thy people;' that is, not for the nation of the Jews in particular, but for the children, the spiritual children, of that holy seed, the elect people of God; a description which applies particularly to the Son of God, and to no one else; and in perfect keeping with this description of Michael in the book of Daniel, is the action assigned to him in the Apocalypse, in which we find him fighting with the old dragon, the deceiver of the world, and victorious in the combat. That combat, who was to maintain-in that combat who was to be victorious but the seed of the woman? From all this, it is evident that Michael is the name of the Lord himself, in his particular character of the champion of his faithful people, against the violence of the apostate faction and the wiles of the devil."

Jude uses the term in the phrase, "Michael the archangel."

On the import of this word, Bishop Horsley says, "The word, by etymology, clearly implies a superiority of rank and authority in the person to whom it is applied. It implies a command over angels; and this is all that the word of necessity implies." But who is the Lord of angels? Heb. i. 6: "When he bringeth the first-begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him." Christ, then, is clearly the Lord of angels. Once more: 1 Thess. iv. 16: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a

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shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first." It is clear, from this text, that the archangel's voice will call forth the saints from their dusty beds. But Christ (John v. 25, 28, 29) claims this prerogative for himself: "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." "All that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth." The archangel, therefore, whose voice will call forth the dead when the Lord descends, is the Son of God.

"Stand up." This term, as used in this prophecy, signifies the exercise of kingly dominion. See chapter xi. 2: "There shall stand up yet three kings in Persia." Verse 3: "A mighty king shall stand up." Verse 4: "And when he shall stand up his kingdom shall be broken." Verse 20: "In his estate shall stand up a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom etc. These texts all clearly show the import of the term to be, the exercise of kingly dominion. Jesus Christ shall then commence his reign. It is the same event which was shown Daniel in vision, in the 7th chapter and 13th and 14th verses; also, the same event foretold in Revelation, (xi. 15,)-the last trump.

"And at that time,"-when Michael begins his reign,-"thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." The kingdom of God, according to Daniel, (ii. 44,) is to break in pieces and consume all earthly kingdoms That kingdom will be formed when Christ gathers his saints from the four winds, on the sea of

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glass, preparatory to the pouring out of the seven plagues. [See this subject in Vol. I]

When thus organized, the vials will be poured out, and the great battle will be fought; and this will constitute the great "time of trouble." It will continue until all the enemies of Christ are exterminated from the earth. But the people of God have nothing to fear at that dreadful period. They will be in a place of safety before the storm descends.

They will be delivered,-1. From the bondage to the Gentiles, under which the church is now placed; and they shall reign with Christ independently of the world. 2. They shall be delivered from all the evils and imperfections of the fall, under which the best of men now groan, "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." 3. They shall be delivered from the temptations of the devil, who shall be chained and cast into the bottomless pit, and be shut up until the final resurrection; and even then can have no power on those who have part in the first resurrection. 4. They shall be delivered from pain and death, into the glorious and immortal likeness of Christ, and reign with him forever in the kingdom of God. 5. They shall be delivered from all the evils which are to come on the ungodly in the day of retribution.

Verse 2. "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."

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." The "many" who shall then awake are the just; for the doctrine of the Bible is, that there is to be a resurrection both of

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the just and the unjust; that they that have done good, will come forth to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation. There will, ultimately, be a resurrection of all men, but not at one time. What the order of the resurrection is to be, is a matter which must be determined from the general testimony of the Bible on that point, and not from any single text. But the principle which harmonizes the whole class of texts on that point, must be the true one. The distinct testimony of Rev. 20th chapter, is, that there will be two resurrections; and that a thousand years will intervene between the first and final resurrection. The "blessed and holy" have part in the first resurrection. There are two orders only, "the just and unjust;" "the resurrection of life," and "the resurrection of damnation." The resurrection of life is the first,-for on those who have part in it the second death hath no power; while those who have not their names in the book of life, will be cast into the lake of fire,-it will be the resurrection of damnation. It does not follow, then, from the fact that the text declares "some shall come forth to shame and everlasting contempt," that they will come forth at the same time with hose "many" who shall come forth to everlasting life. That would contradict a plain principle of God's word. No theory can harmonize the Bible on this point, except that of two resurrections; that does harmonize every text, and must be the true one. To deny that this text teaches a literal resurrections, is to take the part of the Sadducees against the Pharisees. For if this passage does not teach that doctrine, then there is no one in the

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Old Testament which does it; for there is not another which has half the clearness on that point which this has; and the Sadducee must carry his point. Again; to say, as all expositors do, that the whole prophecy of the 11th chapter, of which this text is a concluding clause, is literal; and then without the least hint of a change to the figurative style, pass to it, and couch the prophecy in such terms that it is clearer and more natural, understood literally, than in any figurative sense, is unreasonable and absurd. We cannot, therefore, without doing violence to common sense and all sound rules of interpretation, explain the text under consideration in any other than a literal way.

Verse 3. "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."

"They that be wise." They that be pious, according to Professor Stuart.

"Shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;" they shall be glorified with Christ, and shine in glory. "And they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." They will shine in glory, as did Christ, Moses, and Elias, on the mount of transfiguration, forever and ever, to all eternity. Their glory will never grow dim, never end. If the glory of the redeemed is not here foretold, then it is nowhere found in the word of God. If the eternity of that glory is not here asserted, then the Bible nowhere teaches it. And if the resurrection of the just and the eternal glory of the saints is here described, then Bonaparte, and not Antiochus Epiphanes, is the concluding subject of prophecy in the 11th chapter.

THE VISION SHUT AND SEALED TO THE TIME OF THE END

Having been brought down through the course of this world in such a connected series of events, and the whole scene being closed in the everlasting glorification of God's people, Daniel is thus directed-

Verse 4. "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 shall be increased."

With such a direction before us, why should we longer inquire, "why, if these things are so, have not these things been understood before the present time?" The answer is a plain and obvious one. It is because God has not seen fit to permit it to be known, because he commanded it to be "shut up and sealed to the time of the end." The time of the end, it has been demonstrated, began in 1798. Before that, therefore, the words could not be understood; since then they may be known. "But if the time of the end came in 1798, why have not these things been understood all this time?" I answer; 1. "Knowledge shall be increased." If the full blaze of truth had at once broke forth at that time, the prophecy would not have been fulfilled; but the multiplication of the means of instruction on this subject has been gradual, like the dawning day, until the sun in all his glory sends his beams abroad. 2. "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," said the prophet. Is it not fulfilled in our own day? We may take it in the sense of turning to and fro in the book, comparing scripture

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with scripture for the increase of knowledge on this subject, which I suppose to be the real import of the prophecy; or we may understand it in the sense that the present reading of the text suggests, the locomotion, or travelling of multitudes to spread the doctrine; and both are true.

It is a fact which ought to be felt, that prior to 1798, there is no single instance to be found, in which the principle was recognised, that the 70 weeks of the 9th of Daniel, are the key to the 2300 days of the 8th chapter, and that they both commence at one point. This fact was shut up from the church in all time prior to the time of the end. There is no instance to be found, as I can learn, where, from any principle of reasoning, 1843 had been designated as the time of the Second Advent. Since that period a great cloud of witnesses are found, who, without knowing that any one else had ever discovered the above principle of the 70 weeks, come to the same result. These individuals are found in different parts of the world. [See a more full account of this fact in remarks on "the midnight cry," Vol. I. of this work.] It is another evidence that the time of the end has come.

THE POWER OF THE HOLY PEOPLE SCATTERED

Verse 6. "And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, how long shall it be to the end of these wonders?"

A more distinct question, as to the time when all these events will come to a termination, cannot be proposed. The wonders must be, the beginning

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of Christ's reign; the time of trouble; the resurrection of the just; and the glorification of the saints. The answer is as distinct as the question. Read it carefully.

Verse 7. "And I heard the man clothed in liven, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished."

This answer is given under the sanction of a most solemn oath. It contains two parts. 1. A distinct prophetic period, which would come down to the time of the end:-a time, times, and a half; or, as is proved, (Vol. I., chap. 3,) 1260 years; beginning A. D. 538, and ending 1798. In 538, Rome was taken by Justinian and given to the Pope as the head of all the churches; and, according to Mr. Croley, (page 100):-

"On the 10th of February, 1798, the French army under Berthier, entered Rome; took possession of the city, and made the Pope and the cardinals prisoners. Within a week, Pius VI. was deposed; Rome was declared a republic; the tree of liberty was planted; and the city and the states were delivered up to a long series of the deepest insults, requisitions, military murders, and the general injury and degradation of the feelings and property of all classes of the people. Pius VI. died in captivity. Pius VII. was dragged across the Alps to crown Napoleon, was held in duress, and was finally restored only on the fall of the French Empire. The papal independence

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was abolished by France, and the son of Napoleon was declared king of Rome." [See also Theirs' French Revolution, vol. IV., p. 246.]

"But what," it is asked, "is meant by the scattering of the power of the holy people?" I will answer, and illustrate it by a supposed case. If Great Britain should invade and conquer the United States, impose tribute, and finally dissolve the government, and carry the people away captive to England and her colonies; and the historian should record the fact by saying that Great Britain had scattered the power of the United States, would any one be at a loss to understand the import of the term? And is it any less plain when applied to the political and civil subversion of the kingdom of Israel. God once gave them a kingdom; it was a theocracy. But they abused their privileges, and he took their kingdom from them, and scattered them abroad by the hand of their enemies; and they are in bondage to the Gentiles. The Jews were the holy people, or church, when the kingdom before existed; but for their rejection of the king, it was taken from them, and is to be given to a nation who shall render the fruit in due season. That nation is the saints of the Most High: when it is again restored to Israel, they "shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever."

But again; supposing it had been foretold that this subversion should continue a hundred years and then it should be said, for instance, until some specified time and event should transpire; and when, in addition to that time and event, which would terminate before the hundred years' subversion ended, he shall have accomplished to

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scatter the power of the United States, all the events which are to take place when the hundred years end, shall be finished; that is, the government and people will be restored? Who would be at a loss to understand the accomplishment of the scattering of that power, to be the filling up of the appointed hundred years? Just so we are to understand this passage. The power, or political and civil government of the church of God, is scattered, and that church is in bondage and exile. There is a definite time appointed for that dispersion to continue. That time is foretold by Moses. Lev. xxvi. 17, 18, 19: "And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet, for all this, hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass."

God's threatening is, that he would break the pride of their power, and those that hated them, should rule over them, and he would punish them, "seven times more (in addition to all they should be punished prior to that long time, and before it should commence) for [their] sins." This punishment is four times repeated, to express the certainty of it.

Seven times; one time being 360 days, seven times would 2520 days. Each of these days represents a year, as in Daniel vii. 25. 2520 years is the length of that dispersion.

The government of the kingdom of Israel was completely broken for the first time in the days

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of Manasseh king of Judah, when the captains of the host of Assyria came to Jerusalem and took it; and took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. Before that, Judah had sometimes been oppressed by their enemies, and sometimes Israel. But one or the other of the two kingdoms remained independent up to that time, when both were carried away captive and the pride of their power was broken. This captivity, according to all chronologers, was 677 B.C. It was to continue in a tributary and captive state for seven times, or 2520 years. But it is asked, "did not Manasseh return back to Jerusalem again, and reign many years after that?" I answer, yes.

But he reigned as a tributary and dependant on the king of Assyria. And so did all the kings "who succeeded him in Jerusalem, as Nehemiah testifies; Neh. ix. 32. After rehearsing the whole history of the church, their establishment of the kingdom and God's covenant of mercy, and the revoltings of Israel, and their punishment according to God's threatening, he then comes down to the great punishment, and records the desolation which had come upon them since the time of the kings of Assyria, unto that day. In this passage he distinctly recognises the captivity under the Assyrian kings as the great trouble, and testifies that it had continued to his day. And it has continued ever since. The kingdom will be no more, until He comes whose right it is.

Beginning 677 B. C., we have only to take that period from 2520, and we have left A. D. 1843, as the time of the accomplishment of scattering the power of the holy people; and all these

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things shall then be finished. The kingdom will then be restored again to Israel; the saints of the Most High will take it, and possess it forever. I have only presented a brief outline of the argument on this point, as I predicate my main argument, on time, on the 2300 days. But the reader can take these few hints and follow them out for himself.

"But," says one, "you profess to know more than Christ, and to be wiser than the apostles and angels. Did not Christ say, 'Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only?'" Indeed, he does; and for a very good reason too, as was assigned to Daniel, verses 8-10: "And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."

From these verses we learn that Daniel did not understand the import of that answer, although he heard it distinctly announced. The reason assigned why he did not understand it, was, that the words were closed up and sealed to the time of the end. But he was told what would take place at the time of the end: there would be great revivals of religion, and many would be purified, etc. None of the wicked would understand-"but the wise shall understand." If this prophecy is true, that event can never come on the world until the time of it is understood by the saints, the true

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people of God. The word of God is pledged to do the work, and it will be accomplished; they shall understand. There is nothing in Christ's testimony inconsistent with this prediction or promise. He only said that no man knew then; but he never said that it would not some time or other be understood; on the contrary, he directed his disciples to mark the signs he had just given, and when these things come to pass, then "know that it is near, even at the doors." So that, although the time was not then known, he taught them that the time would come when the wise, the disciples of Christ, would know, not indeed the day or hour, but the near approach of it.

So Rev. J. Wesley understood the text. His note on it is as follows:-"'But of that day'-the day of judgment-'knoweth no man'-not while Christ was on earth. Yet it might afterward be revealed to St. John consistently with this." But if, at the time of the end, the wise shall understand, and that time has come-and if, when the foretold signs should take place, the disciples should know, and those signs have appeared-then we may now have light on this subject-not only may, but, if we are wise, truly devoted to God, and desire to know all his will and do it, we shall, before it comes, have the light.

THE TWO MEASURING RODS - THE DAILY TAKEN AWAY - THE ABOMINATION THAT MAKETH DESOLATE SET UP

Verse 11. "And from the time that 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."

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"From the time the daily shall be taken away." The nature of the daily and abomination that maketh desolate has already been discussed. [See chap. xi. 31.] Some have supposed that, in order to find the date of the 1290 days of this verse we must show that the one was taken away and the other set up at one and the same time. But it is not so: they are two distinct acts; and it is sufficient to show that the one had been taken away prior to the setting up of the other. Thus Paul: "The mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way; and then shall that wicked be revealed." The power of paganism was broken, and the place of his sanctuary cast down and desecrated, by the barbarian warriors and conquerors of Rome, especially Genseric.

If it can now he shown when the last of the two events took place, viz., the abomination that maketh desolate was set up, we shall have the requisite date. The testimony has been produced from Gibbon, that the first outbreak of the Catholic church against the civil power of the empire on a question of faith-which outbreak resulted in a war, by which the emperor was subdued and yielded the point-was in A. D. 508. That conquest of the church was achieved, too, by an army of idolaters in behalf of popery. Then the abomination that maketh desolate was set up. From that point, 1290 years end in 1798, the time of the end; when the saints were taken out of the hands of popery. This fulfilment of the first period demonstrates the correctness of the starting point, as the fulfilment of the 70 weeks does the date of the 2300days. There is no uncertainty left on the point in the case of either date.

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Verse 12: "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days."

"Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh." It has been argued, from this expression, that all who come to that time are to be blessed; and, hence, it cannot be the destruction, but the conversion of the world and commencement of the millennium. To this it is replied, that it cannot be said of the ungodly that they are waiting. They are not waiting-there is nothing they dread more-they are all swallowed up in the cares of life, and have little thought of that event, or time to attend to it. If it comes, so far from finding them in a waiting position, it would take them by surprise, and find them intoxicated with worldly cares or pleasures. If I were expecting a stage-coach to call for me, to take me on my journey, at a given hour in the morning, could I be said to be waiting for it, if I were in bed and asleep when it arrived, or if I were hurrying with all speed to pack my, trunk or eat my breakfast? Would it not rather be Under the necessity of waiting for me, or of going without me? But if I were up, had packed my trunk, eaten my breakfast, made all my arrangements, and stood at the door looking and listening for it, expecting each instant to see or hear its approach; would not that be "waiting" for it? "Blessed is he that thus waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days. Such are wise virgins, and will go in when the Bridegroom comes.

But what, it is asked, will became of those saints who have died in the Lord? How can they be said to wait for that day? And if it is essential to wait thus and expect the Savior, how

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can they be saved? I answer, unless they have lost their anxious desire since John saw them under the altar, (Rev. vi. 9-11,) they are waiting with intense desire and anxiety. They will undoubtedly wait with the same desire until the appointed time comes. "But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and eat and drink with the drunken-the Lord of that servant shall come in an hour when he looketh not for him, and cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites." Awful doom!

"To the 1335 days." These days must begin at the same time with the 1290, A. D. 508. They will extend to 1843.

Thus, A. D. 508

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1798, the beginning of the time of the end.

Again, 508

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1843, the termination of the time of the end, when Daniel shall stand in his lot.

Verse 13: "But go them thy way till the end be: for thou shall rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days."

"Thou shall rest." What else could Daniel understand by this, but his own death? "They rest from their labors." Rev. xiv. There is no other sense which can be attached to it. To give it any other interpretation is nonsense. "Till the

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end be." What end? I reply, the end of the wonders concerning which inquiry was made in verse 6, and which was answered in verse 7. The end spoken of Dan. viii. 19, when the sanctuary shall be justified. The end spoken of Dan. vii. 26, 27, when 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, and Daniel with them.

"Shall stand in [his] lot at the end of the days." If his rest is his death, his standing is the opposite, the resurrection of the dead, at the resurrection of the just. The end of the days can only mean the end of the days just named, the 1335 days, which end in 1843.

"But what if it does not come in 1843? Will it not make a great many infidels-shall you not throw away your Bible?" I reply, I shall not be an infidel now, and throw away my Bible this year, and refuse to believe it, for fear I shall be so next year. I now believe God's word teaches it, and hence I believe it; to do otherwise would, be infidelity in earnest. And believing it, I should, be most criminal if I refused to give the alarm, long and loud. By the grace of God, I will do my duty now, and leave him to take care of the future.

CHAPTER II. THE SOUNDING OF THE SEVEN TRUMPETS. - REV. SEVENTH, EIGHTH, AND NINTH CHAPTERS

The great leading features of Daniel's visions were the four great governments of antiquity, beginning with the Babylonian, and ending with the Roman, in its papal form. Not so, however, with John; he lived when three of those governments had passed away, and the fourth and last, was in being, and in the height of its glory, as an universal monarchy. Under that government John was in banishment in the isle of Patmos, "for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ." Accordingly, instead of predicting the rise and triumph of either of those four great governments, it was his part to give the prophetic history of the fall of the last of the four, and give us the various means by which that great persecuting system should come to ruin.

