Chapter XI. Second Section of the Seventh Seal

6.—Revival of the Witnessing for Gospel Truth

“We have long been praying thy kingdom come, and is there any probability,” says Mr. Bicheno, “that the preludes to it are arrived? And shall we be unconcerned about the signs of the times? It is deserving the most serious consideration, whether the revolution in France be not the beginning of the fulfilment of this prophecy. I say beginning; for according to the prophecies, if this be the event pointed out by the resurrection of the witnesses, we have as yet seen but the dawn of what is to come, nor shall we perhaps for some time. Black and conflicting clouds will darken the hemisphere and obscure our prospect; but they will spend themselves and vanish. But were we sure that this event (the resurrection of the witnesses) is what we conjecture, yet no man could say how long it would be before ‘the Spirit of Life from God,’ by those more excellent operations, and in that larger degree, which we look for, enter into the witnesses for gospel truth; for they may be quickened with political life, and yet remain some time with a small share of spiritual life.”

“Although the French people are actuated by an astounding zeal for civil and religious liberty, yet their character seems very far from agreeing with what we expect from the witnesses for gospel truth. In the things of religion they appear to be no further enlightened at present than to see the rights of conscience, and the absurdities and cruel oppressions of the Papal system. This is certainly an important part of truth, and what promises to pave the way for the triumphs of pure religion; and perhaps, considering the greatness of that darkness emerged from, it may be as much as could rationally be expected at the beginning of such a reformation. But of true godliness there appears but little at present; and it is to be feared that they, as well as most other nations, must endure great sufferings before we shall see that repentance which must precede the happy days promised in God’s word.”

These things were written by Mr. Bicheno seventy-two years ago. He lived at the crisis of the resurrection of the witnesses and at the opening of the Third Woe; consequently, only in “the dawn of what was then coming.” Since then, “dark and conflicting clouds” p. 660 have darkened the hemisphere, spent themselves, and vanished away; for since he wrote, five of the vials of the third woe trumpet have been entirely drained of their wrath; and forty-five years of the sixth, have brought us over the year 1864; when he supposed the 1335 years of Daniel would end; and the work of destroying the remains of tyranny, and purifying and enlarging the Gentile church, would be finished; and the glorious appearing of the Lord be manifested. This work, however, we, who are contemporary with 1865, know to be yet in the womb of futurity. Mr. Bicheno did well in stirring up his own generation to the study of the apocalypse; and in discovering for us the true import of the “three days and a half.” His labor was not lost; and we thank our Heavenly Father for raising up such witnesses, whose memory the faithful in Christ Jesus do always delight to honor.

The laborers of this class were contributing to that very resurrection he looked for; a resurrection, not merely of political life, but for that more excellent resuscitation of a witnessing for gospel truth. The establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society in March 1804, by which the scriptures, in defiance of the mandates of the God of the earth, have been circulated greatly among those nations in which the witnesses stood upon their feet again, has strengthened “the earth” in its resistance to arbitrary power; and prepared the minds of many to receive, and to seek for “the truth as it is in Jesus” for eternal life. When the truth gets a sufficient hold of these prepared seekers of the unmeasured court, it makes them restless and dissatisfied with the dry, stereotyped, superstitions of their fathers. Hence, they are caused to make efforts for a return to the gospel and order of things, as preached and instituted originally by Christ and the Apostles. There have been more of these efforts since the resurrection of the secular witnesses to renewed political life and vigor in France, than for upwards of a century before. Indeed, I am not aware, that there was any such effort at all in the great City of Babylon from 1572 to 1789; but since this last date there have been several in the outlying regions of the British Isles and America. The Baptist Sect arose in England before the witnesses were put to death in the papal jurisdiction of the Great City. They were a separation from that class of “the Earth” known as “The Independents.” The Word of God got possession of their minds and affections, and would permit them no longer to remain among “the children of disobedience.” They therefore separated themselves in 1638; and, having renounced the PAPAL ORDINANCE of Baby-Face sprinkling, profanely termed by p. 661 all Laodiceans, “baptism,” they dispatched one of their number to Holland to be immersed by the ANABAPTISTS (as they were ignorantly styled by Luther and his class) that on his return he might be qualified to immerse his friends at home. Hence, these immersed brethren became witnesses of the Holy City class; that is, of the “One Body.” They preserved the truth from dying out in England during the death-state of the witnesses in the papal section of the continent of Europe; and after 1789–’90, we find their testimony reviving in the writings of Mr. Bicheno and the organized circulation of the scriptures—a society instituted by “the Woman” and “the Earth” which “helped” her.

During the time the witnesses were lying politically and spiritually dead (and of this death the Baptists partook as well as “the Earth,” adopting Calvinistic, Armenian, and Free Communion traditions, which make void the Word of the Deity), a bootless effort was made to return to first principles by Mr. John Glass, a Calvinist “divine” of the Scottish Daughter of the Roman Mother. To his honor be it said, that he was expelled by this apocalyptic “Harlot,” on the charge of entertaining a design of subverting the National Covenant, and of sapping the foundation of all national religious establishments, by maintaining that the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world; in other words, he was expelled for affirming what Christ himself, “the Faithful and True Witness,” bore witness to before Pilate. Would a church of Christ have been guilty of such iniquity as this? Such papistic deeds only prove that “the churches” committing them have no claims to be regarded as christian in any scriptural sense. Mr. Glass, then, was expelled by this “woman,” with whom he had been apocalyptically “defiled” (Apoc. xiv. 4), in the year 1728. He and his adherents formed themselves into churches, which they endeavored to conform to the primitive order of the New Testament. Soon after the year 1755, one of their elders, named Robert Sandeman, became a prominent advocate of their principles. He taught that justifying faith was a simple belief of the divine testimony, passively received by the understanding; which testimony carries in itself sufficient ground of hope to every one who believes it, without any collateral spiritualistic operation; that the gospel contained no offer but that of evidence, and that it was merely a record or testimony to be credited; that there is acceptance with God through Christ for sinners, while they are sinners, before “any act, exercise, or exertion of their minds whatsoever;” consequently, before repentance. Hence, his theory was, justification by passive belief of the truth alone!

p. 662 He was very severe, but not more so than was in accordance with the truth, in his criticism of the “popular preachers.” “I would be far,” says he, “from refusing even to the popular preachers themselves what they so much grudge to others—the benefit of the one instance of a hardened sinner (the thief on the cross) finding mercy at last; for I know of no sinners more hardened, none greater destroyers of mankind, than they.”

