ページの画像
PDF
ePub

tian, which, however, preserves her from the more horrid face of the serpent, paganism.

At that time shall end the prophecying of the two witnesses. See Rev. 11, 3. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. During which time the Gentiles are to tread under foot the holy city, i. e. the whole community of saints in those Catholic countries, who would gladly embrace the opportunity of listening to the voice of those witnesses, if they were not now shrouded in the smoke of the bottomless pit. But at the end of the forty-two months, at the end of the three days and a half, at the end of the twelve hundred and sixty years, at the end of a thousand two hundred and threescore days, at the end of a time, times and a half time, at the end of Daniel's two thousand three hundred daysshall the smoke of the bottomless pit be blown quite from the mental region of man's mind in all the globe, in the last year of the next century.

But long before that period, the gospel will have been received among all heathen nations.

Having now presented my reasons for believing the Millennium will commence at the end of six thousand years from the beginning of creation, I will sum them up in brief, and then pass to some remarks on the kingdom of the mountain, then close this division with a few reflections. My reasons for expecting it at that period, have consisted, Ist, in showing the sanctity and propriety of a Millennium. 2d. By exhibiting proofs that the ancient Jews, Rabbins, and prophets, as well

as the Christian churches in all ages have expected it. 3d. By a compared view of the various kinds of Sabbaths, which I have shown as typifying a Millennium at a certain period. 4. By ascertaining the rise and fall of the papal horn. 5. By showing when and who it was that polluted the Jewish sanctuary, and when the time to cleanse it shall come, i. e. the Christian sanctuary, as I suppose the prophet meant, else he would not have set the time so distant as 2300 years. 6. That the four grand dispensations from Abraham, consisting of a thousand years each, shall also end with the next century; exactly corroborating their sublime symbol, which was a river, shown to Ezekiel by an angel, consisting of four equal measurements of a thousand cubits each, which is descriptive of the increase of a knowledge of God in his church in the earth, since the birth of Abraham till the Millennium. 7. By showing that at the end of the next century, the noted 1260 years, in which the saints were given into the power of the secular Roman church, shall end; and 8. That then the two witnesses shall finish their prophecying in sackcloth, and be caught up to heaven in the midst of a cloud. These are my reasons for believing the Millenium will commence at that period. There I see a termination of all those grand symbols upon which the expectation has been built, by both the an cient and modern church. But I will here remark, that the exaltation of the two witnesses, the Old and the New Testament, to heaven, may be understood to signify, that as the Holy Scriptures, the grand medium through which God has conversed with man, have been

W*

despised, ridiculed and rejected by a majority of the nations, so they shall finally come to be had in universal honour, and their precepts to be the Alpha and Omega of all the nations of the earth during a thou sand years, even on the earth where they have been despised. This glory which shall be bestowed upon them, their enemies shall see; but in that same hour, when thus exalted, there shall be a great earthquake terrible commotions among men; the wicked falling by the supernatural power which shall then destroy them. And the seventh angel sounded; (for six had preceded him) and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

And as if to confirm the faith of the saints, that the vision shall end, and the saints take the kingdom at the termination of 1260 years, from the precise time the Christian sanctuary was absolutely and totally polluted by the papists, and the abomination set up, (i. e. the Popes, as idols) which maketh desolate, of whom Antiochus Epiphanes, and his pollutions of the Jewish sanctuary, was a lively type. It is asked, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? See Dan. chap. 12, 6. The reply was, that it shall be for a time, times, and a half time; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

Thus I understand it: the time allowed to this desodating monster, this abominable idol, which has made desolate the saints, is 1260 years, in which time he

shall have fully accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, the children of God in his dominions, who receive not the mark of this beast in their foreheads, or their hands. The end, or last years of the next century, shall finish the visions of Daniel and St. John, in reference to the kingdom of the stone, and close the grand drama of sufferings with the saints, and shall usher in, like the breaking forth of the waters of Paradise in the first Eden, the undescribed glories of the Millennial state, and kingdom of the mountain, which is Christ in his second coming, filling the whole earth.

REFLECTIONS.

And are we, indeed, so near the time which has been the subject of hope and prophecy in all ages, of both the Jewish and Christian churches; so near that period when the depravity of the heart shall be no more, when the effects of sin shall cease, and its injuries be repaired by the spirit of the Lord of Host in all the earth, both of natural and moral evil? Are we indeed, so near that time, when the holy dead shall rise at the sound of the voice of the archangel in all the earth? So near that time, when the sweet fellowship that existed in Eden between man and the angels of God, shall be renewed; the lost image of perfect holiness be restored? Yes, O my soul! the time is near. Blessed be God, who so loved the world as to give his only San for a ransom, upon whom, as a foundation, is built, not only the expectation of the joys of the Millennial state,

but when that shall end, the more triumphant bliss of an eternal weight of glory in the heavens. With these views let us be comforted, and possess our souls in patience, for behold it hasteneth. Soon the rush of years will unfold to the astonished sight the joys that have been bought with a Saviour's blood. The lives of three persons in succession, from the present year, 1827, of sixty years of age, are more than sufficient to reach the promised land; the third, if holy, will plunge in that sea of joy, will be one of those who shall feel the mighty change from mortal to immortality, such as the sinless pair possessed before their fall, and shall become a recipient of the immunities of the Millennial state.

Having passed through the various periods which relate to the cleansing of the sanctuary on the earth, though commencing at different eras, but all manifestly ending at one and the same time, viz. at the end of the next century, or in the year of our Lord 2000, I will just observe that Daniel the prophet has spoken of an additional number of years, which seem to reach beyond the completion of the time, times and a half time, or the 1260 years allotted for the cleansing of the sanctuary. See Dan. 12, 11, 12. This addition consists of seventy-five years, and evidently extend's into the Millennial state, and relates to some events in volved in the blessedness of that time, which it seems was not God's good pleasure so clearly to reveal to Daniel. But it is added, verse 12, Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But here conjecture is lést för

« 前へ次へ »