The first decisive step, as has been already remarked, in the downfall of Rome, was the removal of the seat of empire from the west to the east. Until then its unity had been very faithfully preserved. After that, division and subdivision became the order of the day, until the final ruin of the empire.

The sounding of the seven trumpets I understand to shadow forth the instrumentalities by

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which the Roman empire was to be overthrown and subverted, and finally ruined.

The empire, after Constantine, was divided into three parts; and hence the frequent remark, "a third part of men," etc, in allusion to the third part of the empire which was under the scourge. Under the first four trumpets the two western divisions fell, and under the fifth and sixth the eastern empire was crushed; but under the seventh trumpet great Babylon entire will sink to rise no more at all. Then the church of the First-born will return from her captivity, to the land of promise and everlasting life; and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ.

In giving an outline of this subject, I shall, for the most part, follow Keith, in his "Signs of the Times," on the first four trumpets. I should be glad to give his remarks and historical quotations entire, would my limits, which are prescribed for this work, admit of it.

The subject properly begins with the second verse of the eighth chapter; and the first verse should have been annexed to the seventh chapter, it being the conclusion of the opening of the seals.

From the 2nd to the 5th verse of chapter viii., we have the prefatory remarks, preparatory to the sounding of the trumpets. Then follows the sounding of the first angel.

THE FIRST TRUMPET

Verses 6, 7: "And the seven angels, which had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed

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hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth; and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up."

Mr. Keith has very justly remarked, on the subject of this prophecy,-"None could elucidate the texts more clearly, or expound them more fully, than the task has been performed by Gibbon. The chapters of the skeptical philosopher, that treat directly of the matter, need but a text to be prefixed, and a few unholy words to be blotted out, to form a series of expository lectures on the eighth and ninth chapters of Revelation." "Little or nothing is left for the professed interpreter to do but to point to the pages of Gibbon."

The first sore and heavy judgment which fell on western Rome in its downward course, was the war with the Goths under Alaric, styled by himself "the scourge of God." After the death of Theodosius, the Roman emperor, in January, 395, before the end of the winter, the Goths, under Alaric, were in arms against the empire.

"Hail and fire mingled with blood, cast upon the earth." The terrible effects of this Gothic invasion, are thus described by Gibbon, vol. V., p. 176:

"The barbarian auxiliaries erected their independent standard; and boldly avowed hostile designs, which they had long cherished in their ferocious minds. Their countrymen, who had been condemned, by the conditions of the last treaty, to a life of tranquillity and labor, deserted their farms at the first sound of the trumpet, and eagerly assumed the weapons which they had reluctantly laid down. The barriers of the Danube

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were thrown open; the savage warriors of Scythia issued from their forest; and the uncommon severity of the winter allowed the poet to remark, that 'they rolled their ponderous wagons over the broad and icy back of the indignant river.' The unhappy nations of the provinces to the south of the Danube, submitted to the calamities, which, in the course of twenty years, were almost grown familiar to their imagination; and the various troops of barbarians, who gloried in the Gothic name, were irregularly spread from the woody shores of Dalmatia, to the walls of Constantinople. The Goths were directed by the bold and artful genius of Alaric. In the midst of a divided court, and a discontented people, the emperor, Arcadius, was terrified by the aspect of the Gothic arms. Alaric disdained to trample any longer on the prostrate and ruined countries of Thrace and Dacia, and he resolved to seek a plentiful harvest of fame and riches in a province which had hitherto escaped the ravages of war.

"Alaric traversed, without resistance, the plains of Macedonia and Thessaly. The troops which had been posted to defend the straits of ThermopylÊ, retired, as they were directed, without attempting to disturb the secure and rapid passage of Alaric; and the fertile fields of Phocis and Búotia were instantly covered with a deluge of barbarians, who massacred the males of an age to bear arms, and drove away the beautiful females, with the spoil and cattle of the flaming villages. The travellers who visited Greece several years afterwards could easily discover the deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths. The whole territory of Attica was blasted by his baneful

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presence; and if we may use the comparison of a contemporary philosopher, Athens itself resembled the bleeding and empty skin of a slaughtered victim. Corinth, Argos, Sparta, yielded without resistance to the arms of the Goths: and the most fortunate of the inhabitants were saved, by death, from beholding the slavery of their families, and the conflagration of their cities."

It was thus that "hail," from the fact of the northern origin of the invaders; "fire," from the destruction by flame of both city and country; "blood," from the terrible slaughter of the citizens of the empire by the bold and intrepid warriors, "were cast upon the earth." This vivid description will be still more forcibly illustrated by Gibbon's account of the invasion of the western empire by the Goths:

"The birth of Alaric, the glory of his past exploits, and the confidence in his future designs, insensibly united the body of the nation under his victorious standard; and, with the unanimous consent of the barbarian chieftains, the master-general of Illyricum was elevated, according to ancient custom, on a shield, and solemnly proclaimed king of the Visgoths. Armed with this double power, seated on the verge of the two empires, he alternately sold his deceitful promises to the courts of Arcadius and Honorius, (of Constantinople and Rome,) till he declared and executed his resolution of invading the dominions of the west (of Rome.) The provinces of Europe which belonged to the eastern emperor were already exhausted; those of Asia were inaccessible; and the strength of Constantinople had resisted his attack. But he was tempted by the fame, the

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beauty, and the wealth of Italy, which he had twice visited; and he secretly aspired to plant the Gothic standard on the walls of Rome, and to enrich his army with the accumulated spoils of three hundred triumphs.

"When Stilicho seemed to abandon his sovereign in the unguarded palace of Milan, he had probably calculated the term of his absence, the distance of the enemy, and the obstacles that might retard their march. He principally depended on the rivers of Italy, the Adige, the Minico, the Oglio, and the Addua; which, in the winter or spring, by the fail of rains, or by the melting of the snows, are commonly swelled into broad and impetuous torrents. But the season happened to be remarkably dry; and the Goths could traverse, without impediment, the wide and stony beds, whose centre was faintly marked by the course of a shallow stream. The bridge and passage of the Addua were secured by a strong detachment of the Gothic army; and as Alaric approached the walls, or rather the suburbs, of Milan, he enjoyed the proud satisfaction of seeing the emperor of the Romans fly before him. Honorius, accompanied by a feeble train of statesmen and eunuchs, hastily retreated towards the Alps, with a design of securing his person in the city of Aries, which had often been the royal residence of his predecessors. But Honorius had scarcely passed the Po, before he was overtaken by the speed of the Gothic cavalry; since the urgency of the danger compelled him to seek a temporary shelter within the fortification of Asta, a town of Liguria or Piedmont, situate on the banks of the Tanarus. The siege of an obscure place, which contained so rich a

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prize, and seemed incapable of a long resistance, was instantly formed, and indefatigably pressed by the king of the Goths."-[Gibbon's Hist., vol. V., pp. 194-196.]

But although Alaric thus put to flight the emperor of the west, deliverance soon came, and Rome was saved from his hands. Alaric was first conquered in 403. But another cloud was gathering, and is thus described by Gibbon:-

"About four years after the victorious Toulan had assumed the title of Khan of the Geougen, another barbarian, the haughty Rhodogast, or Radagaisus, marched from the northern extremities of Germany almost to the gates of Rome, and left the remains of his army to achieve the destruction of the West. The Vandals, the Suevi, and the Burgundians, formed the strength of this mighty host; but the Alani, who had found a hospitable reception in their new seats, added their active cavalry to the heavy infantry of the Germans; and the Gothic adventurers crowded so eagerly to the standard of Radagaisus, that, by some historians, he has been styled the king of the Goths. Twelve thousand warriors, distinguished above the vulgar by their noble birth, or their valiant deeds, glittered in the van; and the whole multitude, which was not less than two hundred thousand fighting men, might be increased by the accession of women, of children, and of slaves, to the amount of four hundred thousand persons.

"The correspondence of nations, was, in that age, so imperfect and precarious, that the revolutions of the North might escape the knowledge of the court of Ravenna, till the dark cloud,

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which was collected along the coast of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon the banks of the Upper Danube, etc. Many cities of Italy were pillaged or destroyed; and the siege of Florence, by Radagaisus, is one of the earliest events in the history of that celebrated republic, whose firmness checked or delayed the unskilful fury of the barbarians.

"While the peace of Germany was secured by the attachment of the Franks, and the neutrality of the Alemanni, the subjects of Rome, unconscious of the approaching calamities, enjoyed a state of quiet and prosperity, which had seldom blessed the frontiers of Gaul. Their flocks and herds were permitted to graze in the pastures of the barbarians; their huntsmen penetrated, without fear or danger, into the darkest recesses of the Hercynian wood. The banks of the Rhine were crowded, like those of the Tiber, with elegant houses and well-cultivated farms; and if the poet descended the river, he might express his doubt on which side was situated the territory of the Romans. This scene of peace and plenty was suddenly changed into a desert; and the prospect of the smoking ruins, could alone distinguish the solitude of nature from the desolation of man. The flourishing city of Mentz was surprised and destroyed; and many thousand Christians were inhumanly massacred in the church. Worms perished, after a long and obstinate siege; Strasburgh, Spires, Rheims, Tournay, Arras, Amiens, experienced the cruel oppression of the German yoke; and the consuming flames of war spread from the banks of the Rhine over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul. That rich and extensive country, as far as the ocean, the Alps, and

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the Pyrenees, was delivered to the barbarians, who drove before them, in a promiscuous crowd, the bishop, the senator, and the virgin, laden with the spoils of their houses and altars."-[Ibid., vol. V., p. 224.]

After this invasion of the empire by Radagaisus, Alaric again returned, invaded Italy in 408, and in 410 he besieged, took, and sacked Rome, and died the same year. In 412 the Goths voluntarily retired from Italy.

I know not how the history of the sounding of the first trumpet can be more impressively concluded than by presenting the graphic rehearsal of this history, by Mr. Keith, in his Signs of the Times, vol. I., pp. 231-233.

"Large extracts show how amply and well Gibbon has expounded his text, in the history of the first trumpet, the first storm that pervaded the Roman earth, and the first fall of Rome. To use his words in more direct comment, we read thus the sum of the matter. The Gothic nation was in arms at the first sound of the trumpet, and in the uncommon severity of the winter they rolled their ponderous wagons over the broad and icy back of the river. The fertile fields of Phocis and Búotia were crowded with a deluge of barbarians: the males were massacred; the females and cattle of the flaming villages were driven away. The deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths could easily be discovered after several years. The whole territory of Attica was blasted by the baneful presence of Alaric. The most fortunate of the inhabitants of Corinth, Argos, Sparta, were saved by death from beholding the conflagration of their cities. In a season of such

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extreme heat that the beds of the rivers were dry, Alaric incaded the dominion of the West. A secluded 'old man of Verona' pathetically lamented the fate of his contemporary trees, which must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country. And the emperor of the Romans fled before the king of the Goths.

"A furious tempest was excited among the nations of Germany; from the northern extremity of which the barbarians marched almost to the gates of Rome. They achieved the destruction of the west. The dark cloud which was collected along the coasts of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon the banks of the Upper Danube, The pastures of Gaul, in which flocks and herds grazed; and the banks of the Rhine, which were covered with elegant houses and well-cultivated farms, formed a scene of peace and plenty, which was suddenly changed into a deseet, distinguished from the solitude of nature only by smoking ruins. Many cities were cruelly oppressed or destroyed. Many thousands were inhumanly massacred. And the consuming flames of war spread over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul.

"Alaric again stretched his ravages over Italy. During four years, the Goths ravaged and reigned over it without control. And, in the pillage and fire of Rome, the streets of the city were filled with dead bodies; the flames consumed many public and private buildings; and the ruins of a palace remained, (after a century and a half,) a stately monument of the Gothic conflagration.

"'The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and they were

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cast upon the earth; and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.'

"The concluding sentence of the thirty-third chapter of Gibbon's History, is, of itself, a clear and comprehensive commentary; for, in winding up his own description of the brief, but most eventful period, he concentrates, as in a parallel reading, the sum of the history, and the substance of the prediction. But the words which precede it are not without their meaning. 'The public devotion of the age was impatient to exalt the saints and martyrs of the Catholic church on the altars of Diana and Hercules. The union of the Roman empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions of the north, had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa.'

"The last word,-Africa,-is the signal for the sounding of the second trumpet. The scene changes from the shores of the Baltic to the southern coast of the Mediterranean, or from the frozen regions of the north, to the borders of burning Africa. And instead of a storm of hail being cast upon the earth, a burning mountain was cast into the sea."

SECOND TRUMPET

Verses 8, 9: "And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea Became blood; and the third part of the

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creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed."

The history illustrative of the sounding of this trumpet has been given so fully in the first chapter of this volume, that it will be unnecessary to repeal it here. The reader will find it at large in the exposition of Dan. xi. 30. It relates to the invasion and conquest of Africa, and afterward of Italy, by the terrible Genseric. His conquests were for the most part naval, and his triumphs were "as it were a great mountain burning with fire, cast into the sea." The repetition of one or two extracts from Gibbon must suffice:-

"The woods of the Appenines were felled; the arsenals and manufactures of Ravenna and Misenum were restored; Italy and Gaul vied with each other in liberal contributions to the public service; and the imperial navy of three hundred long galleys, with an adequate proportion of transports and smaller vessels, was collected in the secure and capacious harbor of Carthagena in Spain. But Genseric was saved from impending and inevitable ruin by the treachery of some powerful subjects, envious or apprehensive of their master's success. Guided by their secret intelligence, he surprised the unguarded fleet in the bay of Carthagena; many of the ships were sunk, or taken, or burnt, and the preparations of three years were destroyed in a single day.

"Italy continued to be long afflicted by the incessant depredations of the Vandal pirates. In the spring of each year they equipped a formidable navy in the port of Carthage; and Genseric himself, though in a very advanced age, still commanded in person the most important expeditions.

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His designs were concealed with impenetrable secresy till the moment that he hoisted sail. When he was asked by his pilot, what course he should steer-'Leave the determination to the winds,' replied the barbarian, with pious arrogance-'they will transport us to the guilty coast whose inhabitants have provoked the divine justice.' The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts of Spain, Liguira, Tuscany, Campania, Leucania, Brutium, Apulia, Calabria, Venetia, Dalmatia, Epirus, Greece, and Sicily; they were tempted to subdue the island of Sardinia, so advantageously placed in the centre of the Mediterranean, and their arms spread desolation or terror from the column of Hercules to the mouth of the Nile. In the treatment of his unhappy prisoners, he sometimes consulted his avarice, and sometimes his cruelty; he massacred five hundred noble citizens of Zante, or Zaynthus, whose mangled bodies he cast into the Ionian sea."-[Gibbon, pp. 180-182, 187, 188.]

A last and desperate attempt to dispossess Genseric of the sovereignty of the sea, was made in the year 468, by the emperor of the east.

"The whole expense of the African campaign amounted to the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds of gold-about five millions two hundred thousand pounds sterling. The fleet that sailed from Constantinople to Carthage, consisted of eleven hundred and thirteen ships, and the number of soldiers and mariners exceeded one hundred thousand men. The army of Heraclius, and the fleet of Marcellinus, either joined or seconded the imperial lieutenant. The wind became favorable to the designs of Genseric. He manned his largest ship of war with the bravest of the

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Moors and Vandals, and they towed after them many large barks filled with combustible materials. In the obscurity of the night these destructive vessels were impelled against the unguarded and unsuspecting fleet of the Romans, who were awakened by a sense of their instant danger. Their close and crowded order assisted the progress of the fire, which was communicated with rapid and irresistible violence; and the noise of the wind, the crackling of the flames, the dissonant cries of the soldiers and marines, who could neither command nor obey, increased the horror of the nocturnal tumult. Whilst they labored to extricate themselves from the fire-ships, and to save at least a part of the navy, the galleys of Genseric assaulted them with temperate and disciplined valor; and many of the Romans who escaped the fury of the flames were destroyed or taken by the victorious Vandals. After the failure of this great expedition. Genseric again became the 'tyrant of the sea;' the coasts of Italy, Greece and Asia were again exposed to his revenge and avarice. Tripoli and Sardinia returned to his obedience; he added Sicily to the number of his provinces; and before he died, in the fulness of years and of glory, he beheld the final extinction of the empire of the west."-[Ibid., pp. 203, 205.]

THIRD TRUMPET

In illustrating this trumpet, I shall make an extract entirely from Keith.

"Verses 10, 11: 'And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part

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of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood, and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.'

"A third angel sounded:-and a third name is associated with the downfall of the Roman empire-The sounding of the trumpets manifestly denotes the order of the commencement, not the period of the duration, of the wars, or events, which they represent. When the second angel sounded,-there was seen, as it were, a great mountain burning with fire. When the third angel sounded,-there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp. The symbol, in each instance, is expressly a similitude,-and the one is to the other in comparative and individual resemblance, as a burning mountain to a falling star: each of them was great. The former was cast into the sea, the latter was first seen as falling, and it fell upon the fountains and rivers of waters. There is a discrimination in the similitude, in the description, and locality, which obviously implies a corresponding difference in the object represented.

"On such plain and preliminary observations we may look to the intimation given in the third trumpet, and to the achievements of Attila, the third name mentioned by Gibbon, and associated in equal rank with those of Alaric and Genseric, in the decline and fall of the Roman empire.

"Genseric landed in Africa in the year 429, and in the following year spread desolation along its coast, throughout the long-extended territory of Rome, which was then finally separated from the

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empire. Attila invaded the eastern empire in the year 441. From that period, ten years elapsed before he touched the western empire, and twenty-two years intervened, from 429 to 451, between the invasion of Africa by Genseric, and of Gaul by Attila. The burning mountain arose first, though it blazed longer than the falling star.

"The connexion between the events predicted under the first and second trumpets, is marked by the passing of the Vandals from Europe to Asia, and the consequent combination with Moors and Mauritanians in the conquest of Africa, 'the most important province of the west;' and in the overthrow of the naval power of Rome. The sequence and connexion between the events denoted by the second and third trumpets, are, we apprehend, equally definite.

"'The alliance of Attila, (A. D. 441,) maintained the Vandals in the possession of Africa. An enterprise had been concerted between the courts of Ravenna and Constantinople, for the recovery of that valuable province, and the ports of Sicily were already filled with the military and naval forces of Theodosius. But the subtle Genseric, who spread his negotiations round the world, prevented their designs, by exciting the king of the Huns (Attila) to invade the eastern empire: and a trifling incident soon became the motive, or pretence, of a destructive war. The troops which had been sent against Genseric were hastily recalled from Sicily.'