The Sandemanian section of “the Earth” differed from other sects of the Court, in the weekly administration of the supper; in dining together at each other’s houses between the morning and afternoon meetings; these dinings were their love-feasts, of which every member was required to partake. They differed also in the kiss of charity, as the act of receiving into fellowship; in a weekly contribution for all expenses; in mutual exhortation; in abstinence from blood and things strangled; in washing of feet; in a plurality of elders, pastors, or bishops, in each church, who, though unlearned and in trade, are sufficiently qualified for their office, if answerable to the specifications found in 1 Tim. iii. 1-7; Tit. i. 6-9. They separated themselves from all such religious societies as appeared to them not to profess the simple truth for their only ground of hope, and who do not walk in obedience to it.

The Baptist churches in Scotland imbibed a considerable part of these principles, by which a nearer approach was made to the apostolic order of things; but not sufficiently to constitute them resurrected witnesses for the Ancient Gospel of Jesus Christ. The theory they professed was an improvement upon that of the Scottish Harlot. It might be assented to as a basis for immersion; but would still leave the confessor “in the gall of bitterness and the bond of inquity.” The philosophy and vain deceit of Protestantism had so “defiled” the baptist mind in the period of death they had passed through, that their resuscitation as a society witnessing the gospel had become hopeless. It remained, therefore, to be attained in the face of their active endeavors to suppress it.

The effort was renewed in the United States of America, and crowned with the result desired.

Another “reverend divine” of the Scottish Harlot’s family was stirred up to attack the institutions which had given him birth. In 1819, or thereabouts, he separated himself and a few others from her communion, and joined the Baptists. Upon this, he commenced a periodical called the Christian Baptist, in which he ably exposed the unscriptural character of the faith, order, and practices of the so-called “religious world.” He was particularly severe upon his p. 663 clerical brethren, and “the benevolent institutions of the day,” by which they proposed to introduce the Millennium! His unsparing attacks upon all the “Names and Denominations” caused him to be denounced on every side, as a demoralizing disturber of all ecclesiastical peace and comfort. Papists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and others, were all made to writhe in the anguish of his tormenting testimony against them; and would willingly have extinguished him after the approved fashion of former days, but for his brethren of “the Earth,” who, at the epoch of their resurrection to political life and power, had founded the new government under which he lived. This guaranteed civil and religious liberty to all sects and persons; and protected them in the freest exercise of all their natural and acquired rights. The French army, which was sent to help “the Earth” establish its independence of the Anglican Daughter of the Roman Harlot, on its return to France reimported into that land the principles of liberty and the rights of man; which, after the “three days and a half” were ended, as “Spirit of Life from the Deity, broke in upon” the constituents of the Third Estate, and caused them to “stand upon their feet” to the great terror of all who beheld them—Apoc. xi. 11.

This onslaught upon the Laodicean Apostasy in the United States produced a powerful effect upon multitudes, who separated themselves from all of its Names and Denominations. These were formed into churches by Messrs. Walter Scott, Alexander Campbell, and their colaborers, upon a simple confession that Jesus is the Christ, and immersion for the remission of sins. Many of the principles taught by Messrs. Glass and Sandeman were engrafted upon this stock; and “Campbellism,” divested of its Calvinism, became a new edition of Scotch Baptistism in America.

The legends of this new sect, which it afterwards refused to practise, were: “Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good;” and, on the obverse of its medal, “Style no man on earth your Father; for he alone is your Father who is in heaven; and all ye are brethren. Assume not the title of Rabbi; for ye have only one Teacher; neither assume the title of Leader; for ye have only one Leader, the Messiah.” The sentiment of these precepts is admirable; and, had it been carried into practice, would have led the disciples of these reformers into the very Holy City itself. But, as it turned out, they adjudged themselves unworthy of so distinguished an honor, and are now grovelling among the dust of “the Earth.”

In those days, the author of this exposition of the apocalypse, then a young man of about thirty years of age, found himself among p. 664 them, before he understood their theory in detail. He applied himself diligently to the thorough understanding of it by the study of the writings current among them. This he acquired; so that he needeth not that any should testify of Scotto-Campbellism; for he knows what is in it, and that it falls infinitely short of its pretension to be the “restoration of the ancient gospel and order of things.”

The author adopted with great zest and zeal the sentiment of their legend. He proceeded to “prove all things,” and to “hold fast what” he believed to be “good;” and to call no man father, teacher, or leader, but Christ, THE TRUTH—John xiv. 6. In doing this, he devoted himself to the study of the prophetic and apostolic writings, under the impression that he was engaged in a good work; and, as he was then publishing a periodical entitled The Apostolic Advocate, he would from time to time report to his brethren for their benefit, what he found taught therein. In pursuing this study, he found many of their principles to be at variance with “the word,” which was made void by them. Perceiving this, and supposing that the spirit of their legend was the spirit of their body, he did not hesitate to lay his convictions before them that they might prove them, and hold them, or reject them, according to the testimony. This raised quite a storm among them, the thunderbolts of which were aimed at him by the thunderer of their sect. This uproar caused the author to discover that he had made a mistake in his reading of their legends; and that their reading of Paul’s words was, “Prove all things which we have proved; and hold fast what we believe to be good;” and of Jesus, “Call no man father, teacher, or leader, but Alexander Campbell.” These were readings that he had never agreed to; and, therefore, he continued to read and publish according to the old method, very much to the indignation and disgust of the Simon Pures who misled the multitude.

But he saw that they did not walk honestly according to the truth, or the principles they professed. The gospel proclaimed by this sect of “the Earth,” was a misunderstanding of Peter’s pentecostian address. It preached “baptism for remission of sins” to every one who confessed that Jesus was the Son of God. This was styled “the Ancient Gospel.” The preachers of the Baptist sect denounced it as a damnable heresy. Many of these same preachers, however, from divers causes, changed their minds, left their own mother, joined the Scotto-Campbellites, and, without reimmersion, became “evangelists” and “pastors” among them. Considering this fact, it occurred to the author to inquire, “If, when ye were baptist ‘divines,’ ye denounced what, as Scotto-Campbellite ‘evangelists,’ p. 665 ye now preach and believe to be the Ancient Gospel; what was that gospel ye obeyed when ye were immersed into baptistism?” They either could not, or would not, answer this question; for they were acute enough to perceive that a scriptural reply would have convicted them of preaching a gospel for remission of sins which they had not themselves obeyed; and, consequently, that they were but pious unpardoned sinners, promising to others liberty while they were themselves the servants of corruption. These “evangelists” were the ruin of the sect. They succeeded in closing the eyes and ears of the multitude against the truth; and they remain closely sealed to this day.

The numerical increase of the sect, without regard to the scriptural qualifications of their proselytes, was the standard of the “good” done. They preached the immortality of the soul; the translation of righteous immortal souls to kingdoms beyond the skies at death; the dismissal of unjust immortal souls into eternal torments in hell at death; the salvation of the immortal souls of infants and pagans—a salvation, consequently, without faith; they proclaimed that the church is the kingdom, and was set up on the day of Pentecost; that Jesus is now sitting on the throne of David; that the apostles are ruling with him, and sitting upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel; that the old testament scriptures are as an old Jewish almanac out of date; that the gospel is, that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again; and that whosoever believed these “three facts,” and confessed that Jesus was Son of God, had the “one faith;” that he was justified by this belief, or pardoned, though he might be in doubt; therefore, to make assurance doubtless, they prescribed, immersion for that enjoyment that comes from knowledge of remission of sins; that this was the “one baptism;” that there were three salvations—salvation from present ills, salvation from sins, and salvation from hell-torments; that there were three kingdoms—that of law, that of grace or the church, and that of glory; that the first was entered by birth of flesh; the second, by birth of water, or the right hand of fellowship; and the third, at death. Such were the leading traditions with which the leaders intoxicated and demented the multitude for their own advantage; and surely he must be judicially blind, who cannot see that the Scotto-Campbellite sect, which, indeed, shook American ecclesiasticism severely, was, nevertheless, not the resurrected witnessing of the saints for the veritable ancient apostolic faith.

But, after all, good was done. The influence of the clergy over p. 666 the multitude was vastly diminished; and great numbers were stirred up to read the scriptures, and to think for themselves. The author and many of his friends were of this “very small remnant.” Under the inspiration of the word believed, he could not be silent, whatever consequences might arise. Hence, in October, 1834, he raised his voice against the system in an article upon baptism. He maintained, that before immersion could be scripturally recognized as the “one baptism,” the subject thereof must be possessed of the “one faith.” This was a hard blow upon the baptistic Scotto-Campbellite “evangelists;” and they felt it. It also condemned the author’s immersion; which, however, he did not discover till twelve years after. He maintained—

1. That belief, built on the testimony of the prophets and apostles concerning the Christ; confession that Jesus of Nazareth is that Christ, the Son of the Living God; and immersion into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, for repentance and remission, are part and parcel of, and necessary to, the ordinance of purification of sin, styled by Paul, the “ONE BAPTISM.”

2. That mere immersion is not baptism; but that a man cannot be aqueously baptized without being immersed in water.

3. That they whose immersion is predicated upon “a certificate of former good character,” and a tale of sights and sounds, frames and feelings, called “experience,” with no more faith than amounts to a belief that “the word of God is a dead letter,” and that “if they don’t get religion they’ll be damned”—that an immersion in the name of the Father, &c., predicated on such premises, is not christian baptism.

4. That the subjects of any baptism not predicated upon the “good confession,” are not entitled to the spiritual blessings consequent on the “one baptism.”

5. That the Deity, having placed his name in his institutions, all communicable blessings flow through those institutions, of which christian baptism is one.

6. That every immersed person who is not immersed on “the good confession,” is not founded upon THE ROCK; and consequently forms no part of the Church of Christ.

7. That the reimmersion of such a believer is not a re-baptism, and therefore justifiable—such reimmersion being his first scriptural baptism.

p. 667 Such was the testimony of A. D. 1834. In the course of the year following he called in question their speculations and traditions concerning the soul, heaven, hell, eternal torment, the Devil, their salvation without faith, and so forth. He was not quite clear upon these topics himself; but their violent attacks, threw him upon the defensive, and compelled him to fortify. By a closer study of the word he attained to full assurance of faith, which was only confirmed by the feebleness of their arguments in debate. He maintained:

1. That “a living soul” was not an “immortal soul,” but a Body of Life, exemplified by the first Adam.

2. That immortality was not an abstract essence, but life endlessly developed through incorruptible organic substance, or body.

3. That “the Deity only hath immortality” underived.

4. That incorruptibility and life, or immortality, are a part of the reward promised only to the righteous, on condition of their patient continuance in well-doing.

5. That they only are the righteous who believe the truth and obey it.

6. That “the dead know not anything.”

7. That the just and unjust are rewarded at their resurrection from among the dead, and not before.

8. That “the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth,” when the meek will inherit it.

9. That the wicked and the sinner will also be recompensed in the earth;” from which they will “be cut off and rooted out,” as unfit to inhabit it: for being without understanding of the word, they are like the beasts that perish.

10. That the clerical devil is a mythological fiction.

11. That the devil of scripture is, first, sin manifested individually in and through our common nature; secondly, sin in ecclesiastical and political manifestation. Hence, the powers of the world are styled “the Devil and his Angels.”

12. That without faith there is no salvation.

The statement of these propositions stirred up the devil on every side, and made him roar like a devouring lion; but the truth of them turned his wrath into great bitterness. He denounced the author as “a moonstricken speculator,” “a materialist,” “an infidel,” “an atheist, fit only for the society of Tom Paine, Voltaire, and that herd.” These were the weapons, endorsed with all the influence and power of the sect for evil, against one man, whom he contemptuously p. 668 spurned as “a stripling,” and classed with the unclean beasts of the ark!