"But if symbolized, or described under the second and third trumpet, the respective nature of their power, or character of their warfare, must needs be described, as well as the order be marked,

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in which Genseric and Attila first assaulted the empire of Rome, and accelerated its ruin.

"A great star is the symbol-of which the significancy has to be sustained; burning as it were a lamp, is the character of the warfare. The locality is neither the earth, in the full extent of the term as applicable to the Roman empire, and the wide scene over which the hail and fire swept on the sounding of the first trumpet, nor yet the third part of the sea, as expressive of the second, by which the African coast was forever separated from the empire, and the ships finally destroyed,-but, as referring to a portion of the remains of the empire of Rome-the fountains and rivers of waters.

"There fell a great star from heaven. The name of Attila is to this day a memorial of his greatness, of which a brief description may suffice.

"'The crowd of vulgar kings, the leaders of so many martial tribes, who served under the standard of Attila, were ranged in the submissive order of guards and domestics, round the person of their master. They watched his nod: they trembled at his frown; and, at the first signal of his will, they executed, without murmur or hesitation, his stern and absolute commands. In time of peace, the dependent princes, with their national troops, attended the royal camp in regular succession; but when Attila collected his military forces, he was able to bring into the field an army of five, or, according to another account, of seven hundred thousand barbarians.'

"Burning as it were a lamp.-The armies of the eastern empire were vanquished in three successive engagements; and the progress of Attila

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may be traced by the fields of battle. From the Hellespont to ThermopylÊ, and the suburbs of Constantinople, he ravaged, without resistance and without mercy, the provinces of Thrace and Macedonia. Heraclea and Hadrianople might perhaps escape this dreadful irruption of the Huns; but the words, the most expressive of total extirpation, and erasure, are applied to the calamities which they inflicted on seventy cities of the eastern empire.

"'Attila threatened to chastise the rash successor of Theodosius; but he hesitated whether he should first direct his invincible arms against the eastern or western empire; while mankind awaited his decision with awful suspense, and his ministers saluted the two emperors with the same haughty declaration, "Attila, my lord and thy lord, commands thee to provide a palace for his immediate reception." But as the barbarian despised, or affected to despise, the Romans of the east, whom he had so often vanquished, he soon, declared his resolution of suspending the easy conquest, till he had achieved a more glorious and important enterprise. In the memorable invasions of Gaul and Italy, the Huns were naturally attracted by the wealth and fertility of these provinces.

"'The trumpet sounded. The kings and nations of Germany and Scythia, from the Volga perhaps to the Danube, obeyed the warlike summons of Attila. From the royal village in the plains of Hungary, his standard moved towards the west; and, after a march of seven or eight hundred miles, he reached the conflux of the Rhine and the Necker. The hostile myriads were poured

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with resistless violence into the Belgic provinces. The consternation of Gaul was universal. From the Rhine and the Moselle, Attila advanced into the heart of Gaul; crossed the Seine at Auxerre; and, after a long and laborious march, fixed his camp under the walls of Orleans. An alliance was formed between the Romans and Visigoths. The hostile armies approached. "I myself," said Attila, "will throw the first javelin, and the wretch who refuses to imitate the example of his sovereign, is devoted to inevitable death." The spirit of the barbarians was rekindled by the presence, the voice, and the example, of their intrepid leader; and Attila, yielding to their impatience, immediately formed his order of battle. At the head of his brave and faithful Huns, Attila occupied in person the centre of the line. The nations from the Volga to the Atlantic were assembled on the plain of Chalons. The number of the slain amounted to one hundred and sixty-two thousand, or, according to another account, three hundred thousand persons; and these incredible exaggerations suppose a real or effective loss, sufficient to justify the historian's remark, that whole generations may be swept away, by the madness of kings, in the space of a single hour.'

"The course of the fiery meteor was changed, not stayed; and, touching Italy for the first time, the great star, after having burned as it were a lamp, fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters.

"'Neither the spirit, nor the forces, nor the reputation of Attila, were impaired by the failure of the Gallic expedition. He passed the Alps, invaded Italy, and besieged Aquileia with an innumerable

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host of barbarians. The succeeding generation could scarcely discover the ruins of Aquileia. After this dreadful chastisement, Attila pursued his march; and, as he passed, the cities of Altinum, Concordia, and Padua were reduced into heaps of stones and ashes. The inland towns, Vicenza, Verona, and Bergamo, were exposed to the rapacious cruelty of the Huns, Milan and Pavia submitted, without resistance, to the loss of their wealth; and applauded the unusual clemency which preserved from the flames the public as well as private buildings, and spared the lives of the captive multitude. Attila spread his ravages over the rich plains of modern Lombardy; which are divided by the Po, and bounded by the Alps and Appenine. He took possession of the royal palace, of Milan. It is a saying, worthy of the ferocious pride of Attila, that the grass never grew on the spot where his horse had trod.

"'The western emperor, with the senate and people of Rome, embraced the most salutary resolution of deprecating, by a solemn and suppliant embassy, the wrath of Attila. The Roman ambassadors were introduced to the tent of Attila, as he lay encamped at the place where the slow-winding Mincius (Mincio) is lost in the foaming waves of the lake Benacus, and trampled with his Scythian cavalry the farms of Catullus and Virgil. The barbarian monarch listened with favorable, and oven respectful attention; and the deliverance of Italy was purchased by the immense ransom, or dowry, of the princess Honoria.

"Attila advanced not further into Italy than the plains of Lombardy, and the banks of the Po. He reduced the cities, situated on that river and

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its tributary streams, to heaps of stones and ashes. But there his ravages ceased. The great star, which burned as it were a lamp, no sooner fell upon the fountains and rivers of waters and turned cities into ashes, than it was extinguished. Unlike to the great mountain burning with fire, the great star that fell from heaven, after suddenly scorching a part of Italy, rapidly disappeared. During the same year in which Attila first invaded the Italian territories, and spread his ravages over the rich plains of modern Lombardy, which are divided by the Po, and bounded by the Alps and Appenine, without advancing beyond the rivers and fountains of waters, he concluded a treaty of peace with the Romans, 'at the conflux of the lake and river,' on the spot where Mincius issues from lake Benacus (L. di Garda.) One paragraph in the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, describes 'the invasion of Italy by Attila, A. D. 452.' Another is entitled, under the same date, 'Attila gives peace to the Romans.' The next paragraph describes 'the death of Attila, A. D. 453;' and the very next records, without any interval, the destruction of his empire. "There fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. Its greatness, its burning course, the place, the severity, and suddenness of its fall, leave nothing more to be here explained, while its falling from heaven seems obviously to imply that it came from beyond the bounds of the Roman empire, on part of which it fell. Allusion will afterwards be made to the significancy of the term third part, which so repeatedly occurs.

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"But another verse is added, under the third trumpet, which, having thus seen the significancy of the former, we cannot pass over with any vague and general exposition, without calling on history to discharge its task, in expounding the full meaning of the words, which sum up the decline, and are the immediate prelude to the fourth trumpet, the death-knell of the western empire.

"And the name of the star is called Wormwood. These words,-which are more intimately connected with the preceding verse, as even the punctuation in our version denotes,-recall us for a moment to the character of Attila, to the misery of which he was the author or the instrument, and to the terror that was inspired by his name.

"'Total extirpation and erasure' are terms which best denote the calamities he inflicted.

"'One of his lieutenants chastised and almost exterminated the Burgundians of the Rhine. The Thuringians served in the army of Attila; they traversed, both in their march and in their return, the territories of the Franks; and they massacred their hostages as well as their captives. Two hundred young maidens were tortured with exquisite and unrelenting rage; their bodies were torn asunder by wild horses, or were crushed under the weight of rolling wagons; and their unburied limbs were abandoned on public roads, as a prey to dogs and vultures.'

"It was the boast of Attila, that the grass never grew on the spot which his horse had trod. 'The scourge of God' was a name that he appropriated to himself, and inserted among his royal titles. He was 'the scourge of his enemies, and the terror of the world.' The western emperor, with

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the senate and people of Rome, humbly and fearfully deprecated the wrath of Attila. And the concluding paragraph of the chapters which record his history, is entitled, 'Symptoms of the decay and ruin of the Roman government.' The name of the star is called Wormwood.

" 'In the space of twenty years since the death of Valentinian,' (two years subsequent to the death of Attila,) 'nine emperors had successively disappeared; and the son of Orestes, a youth recommended only by his beauty, would be the least entitled to the notice of posterity, if his reign, which was marked by the extinction of the Roman empire in the west, did not leave a memorable era in the history of mankind.'"

I shall also permit the same author to give us the history of the

FOURTH TRUMPET

Verse 12: "And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise."

"At the voice of the first angel, and the blast of his trumpet, the whole Roman world was in agitation, and 'the storms of war' passed over it all. 'The union of the empire was dissolved;' a third part of it fell; and the 'transalpine provinces were separated from the empire.' Under the second trumpet, the provinces of Africa, another, or the maritime, part, was in like manner reft from Rome, and the Roman ships were destroyed in

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the sea, and even in their harbors. The empire of Rome, hemmed in on every side, was then limited to the kingdom of Italy. Within its bounds, and along the fountains and rivers of waters, the third trumpet re-echoed from the Alps to the Appenines. The last barrier of the empire of Rome was broken. The plains of Lombardy were ravaged by a foreign foe: and from thence new enemies arose to bring to an end the strife of the world with the imperial city.

"Though the union of the empire was dissolved, there was still an emperor in Rome. The majesty of the Roman name was not obliterated, though tarnished. And after the middle of the fifth century, the CÊsars had still a successor in their own city. But the palace of Milan could not again be the temporary abode of the Roman court, when it was the seat and centre of a hostile power. And the marshes of Ravenna ceased to be a security, after the waters were made bitter, and when hordes of Huns mingled with other savages in the northern regions of Italy. The time, too, had long passed for realizing the project, which the terror of the Goths had first suggested, of transferring the court of Rome to the shores of Africa, and transforming Carthage into another Constantinople.

"The remnant, or the refuse, of previous invasions, was enough to destroy the last remaining parts of Roman greatness in Italy, and to abolish the office and the name of emperor of Rome.

"Long had that name been a terror to the nations, and identified with supreme authority in the world. Long had the emperor of Rome shone and ruled in the earth, like the sun in the firmament.

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His was a kingdom and dominion, great, and terrible, and strong exceedingly, to which all others were subjected or subordinate. His supreme, or imperial authority, had, in the decline of the empire, been greatly obscured, but till then, it had never been extinguished. It had been darkened and disfigured by a great storm; eclipsed, as it were, by a mountain that burned with fire; and outshone, as it were, by a falling star, like a fiery meteor. It had survived the assaults of Goths and Vandals, and Huns. Though clouded and obscured, it had never been smitten:-and though its light reached but a little way, where previously it had shone over all, it had never been extinguished.

"Neither, at last, was the whole sun smitten: but the third part. The throne of the CÊsars had for ages been the sun of the world; while other kings were designated as stars. But the imperial power had first been transferred to Constantinople, by Constantine; and it was afterwards divided between the east and the west. And the Eastern empire was not yet doomed to destruction. Even the western empire was afterwards revived; and a more modern dynasty arose to claim and maintain the title of emperor of the Romans. But, for the first time, after sudden, and violent, and distinctly marked and connected convulsions, the imperial power in Rome, where for so long a period it had reigned triumphant, was cut off forever; and the third part of the sun was smitten.

"'Extinction of the western empire, A. D. 476, or A. D. 479. Royalty was familiar to the barbarians, and the submissive people of Italy were prepared to obey without a murmur the authority

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which he should condescend to exercise as the vicegerent of the emperor of the west. But Odoacer resolved to abolish that useless and expensive office; and such is the weight of antique prejudice, that it required some boldness and penetration to discover the extreme facility of the enterprise. The unfortunate Augustulus was made the instrument of his own disgrace; and he signified his resignation to the senate; and that assembly, in their last act of obedience to a Roman prince, still affected the spirit of freedom and the forms of the constitution. An epistle was addressed, by their unanimous decree, to the emperor Zeno, the son-in-law and successor of Leo, who had lately been restored, after a short rebellion, to the Byzantine throne. They solemnly disclaim the necessity, or even the wish of continuing any longer the imperial succession in Italy; since in their opinion the majesty of a sole monarch is sufficient to pervade and to protect, at the same time, both the east and the west. In their own name, and in the name, of the people, they consent that the seat of universal empire shall be transferred from Rome to Constantinople; and they basely renounce the right of choosing their master, the only vestige which yet remained of the only authority which had given laws to the world.'

"The power and the glory of Rome, as bearing rule over any nation, became extinct. The name alone remained to the queen of nations. Every token, of royalty disappeared from the imperial city. She who had ruled over the nations sat in the dust, like a second Babylon, and there was no throne, where the CÊsars had reigned. The last act of obedience to a Roman prince, which that

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once august assembly performed, was the acceptance of the resignation of the last emperor of the West, and the abolition of the imperial succession in Italy. The sun of Borne was smitten. But though Rome itself, as an imperial city, ceased to exercise a sovereignty over any nation, yet the imperial ensigns, with the sacred ornaments of the throne and palace, were transferred to Constantinople, where Zeno reigned, under the title of sole emperor. The military acclamations of the confederates of Italy saluted Odoacer with the title of king.

"A new conqueror of Italy, Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, speedily arose, who unscrupulously assumed the purple, and reigned by the right of conquest. 'The royalty of Theodoric was proclaimed by the Goths, (March 5th, A. D. 493,) with the tardy, reluctant, ambiguous consent of the emperor of the east.' The imperial Roman power, of which either Rome or Constantinople had been jointly or singly the seat, whether in the west or the east, was no longer recognised in Italy, and the third part of the sun was smitten, till it emitted no longer the faintest rays. The power of the CÊsars was unknown in Italy; and a Gothic king reigned over Rome.

"But though the third part of the sun was smitten, and the Roman imperial power was at an end in the city of the CÊsars, yet the moon and the stars still shone, or glimmered, for a little longer in the western hemisphere, even in the midst of Gothic darkness. The consulship and the senate were not abolished by Theodoric. 'A Gothic historian applauds the consulship of Theodoric as the height of all temporal power

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and greatness;'-as the moon reigns by night, after the setting of the sun. And, instead of abolishing; that office, Theodoric himself 'congratulates those annual favorites of fortune, who, without the cares, enjoyed the splendor of the throne.'

"But, in their prophetic order, the consulship and the senate of Rome met their fate, though they fell not by the hands of Vandals or of Goths. The next revolution in Italy was its subjection to Belisarius, the general of Justinian, emperor of the East. He did not spare what barbarians had hallowed. 'The Roman consulship extinguished by Justinian, A. D. 541,' is the title of the last paragraph of the fortieth chapter of Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of Rome. 'The succession of consuls finally ceased in the thirteenth year of Justinian, whose despotic temper might be gratified by the silent extinction of a title which admonished the Romans of their ancient freedom.' The third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars. In the political firmament of the ancient world, while under the reign of imperial Rome, the emperorship, the consulate, and the senate, shone like the sun, the moon, and the stars. The history of their decline and fall is brought down till the two former were 'extinguished,' in reference to Rome and Italy, which so long had ranked as the first of cities and of countries; and finally, as the fourth trumpet closes, we see the 'extinction of that illustrious assembly,' the Roman senate. The city that had ruled the world, as if in mockery of human greatness, was conquered by the eunuch Narses, the

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successor of Belisarius. He defeated the Goths, (A. D. 552,) achieved 'the conquest of Rome,' and the fate of the senate was sealed.

"The calamities of imperial Rome, in its downfall, were told to the very last of them, till Rome was without an emperor, a consul, or a senate. 'Under the exarchs of Ravenna, Rome was degraded to the second rank.' The third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars. The race of the CÊsars was not extinct with the emperors of the West. Rome before its fall possessed but a portion of the imperial power. Constantinople divided with it the empire of the world. And neither Goths nor Vandals lorded over that still imperial city, the emperor of which, after the first transference of the seat of empire by Constantine, often held the emperor of Rome as his nominee and vicegerent. And the fate of Constantinople was reserved till other ages, and was announced by other trumpets. Of the sun, the moon, and the stars, as yet but the third part was smitten.

"The concluding words of the fourth trumpet imply the future restoration of the Western empire. The day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. In respect to civil authority, Rome became subject to Ravenna, and Italy was a conquered province of the Eastern empire. But, as more appropriately pertaining to other prophecies, the defence of the worship of images first brought the spiritual and temporal powers of the pope and of the emperor into violent collision; and, by conferring on the pope all authority over the churches, Justinian laid his helping hand to the promotion of the papal supremacy,

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which afterwards assumed the power of creating monarchs. In the year of our Lord 800, the pope conferred on Charlemagne the title of emperor of the Romans. That title was again transferred from the king of France to the emperor of Germany. By the latter it was formally renounced, within the memory of the existing generation. In our own days the iron crown of Italy was on the head of another 'emperor.' And the sun, as in the sequel we will see, is afterwards spoken of in the book of Revelation."

Verse 13. "And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Wo, wo, wo to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!"

The three last trumpets are each attended with a wo to the inhabiters of the earth. The fifth trumpet is the first wo; the sixth trumpet the second wo; the seventh and last trumpet the third wo.

THE FIFTH TRUMPET, OR FIRST WO

"There is scarcely so uniform an agreement among interpreters concerning any part of the apocalypse as respecting the application of the fifth and sixth trumpets, or the first and second wo, to the Saracens and Turks.' It is so obvious that it can scarcely be misunderstood. Instead of a verse or two designating each, the whole of the ninth chapter of the Revelation, in equal portions, is occupied with a description of both.

"The Roman empire declined, as it arose, by conquest; but the Saracens and the Turks were

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the instruments by which a false religion became the scourge of an apostate church; and, hence, instead of the fifth and sixth trumpets, like the former, being marked by that name alone, they are called woes. It was because the laws were transgressed, the ordinances changed, and the everlasting covenant broken, that the curse came upon the earth or the land.

"We have passed the period, in the political history of the world, when the western empire was extinguished; and the way was thereby opened for the exaltation of the papacy. The imperial power of the city of Rome was annihilated, and the office and the name of emperor of the west was abolished for a season. The trumpets assume a new form, as they are directed to a new object, and the close coincidence, or rather express identity between the king of the south, or the king of the north, as described by Daniel, and the first and second wo, will be noted in the subsequent illustration of the latter. The spiritual supremacy of the pope, it may be remembered, was acknowledged and maintained, after the fall of Rome, by the emperor Justinian. And whether in the character of a trumpet or a wo, the previous steps of history raise us, as on a platform, to behold in a political view the judgments that fell on apostate Christendom, and finally led to the subversion of the eastern empire."