But “the Earth that helps the Woman” being in power, these ravings and roarings were permitted to break no bones. Great efforts were made to suppress both the author and his writings, till at length they so far succeeded as to prevent their flocks from reading them and listening to his discourse. Alas, for any people reduced by crafty and designing men to such a case! How can the truth enter those whose eyes and ears are closed? Nevertheless, its advocacy was not abandoned, though the aspect of things was very discouraging. Several, however, avowed their conviction of the truth of these propositions; and though the policy of the Devil was to fight him by letting him alone, the study of “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” was continued; and, as it broke in upon his mind, was dealt out by the press and tongue to all who had “ears to hear what the Spirit had said to the ecclesias.”

By the year 1847, he had illustrated and proved the following propositions to the conviction of increasing numbers:

1. That the Gospel preached by the apostles was originally preached to Abraham, announcing blessedness for all nations in him and in his Seed, when he should possess the gate of his enemies.

2. That this Gospel promised Abraham and his Seed that they should be the Heirs of the World, which they should possess forever.

3. That Abraham, “hoping against hope, was fully persuaded that what the Deity had promised he was also able to perform, and therefore it was counted to him for righteousness.

4. That the land in which he sojourned, and kept his flocks and herds, and in scripture styled the Holy Land, and Yahweh’s Land was promised to him for an everlasting possession.

5. That this promise of the land became a confirmed covenant 430 years before the Mosaic Law was added.

6. That the Seed of Abraham, whose day he rejoiced to see, was to descend from the tribe of Judah in the line of David; and to be at once both son of David and Son of God.

7. That a covenant was made with David, ordered in all things and sure, promising that the Seed should descend from him; that he should possess a kingdom in a future age; that he should be Son of the Eternal Father; that he should be afflicted unto death; that he should rise again; that the throne of his kingdom p. 669 should be David’s throne; that Christ should occupy the throne in his presence; that he shall reign over the House of Jacob, in the covenanted land, during the age; and that of his kingdom there shall be no end.

8. That these covenants made with Abraham and with David are styled by Paul “the Covenants of Promise,” and that they contain “the things concerning the Kingdom of God,” which must be believed as a part of the faith that justifies.

9. That the Christ is the Eternal Father by his spirit manifested in the Seed of David, and that Jesus of Nazareth is he.

10. That in his crucifixion, Sin was condemned in the same flesh that had transgressed in Paradise, so that in the crucified body he bore the sins of his people upon the tree, that they, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness.

11. That he was raised from among the dead by the power of the Father, for the justification or pardon of those who believe the covenanted promises, and the things concerning him.

12. That the things concerning the Christ as a sufferer, and fulfilled in Jesus, are “the things concerning the Name of Jesus Christ,” which must also be believed as the other part of the faith which justifies.

13. That Repentance is a change of mind and disposition, produced by “the exceeding great and precious promises” lovingly believed, and resulting in “the obedience of faith.”

14. That repentance, remission of sins, and eternal life are granted in the name of Jesus Christ.

15. That the Obedience of Faith consists in believing the gospel preached to Abraham, the preaching of Jesus Christ, and the revealed mystery of his Name, and in being immersed into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

16. That repentance, remission of sins, and a right to incorruptibility and life are institutionally granted to believers of the truth as outlined above in being buried with Christ by immersion into death to sin, from whence they rise with Christ, to walk in newness of life.

17. That Abraham, the prophets, and the brethren under the Mosaic Law, are justified by the belief of the promises covenanted to Abraham and David, which covenants were brought into force by the death of the Testator, or Deity in flesh-manifestation p. 670 called Jesus Christ; and that the immersed, and they only, whether Jews or Gentiles, from the Day of Pentecost to the return of the Ancient of Days, are justified by belief of the same covenanted promises and of things concerning the Name of Jesus Christ as specified above. Thus, there is one Deity who shall justify the circumcision εκ πιστεως, by, from, or out of faith; and the uncircumcision δια της πιστεως, “through the faith;” for whether under the Law or since the law, “the just shall live by faith,” “without which it is impossible to please God.”

18. That “the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” is equivalent to “the Name of Jesus Christ;” and expresses “the great mystery of godliness,” the Deity manifested in flesh: that this manifestation was first an individual unity, and then a multitudinous unity, in flesh and blood nature; that the individual divine unity was “justified by spirit” when Jesus was glorified; and that the multitudinous unity, consisting of all saints, will be made like him when he shall appear in power. Hence, when this consummation shall be complete, “THE NAME” will be the Eternal Father by spirit manifested in a multitude of immortals, whom no man can number. The scriptural designation of this DIVINE UNITY is יהוה אחד, Yahweh echad—the ONE WHO SHALL BE.

19. That this name exists in Two States—the present and the future—which states are separated by the resurrection. In the present state, the Name is apocalyptically symbolized by “the Sealed,” “the Golden Altar,” “the Holy City trampled,” “the Woman and the remnant of her seed;” and in the future state, by “the Four Living ones full of eyes,” and “the four and twenty elders;” by the Rainbowed Angel; by the Nave; by the 144,000 on Mount Zion; by harpists and singers; by the Lamb’s Wife arrayed in white; by the armies in the heaven; and by that Great City, the Holy Jerusalem, as a Bride adorned for her husband.

20. That the Gospel is glad tidings, inviting men and women to become constituents of this Divine Name, and therefore Heirs of the World with Abraham, on condition of believing the truth as it is in Jesus, being immersed, and walking in the newness of life, as shown above.