Chapter ix., verse 1. "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit."

"Constantinople was besieged for the first time after the extinction of the western empire, by Chosroes, the king of Persia."

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"A star fell from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit."

"'While the Persian monarch con tern plated the wonders of his art and power, he received an epistle from an obscure citizen of Mecca, inviting him to acknowledge Mahomet as the apostle of God. He rejected the invitation, and tore the epistle. "It is thus," exclaimed the Arabian prophet, "that God will tear the kingdom, and reject the supplication of Chosroes." Placed on the verge of these two empires of the east, Mahomet observed with secret joy the progress of mutual destruction; and in the midst of the Persian triumphs he ventured to foretell, that, before many years should elapse, victory should again return to the banners of the Romans.' 'At the time when this prediction is said to have been delivered no prophecy could be more distant from its accomplishment (!) since the first twelve years of Heraclius announced the approaching dissolution of the empire.'

"It was not, like that designative of Attila, on a single spot that the star fell, but upon the earth.

"Chosroes subjugated the Roman possessions in Asia, and Africa. And 'the Roman empire,' at that period, 'was reduced to the walls of Constantinople, with the remnant of Greece, Italy, and Africa, and some maritime cities, from Tyre to Trebisond, of the Asiatic coast. The experience of six years at length persuaded the Persian monarch to renounce the conquest of Constantinople, and to specify the annual tribute or the ransom of the Roman Empire: a thousand talents of gold, a thousand talents of silver, a

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thousand silk robes, a thousand horses, and a thousand virgins. Heraclius subscribed these ignominious terms. But the time and space which he obtained to collect those treasures from the poverty of the east, was industriously employed in the preparations of a bold and desperate attack.'

"The king of Persia despised the obscure Saracen, and derided the message of the pretended prophet of Mecca. Even the overthrow of the Roman empire would not have opened a door for Mahometanism, or for the progress of the Saracenic armed propagators of an imposture, though the monarch of the Persians and chagan of the Avars (the successor of Attila) had divided between them the remains of the kingdom of the CÊsars. Chosroes himself fell. The Persian and Roman monarchies exhausted each other's strength. And before a sword was put into the hands of the false prophet, it was smitten from the hands of those who would have checked his career, and crushed his power.

"'Since the days of Scipio and Hannibal, no bolder enterprise has been attempted than that which Heraclius achieved for the deliverance of the empire. He permitted the Persians to oppress for a while the provinces, and to insult with impunity the capital of the east; while the Roman emperor explored his perilous way through the Black Sea and the mountains of Armenia, penetrated into the heart of Persia, and recalled the armies of the great king to the defence of their bleeding country. The revenge and ambition of Chosroes exhausted his kingdom. The whole city of Constantinople was invested,-and

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the inhabitants descried with terror the flaming signals of the European and Asiatic shores. In the battle of Nineveh, which was fiercely fought from daybreak to the eleventh hour, twenty-eight standards, besides those which might be broken or torn, were taken from the Persians; the greatest part of their army was cut in pieces, and the victors, concealing their own loss, passed the night on the field. The cities and palaces of Assyria were open for the first time to the Romans.

"'The Greeks and modern Persians minutely described how Chosroes was insulted, and famished, and tortured by the command of an inhuman son, who so far surpassed the example of his father: but at the time of his death, what tongue could relate the story of the parricide? what eye could penetrate into the tower of darkness? The glory of the house of Sassan ended with the life of Chosroes; his unnatural son enjoyed only eight months' fruit of his crimes; and in the space of four years the regal title was assumed by nine candidates, who disputed, with the sword or dagger, the fragments of an exhausted monarchy. Every province and every city of Persia was the scene of independence, of discord, and of blood, and the state of anarchy continued about eight years longer, till the factions were silenced and united under the common yoke of the Arabian Caliphs.'

"The Roman emperor was not strengthened by the conquests which he achieved; and a way was prepared at the same time, and by the same means, for the multitudes of Saracens from Arabia, like locusts from the same region, who, propagating in their course the dark and delusive

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Mahometan creed, speedily overspread both the Persian and Roman empires.

"More complete illustration of this fact could not be desired that is supplied in the concluding words of the chapter from Gibbon, from which the preceding extracts are taken."

"'Yet the deliverer of the east was indigent and feeble. Of the Persian spoils the most valuable portion had been expended in the war, distributed to the soldiers, or buried by an unlucky tempest in the waves of the Euxine. The loss of two hundred thousand soldiers, who had fallen by the sword, was of less fatal importance than the decay of arts, agriculture, and population, in this long and destructive war: and although a victorious army had been formed under the standard of Heraclius, the unnatural effort seems to have exhausted rather than exercised their strength. While the emperor triumphed at Constantinople or Jerusalem, an obscure town on the confines of Syria was pillaged by the Saracens, and they cut in pieces some troops who advanced to its relief-an ordinary and trifling occurrence, had it not been the prelude of a mighty revolution. These robbers were the apostles of Mahomet; their fanatic valor had emerged from the desert; and in the last eight years of his reign, Heraclius lost to the Arabs the same provinces which he had rescued from the Persians.'

"'The spirit of fraud and enthusiasm, whose; abode is not in the heavens,' was let loose on earth. The bottomless pit needed but a key to open it; and that key was the fall of Chosroes. He had contemptuously torn the letter of an obscure citizen of Mecca. But when from his

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'blaze of glory' he sunk into 'the tower of darkness' which no eye could penetrate, the name of Chosroes was suddenly to pass into oblivion before that of Mahomet; and the cresent seemed but to wait its rising till the falling of the star. Chosroes, after his entire discomfiture and loss of empire, was murdered in the year six hundred and twenty-eight; and the year six hundred and twenty-nine is marked by 'the conquest of Arabia,' 'and the first war of the Mahometans against the Roman empire.'-And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit. He fell unto the earth. When the strength of the Roman empire was exhausted, and the great king of the east lay dead in his tower of darkness, the pillage of an obscure town on the borders of Syria was 'the prelude of a mighty revolution.' 'The robbers were the apostles of Mahomet, and their fanatic valor emerged from the desert."

"A more succinct, yet ample, commentary may be given in the words of another historian.

"'While Chosroes of Persia was pursuing his dreams of recovering and enlarging the empire of Cyrus, and Heraclius was gallantly defending the empire of the CÊsars against him; while idolatry and metaphysics were diffusing their baleful influence through the church of Christ, and the simplicity and purity of the gospel were nearly lost beneath the mythology which occupied the place of that of ancient Greece and Rome, the seeds of a new empire, and of a new religion, were sown in the inaccessible deserts of Arabia.' ¹1

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"The first wo arose at a time when transgressors had come to the full, when men had changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant, when idolatry prevailed, or when tutelary saints were honored-and when the 'mutual destruction' of the Roman and Persian empires prepared the way of the fanatic robbers,-or opened the bottomless pit, from whence an imposture, which manifests its origin from the 'father of liars,' spread over the greater part of the world.

"And there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. Like the noxious and even deadly vapor which the winds, particularly from the south-west, diffuse in Arabia, Mahometanism spread from thence its pestilential influence-and arose as suddenly, and spread as widely, as smoke arising out of the pit, the smoke of a great furnace. Such is a suitable symbol of the religion of Mahomet, of itself, or as compared with the pure light of the gospel of Jesus. It was not, like the latter, a light from heaven; but a smoke out of the bottomless pit.

"'Mahomet alike instructed to preach and to fight; and the union of these opposite qualities, while it enhanced his merit, contributed to his success; the operation of force and persuasion, of enthusiasm and fear, continually acted on each other, till every barrier yielded to their irresistible power.' 'The first caliphs ascended the pulpit to persuade and edify the congregation.'

"'While the state was exhausted by the Persian war, and the church was distracted by the Nestorian and Monophysite sects, Mahomet, with the sword in one hand, and the koran in the other,

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erected his throne on the ruins of Christianity and of Rome. The genius of the Arabian prophet, the manners of his nation, and the spirit of his religion, involve the causes of the decline and fall of the eastern empire; and our eyes are curiously intent on one of the most memorable revolutions which have impressed a new and most lasting; character on the nations of the globe."

"Mahomet, it may be said, has heretofore divided the world with Jesus. He rose up against the Prince of princes. A great sword was given him. His doctrine, generated by the spirit of fraud and enthusiasm, whose abode is not in the heavens, as even an unbeliever could tell, arose out of the bottomless pit, spread over the earth like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air mere darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. It spread from Arabia, over great part of Asia, Africa, and Europe. The Greeks of Egypt, whose numbers could scarcely equal a tenth of the nation, were overwhelmed by the universal defection. And even in the farthest extremity of continental Europe, the decline of the French monarchy invited the attacks of these insatiate fanatics. The smoke that arose from the cave of Hera was diffused from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. But the prevalence of their faith is best seen in the extent of their conquests."

Verse 3: "And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power."

"A false religion was set up, which, although the scourge of transgressions and idolatry, filled the world with darkness and delusion; and swarms of Saracens, like locusts, overspread the earth,

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and speedily extended their ravages over the Roman empire, from east to west. The hail descended from the frozen shores of the Baltic; the burning mountain fell upon the sea, from Africa: and the locusts, (the fit symbol of the Arabs,) issued from Arabia, their native region. They came, as destroyers, propagating a new doctrine, and stirred up to rapine and violence by motives of interest and religion.

"'In the ten years of the administration of Omar, the Saracens reduced to his obedience thirty-six thousand cities or castles, destroyed four thousand churches or temples of the unbelievers, and erected fourteen hundred mosques, for the exercise of the religion of Mahomet. One hundred years after his flight from Mecca, the arms and the reign of his successors extended from India to the Atlantic Ocean.

"'At the end of the first century of the Hegira, the caliphs were the most potent and absolute monarchs of the globe. The regal and sacerdotal characters were united in the successors of Mahomet. Under the last of the Ommiades, the Arabic empire extended two hundred days' journey from east to west, from the confines of Tartary and India to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. And if we retrench the sleeve of the robe, as it is styled by their writers, the long and narrow province of Africa, the solid and compact dominion from Fargana to Aden, from Tarsus to Surat, will spread on every side to the measure of four or five months of the march of a caravan. The progress of the Mahometan religion diffused over this ample space a general resemblance of manners and opinions: the language and laws of the Koran were studied with equal devotion at

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Sarmacand and Seville: the Moor and the Indian embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of Mecca; and the Arabian language was adopted as the popular idiom in all the provinces to the westward of the Tigris.'

"A still more specific illustration may be given, of the power, like unto that of scorpions, which was given them. Not only was their attack speedy and vigorous, but 'the nice sensibility of honor, which weighs the insult rather than the injury, sheds its deadly venom on the quarrels of the Arabs:-an indecent action, a contemptuous word, can be expiated only by the blood of the offender; and such is their patient inveteracy, that they expect whole months and years the opportunity of revenge.'"

Verse 4: "And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads."

On the sounding of the first angel, the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

After the death of Mahomet, he was succeeded in the command by Abubeker, A. D. 632; who, as soon as he had fairly established his authority and government, despatched a circular letter to the Arabian tribes, of which the following is an extract:-"This is to acquaint you that I intend to send the true believers into Syria to take it out of the hand of the infidels, and I would have you know that the fighting for religion is an act of obedience to God."

"His messengers returned with the tidings

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of pious and martial ardor, which they had kindled in every province; the camp of Medina was successively filled with the intrepid bands of the Saracens, who panted for action, complained of the heat of the season and the scarcity of provisions, and accused, with impatient murmurs, the delays of the caliph. As soon as their numbers were complete, Abubeker ascended the hill, reviewed the men, the horses, and the arms, and poured forth a fervent prayer for the success of their undertaking. His instructions to the chiefs of the Syria were inspired by the warlike fanaticism which advances to seize, and affects to despise, the objects of earthly ambition. 'Remember,' said the successor of the prophet, 'that you are always in the presence of God, on the verge of death, in the assurance of judgment, and the hope of Paradise: avoid injustice and oppression; consult with your brethren, and study to preserve the love and confidence of your troops. When you fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women or children. Destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make any covenant or article, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way; let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries; and you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; be sure you cleave

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their skulls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mahometans or pay tribute.'

"It is not said in prophecy or in history that the more humane injunctions were as scrupulously obeyed as the ferocious mandate. But it was so commanded them. And the preceding are the only instructions recorded by Gibbon, as given by Abubeker to the chiefs whose duty it was to issue the commands to all the Saracen hosts. The commands are alike discriminating with the prediction; as if the caliph himself had been acting in known as well as direct obedience to a higher mandate than that of mortal man-and in the very act of going forth to fight against the religion of Jesus, and to propagate Mahometanism in its stead, he repeated the words which it was foretold in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, that he would say."

Verse 5: "And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man."

"Their constant incursions into the Roman territory, and frequent assaults on Constantinople itself, were an unceasing torment throughout the empire, which yet they were not able effectually to subdue, notwithstanding the long period, afterwards more directly alluded to, during which they continued, by unremitting attacks, grievously to afflict an idolatrous church, of which the pope was the head. Their charge was to torment, and then to hurt, but not to kill, or utterly destroy. The marvel was that they did not. To repeat the words of Gibbon-'The calm historian of the present hour must study to explain by what

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means the church and state were saved from this impending, and, as it should seem, from this inevitable danger. In this inquiry I shall unfold the events that rescued our ancestors of Britain, and our neighbors of Gaul, from the civil and religious yoke of the Koran; that protected the majesty of Rome, and delayed the servitude of Constantinople; that invigorated the defence of the Christians, and scattered among their enemies the seeds of division and decay.' Ninety pages of illustration follow, to which we refer the readers of Gibbon.

Verse 6: "And in those days shall men seek death, but they shall not find it; and shall desire to die, but death shall flee from them."

"Men were weary of life, when life was spared only for a renewal of wo, and when all that they accounted sacred was violated, and all that they held dear constantly endangered; and when the savage Saracens domineered over them, or left them only to a momentary repose, ever liable to be suddenly or violently interrupted, as if by the sting of a scorpion. They who tormented men were commanded not to kill them. And death might thus have been sought even where it was not found. 'Whosoever falls in battle,' says Mahomet, 'his sins are forgiven at the day of judgment: at the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion, and odoriferous as musk, and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim.' The intrepid souls of the Arabs were fired with enthusiasm: the picture of the invisible world was strongly painted on their imagination; and

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the death which they always despised became an object of hope and desire."

Verse 7: "And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle."

"Arabia, in the opinion of the naturalist, is the genuine and original country of the horse; the climate must propitious, not indeed to the size, but to the spirit and swiftness of that generous animal. The merit of the Barb, the Spanish, and the English breed, is derived from a mixture of the Arabian blood; the Bedouins preserve with superstitious care the honors and the memory of the purest race. These horses are educated in the tents, among the children of the Arabs, with a tender familiarity, which trains them in the habits of gentleness and attachment. They are accustomed only to walk and to gallop: their sensations are not blunted by the incessant use of the spur and the whip; their powers are reserved for the moments of flight and pursuit; but no sooner do they feel the touch of the hand or the stirrup, than they dart away with the swiftness of the wind.

"The Arabian horse takes the lead throughout the world; and skill in horsemanship is the art and science of Arabia. And the barbed Arabs, swift as locusts and armed like scorpions, ready to dart away in a moment, were ever prepared unto battle.

"And on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold. When Mahomet entered Medina, (A. D. 622,) and was first received as its prince, 'a turban was unfurled before him to supply the deficiency of a standard.' The turbans of the Saracens, like unto a coronet, were their ornament

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and their boast The rich booty abundantly supplied and frequently renewed them. To assume the turban, is proverbially to turn Mussulman. And the Arabs were anciently distinguished by the mitres which they wore.

"And their faces were as the faces of men. The gravity and firmness of the mind of the Arab is conspicuous in his outward demeanor,-his only gesture is that of stroking his beard, the venerable symbol of manhood.' 'The honor of their beards is most easily wounded.'"

Verse 8: "And they had hair as the hair of women."

"Long hair is esteemed an ornament by women. The Arabs, unlike to other men, had their hair as the hair of women, or uncut, as their practice is recorded by Pliny and others. But there was nothing effeminate in their character, for, as denoting their ferocity and strength to devour, their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

Verse 9: "And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron."

"The cuirass (or breastplate) was in use among the Arabs in the days of Mahomet. In the battle of Ohud (the second which Mahomet fought) with the Koreish of Mecca, (A. D. 624.) 'seven hundred of them were armed with cuirasses.' And in his next victory over the Jews, 'three hundred cuirasses, five hundred pikes, a thousand lances, composed the most useful portion of the spoil.' After the defeat of the imperial army of seventy thousand men, on the plain of Aiznadin, (A. D. 633,) the spoil taken by the Saracens 'was inestimable; many banners and crosses of gold and silver, precious, stones

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silver and gold chains, and innumerable suits of the richest armor and apparel. The seasonable supply of arms became the instrument of new victories.'"

Verse 9: "And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle."

"The charge of the Arabs was not like that if the Greeks and Romans, the efforts of a irm and compact infantry: their military force was chiefly formed of cavalry and archers; and the engagement was often interrupted, and often renewed by single combats and flying skirmishes, etc. The periods of the battle of Cadesia were distinguished by their peculiar appellations. The first, from the well-timed appearance of six thousand of the Syrian brethren, was denominated the day of succor. The day of concussion might express the disorder of one, or perhaps of both the contending armies. The third, a nocturnal tumult, received the whimsical name of the night of barking, from the discordant clamors, which, were compared to the inarticulate sounds of the fiercest animals. The morning of the succeeding day determined the fate of Persia.' With a touch of the hand, the Arab horses dart away with, the swiftness of the wind. The sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. Their conquests were marvellous, both in rapidity and extent, and their attack was instantaneous. Nor was it less successful against the Romans than the Persians. 'A religion of peace was incapable of withstanding the fanatic cry of "Fight, fight! Paradise

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paradise!" that re-echoed in the ranks of the Saracens.'"

Verse 10: "And they had tails like unto scorpions; and there were stings in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months."

"The authority of the companions of Mahomet expired with their lives: and the chiefs or emirs of the Arabian tribes left behind in the desert the spirit of equality and independence. The legal and sacerdotal characters were united in the successors of Mahomet; and if the Koran was the rule of their actions, they were the supreme judges and interpreters of that divine book. They reigned by the right of conquest over the nations of the east, to whom the name of liberty was unknown, and who were accustomed to applaud in their tyrants the acts of violence and secerity that were exercised at their own expense.'"

Thus far Keith has furnished us with illustrations of the sounding of the first five trumpets. But here we must take leave of him, and, in applying the prophetic periods, pursue another course.