Such is the system of truth in outline elaborated by the author from the word as the result of an earnest contention for the faith p. 671 which, as I have said, continued about twelve years. Its operation on his own mind was to cause him to be immersed; and, being thus put right himself, to go forth and show the “straight gate and narrow way” to others. “The spirit of life from the Deity,” which Mr. Bicheno was looking for but did not see, had “entered into the witnesses for gospel truth,” as he expressed it, when in 1847, the Gospel of the Kingdom and Name was once more proclaimed for the obedience of faith. A few congregations had been collected upon this basis in America, and “the earth” has been to some extent impregnated with their principles. These earthborns, however, mix up many traditions with what they have learned, which make the truth of none effect for their salvation. They are known by various names, such as Millerites, Adventists, Storrites, and so forth, who while dissatisfied with their old mother and her daughters, have neither intelligence nor faith enough in the word to become citizens of the down-trodden Holy City. This witnessing society is “too exclusive,” “too dogmatic,” “too denunciatory of the christians of other denominations,” “makes too much of baptism,” to suit them. It affords no scope for money-making by preaching, for personal glorification by conventions, conferences, periodicals, and so forth. For these, and other reasons too numerous and burdensome to recount, they turn their backs upon those who are able to enlighten them, and exhaust their feebleness in the work of hewing out for themselves cisterns—broken cisterns—which will hold no water.

But, the author did not confine his testimony to the territory of “THE MODEL REPUBLIC.” In that “wonderful year,” A. D. 1848, signalized by the terrible shaking given to the kingdoms of the Great City by “the Earth,” he reimported the testimony into his native land—a land of Bibles, whose truth was buried under mountains of tradition for want of a living witness to exhume it, and to set it intelligibly before the people. Two hundred and seventy discourses in a little over two years; the circulation of eleven hundred copies of Elpis Israel; and less than a hundred copies of the Herald of the Kingdom, per annum, for eleven years; with about a hundred and fifty copies of the first volume of this work— has been his agency in witnessing for the truth against the Laodicean Apostasy in Great Britain. The “very small remnant” has been increased by acquisitions in Britain. The Holy City has acquired voice; and though feeble, is making itself heard, and attended to, by the people. In 1862, the author revisited that country. He found several churches that had struggled into a semi-witnessing existence. The truth had more real friends than in 1848–’50; p. 672 but it had also many more dangerous embarrassments to encounter, than at that time. Its worst enemies are its pretended friends. It is from these that the truth now suffers both in Britain and America. “The Earth” is a good breastwork against the Serpent; but it is too ignorant and wise in its own conceit to be “a witness for gospel truth.” I trust, however, that a better day has dawned in the current 1866; when the principles herein outlined will find such an earnest expression by their adherents, that no teaching will be endured among them, by press or tongue, that is not in strict accordance with the oracles of God.

I shall conclude this section by another quotation from Bicheno, respecting the “three days and a half. “Days, in the mystical language of prophecy, and particularly in the Revelation, generally signify years. But if that be their meaning here, an essential agreement is wanting; for the time, from the repeal of the Edict of Nantes to the French Revolution, was about 105 years. Terms of time among the ancients were ambiguous. Days, months, and years, had not always their proper signification; for ‘months,’ says Artemidorus, ‘are sometimes denoted by years, and days too; and years and days by months; and months and years by days.’ It was the subject, or the rule of proportion which determined the meaning of the terms. Hence, Daubuz observes respecting the terms of time in the symbolic language: ‘Terms of time being thus ambiguous amongst the ancients, they must, in the symbolic language, be by the rule of proportion determined by the circumstances. Prophecy concerning future events is a picture, or representation, of the events in symbols, which being fetched from objects visible at one view, or cast of the eye, rather represent the events in miniature, than in full proportion; giving us more to understand than what we see. And, therefore, that the duration of the events may be represented in terms suitable to the symbols of the visions, the symbols of duration must also be drawn in miniature.’

“Days, then, may stand for months. And we may here see the reason why the witnesses are represented as lying dead three days and a half, rather than three months and a half, or 105 days. The duration of events must be represented in terms suitable to the symbols of the visions. The symbol is, dead bodies lying in the street. How monstrous would it be to represent dead bodies as lying in such a situation for 105 days! The time of their lying dead is therefore, drawn in miniature suitable to dead bodies lying in a street; and these lunar days, or months, are to be calculated in the same manner as the ‘forty and two months’ in the second verse.

p. 673 Thus 3×30+15=105 years; the time which elapsed from the repeal of the Edict of Nantes to the French Revolution.”

7.—Ascension of the Witnesses into the Heaven

“And they heard a great voice out of the heaven saying to them, ‘Ascend hither!’ And they ascended into the heaven in the cloud; and their enemies beheld them.”

By heaven in this place, we are to understand the political heaven which ruled over the plateia of the Great City upon which the corpses of the witnesses were extended:—the political heaven of “the tenth of the Great City.” It was the power of this heaven embodied in the government of the “Grand Monarque,” Louis XIV. that conquered and put them to death; and it was the power of the same heaven that blindly legislated them into an erect position, so that they were able to “stand upon their feet.”

The forces operating this result are very clearly exhibited in “Thiers’ Hist. of the French Revolution.” It would occupy too much space for details. The period was stormy and perplexing; and none were able to direct or allay the excitement, that agitated all classes of the people. The Court, the noblesse, the clergy, and the people, were all in antagonism; nor were these orders in the state agreed among themselves; added to which, the army was disaffected, the taxes intolerable to the masses, atheistic philosophy prevalent, depravity excessive, extravagance boundless, and the public treasury empty. Alison writing upon this crisis says: “THE AMERICAN WAR was the great change which blew into a flame the embers of innovation. Such was the universal enthusiasm which seized upon France at its commencement that nobles of the highest rank, princes, dukes, and marquises, solicited with impatient zeal commissions in the regiments destined to aid the insurgents. The passion for republican institutions increased with the successes of the American war, and at length arose to such a height as to infect even the courtiers of the palace. The philosophers of France used every method of flattery to bring over the young nobles to their side; and the profession of liberal opinions became as indispensable a passport to the saloons of fashion as to the favor of the people.”