THE TORMENT OF THE GREEKS ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS

Verse 10: "Their power was to hurt men five months."

1. The question arises, What men were they to hurt five months? Undoubtedly, the same they were afterwards to slay; [see verse 15.] "The third part of men," or third of the Roman empire-the Greek division of it.

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2. When were they to begin their work of torment? The 11th verse answers the question:-"They had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek hath his name Apollyon."

1. "They had a king over them." From the death of Mahomet until near the close of the 13th century, the Mahommedans were divided into various factions, under several leaders, with no general civil government extending over them all. Near the close of the 13th century, Othman founded a government, which has since been known as the Ottoman government, or empire, extending over all the principal Mahommedan tribes, consolidating them into one grand monarchy.

2. The character of the king. "Which is the angel of the bottomless pit." An angel signifies a messenger, or minister, either good or bad; not always a spiritual being. "The angel of the bottomless pit," or chief minister of the religion which came from thence when it was opened. That religion is Mahommedism, and the Sultan is its chief minister. "The Sultan, or Grand Signior, as he is indifferently called, is also Supreme Caliph, or high priest, uniting in his person the highest spiritual dignity with the supreme secular authority." ²2

When the address of "The World's AntiSlavery Convention" was presented to Mehemet Ali, he expressed his willingness to act in the matter, but said he could do nothing; they "must

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go to the heads of religion at Constantinople," that is the Sultan.

3. His name. In Hebrew, "Abaddon," the destroyer; in Greek, "Apollyon," one that exterminates or destroys. Having two different names in the two languages, it is evident that the character, rather than the name of the power, is intended to be represented. If so, in both languages he is a destroyer. Such has always been the character of the Ottoman government.

Says Perkins,-"He," the Sultan, "has unlimited power over the lives and property of his subjects, especially of the high officers of state, whom he can remove, plunder or put to death at pleasure. They are required submissively to kiss the bow-string which he sends them, wherewith they are to be strangled."

All the above marks apply to the Ottoman government in a striking manner.

But when did Othman make his first assault on the Greek empire? According to Gibbon,("Decl. and Fall," etc) "Othman first entered the territory of Nicomedia on the 27th day of July, 1299."

The calculations of some writers have gone upon the supposition that the period should begin with the foundation of the Ottoman empire; but this is evidently an error: for they not only were to have a king over them, but were to torment men five months. But the period of torment could not begin before the first attack of the tormentors, which was as above, July 27th, 1299.

The calculation which follows, founded on this starting-point, was made and published in

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"Christ's Second Coming," etc., by the author, in 1838.

"And their power was to torment men five months." Thus far their commission extended, to torment, by constant depredations, but not politically to kill them. "Five months;" that is, one hundred and fifty years. Commencing July 27th, 1299, the one hundred and fifty years reach to 1449. During that whole period the Turks were engaged in an almost perpetual war with the Greek empire, but yet without conquering it. They seized upon and held several of the Greek provinces, but still Greek independence was maintained in Constantinople. But in 1449, the termination of the one hundred and fifty years, a change came. Before presenting the history of that change, however, we will look at verses12-15.

THE OTTOMAN SUPREMACY IN CONSTANTINOPLE THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY-ONE YEARS AND FIFTEEN DAYS

Verse 12: "One wo is past; and behold, there come two woes more hereafter."

Verse 13: "And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice, from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God."

Verse 14: "Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates."

Verse 15: "And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men."

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The first wo was to continue from the rise of Mahommedism until the end of the five months. Then the first wo was to end, and the second begin. And when the sixth angel sounded, it was commanded to take off the restraints which had been imposed on the nation, by which they were restricted to the work of tormenting men, and their commission extended to slay the third part of men. This command came from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. "The four angels," are the four principal sultanies of which the Ottoman empire is composed, located in the country of the Euphrates. They had been restrained; God commanded, and they were loosed.

In the year 1449, John Paleologus, the Greek emperor, died, but left no children to inherit his throne, and Constantine Deacozes succeeded to it. But he would not venture to ascend the throne without the consent of Amurath, the Turkish Sultan. He therefore sent ambassadors to ask his consent, and obtained it, before he presumed to call himself sovereign.

"This shameful proceeding seemed to presage the approaching downfall of the empire. D u sas, the historian, counts John Paleologus for the last Greek emperor, without doubt, because, he did not consider as such a prince who had not dared to reign without the permission of his enemy."

Let this historical fact be carefully examined in connection with the prediction above. This was not a violent assault made on the Greeks, by which their empire was overthrown and their independence taken away, but simply a voluntary surrender of that independence into the

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hands of the Turks, by saying, "I cannot reign unless you permit."

The four angels were loosed for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men. This period amounts to three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days; during which Ottoman supremacy was to exist in Constantinople.

But, although the four angels were thus loosed by the voluntary submission of the Greeks, yet another doom awaited the seat of empire. Amurath, the sultan to whom the submission of Deacozes was made, and by whose permission he reigned in Constantinople, soon after died, and was succeeded in the empire, in 1451, by Mahomet II., who set his heart on Constantinople, and determined to make it a prey. He accordingly made preparations for besieging and taking the city. The siege commenced on the 6th of April, 1453, and ended in the taking of the city, and death of the last of the Constantines, on the 16th day of May following. And the eastern city of the CÊsars became the seat of the Ottoman empire.

The arms and mode of warfare by which the siege of Constantinople was to be overthrown, and held in subjection were distinctly noticed by the revelator.-l. The army.

Verse 16: "And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them."

Innumerable hordes of horses and them that sat on them. Gibbon describes the first invasion of the Roman territories by the Turks, thus:-"The myriads of Turkish horse overspread a frontier of six hundred miles from Tauris to Azeroum,

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and the blood of 130,000 Christians was a grateful sacrifice to the Arabian prophet." Whether the number is designed to convey the idea of any definite number, the reader must judge. Some suppose 200,000 twice told is meant, and then following some historians, find that number of Turkish warriors in the siege of Constantinople. Some think 200,000,000 to mean all the Turkish warriors during the 391 years, fifteen days of their triumph over the Greeks. I confess this to me appears the most likely. But as it cannot be ascertained whether that is the fact or not, I will affirm nothing on the point.

Verse 17: "And thus 1 saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone."

On this text I shall again refer to Mr. Keith for on illustration of it:-

"The color of fire is red, of hyacinth or jacinth blue, and of brimstone yellow, and this, as Mr. Daubuz observes, 'has a literal accomplishment; for the Othmans, from the first time of their appearance, have affected to wear such warlike apparel of scarlet, blue, and yellow. Of the Spahis, particularly, some have red and some have yellow standards, and others red or yellow mixed with other colors. In appearance, too, the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, to denote their strength, courage and fierceness.' Without rejecting so plausible an interpretation, the suggestion may not be unwarrantable, that a still closer and more direct exposition may be

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given of that which the prophet saw in the vision. In the prophetic description of the full of Babylon, they who rode on horses are described as holding the bow and the lance; but it was with other arms than the arrow and the spear that the Turkish warriors encompassed Constantinople; and the breastplates of the horsemen, in reference to the more destructive implements of war, might then, for the first time, be said to be fire, and jacinth, and brimstone. The musket had recently supplied the place of the bow. Fire emanated from their breasts. Brimstone, the flame of which is jacinth, was an ingredient both of the liquid fire and of gunpowder. Congruity seems to require this more strictly literal interpretation, as conformable to the significancy of the same terms in the immediately subsequent verse, including the same general description. A new mode of warfare was at that time introduced, which has changed the nature of war itself, in regard to the form of its instruments of destruction; and sounds and sights unheard of and unknown before, were the death-knell and doom of the Roman empire. Invention outrivalled force, and a new power was introduced, that of musketry as well as of artillery, in the art of war, before which the old Macedonian phalanx would not have remained unbroken, nor the Roman legions stood. That which John saw 'in the vision,' is read in the history of the times."

Verse 18: "By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths."

"'Among the implements of destruction, he studied with peculiar care the recent and tremendous

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discovery of the Latins, and his artillery surpassed whatever had yet appeared in the world. A founder of cannon, a Dane or Hungarian, who had been almost starved in the Greek service, deserted to the Moslems, and was liberally entertained by the Turkish sultan. Mahomet was satisfied with the answer to his first question, which he eagerly pressed on the artist,-"Am I able to cast a cannon capable of throwing a ball or stone of sufficient size to batter the walls of Constantinople?" "I am not ignorant of their strength, but were they more solid than those of Babylon, I could oppose an engine of superior power; the position and management of that engine must be left to your engineers." On this assurance a foundery was established at Adrianople; the metal was prepared; and at the end of three months Urban produced a piece of brass ordnance of stupendous and almost incredible magnitude. A measure of twelve palms was assigned to the bore, and the stone bullet weighed about six hundred pounds. A vacant place before the new palace was chosen for the first experiment; but to prevent the sudden and mischievous effects of astonishment and fear, a proclamation was issued that the cannon would be discharged the ensuing day. The explosion was felt or heard in a circuit of a hundred furlongs; the ball, by the force of the gunpowder, was driven about a mile, and on the spot where it fell, it buried itself a fathom deep in the ground. For the conveyance of this destructive engine, a frame or carriage of thirty wagons was linked together, and drawn along by a train of sixty oxen; two hundred men on both sides were stationed to poise or support the rolling weight; two hundreds

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and fifty workmen marched before to smooth the way and repair the bridges, and near two months were employed in a laborious journey of a hundred and fifty miles. I dare not reject the positive and unanimous evidence of contemporary writers. A Turkish cannon, more enormous than that of Mahomet, still guards the entrance of the Dardanelles, and if the use be inconvenient, it has been found, on a late trial, that the effect is far from contemptible. A stone bullet of eleven hundred pounds weight was once discharged with three hundred and thirty pounds of powder; at the distance of six hundred yards it shivered into three rocky fragments, traversed the strait, and leaving the waters in a foam, again rose and bounded against the opposite hill.'

"In the siege, 'the incessant volleys of lances and arrows were accompanied with the smoke, the sound, and the fire of their musketry and cannon. Their small arms discharged at the same time five or even ten balls of lead of the size of a walnut, and according to the closeness of the ranks, and the force of the powder, several breastplates and bodies were transpierced by the same shot. But the Turkish approaches were soon sank in trenches, or covered with ruins. Each day added to the science of the Christians, but their inadequate stock of gunpowder was wasted in the operations of each day. Their ordnance was not powerful either in size or number, and if they possessed some heavy cannon, they feared to plant them on the walls, lest the aged structure should be shaken and overthrown by the explosion. The same destructive secret had been revealed to the Moslems, by whom it was employed

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with the superior energy of zeal, riches and despotism. The great cannon of Mahomet has been separately noticed; an important and visible object in the history of the times; but that enormous engine was flanked by two fellows almost of equal magnitude; the long order of the Turkish artillery was pointed against the walls; fourteen batteries thundered at once on the most accessible places, and of one of these it is ambiguously expressed that it was mounted with one hundred and thirty guns, or that it discharged one hundred and thirty bullets. Yet in the power and activity of the sultan we may discern the infancy of the new science; under a master who counted the moments, the great cannon could be loaded and fired no more than seven times in one day. The heated metal unfortunately burst; several workmen were destroyed; and the skill of an artist was admired who bethought himself of preventing the danger and the accident by pouring oil after each explosion into the mouth of the cannon.'"

This historical sketch from Gibbon, of the use of gunpowder, fire-arms and cannon, as the instrumentality by which the city was finally overcome, is so illustrative of the text, that one can hardly imagine any other scene can be described.

The specified time for the continuance of Turkish or Mahometan supremacy over the Greeks, was an hour, day, month, and year. A prophetic year, three hundred and sixty days; a month, thirty days; one day; and an hour, or the twenty-fourth part of a day. Three hundred and sixty, the number of days in a prophetic year, divided by twenty-four, the number of hours in a

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day, gives us fifteen days. Three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days.

Commencing when, the one hundred and fifty years ended, in 1449, the period would end August 11th, 1840. Judging from the manner of the commencement of the Ottoman supremacy, that it was by a voluntary acknowledgment on the part of the Greek emperor that he only reigned by permission of the Turkish sultan, we should naturally conclude that the fall or departure of the Ottoman independence would be brought about in the same way; that at the end of the specified period, the Sultan would voluntarily surrender his independence into the hands of the Christian powers, from whom he received it.

When the foregoing calculation was made, it was purely a matter of calculation on the prophetic periods of Scripture. Now, however, the time has passed by, and it is proper to inquire what the result has been-whether it has corresponded with the previous calculation.

I shall now pass to the question, has that supremacy departed from the Mahometans into Christian hands, so that the Turks now exist and reign by the sufferance and permission of the Christian powers, as the Christians did for some two to three years by the permission of the Turks?

First Testimony.-The following is from Rev. Mr. Goodell, missionary of the American Board at Constantinople, addressed to the Board, and by them published in the Missionary Herald, for April, 1841, p. 160:-

"The power of Islamism is broken forever;

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and there is no concealing the fact even from themselves. They exist now by mere sufferance. And though there is a mighty effort made by the Christian governments to sustain them, yet at every step they sink lower and lower with fearful velocity. And though there is a great endeavor made to graft the institutions of civilized and Christian countries upon the decayed trunk, yet the very root itself is fast wasting away by the venom of its own poison. How wonderful it is, that, when all Christendom combined together to check the progress of Mahommedan power, it waxed exceedingly great in spite of every opposition; and now, when all the mighty potentates of Christian Europe, who feel fully competent to settle all the quarrels, and arrange all the affairs of the whole world, are leagued together for its protection and defence, down it comes, in spite of all their fostering care."

Mr. Goodell has been for years a missionary in the Turkish dominions, and is competent to judge of the state of the government. His deliberate and unequivocal testimony is, that "the power of Islamism is broken forever." But it is said the Turks yet reign! So also says our witness-"but it is by mere sufferance." They are at the mercy of the Christians. Their independence is broken.

Another Witness.-Rev. Mr. Balch, of Providence, R. I., in an attack on Mr. Miller for saying that the Ottoman empire fell in 1840, says:-"How can an honest man have the hardihood to stand up before an intelligent audience, and make such an assertion, when the most authentic

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version of the change of the Ottoman empire is that it has not been on a better foundation in fifty years, for it is now re-organized by the European kingdoms, and is honorably treated as such."

But how does it happen that Christian Europe re-organized the government? What need of it, if it was not disorganized? If Christian Europe has done this, then it is now, to all intents and purposes, a Christian government, and is only ruled nominally by the sultan, as their vassal.

This testimony is the more valuable for having come from an opponent. We could not have selected and put together words more fully expressive of the idea of the present state of the Ottoman empire. It is true the Christian governments of Europe have re-organized the Turkish empire, and it is their creature. From 1840 to the present time, the Ottoman government has been under the dictation of the great powers of Europe; and scarcely a measure of that government has been adopted and carried out without the interference and dictation of the allies; and that dictation has been submitted to by them.

It is in this light politicians have looked upon the government since 1840, as the following item will show:-

The London Morning Herald, after the capture of St. Jean d'Acre, speaking of the state of things in the Ottoman empire, says:-"We (the allies) have conquered St. Jean d'Acre. We have dissipated into thin air the prestige that lately invested as with a halo the name of Mehemet Ali. We have in all probability destroyed

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forever the power of that hitherto successful ruler. But have we done aught to restore strength to the Ottoman empire? We fear not. We fear that the Sultan has been reduced to the hank of a puppet; and that the sources of the Turkish Empire's strength are entirely destroyed.

"If the supremacy of the Sultan is hereafter to be maintained in Egypt, it must be maintained, we fear, by the unceasing intervention of England and Russia."

What the London Morning Herald last November feared, has since been realized. The Sultan has been entirely, in all the great questions which have come up, under the dictation of the Christian kingdoms of Europe.

WHEN DID MAHOMMEDAN INDEPENDENCE IN CONSTANTINOPLE DEPART?

In order to answer this question understandingly, it will be necessary to review briefly the history of that power for a few years past.

For several years the Sultan has been embroiled in war with Mehemet Ali, Pacha of Egypt. In 1838 there was a threatening of war between the Sultan and his Egyptian vassal. Mehemet Ali Pacha, in a note addressed to the foreign consuls, declared that in future he would pay no tribute to the Porte, and that be considered himself independent sovereign of Egypt, Arabia, and Syria. The Sultan, naturally incensed at this declaration, would have immediately commenced hostilities, had he not been restrained by the influence of the foreign ambassadors, and persuaded to delay. This war, however, was

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finally averted by the announcement of Mehemet, that he was ready to pay a million of dollars, arrearages of tribute which he owed the Porte, and an actual payment of $750,000, in August of that year.

In 1839 hostilities again commenced, and were prosecuted, until, in a general battle between the armies of the Sultan and Mehemet, the Sultan's army was entirely cut up and destroyed, and his fleet taken by Mehemet and carried into Egypt. So completely had the Sultan's fleet been reduced, that, when hostilities commenced in August, he had only two first-rates and three frigates, as the sad remains of the once powerful Turkish fleet. This fleet Mehemet positively refused to give up and return to the Sultan, and declared, if the powers attempted to take it from him, he would burn it.

In this posture affairs stood, when, in 1840, England, Russia, Austria and Prussia interposed, and determined on a settlement of the difficulty; for it was evident, if let alone, Mehemet would soon become master of the Sultan's throne.

The following extract from an official document, which appeared in the Moniteur Ottoman, Aug. 22, 1840, will give an idea of the course of affairs at this juncture. The conference spoken of was composed of the four powers above named, and was held in London, July 15th, 1840:-

"Subsequent to the occurrence of the disputes alluded to, and after the reverses experienced, as known to all the world, the ambassadors of the great powers at Constantinople, in a collective official note declared that their governments were unanimously agreed upon taking measures to

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arrange the said differences. The Sublime Porte, with a view of putting a stop to the effusion of Mussulman blood, and to the various evils which would arise from a renewal of hostilities, accepted the intervention of the great powers."

Here was certainly a voluntary surrender of the question into the hands of the great powers. But it proceeds:-

"His Excellency, Sheikh Effendi, the Bey Likgis, was therefore despatched as plenipotentiary to represent the Sublime Porte at the conference which took place in London, for the purpose in question, It having been felt that all the zealous labors of the conferences of London in the settlement of the Pacha's pretensions were useless, and that the only public way was to have recourse to coercive measures to reduce him to obedience in case he persisted in not listening to pacific overtures, the powers have, together with the Ottoman Plenipotentiary, drawn up and signed a treaty, whereby the Sultan offers the Pacha the hereditary government of Egypt, and all that part of Syria extending from the gulf of Suez to the lake of Tiberias, together with the province of Acre, for life; the Pacha, on his part, evacuating all other parts of the Sultan's dominions now occupied by him, and returning the Ottoman fleet. A certain space of time has been granted him to accede to these terms; and, as the proposals of the Sultan and his allies, the four powers, do not admit of any change or qualification, if the Pacha refuse to accede to them, it is evident that the evil consequences to fall upon him will be attributable solely to his own fault.

"His Excellency, Rifat Bey, Musleshar. for foreign affairs, has been despatched in a government

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steamer to Alexandria, to communicate the ultimatum to the Pacha."

From these extracts it appears,-

1. That the Sultan, conscious of his own weakness, did voluntarily accept the intervention of the great Christian powers of Europe to settle his difficulties, which he could not settle himself.

2. That they (the great powers) were agreed on taking measures to settle the difficulties.

3. That the ultimatum of the London conference left it with the Sultan to arrange the affair with Mehemet, if he could. The Sultan was to offer to him the terms of settlement. So that if Mehemet accepted the terms, there would still be no actual intervention of the powers between the Sultan and Pacha.

4. That if Mehemet rejected the Sultan's offer, the ultimatum admitted of no change or qualification; the great powers stood pledged to coerce him into submission. So long, therefore, as the Sultan held the ultimatum in his own hands, he still maintained the independence of his throne. But that document once submitted to Mehemet, and it would be forever beyond his reach to control the question. It would be for Mehemet to say whether the powers should interpose or not.

5 The Sultan did despatch Rifat Bey, in a government steamer, (which left Constantinople Aug. 5,) to Alexandria, to communicate to Mehemet the ultimatum.

This was a voluntary governmental act of the Sultan.

The question now comes up, When was that document put officially under the control of Mehemet Ali?

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The following extract of a letter from a correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle, of Sept. 18, 1840, dated "Constantinople, Aug. 27th, 1840," will answer the question:-

"By the French steamer of the 24th, we have advices from Egypt to the 16th. They show no alteration in the resolution of the Pacha. Confiding in the valor of his Arab army, and in the strength of the fortifications which defend his capital, he seems determined to abide by the last alternative; and as recourse to this, therefore, is now inevitable, all hope may be considered as at an end of a termination of the affair without bloodshed. Immediately on the arrival of the Cyclops steamer with the news of the convention of the four powers, Mehemet Ali, it is stated, had quitted Alexandria, to make a short tour through Lower Egypt. The object of his absenting himself at such a moment being partly to avoid conferences with the European consuls, but principally to endeavor, by his own presence, to arouse the fanaticism of the Bedouin tribes, and facilitate the raising of his new levies. During the interval of this absence, the Turkish government steamer, which had reached Alexandria on the 11th, with the envoy Rifat Bey on board, had been by his orders placed in quarantine, and she was not released from it till the 16th. Previous, however, to the Porte's leaving, and on the very day on which he had been admitted to pratique, the abovenamed functionary had had an audience of the Pacha, and had communicated to him the command of the Sultan, with respect to the evacuation of the Syrian provinces, appointing another audience for the next day, when, in the

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presence of the consuls of the European powers, he would receive from him his definite answer, and inform him of the alternative of his refusing to obey; giving him the ten days which have been allotted him by the convention to decide on the course he should think fit to adopt."

According to the foregoing statement, the ultimatum was officially put into the power of Mehemet Ali, and was disposed of by his orders, viz., sent to quarantine, on the Eleventh day of August, 1840.

But have we any evidence, beside the fact of the arrival of Rifat Bey at Alexandria with the ultimatum on the 11th of August, that Ottoman supremacy died, or was dead, that day?

Read the following, from the same writer quoted above, dated "Constantinople, August 12, 1840:"-

"I can add but little to my last letter, on the subject of the plans of the four powers; and I believe the details I then gave you comprise everything that is yet decided on. The portion of the Pacha, as I then stated, is not to extend beyond the line of Acre, and does not include either Arabia or Candia. Egypt alone is to be hereditary in his family, and the province of Acre to be considered as a pachalic, to be governed by his son during his lifetime, but afterward to depend on the will of the Porte; and even this latter is only to be granted him on the condition of his accepting these terms, and delivering up the Ottoman fleet within ten days. In the event of his not doing so, this pachalic is to be cut off. Egypt is then to be offered him,

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with another ten days to deliberate on it, before actual force is employed against him.

"The manner, however, of applying the force, should he refuse to comply with these terms,-whether a simple blockade is to be established on the coast, or whether his capital is to be bombarded, and his armies attacked in the Syrian provinces,-is the point which still remains to be learned; nor does a note delivered yesterday by the four ambassadors, in answer to a question put to them by the Porte, as to the plan to be adopted in such an event, throw the least light on this subject. It simply states that provision has been made, and there is no necessity for the Divan alarming itself about any contingency that might afterwards arise."

Let us now analyze this testimony.

1. The letter is dated "Constantinople, Aug.12."

2. "Yesterday," the 11th of August, the Sultan applied, in his own capital, to the ambassadors of four Christian nations, to know them measures which were to be taken in reference to a circumstance vitally affecting his empire; and was only told that "provision had been made," but he could not know what it was; and that he need give himself no alarm "about any contingency which might afterwards arise!!" From that time, then, they, and not he, would manage that.

Where was the Sultan's independence that day? GONE. Who had the supremacy of the Ottoman empire in their hands? The great powers.

According to previous calculation, therefore,

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Ottoman Supremacy did depart on the ELEVENTH OF AUGUST into the hands of the great Christian powers of Europe.

Then the second wo is past, and the sixth trumpet has ceased its sounding; and the conclusion is now inevitable, because the word of God affirms the fact in so many words, "Behold, the third we cometh quickly" And "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished." But what will take place when the seventh angel sounds? I answer, Great voices will be heard in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." Nor is this event a mere spiritual reign over the kingdoms of this world; but the Revelator goes on to say, "and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged; and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them that destroy the earth." This, then, is the consummation, when every one shall receive his retribution, according to what he has done.

"The third wo cometh quickly." It cannot be afar off; it is nigh, even at the door. Men may scornfully inquire, "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning." "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." There are abundant promises of his coming, and that speedily. But I do not expect another sign equal in strength and conclusiveness to the one now spread out before us in the present

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article. The present calculation was before the world two years and more before the time of fulfilment; and the attention of the whole community was turned toward it. There are few persons, in New England at least, whose minds were not arrested and turned to the 11th of August; and vast multitudes were ready to say, ay, did say, If this event takes place according to the calculation, at the time specified, we will believe the doctrine of the advent near. But how is it with them now? Why, just as it was with the old Jews in the days of Christ; when he was every day performing the most stupendous miracles in their sight, they said to him, "Master, we would see a sign of thee." So now: men desire a sign from heaven. But let them be assured, they can never have a more convincing one than this;-the last great prophecy with which a prophetic period is connected, except the concluding period, when Christ will come, has been filled up in the exact time, and has brought us to the very verge of eternity. There is no time to be whiled away in idleness or indifference by those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. They have a great work to do, both for themselves and others. Nor should the sinner delay to awake from his slumbers, and lay hold on eternal life. Grace be with all who love the Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER III. THE LITTLE BOOK AND THE TWO WITNESSES

The 9th chapter of Revelation carries us through with the sounding of the sixth trumpet, and brings us to the fall of Mahometism in Constantinople. But before the way is prepared for the introduction of the history of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the revelation is to bring up another line of prophetic events, presenting a history of the church through the days of her captivity. This history is found in the little book which John took from the angel's hand (chap. x. 9-11) and ate up; and which he must foretell "before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." The contents of that little book are the subject of his prophecy, and are found in the 11th chapter. And when the history of the church and the witnesses of Christ, parallel to the first six trumpets, is brought down to the same point where the sixth trumpet ends, the way will be prepared to introduce in their proper order and time the seventh trumpet and its effect on both the righteous and the wicked:-on the wicked, it is to be a wo, and on the righteous a blessing; the latter will receive their reward, and the former be destroyed.

THE HOLY CITY - FORTY-TWO MONTHS

The remark has frequently been made in the course of this work, especially in Vol. I., that Jerusalem is the holy city, and the metropolis of the Kingdom of God; that while Jerusalem, the capital, is in the hand of the enemy, and the king, Jesus Christ, is an exile, rejected by his own nation and banished from his country, as Christ now is from Jerusalem, so long the church must continue in bondage and dispersion. It has already been shown, in the first chapter of this volume, that the appointed time, (Levit. xxvi.,) for the enemies of the church to reign over her, is seven times, or 2520 years. That period, as was shown, began in 677 before Christ, by the conquest of Jerusalem and the captivity of Manasseh, king of Judah, by the king of Assyria. One half of that period is three and a half times-forty-two months-or 1260 years. That long period began 677 B. C; consequently, it was in a course of fulfilment when John wrote. His office was to write "the things which must shortly come to pass." In doing it, he had nothing to do with the past, except so far as was necessary to show the connexion of the past with the future. An instance of this occurs in the 12th chapter, where it became necessary to give a view of the imperial Roman government at the birth of Christ, in order to give its connexion with subsequent events.

Thus he was to give a view of the history of the church, through her exile, to her final triumph, when the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and reign forever and ever. The church once

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possessed a kingdom in Jerusalem; a temple and an altar, where she worshipped and paid her vows. But those scenes had long since passed away, end the holy city was in Gentile hands when John had his vision.

Chap, xi., verses 1, 2: "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise and 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 unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months."

"Measure the temple, altar," worshippers during, the time when the church was in her glory, before, the "seven times" captivity began, and ere the, temple and holy city came under the power and, dominion of the Gentiles. Measure them to ascertain what honor, power and glory God conferred, on them, and what they lost by abuse of those, blessings.

"But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not." The inner temple was only to be entered by the covenant people; it was held sacred, to signify the sacred character and superior honor God put upon his church while obedient to him. An outer court, prepared for the admission of the Gentiles, to signify that the city, temple and people would be profaned and trodden down of the Gentiles. Beginning 677 B. C, some seven or eight hundred years of the desolation of the holy city, during which it had been under the dominion of the Gentiles, had passed away. The division of the 2520 years was thus characterized:

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The Gentile kings were to tread down the holy city forty-two months, or 1260 years; and the two witnesses were to be clothed in sackcloth 1260 days or years: the two periods making 2520 years, or seven prophetic times. Not that the holy city would cease to be trodden down of the Gentiles during the prophesying of the witnesses in sackcloth; but the general characteristics of half the time would be the desolation of the city and dispersion of the church, while the characteristic of the other half of the period would be, a state of great spiritual darkness and affliction of the church, not from the kings or civil powers of the earth, but from the professed, exclusive church of Christ, because she should clothe Christ's witnesses in sackcloth. Part of the forty-two months were filled up when the 1260 days began; the balance of them, under the civil powers of the earth, will be fulfilled in 1843.

WHO ARE THE WITNESSES?

1 Who is the speaker? The first chapter and first verse answers the question: "The revelation of Jesus Christ." The witnesses, then, are Christ's.

2 Who are Christ's witnesses? I shall not stop to inquire what has been said on this subject, but, as directly as possible, come at the answer which Christ himself has given us to the question. But I remark-

(1.) It is not one man, nor any body of men; for Christ declares, (John v. 34,) "I receive not testimony from man." With this plain declaration before us, if we have any confidence in Christ, how can any one longer insist on either

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the whole church, or a succession of pious ministers, or yet two eminent men who either have arisen, or will arise as Christ's witnesses?

(2.) What Christ said of himself is not his witness. John v. 31: "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true." That is, if I only give my own assertions as to myself, my witness is not valid, or to be received as sufficient evidence.

(3.) John the Baptist is not the witness of Christ. John v. 33, 36: "Ye sent unto John, and he bear witness unto the truth." "But I have greater witness than that of John." John was a burning and shining light; he testified the truth, but was a man, a fallible man still.

But the witnesses are-

I. The works of Christ. John v. 36: "For the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." The faithful evidence of those works we have in the gospel. This witness Christ also claims, Matt. xxiv. 14:"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a WITNESS to all nations."

II. The Father is another witness. John v.37: "And THE FATHER HIMSELF, which hath sent me, hath BORNE WITNESS of me." But where is his witness? Christ answers, "Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape." "And ye have not his word abiding in you." Where, then, is the testimony? John v. 39: "Search the Scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which TESTIFY of me." A more distinct declaration of the two witnesses cannot be desired, or if desired, cannot be obtained.

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The Old Testament was all the scriptures which had then been written, and hence must be the testimony of the Father to which the Savior referred. The Old Testament was then complete, and the record of the works of Christ is to be found in the New Testament. These two witnesses have continued to testify and prophesy through the darkest night the church has ever seen. They have been faithful and true witnesses of the Lord, telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Verse 4: "These are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth:"

On this verse I shall give an extract from Miller's Lectures, pp. 192-194:-

"The angel, in his allusion to the two olive-trees, quotes the prophet Zechariah, (iv. 3:) 'And two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.' Here the olive-trees are used in a figurative sense, and properly denote the 'sons of oil,' or the two cherubim, which stood over the ark, and spread their wings over the mercy-seat. The wings of the cherubim stretched from either side of the house to the centre over the mercy-seat, and their faces turned inwards down upon the mercy-seat, and the glory of the God of Israel was above the cherubim. These cherubim are a lively type of the Old and New Testament. The signification of cherub is 'fulness of knowledge;' so is the word of God, 'that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished, perfect in every good work.' They have the whole truth, all we can know about Jesus Christ in this state.

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They stand on either hand of Christ, one before he came in the flesh, pointing to a Messiah to come, by all its types and shadows; and like the cherub whose wings touched the outer wall of the room and reached to the centre over the mercy-seat, so did the Old Testament reach from the creation of the world down to John's preaching in the wilderness, and Like the cherub looking down on the mercy-seat, it testified of the Messiah. The other cherub's wings reached from the centre over the mercy-seat, and touched the other wall of the room, while his face was turned back upon the mercy-seat. So does the New Testament begin at the preaching of John, and reveals all that is necessary for us to know, down to the end of the world. And all the ordinances of the New Testament house look back to the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and are to continue until his second coming and end of the world. These cherubim were made of olive-trees, and overlaid with pure gold. 1 Kings vi. 23-28. Again: the angel tells Zechariah what the two olive-trees are, Zech. iv. 4-6: 'So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?' (the two olive-trees.) 'Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerub-babel,' etc. Here we are plainly told that the two olive-trees are the word of the Lord, and the angel tells John, (Rev. xi. 4,) that 'the two witnesses are the two olive-trees and the two candle-sticks.' As candlesticks are the means of light,

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so is the word of God. Candlesticks are used in Scripture in the same sense as lamps. And David says, 'Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.' Therefore I humbly believe that I have fairly and conclusively proved that the two witnesses are the Old and New Testament."

The fact that these two witnesses prophesy 1260 days clothed in sackcloth, does not imply that they were only to prophesy that length of time: they might prophesy before the 1260 days began and afterwards; but during that period they were to do it clothed in sackcloth; before end after it, without that covering.

Verses 5, 6: "And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy; and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will."

These witnesses, since they are completed, form a perfect revelation of God's will and law. They are a sufficient rule of faith and duty. God administers his government over men according to the principles therein revealed.

1. The fire by which their enemies will be devoured, is declared by their mouth or testimony.

2. Those who hurt or do violence to these witnesses, must be killed or receive punishment, as specified in this book. See Rev. xxii. 18, 19. "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto

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him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." 3. If there is a. drought, and famine comes on the earth, it will come just in accordance with the testimony of the witnesses. Before the Scriptures were completed, God raised up prophets to foretell particular judgments on individuals and nations; now, since the canon of Scripture is completed, God governs the world, and deals with them by this standing rule, the testimony of these two witnesses. They have power over waters to turn them to blood. Moses and Aaron were commissioned in the judgments of Egypt to pronounce God's judgments, and thus turn the waters to blood, and inflict in the same way all other plagues. But now, when the seven last plagues come, they will be inflicted or poured out on the earth, according to the testimony of these two witnesses: this, not during the 1260 years only, but while they prophesy.

but when and how were the two witnesses clothed in sackcloth? This emblem is used for two purposes; the first, of denoting sorrow, affiction, or mourning. It is so used frequently in the Old Testament. It is also used to denote a state of obscurity and partial darkness. Rev. vi. 12: "The sun became black as sackcloth of hair." Sackcloth of hair over the sun would not produce an entire obscuration; but a state of partial darkness. So the witnesses were to be partially darkened in the testimony they held. It

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was to be faithfully borne, but in a measure hid. This was accomplished in the establishment of the papal supremacy in A. D. 538. In 533 the Greek emperor declared the Bishop of Rome head of all the holy churches; the head of all Bishops and "the true and effective corrector of heretics." In 538, he came in possession of the city of Rome, the old seat of the dragon, and gave it to the beast or pope. Vigilius was the first pope who was seated in St. Peter's chair, as the master of Rome. According to Gibbon, Pope Sylverius was banished from Rome by Belisarius, for supposed treachery, in Jan. 537, but a short time after the Greeks took the city from the Ostrogoths. Immediately, the Ostrogoths besieged the city to reduce and retake it, and continued a close siege until March, 538. At the command of the emperor, Justinian, the clergy of Rome proceeded to the election of a new bishop, and after a solemn invocation of the Holy Ghost, elected the Deacon Vigilius, who had purchased the papal throne by a bribe of two hundred pounds, gold. Vigilius was elected by the direction of the emperor; but the next pope elected was Pelagius, in 558: and he was the first one elected without the consent of the emperor. This fact shows that the popes and church of Rome, after the election and establishment of Vigilius in St. Peter's chair, acted independently of the emperor.

It was by thus putting the church into the hands of the pope, for the purpose of suppressing heresy. To accomplish this object, the Scriptures were suppressed by the church, and shut up in the Greek and Latin languages. Those languages, on the influx of the barbarians

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into Europe, ceased to be spoken as living languages, and the people could not read the Scriptures. In addition, the church of Rome soon began to restrict the people from the free reading of the Bible, and declared it to be dangerous for the people to read the Bible without the annotations of the clergy. It was thus the witnesses were clothed in sackcloth, A. D. 538.

The state of the church is thus strikingly painted by Mr. Croley, (pp. 117-118:)-"The Latin language, overwhelmed in the dialects of the Gothic invaders, had ceased to be spoken; the Latin Scriptures were thus in an unknown tongue; and the people, disturbed and impoverished by perpetual war, had neither time nor knowledge for their translation. The ignorance had reached the clergy; and the pope, more of a warrior and a statesman than a priest, found that he could rise to dominion without the writings of either prophet or apostle. The Scriptures died out of the world's memory."