This combination of influences at length came to a head, and set in a strong current, against the court. In order, therefore, to divert into another channel what might become an overwhelming flood, Louis XVI. was now anxious for the convocation of the States General, the opening of which he fixed by “a great voice,” or edict, “out of the heaven,” saying, “Ascend hither!” on May 5, 1789. The

p. 674 Court ordained that the total number of the deputies should be at least a thousand; and that the Tiers-Etat, or Third Estate, should be equal to the other two orders united. The clergy, the nobles, and the deputies of the people, were the three orders of the States General. The third estate comprehended nearly the whole nation; all the useful, industrious, and enlightened classes; for this reason, its deputies by the casting vote of Monsieur, who afterwards reigned as Louis XVIII, were doubled, or exceeded the other two orders united by sixty-seven, the whole number being 1254. This number constituted what, in the prophecy, is termed “the Cloud.”

In nature, by the electrical force exhalations are elevated from the earth to the dew point of the aerial, where they are condensed into visible masses, termed clouds. So, analogously in the generation of symbolic clouds. The sovereign power of a state by its edict elevates from among the people their representatives, who when they reach the place to which they are convoked, become a visible and recognized body in the state, or political aerial, on the verification of the powers of the members. This verification is the condensation of them into “a Cloud.”

The public mind, agitated by events, full of the confused idea of a speedy revolution, was in a continual ferment. In the heat of this the elections took place. “Tradesmen, lawyers, literary men, astonished to find themselves assembled together for the first time, raised themselves up by degrees to liberty.” It was an extraordinary resurrection.

The moment of the convocation at length arrived. The King alone, who had not enjoyed a moment’s repose since the commencement of his reign, regarded the States General as the termination of his embarrassments! It was therefore with joy that he made preparations for this grand assembly; which was opened with great national, military, and religious pomp, by which all hearts were deeply moved.

The first business was the verification of the powers of the members. It became a question whether this should take place in common, or by separate orders. The Democracy insisted upon the verification in common. The nobility and clergy were for each order verifying its own members. The Democracy were determined not to give way. All compromise became impossible. The inertia of the inexorable Third Estate, who would do nothing till the nobility and clergy were merged with itself into one homogeneous assembly, exhausted the patience and prudence of their enemies; who, forgetting the animosities between the Court and the higher p. 675 orders, sought reconciliation between them, that they might be enabled to repress the audacity of the tiers-etât, “whose power was rising with such rapidity.” The nobles and titled clergy threw themselves at the feet of the King, and implored him to support their rights, which were attacked equally with his own. They strove to procure a dissolution of the States General, which would have been a dispersion of “the Cloud;” and a frustration of the providential purpose of its manifestation. But the commons would not allow their enemies to dispose of them after this fashion. They proclaimed themselves, after a stormy sitting, THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY on June 17, 1789; whose mission it was to regenerate and restore the nation.

But, we are not to suppose that this heterogeneous cloud of deputies were the witnesses. The National Assembly contained many enemies to liberty and human rights and interests—many who were devoted friends of the Roman Deity and arbitrary power everywhere. Speaking of the witnesses against these, the prophecy says: “They ascended into the heaven εν τη νεφελη, in the cloud.” They were in the States General, and of it; but they were not themselves the States General, nor National Assembly. The following extract will show how the prophecy harmonized with facts:

“In the National Assembly,” says Ferrieres testifying concerning the deputies of his own party, “there were not more than about three hundred really upright men, exempt from party spirit, not belonging to any club, wishing what was right, wishing it for its own sake, independent of the interest of orders or of bodies, always ready to embrace the most just and the most beneficial proposal, no matter from what quarter it came, or by whom it was supported. These were the men worthy of the honorable function to which they had been called, who made the few good laws that proceeded from the Constituent Assembly; it was they who prevented all the mischief that was not done by it. Invariably adopting what was good, as invariably opposing what was bad, they have frequently produced a majority in favor of resolutions, which, but for them, would have been rejected from a spirit of faction; and they have often defeated motions, which, but for them, would have been adopted from a spirit of interest.”

This class of deputies was unquestionably “the Earth”—the ascended political witnesses of Jesus. Of “their enemies,” Ferrieres writes as follows: “While on this subject,” says he, “I cannot abstain from remarking on the impolitic conduct of the nobles and the bishops. As they aimed only to dissolve the Assembly, to throw p. 676 discredit upon its operations, instead of opposing mischievous measures, they manifested an indifference upon this point which is inconceivable. When the president stated the question they quitted the Hall, inviting the deputies of their party to follow them; or, if they stayed, they called out to them to take no part in the deliberation. The Clubbists, forming through this dereliction of duty a majority of the Assembly, carried every resolution they pleased. The bishops and the nobles, firmly believing that the new order of things would not last, hastened with a sort of impatience, as if determined to accelerate the downfall, both the ruin of the monarchy and their own ruin. With this senseless conduct they combined an insulting disdain both of the assembly and of the people who attended the sittings. Instead of listening, they laughed and talked aloud, thus confirming the people in their unfavorable opinion which it had conceived of them; and instead of striving to recover its confidence and esteem, they strove only to gain its hatred and contempt. All these follies arose solely from the mistaken notions of the bishops and nobles, who could not persuade themselves that the Revolution had long been effected in the opinion and in the heart of every Frenchman, They hoped by means of these dykes, to set bounds to a torrent that was daily swelling. All they did served only to produce a greater accumulation of its waters, to occasion greater ravages; obstinately clinging to the old system, the basis of all their actions, of all their opposition, but which was repudiated by all. By this impolitic obstinacy they forced the Revolutionists to extend the Revolution beyond the goal they had set up for themselves. The nobles and the bishops then exclaimed against injustice and tyranny. They talked of the antiquity and the legitimacy of their rights to men who had sapped the foundations of all rights.”

The “Great Voice” from the French throne, in commanding this Cloud of Deputies to ascend into the region of power, or “heaven,” did not intend to convoke witnesses against itself, and against the nobles, the bishops, and their dependents, the natural pillars of every abomination in church and state. The electoral body of the nation, however, had different views and purposes. In response to the “great voice out of the heaven, saying, Ascend hither!” the electors sent up some whom they knew not—men of political integrity, lovers of justice, haters of oppression, detesters of hypocrisy and state craft, enemies of corruption, and friends of the people These “ascended into the heaven in the cloud; and their enemies,” the Court, the bishops, and the nobles, “beheld them.” We have seen from Ferriers, how they “beheld them; and how they treated p. 677 them. They beheld them with hatred; and would gladly, if they had been able, have scattered, and rolled them into the dust of “the earth,” whence they had so astoundingly ascended to the sovereignty of the nation, But this was not to be. The day of vengeance for the national crimes of 1572 and 1685, had arrived; and they were the divinely appointed executioners of judgment upon the court, aristocracy and clergy; so that no device contrived against them was allowed to prosper.

When their enemies beheld them, their hatred was the result of fear. History and prophecy both testify this. “Great fear,” says John, “fell upon those who beheld them.” Having resolved themselves into the National Assembly without regard to the court, aristocracy, and clergy, they performed an act of power, in legalizing the levy of the taxes, though imposed without the national consent; but that they should cease to be levied from the day of their being broken up: and placed the creditors of the State under the safeguard of French integrity: they then proceeded to examine into the causes of the dearth and of the public distress. “These measures,” says Thiers, “produced a deep impression. The court and higher orders were alarmed at such courage and energy.” The danger was equal for them all. The junction of the clergy with the Assembly was a revolution as prejudicial to the king as to the two higher orders themselves, whom the commons declared that they could dispense with. By the imprudent counsel of the aristocracy, the king endeavored to prevent the meeting of the Assembly, but failed. On June 23, he held a royal sitting, in which, as the mouth of the nobles and clergy, he launched reproaches and issued his commands, which, if not obeyed, he would establish by his sole authority as the representative of the nation. He ordered the Assembly to separate immediately. The nobility obeyed with part of the clergy: but the Commons had bound themselves with an oath, that they would not separate until they had given a constitution to the kingdom, established and founded on a solid basis; and this oath, they declared that nothing but the power of bayonets should prevent them from keeping. The populace applauded the Commons; and the joy of the court and aristocracy was instantly turned into alarm, and the greatest agitation. A minority of the nobles joined the Assembly; but terror seized those who directed the majority. They were exhorted by the court to give way to save the king. Their consent was at length extorted amidst uproar; and the majority, accompanied with the minority of the clergy, took their seats in the National Assembly on the 27th of June. “The p. 678 family,” said President Bailly,^a “is complete. We can now attend without intermission and without distraction to the regeneration of the kingdom and of the public weal.” Thus great fear fell on their enemies when they beheld them.

8.—“The Great Earthquake,”

“And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the Tenth of the City fell.”

An earthquake, in symbolic language, is a shaking of “the earth,” which, in the political system of the world, is representative of the common people. It answers to the phrase, a democratic and social revolution. There was to be a Great Democratic Revolution “in that hour,” characterized by the ascent of the political witnesses of Jesus “in the Cloud” of Deputies “into the heaven,” to the great alarm of all interested in the abuses and corruptions of Church and State. The events of that hour have since come to be spoken of as “the Great French Revolution,” which has hitherto surpassed all others.

As the result of this great political convulsion, “the Tenth of the City fell.” Not the other nine tenths of the Great City, which would have been the fall of the great city itself; but of one tenth thereof. All the tenths are to continue unfallen, with the exception of the tenth before us, until after the advent of Christ, and the resurrection of his brethren. Then the Great City itself will fall, and be “found no more at all.” Its thrones will all be “cast down,” and not merely shaken; and the kingdoms which acknowledged their sovereignty will be taken possession of by Christ and his resurrected brethren.

The ten tenths of the great city are symbolized in Daniel by the Ten Toes of the metallic image seen by Nebuchadnezzar; and by the Ten Horns seen by Daniel and John in their visions of the Fourth-Beast system of powers, commonly styled the European Commonwealth, acknowledging the Papal Supremacy. They are the Ten Kingdoms of the Great City, situated south and west of the Rhine and Danube. Until the late temporary development of the Kingdom of Italy, and as the result of the Treaty of Vienna, A. D. 1815, modified by the revolution of 1832, they were Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bavaria, Hungary, Lombardy, Naples, and Sardinia. The Italian Duchies, Venice, and Switzerland, p. 679though upon the territory of the Great City, are not reckoned as horns, because their executives are not diademed. The order of things existing in 1865 is exceptional, and therefore only provisional. Bavaria, Hungary, and Lombardy, with the Roman States of the Church, are concorded with the Little Horn, or Catholic Germany. This symbolic order, however, is disturbed by the ambition of “the Earth,” or revolutionary element of the Great City. Lombardy, Naples, and Sardinia, with the Duchies, and without Rome, is the unsymbolic order of things; and with France imperial instead of a simple diademed tenth. This arrangement of the city, I apprehend, will not last long. It contains in it elements of conflict, which will probably result in a threefold division of powers, after the advent of Christ—Apoc. xvi. 19. Nevertheless, these powers continue to be styled “the ten horns, or kingdoms, which receive power as kings one hour with the beast; to whom, with one mind, they give their power and strength”—Apoc. xvii. 12, 13. Ten has been the predominant number of the papal kingdoms; and, therefore, though they may vary at times, as the vision does not follow them in all their history, they are symbolically indicated as the Ten. Of these, France is the most conspicuous in its relation to the witnesses. It is therefore styled κατ ’εξοχην, “the Tenth of the City,” which was overthrown as a Diademed Horn by the executioners of the national justice upon the king, nobles and clergy—the class-murderers of the saints.

9.—“In that Hour.”

A period is herein allotted for the operations of “the Earth” upon the powers of the city. It is indicated by an hour; which, being a twelfth part of a Jewish circle of time, if that circle be a day for a year, would represent a month of days, or thirty days; or if a a year-time of years, a month of years, or thirty years. I believe this is the proportional allotment of time for the earthquake and the events of the first five vials resulting from it.

The court, the nobles, the clergy, and the catholic superstition, were the chief objects of vengeance, and indignation in the earthquake. The epoch from 1789-’90 to A. D. 1794-’5, a period of about four years, was the epoch of this terrible earthquake, in which was demolished the order of things so carefully established in favor of the church by the emperor Justinian, whose Code was the civil law code of the kingdom of France. This code was first promulgated in the epoch between A. D. 529-534. The code was a summary p. 680 of former laws that still continued in force; the pandects, published four years afterwards, of the principles of the Roman jurisprudence; and the novels were Justinian’s additions. These altogether made up the Civil Law of the Great City.