Again; (page 119,) Mr. Croley says: "Tyranny and bigotry loved darkness better than light, and strove to crush the gospel. A code of the most furious persecution was established against all who dared to bring the Scriptures out of the dust and put a tongue into the dead. The gospels were trampled and destroyed; their readers were proscribed and exterminated. Rome, in the name of Christ, raged against the Revelation, that he had commanded with his latest words to be 'preached to every man under heaven.'"

Verses 7-10: "And when they shall hate finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them,

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and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people, and, kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth."

"When they shall have finished, the witnesses then are to be slain; not when they have finished their testimony, but when they are drawing near to finish it. This translation is at once required, both by the Greek idiom and by the harmony of the prediction itself. They are to prophesy only one thousand two hundred and sixty years clothed in sackcloth, and at the end of that same period the power of the little horn is to be broken. Hence it is manifest, that the slaughter must take place during the period, not subsequent to it: for how can the witnesses be slain at the very time when their calamities are finished?"-[Faber on the Prophecies.]

The beast from the bottomless pit, is atheistical France. The time when the witnesses were slain, during the French revolution. The French revolution commenced 1789, and was styled the first year of liberty. But the revolutionists had not yet attained their full purpose, and rested not until they had established the reign of demoniac equality and frantic atheism. At an early period of the revolution, the illuminated freemasons took the name of Jacobins, from the name of a convent

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where they held their meetings. They then counted three hundred thousand adepts, and were supported by two millions of men scattered through France, armed with pikes and torches, and all the implements of revolution. On the 12th of August, 1792, when the king of France was carried prisoner to the temple, and his right to the crown declared forfeited-the atheistical beast exalted himself above all law, and decreed that to the date of rational liberty the date of equality should be added, in future, in all public acts. The names and titles of the nobility were swept away at a stroke, and all distinctions were done away. Thus were slain, seven thousand names of men during this great political earthquake. It is said that the number of titled nobility in France, at the time of this revolution, amounted to seven thousand. Whether it was so or not, it is certain they were very numerous, and all fell. On the 26th, of August, 1792, the beast from the bottomless pit exalted himself above all religion. The 12th witnessed, the fall of all distinctions in civil society, and the 26th beheld the establishment of atheism by law. A decree was passed ordering the clergy to leave the kingdom within a fortnight of its date. But instead of allowing them that time, the whole period was employed in seizing, imprisoning, and putting them to the most cruel deaths. The ministers of religion, both papal and protestant, were now no more in France; and no traces of Christianity could be found in the atheistical metropolis of the republic. One of the churches was converted into a heathen temple, the den of a foreign god; and the rest were used as places of amusement. There the abandoned

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citizens flocked, not to worship their Maker, but to hear his name blasphemed. At this dreadful period, the Bible was condemned as a lie, and forbidden to be read. It was gathered in heaps and publicly burnt. In some places, also, it was condemned and publicly dragged through the streets with circumstances of contempt. A discourse was pronounced, November 6th, 1792, by Dupont, upon atheism, which was applauded by the convention; and in November, 1793, it was set forth by one of the atheists, that all religious worship had been suppressed in his section, even to the very idea of religion. He added that he and his fellows detested God; and instead of studying the Scriptures they learned the Declaration of Rights. On the 17th of October, 1795, all external signs of religion were abolished, and it was enacted that an inscription should be set up in the public burying grounds, that death is only an eternal sleep. On the 25th of the same month, that no trace of the Sabbath might remain, it was decreed that a new calender should be adopted, reckoning time, not by weeks, but by periods of ten days each.

On this important passage, I will here give an extract from Croley, on the Apocalypse, (pp. 119-121.)

"A. D. 1793. The Bible had passed out of the hands of the people, in all the dominions of Popery from the time of the supremacy. The doctrines had perished, and left their place to human reveries. The converts were martyred. At length, the full triumph of the old spirit of corruption and persecution terribly arrived. In the year 1793, twelve hundred and sixty years from the letter of Justinian declaring the Pope 'Universal

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Bishop,' the gospel was, by a solemn act of the legislature and the people, abolished in France. The indignities offered to the actual copies of the Bible were unimportant after this; their life is in their doctrines, and the extinction of the doctrines is the extinction of the Bible. By the decree of the French government, declaring that the nation acknowledged no God, the Old and New Testaments were slain throughout the limits of republican France. But contumelies to the sacred books could not have been wanting, in the general plunder of every place of worship. In Lyons they were dragged at the tail of an ass in a procession through the streets.

"A very remarkable and prophetic distinction of this period, was the spirit of frenzied festivity which seized upon France.

"The capital and all the republican towns were the scene of civic feasts, processions, and shows of the most extravagant kind. The most festive times of peace, under the most expensive kings, were thrown into the shade by the frequency, variety, and extent of the republican exhibitions. Yet this was a time of perpetual miseries throughout France. The guillotine was bloody from morn till night. In the single month of July, 1794, nearly eight hundred persons, the majority principal individuals of the state, and all possessing some respectability of situation, were guillotined in Paris alone. In the midst of this horror, there were twenty-six theatres open, filled with the most profane and profligate displays in honor of the 'triumph of reason.'

"But more formal scoffings were prepared by the express command of the government. On the

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1st of November, 1793, Gobet, with the republican priests of Paris, had thrown off the gown and abjured religion. On the 11th, a 'grand festival,' dedicated to 'reason and truth,' was celebrated in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, which had been desecrated, and been named 'the temple of reason;' a pyramid was erected in the centre of the church, surmounted by a temple, inscribed 'to philosophy.' The torch of 'truth' was on the altar of 'reason,' spreading light, etc. The National Convention and all the authorities attended at this burlesque and insulting ceremony.

"In February, 1794, a grand fete was ordered by the convention, in which hymns to liberty were chanted, and a pageant in honor of the abolition of slavery in the colonies was displayed in the 'temple of reason.' In June another festival was ordered-to the Supreme Being; the god of philosophy. But the most superb exhibition was the 'general festival' in honor of the republic. It was distinguished by a more audacious spirit of scoffing and profanation than all the former. Robespierre acted the 'high priest of reason' on the day, and made himself conspicuous in blasphemy. He was then at the summit of power-actual sovereign of France.

"That day had passed the sentence upon his iniquities. It was remarked, even then, that, from the time of that most impious festival, his fortunes turned.

"The 14th of July was the date of the festival. On the 28th, Robespierre was a mutilated trunk, with all France exulting over his body. A single fortnight had separated the throne and the scaffold."

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Verses 11-13: "And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand; and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven."

"Verse 11. In three years and a half from the abolition of religion in France, it shall be restored, and even placed in a more secure and prominent rank than before. The doctrines of Christianity shall be preached with less restraint; the Bible shall 'be on its feet,' to the surprise of those who conceived it prostrate forever.

"Verse 12. But a still higher and more miraculous distinction is at hand. It shall suddenly, by the very sanction and impulse of God himself, be elevated beyond the power of man to impede its progress. It shall 'ascend in a cloud,' (the scriptural expression for triumph and preeminence,) possessing by the divine command an extent of diffusion and dominion, that shall confound its enemies .

"Verse 13. The era of this triumph is strongly defined. There shall be, 'in the same hour,' (wpx, period,) a political earthquake.

"'The tenth part of the Atheistic city,' shall fall; a portion of the Infidel empire of France shall be torn away, with the slaughter of many thousands; expressed by seven, the number of

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completeness. And this catastrophe shall produce a religious influence on the mind of nations.

"It is to be observed, that there is a distinction between the 'remnant' in the text, and that mentioned in the close of the sixth trumpet, who were stated to have been uninfluenced by the proofs of Divine wrath given in the overthrow of the revolutionary empire. The 'remnant,' (which should in both instances have been translated, the rest, [original illegible]) in the sixth trumpet, are named 'those who were not killed by the plagues;' men in the same class of obnoxiousness to punishment with those who perished; idolaters, persecutors, etc. But in the present text there is no such description; the word [original illegible] alone, is used. The absence of the previous designation generalizes the word, and leaves it capable of being applied to all the spectators of the judicial ruin, whose less impure faith might be increased in. purity by the terror of the example.

"A. D. 1794. From the fall of Robespierre, the fury of Atheism was gradually diminished, and some attempts were made to restore the old worship. But a conception of the remoteness of this re-establishment from Christianity may be formed by the declaration of the constitutional Bishops in 1796, that 'Christianity was only a republication of the rights of man.' The popish church, however, made continual advances to its former privileges; and, excepting the diminished salaries of the clergy, was placed nearly in its original situation.

"But this system was about to be contrasted with a church, to which France will owe whatever of mercy she may find in the coming hour.

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"A. D. 1797. On the 17th of June, Camille Jourdan, in the 'Council of Five Hundred,' brought up the memorable report on the 'Revision of the laws relative to religious worship.' It consisted of a number of propositions, abolishing alike the republican restrictions on Popish worship, and the Popish restrictions on Protestant.

"1. That all citizens might buy or hire edifices for the free exercise of religious worship.

"2. That all congregations might assemble by the sound of bells.

"3. That no test or promise of any sort, unrequired from other citizens, should be required of the ministers of those congregations.

"4. That any individual attempting to impede, or in any way interrupt, the public worship should be fined, up to five hundred livres, and not less than fifty; and that if the interruption proceeded from the constituted authorities, such authorities should be fined double the sum.

"5. That entrance to assemblies for the purpose of religious worship should be free for all citizens.

"6. That all other laws concerning religious worship should be repealed.

"Those regulations, in comprehending the whole state of worship in France, were, in fact, a peculiar boon to Protestantism. Popery was already in sight of full restoration. But Protestantism, crushed under the burthen of the laws of Louis XIV., and unsupported by the popular belief, required the direct support of the state to 'stand on its feet.' The report seems even to have had an especial view to the grievances of the church; the old prohibitions to hold public worship, to have ingress, etc.

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"From that period the church has been free in France, and it now numbers probably as large a population as before its fall. It is a striking coincidence, that, almost at the moment when this great measure was determined on, the French army under Bonaparte, was seen invading and partitioning the papal territory. The next year, (1798,) saw it master of Rome, the popedom a republic, and the Pope a prisoner and an exile.

"The Church and the Bible had been slain in France from November, 1793, till June, 1797. The three years and a half were expended, and the Bible, so long and sternly repressed before, was placed in honor, and was openly the book of free Protestantism!" ³3

I cannot conclude this passage without referring the reader to an exposition of the thirteenth verse, by Rev. Peter Jurieu, minister of the French church at Rotterdam, in 1687. On Rev. xi. 13, he says:-

"Mark that the great earthquake, i. e. the great alteration of affairs in the land of the papacy, must for that time happen only in the tenth part of the city that shall fall; for this shall be the effect of this earthquake.

"Now what is this tenth part of the city, which shall fall? In my opinion, we cannot doubt that it is France. This kingdom is the most considerable part or piece of the ten horns, or states, which once made up the great Babylonian city; it fell; this does not signify that the French monarchy shall be ruined; it may be humbled; but in all appearance. Providence does design a great elevation for her afterward. It is highly probable

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that God will not let go unpunished the horrible outrages which it acts at this day [of persecution.] Afterward, it must build its greatness upon the ruins of the papal empire, and enrich itself with the spoils of those who shall take part with the papacy. They who persecute the Protestants, know not whither God is leading them; this is not the way by which he will lead France to the height of glory. If she comes thither, it is because she shall shortly change her road. Her greatening will be no damage to Protestant states; on the contrary, the Protestant states shall be enriched with the spoils of others; and be strengthened by the fall of Antichrist's empire. This tenth part of the city shall fall with respect to the papacy; it shall break with Rome and the Roman religion. One thing is certain, that the Babylonian empire shall perish through the refusal of obedience by the ten kings, who had given their power to the beast. The thing is already come to pass in part. The kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark, England, and several sovereign states in Germany, have withdrawn themselves from the jurisdiction of the pope. They have spoiled the harlot of her riches. They have eaten her flesh, i. e. seized on her benefices and revenues, which she had in their countries. This must go on, and be finished as it is begun. The kings who yet remain under the empire of Rome must break with her, leave her solitary and desolate.

"But who must begin this last revolt? It is most probable that France shall. Not Spain, which as yet is plunged in superstition, and is as much under the tyranny of the clergy as ever. Not the emperor, who in temporals is subject to

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the pope, and permits, that in his states the archbishop of Strigonium should teach that the pope can take away the Imperial crown from him. It cannot be any country but France, which a long time ago hath begun to shake off the yoke of Rome.

"And in the earthquake were slain seven thousand; in the Greek it is seven thousand names of men, and not seven thousand men. I confess that this seems somewhat mysterious; in other places we find not this phrase, names of men, put simply for men. Perhaps there is here a figure of grammar called hypallage casus; so that names of men are put for men of name; i. e. of raised and considerable quality, be it on the account of riches, or of dignity, or of learning. But I am more inclined to say, that here these words names of men, must be taken in their natural signification, and do intimate that the total reformation of France shall not be made with bloodshed, nothing shall be destroyed but NAMES; such as are the names of Monks, of Carmelites, of Augustines, of Dominicans, of Jacobins, of Franciscans, Capuchins, Jesuits, Minimes, and an infinite company of others, whose number it is not easily to define, and which the Holy Ghost denotes by the number seven, which is the number of perfection, to signify that the orders of monks and nuns shall perish forever. This is an institution so degenerated from its first original, that it is become the arm of antichrist. These orders cannot perish one with another."

"These great events deserve to be distinguished from all others; for they have changed, or shall change, the whole face of the world."

And again he says, on page 276, "The first thing which shall be done in the third period of

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the seventh vial, is the fall of the tenth part of the city, i. e. of the kingdom of France, which shall break with the court of Rome, and wholly change the face of religion in that kingdom. This is the first action of the vintage."

A more perfect history of the effect of the French revolution in breaking with Rome, abolishing all titles, dignities and orders of men, can scarcely now be given with the history before us. And yet it is all now history.

THIRD WO, OR SEVENTH TRUMPET

Verse 14: "The second wo is past, and behold, the third wo cometh quickly."

The second wo ended with the fall of Ottoman supremacy in 1840. At that period the word of God had gained its ascendancy in the world, and is now high in the moral heaven, flying as on the wings of the wind, borne by a mighty angel through the midst of heaven; and the enemies of the Bible see the triumph of the cause; and great fear falls on the infidel world. While the witnesses of Christ lay dead, the nations of Christendom did not suffer them to be buried up out of sight. They at length stood up and ascended up to heaven, or an elevation they never before attained.

In 1801 the British and Foreign Bible Society was formed; and from that example, the American Bible Society, and all the innumerable auxiliaries of both. The Bible has since been published by them in about 180 different languages and dialects. In 1799 the Society in England for the promulgation of Christian Knowledge was

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organized; the Wesleyan Missionary Society about the same time; the London Missionary Society in 1795; Church Missionary Society in 1800; Religious Tract Society in 1799; Sunday School Union in 1803.

Having passed through the six trumpets, and the darkness, death, resurrection, and triumph of the witnesses, we stand at the present time on the verge of the great crisis when the seventh trump must sound. That trump is a wo to the world, and a blessing to the saints of God. It introduces the time, not when the world will be converted, and the spiritual reign of Christ be introduced, but the time when the dead shall be judged, all God's servants rewarded, and the destroyers of the earth destroyed. Under the seventh trumpet the seven vials are to be poured out.

Will the reader carefully examine the following passages, and ask himself if an eternal reign of Christ over the kingdoms of this world, and an eternal exaltation of the saints of God, can be more distinctly and forcibly announced?

Verses 15-18; "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying. We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto

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thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth."

Is there any millennium and return of the Jews here predicted, as the world has been taught to expect? There is no place found for it! But ETERNITY cometh quickly!

More than two years have now elapsed since the second wo passed away, and the voice from heaven, by the mouth of Christ's witness, proclaimed, "the third WO cometh QUICKLY." That period of delay must soon expire, and the seventh angel sound. Then he that is filthy, will be filthy still!! And he that is holy shall be holy still!!! There will be no more change in the moral characters of men. That trump will come with awful suddenness on the world. It will be a twinkling of the eye, and all will be over!! The want of instant preparation and watchfulness will be an awful calamity when that day arrives.

Rev. iii. 3: "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shall not know what hour I will come upon thee."

Does the Savior mean nothing by this? Does he not plainly say that those who will watch for it shall not be taken by surprise? While those who will not believe, and be on their watch-tower, shall be surprised, and not know when he is coming. "But ye, brethren," said the apostle, "are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." Why will ministers of the gospel, and professed Christians, join hands with infidels of

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all grades, with the profane, licentious, intemperate and abominable of all classes, to plead, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man?" "That it shall come as a thief? "That the world can know nothing about the time?" etc., while they throw away entirely those positive declarations, that at the time of the end the wise shall understand; that the Christian is not in darkness that it should come on him as a thief; that the saints may be as certain, when they see the foretold signs, that it is at the door, as they are that summer is near, when they see the trees put forth! Why will they not believe these declarations? I write these things with strong emotions of grief, not with a spirit of anger or hardness. But I say it in truth and love, but with all plainness, for the purpose of making my dear and beloved brethren, both of the ministry and laity, feel their true position-that they are doing up the work of infidels and devils, in their opposition to this doctrine; for both the one and the other go with them, and use just their weapons. Will they not look at this fact?

Unconverted reader, prepare! O prepare for that great event, lest you lie down in everlasting burnings!! Take refuge in Christ without delay, that you may escape all those things which are coming on the earth, and stand before the Son of man.

THE DAY AND THE HOUR

On the point of setting the day and the hour,-I wish here to enter my most solemn disclaimer against setting any definite time for the second advent of the Savior:-whether it be February, March, April, May, or June, or any other month

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in the year; I have no judgment on that point. There are several points in history and chronology, the anniversary of any one of which, may be the time; which it will be, I am utterly unable to decide. I believe it will come in 1843, but for "the day and hour" I believe we must watch. If others think they have discovered "the day or hour," and preach it, let the responsibility be on them. I enter the same disclaimer also in behalf of my esteemed brethren and fellow-laborers, Miller, Himes, Fitch and Hale. I do it because I know their sentiments to be the same as above expressed; there are others, also, of the same opinion. That it will come the third or twenty-third of April, we have not either of us affirmed. We have stated the fact that Ferguson, in his astronomical calculation, has given us, viz., that Christ was crucified on the third of April. We have a right to that fact, and so has the world, and they must make what use of it they think proper. But whether the seventy weeks ended precisely with the death of Christ, or at some other point, is what I am unable to determine. That it ended not many months from that, is clear and satisfactory. "What," said the Savior, "I say unto you, I say unto all, WATCH."

HOW ARE THE PROPHECIES TO BE UNDERSTOOD?

The question is often asked, How are we to determine the import of the prophecies concerning the second advent of Christ, whether spiritually or literally? I answer, interpret them on the same principle as those which relate to his first advent. There is no reason for understanding one class literally, and the other figuratively.

CHAPTER IV. BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH OF MATTHEW

The 24th of Matthew is so great a stumbling-block in the way of many, that I cannot consent to close the present volume without a brief exposition of this important prophecy. Hitherto, I have not attempted a written exposition, and have rather felt a reluctance to attempt it. As a general thing, the chapter has been plain, but some few points have appeared obscure and intricate. For instance, the clause of the 29th verse has been rather difficult to reconcile with the idea that the great tribulation was at the destruction of Jerusalem; and yet the signs are predicted to be immediately after it, and introduce the second advent of Christ. I here acknowledge myself indebted to Mr. S. Bliss, author of "Review of Morris's Modern Chiliasm" for some thoughts which have presented this subject more dearly than I have ever before seen it.

In the third verse there are three questions asked:-

1. "When shall these things be?" The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple.

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2. "What shall be the sign of thy coming?"

3. "And of the end of the world?"

From the 4th to the 14th verse is a general description of the persecutions of the church, the commotions in the national and political world; the false prophets which should arise to deceive the church and world, down to the end. But those who shall endure all the trials of their own age, and go to the end of their journey steadfast, shall be saved. This was St. Paul's lot:-he fought a good fight, he finished his course and kept the faith, and there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness which the Lord will give him in that day. The 14th verse gives us the great sign by which we may understand the time of Christ's appearing. "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; then shall the end come." This gives a general view of the course of events through all time; not particularly before the destruction of Jerusalem. The scenes predicted took place before, and so also they have since the destruction of the devoted city. It was not true of the time which preceded the destruction of that city any more than it has been since.

Verse 15: "When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him, understand.")

The abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, and referred to by our Lord, is Dan. ix. 26, 27: "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary;

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and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

According to this prophecy, after the rejection of Messiah, the people were to come and "destroy the city and the sanctuary," both the lower city, and even Mount Zion, the city of David itself. "And unto the end of the war" against the church and the holy city, desolations (in the plural) are determined. Jerusalem is to be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times (seven times) of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke xxi. 24. Then will be accomplished the prophecy of Isa. xl. 2: "Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, and her iniquity pardoned. For she hath received at the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

God punishes nations, as such, by fire, sword, plague, earthquakes, captivity; and the desolation of their land and cities. So he has punished Jerusalem and his church; and so he will punish all the nations of the world which are upon the face of the whole earth. He punished the Jews once by sending them to Babylon; and he punished the kingdom of Babylon for exceeding their commission in afflicting the people of God. He has now given to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah the wine-cup of his fury; and he will give it to all the nations whither his people have been

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scattered. See Jeremiah xxv. 15-33. The reader will please turn to the passage if he wishes to have a clear view of God's purpose of inflicting judgments on the nations of the earth. The individual and personal judgment will be inflicted in the second resurrection. But as all the national crimes of the church, or Jerusalem the metropolis of the church, were to come on the generation of the Jews then alive, when their national ruin came; so all the blood of the saints and righteous men put to death and afflicted by the Gentiles while they have dominion over the church, will come on the generation who live at the great day when God shall make inquisition for blood. Hence, the souls under the altar cried, "O Lord, how long, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them which dwell on the earth? And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their brethren who should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." But the day of reckoning for the nations is coming. "Lo," says the Lord, (Jeremiah xxv.) "I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and shall ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished. For I will call for a sword upon all flesh."

"When ye, therefore, see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet;" or according to Luke xxi., "When ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." Know that the beginning of God's national judgments has come. The war began then, and it still continues,-for Jerusalem is yet desolate.

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Jerusalem was not the inheritance of the Jews only, but also of the Christians: indeed, the Christians are the true heirs since Christ. They, as well as the Jews, were scattered from the holy land and city. Their tribulation and dispersion, as well as the Jews, came then. True, Christians were, by following the directions of their Master, delivered from the terrors and miseries of the siege; but the calamities which have since been inflicted on the Christians, have been little less dreadful than those which came on the Jews, in the siege of Jerusalem. Nothing can exceed the scenes of cruelty which have been perpetrated against the people of God, both under pagan and papal Rome. Since the apostolic age, comparatively little progress was made in extending the triumphs of Christianity until since the reformation in the 16th century. And even then, the revival was more of an outward conversion from popery to a new form of faith and worship, than to vital Christianity. But a new era was introduced in the beginning of the 18th century, both in England and America, under the labors of Edwards, Wesley, Whitefield, and their coadjutors. Something like apostolic revivals then began to appear again in the church, and have continued ever since. Such was the broken and disordered condition of the church after the destruction of Jerusalem, from the persecutions under the Roman emperors, that scarcely an opportunity offered itself to extend Christianity beyond the bounds it had acquired in the apostolic age. On the contrary, the church lost territories which the apostles occupied. Until the time of Constantine, there was almost a continual war

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waged against the church of Christ, by the Roman emperors. Then, when delivered by Constantine, a flood of worldly aggrandizement flowed in upon her, and she lost the spirit of the gospel, until finally the dark ages came on, and the papal power waged a war of extermination against everything that looked like evangelical religion.

The great tribulation concerned the Christians, therefore, as well as the Jews. The dispersion of the church, when they that hate her shall reign over her, as foretold by Moses, (Lev. xxvi. 17, 18.) was to continue seven times, or 2520 years. But except the tribulation of the church should be shortened; except the darkness which came over the church and world, and the terrible spirit of persecution which wore out the saints, should be shortened, and a day of light and tranquillity precede the second advent, when religion should revive, no flesh, comparatively, should be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. There was to be a time of tranquillity to the church before the end came, and an opportunity was to be given for the spread of the gospel. That period is what Daniel calls the time of the end. Or rather, first, that the church would be holpen with a little help; and afterwards the time of the end would come, and many be purified, made white, and tried. And by shortening the days of the church's affliction, from the full period allotted for her dispersion and punishment, viz., seven times, or 2520 years, multitudes have been brought to Christ.

Verses 23-28: "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christi or there: believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false

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prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh but of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together."

"Then," when these days of affliction and distress ere on the church, "if any man say, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not." This has been applied to the age in which Jerusalem was destroyed. But it is no more true of that age, that false Christs and false prophets arose, than it has been of nearly every age since that time. But, say the Savior, "believe it not." "I have told you before." "If they say he is in the secret chamber," with or in the person of Ann Lee, "believe it not." If they say he is in the desert, with Joseph Smith, Jr., "go not forth." "For as the lightning that shineth out of the east even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." There will be neither time nor necessity for saying one to another,-see, here if Christ, or he has come yonder,-for his coming will be as sudden and visible to all as the lightning of heaven. Nor need any Christian think he will be forgotten at Christ's coming, unless he goes in search of him; for all his people will most certainly be gathered to him, wherever he is. As certainly as the eagles know by instinct the place where they may find the carcass, so certainly will all my people be drawn to me; be

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caught up to meet me in the air, is the sentiment of the text.

But it is objected, that "Christ would not use such a figure as an old carcass to represent himself and the attraction of the saints to him!" But I ask, is it any more revolting to use the figure of a carcass to represent Christ, than it is a snake? John iii. 14: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." I know of nothing more revolting in the one idea than the other. Each figure conveys the idea it was intended to give us. The great tribulation is from the destruction of Jerusalem to the reformation.

Verse 29: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken."

When the tribulation of the church is mitigated, and days of prosperity return, and Christianity again prospers as in the apostolic age,-

"The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light."

This was fulfilled to the letter, in 1780, when, on the 19th of May, the sun was supernaturally darkened from morning till night, and even into the night; so that although there was at the time a full moon, (the moon having fulled the 18th,) "it was so dark that a sheet of the whitest of paper was equally invisible, six or eight inches from the eye, with the blackest of velvet." The sun was darkened, and the moon did not give her light.

The stars also have fallen from heaven. The following is the record of a scene which occurred

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on the night of Nov. 13, 1833, copied from the Connecticut Observer of Nov. 25th, 1833:-

"The Falling Stars.-The editor of the Old Countryman makes a very serious matter of the 'Falling Stars.' He says:-

"'We pronounce the raining fire which we saw on Wednesday morning last, an awful type-a sure forerunner-a merciful SIGN of that great and dreadful day which the inhabitants of the earth will witness when the SIXTH SEAL SHALL BE OPENED.

"'The time is just at hand-described not only in the New Testament, but in the Old; and a more correct picture of a fig-tree casting its leaves when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to behold.'

"And again:-

"'Many things now occurring upon the earth tend to convince us that we are in the "LATTER DAYS." This exhibition we deem to be a type of an awful day fast hurrying upon us. This is our sincere opinion; and what we think, we are not ashamed to tell.

"'Men may, and have, called us enthusiastic. We care not if they call us fanatic and mad, so that we feel that they are mistaken. Fearing neither the face of human clay, man's arm, nor man's voice, while we obey human laws, and love and fear God, and have the evidence within that we are believed in return, we WILL go on our way rejoicing. Nor would we go on alone. Hence we WARN all to turn to the Lord while YET he is near.'"

The following extracts from "Observations on Meteors," by Prof. Olmstead, of Yale College

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will show the nature and extent of this wonderful phenomenon:-

"The extent of the shower of 1833 was such as to cover no inconsiderable part of the earth's surface, from the middle of the Atlantic on the east, to the Pacific on the west; and from the northern coast of South America, to undefined regions among the British possessions on the north, the exhibition of shooting stars was not only visible, but everywhere presented nearly one and the same appearance.

"The duration and maximum, or period of greatest display, were characterized by a similar uniformity. In nearly all places, the meteors began to attract notice by their unusual frequency as early as eleven o'clock, and increased in numbers and splendor until about four o'clock, from which time they gradually declined, but were visible until lost in the light of day. The meteors did not fly at random over all parts of the sky, but appeared to emanate from a point in the constellation Leo, near a star called Gamma Leonis, in the bend of the sickle.

"A similar phenomenon was witnessed on the 12th of Nov. 1799, and at the same season of the year in 1830, 1831, and 1832. The meteoric shower was repeated on the morning of Nov. 13th or 14th, for several years, but on a scale constantly diminishing until 1838, since which period the exhibitions have been too little remarkable to be worthy of particular notice.

"I feel assured that this is no atmospheric or terrestrial phenomenon, but that these fiery meteors come to us from the regions of space and reveal to us the existence of worlds of a nebulous

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or cometary nature, existing in the solar system, and forming constituent parts of that system. Nor are these conclusions built on mere hypothesis, but are necessary inferences from certain facts.

"The present generation may consider itself privileged in having witnessed grander displays of fiery meteors, than are to be found recorded on the pages of history." "In displays of the Aurora Borealis, also, we have been similarly favored. Such visitations of this spectacle, as we have enjoyed since Aug. 1827, to the present time, are by no means of constant occurrence."

"Those who were so fortunate as to witness the exhibition of shooting stars on the morning of Nov. 13th, 1833, probably saw the greatest display of celestial fire-works that has ever been seen since the creation of the world, or at least within the annals covered by the pages of history."

"This is no longer to be regarded as a terrestrial, but as a celestial phenomenon; and shooting stars are now to be no more viewed as casual productions of the upper regions of the atmosphere, but as visitants from other worlds, or from the planetary voids."

"Subsequent inquiries have led me to the belief, that the body was so distant as hardly to exhibit any apparent parallax, but was projected on very nearly the same part of the sky by all observers. This fact at once shows that the source of the meteors was far beyond the atmosphere, and confirms the preceding conclusion that it was wholly independent of the earth."

That this shower of falling stars was just such a display, as ancient writers expected to witness, in the fulfilment of this prophecy, is proved by

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the following quotations from Thomas Burnet's "Theory of the earth," printed in London, A. D. 1697. Speaking of the signs which will precede the coming of Christ, he quotes Matt. xxiv. 29, and after speaking of the darkening of the sun and moon, he says, "the last sign we shall take notice of, is that of the falling stars. 'And the stars shall fall from heaven,' says our Savior." He then shows that the fixed stars can never fall, neither the planets; and that the only stars which will ever fall, will be meteoric, or shooting stars, and adds, "No doubt there will be all sorts of fiery meteors at that time; and amongst others those called falling stars, which, though they are not considerable, singly, yet if they were multiplied in great numbers, falling, as the prophet says, as leaves from the vine, or figs from the fig-tree, they would make an astonishing sight." He says that "we need not look upon these things as hyperbolical and poetic strains, but as barefaced prophecies, and things that will literally come to pass;" and that "we are not to recede from the literal sense without necessity, or where the nature of the subject will admit of a literal interpretation."

If it be objected that meteors are not stars, I ask whether the objector thinks that the star which went before the wise men of the east to the place where the infant Savior lay, was a fixed star? Or does he, think that when the "stars fall from heaven to the earth, as the fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when shaken of a mighty wind," (Rev. vi.,) they will be those fixed stars; one of which would drown our globe in a sea of fire? If not, they must be just what we have witnessed; and the text has been fulfilled.

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"The powers of heaven shall be shaken." This, as also the appearing of the sign of the Son of man in heaven, mentioned in verse 31,I apprehend to be yet future, and that it will take place in immediate connection with the second appearing of Christ. So that when it comes, although the tribes of the earth will mourn, they will be unable to obtain mercy, for they shall see at the same time "the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from the one end of heaven to the other." It will be a day of glory for the saints, but of wrath to the enemies of Christ.

Verses 32-36: "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree; when his branch is yet tender, and put teth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only."

The budding fig-tree is to be a no more certain sign of approaching summer, than the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, are, of the day of Christ being at hand, near, even at the doors. "KNOW," said the Savior, "KNOW, that it is near, even at the door." This generation, who see these signs, begin, shall not pass away until all be fulfilled. They began in 1780, 62 years ago. But 70 years, the age of man, shall not pass, until all be fulfilled. Many are now alive who saw the

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beginning, and they will not all be gone when the end comes.

But of that day and hour knoweth (in the present tense) no man, no not the angels of heaven but my Father only. Christ did not say it never should be known, but it was not then. But he had just told them, that when the signs took place they should know, who saw them, that it was near, even at the doors. It was not always to remain a secret, but according to Daniel it was sealed to the time of the end. The time of the end has come, and the wise shall understand.

The suddenness of that day will be as it was when the flood came; it will take the world by surprise, because they will not believe God's testimony. The old world were warned, but did not know because they did not believe. The world is now warned, but will be taken by surprise for the same reason.

"Two shall be in the field," one a Christian, the other a sinner; in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the saint will be gone to meet the Lord in the air.

"Two grinding at the mill," or at work in the cotton mill; one will be taken and the other left. Left? Yes, sinner, left forever! O what a separation will then come!!

Verses 42-51: "Watch, therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore, be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant

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whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily, I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smile his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

One would hardly think it possible for those ministers of the gospel who say, not in their hearts only, but with their lips, "My Lord delayeth his coming," to read this terrible warning, and not tremble as did Belshazzar when the Divine hand wrote his doom on his palace wall. Will not ministers see that they are literally joining hands with the drunken and vicious of all degrees, while they say My Lord delayeth his coming? Why is the doctrine of the second advent shut from the church, and from the prayer and conference meeting? If this is not a suitable theme for Christians to dwell upon in meditation, prayer, praise, conversation and exhortation, what is? I ask again, what is a suitable theme, if this is not? Are not those who do not love to hear of the Savior's coming clearly where they ought not to be? Can they claim that crown for theirs, which is laid up for all who love his appearing? It is in vain for any man, to say he loves it, if he is disturbed whenever he

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hears it named. "Where your treasure is," said the Savior, "there will your heart be also." If Christ is to us the chief, we shall certainly delight to think him near. But, says one, I don't care so much about its being introduced into prayer and conference meetings on my own account, as on others; it makes a division of feeling. Whose feelings are hurt by it, I ask? Those who love the Savior as they should? If they are so destitute of the Savior's love as to be disturbed by the very sound of the idea of his coming, I ask if they are in a state of preparation to meet him, if he should come personally at the time? "But we ought to be always ready." True, but are you always ready, with such feelings of hostility to the theme? "We ought to be always watching." True, but are you always watching, while you believe the day a great way off? "But I do not know but it may come to night." The very reason, then, why you should bestir yourself to look at the subject, and get all the light on it which the word of God affords. "But I do not believe the Bible teaches anything about it." Then how do you know he will ever come? "O, it tells us he will come some time, but nothing about the time." Then I ask if the Lord Jesus meant to deceive the church, when he told her, when you see the signs, then KNOW that it is even at the doors? He either meant so, or he did not. If he did not mean so, then he was a deceiver. If he did mean what he said, then we may know something about it, and are guilty if we do not. "But I mean, I do not believe we can know anything about the definite time." Why, then, not talk about all that can be known, and

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search the Bible to learn everything that is revealed on the subject? Why refuse to do it yourself, and be displeased if others do it? Do you not fear that by refusing to receive the light, God will withdraw what you now have, and leave you to believe a lie, to harden yourself against the appearing of the Savior, and that he will come and find you beating your fellow-servants for their faith in and love for his appearing? "But you have a hard spirit, and are censorious, and think no one is a Christian who does not think as you do." Nay, nay, my brother, my sister! you wrong me. If you saw, or thought you saw, your neighbor's house on fire, I ask, would you not think it your duty to arouse them and tell them the worst you feared? Would you let them sleep on, lest, by trying to awake, you should offend them by your earnestness, and importunity? I believe the Lord Jesus requires of all his ministers and people to look into this subject and look out for his coming. I do not believe it can be neglected with impunity; and hence, I must cry aloud to my fellow travellers. I should be guilty if I did not tell them all I fear will come upon them. Let them show me that my fears are ungrounded, and I will desist from my importunity. I cannot until then. I believe there are a great many good Christians who are yet in the dark on this subject, but will be waked up to it and believe it before the Lord comes. But if any fight against it until that day arrives, and it finds them in that hostile, and consequently unexpecting attitude, they cannot go in to the marriage feast. "But on what are your fears grounded?" I answer, in part, on the quotation from the last of the 24th of

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Matthew, and from a multitude of other such passages.

"In all the Bible I have never found one text that pronounces a wo for the faithful warning of the world, of danger, whether real or apprehended. But the Bible abounds with warnings and threatenings against those who neglect to warn the wicked, or who in any way soothe the fears of the guilty and the impenitent. I had rather give ten thousand false alarms, and have the consciousness of having done my duty, than that one soul should perish through my neglect."

¹ Outlines of History, p. 168.

² See Perkins' "World as it is," p. 361.

³ Croley, pp. 121-124.