Justinian’s Decretal Letter to “JOHN, the Most Holy Archbishop of the sacred city Rome, and Patriarch,” dated March, A. D. 533, became thenceforth part of the civil law. In this the Roman See was recognized as the chief in all his dominion; and its bishop consequently as the head of all the churches, and to be judged by none. In those days, “magistrates were tyrants, and priests were wicked, superstitious, and intolerant, beyond any former age. Numberless laws and regulations were imposed in violation of Christ’s authority, which defaced christianity, and robbed christians of their dearest liberties. By Justinian’s Code those powers, privileges, and immunities were secured to the clergy; that union established between things civil and ecclesiastical, and those laws imposed in matters spiritual, which have proved such a hindrance to the truth, and so calamitous to mankind. Through the zeal of the clergy this code has been received, more or less, as the foundation of the jurisprudence of almost every state in christendom; and that, not only in things civil, but ecclesiastical; and by this means, as some author has observed, the old fancy of the Romans about the eternity of their command, is thus far verified.”

Thus Justinian’s legislation was all devoted to the building up and strengthening the Catholic Church; while the legislation of the National Assembly was all directed to its destruction. It is a remarkable fact, that these two mutually antagonistic and subversive systems of legislation flourished exactly 1260 years apart from epoch to epoch; and that the one hour of 30 years added to it, or 1290, brings us to the beginning of the outpouring of the Sixth Vial, A. D. 1820, upon “the Great River Euphrates;” the drying up of whose waters prepares the way of the Sun’s Resurrected Kings for the destruction of the Great City, and the redemption of the Holy Land. Is this, indeed, the true ending of Daniel’s 1290? And if so, is A. D. 1865-6 the ending of the 1335, as well as of John’s “forty and two months?” If it be, then there is an epoch upon us of four years, in any day of which Christ may “come as a thief”—Apoc. xvi. 15: to enter upon a work which will not intermit until it has fully established the kingdom at the end of Micah’s period of forty years, about A. D. 1905.

This appears to me, at this writing, to be the correct interpretation of the times. It is, of course, impossible to say that the interpretation p. 681 is without error. The ensuing years will determine this point beyond dispute. While I write, it is the most satisfactory to my own mind. I have thought, that Daniel’s 1290 terminated in 1864; and his 1335 in 1909. But in writing the exposition of this chapter, the fact of the Great Earthquake-resurrection of the witnesses being exactly 1260 years after the promulgation of the civil law of the city; and the Hour of 30 years added, bringing us to the beginning of “the pouring out upon the Desolator of the Holy Land that determined” (Dan. ix. 27), or 1290 years afterwards—I do not feel at liberty to persist in rejecting my original conviction, that the 1290 ends in 1820; and the 1335 forty-five years after, or in the epoch current with 1865-6, or thereabout. Besides that, the same evidence that limits the termination of the Holy City’s “forty and two months,” also confines the 1335 days to the event of the resurrection. John’s symbolical “rising up” measures the continuance of the forty and two months practising (ποιησαι, to execute, practise, act) of the Beast’s Mouth to the subjection, or trampling, of the Holy City—ch. xi. 2; xiii. 5: even so Daniel’s rising up measures the utmost limit of the 1335 days; concerning which he was told, “thou shalt arise (tiamod) to thine inheritance at the end of the days.” In view, therefore, of all the premises, I submit the following as a

10.—Synopsis of the Times of Daniel and John

p. 68411.—Initial and Terminal Prophetic Epochs

12.—Of the 2400

It may be as well to state here in relation to the number in Dan. viii. 14, that there are various readings of the text. In some manuscripts seen by Jerome in the 4th century, the number was written 2200. The English Version on his authority reads 2300. But in the Septuagint, translated from the Hebrew, about 265 years before the birth of Jesus, for the use of the Jews in Egypt, who spoke Greek, the number is written 2400. Here, then, are three different periods assigned to the duration of the “evening morning” trampling of the Holy and the Host by the Little Horn of the Goat—2200, 2300, and 2400. Which of these is correct? As to the 2400, it does not depend alone upon what some regard p. 685 as the questionable authority of the Septuagint. The celebrated missionary, Joseph Wolff, states that the Jews of Ispahan and Bokhara possess some ancient manuscripts of the prophetic writings of Daniel, in which chapter viii. 14, reads “2400 instead of 2300 days;” also, that, when in Adrianople, in 1826, he saw an Armenian manuscript of the Bible in Greek, supposed to be of the fifth century, and translated by Mesrop, in which the same number occurs.” The greater number of manuscripts read 2300. This, however, proves nothing more than the fact, that 2400, like the truth, is in the minority. “The authorities” and “competent judges,” as they are regarded by Laodiceans without authority and incompetent, are most of them in favor of the 2300. They reject the testimony of the Septuagint as a typographical error; but this objection will not hold against the manuscripts seen by Wolff, which “the authorities” and “competent judges” have not hitherto succeeded, if they have attempted even, in convicting of error.

What is the correct reading of the number must be determined by something more reliable than Laodicean “authority.” Only one of the three readings can be right; and it is not to be supposed, considering the carefulness with which the Hebrew text was preserved, that they are all wrong. The probability is, that some manuscripts were corrupted in, or soon after, the reign of “Antiochus Epiphanes, the Jewish Antichrist,” so-called, in order to make out a theory of the fulfillment of “the Vision of the Evening-Morning,” in his persecution of the Jews! The 2400 period was too long for the theory, and was probably shortened to suit; hence, the 2300; and, as the theory was “orthodox,” and adopted by the leaders of the catholic idolatry as the true interpretaton, of the prophecy, and by them handed down to the present generation of the children of the Great Harlot, as proved by the writings of Rollin, Maitland, Moses Stuart, and so forth, the number, as an essential element of the theory, was patronized by “the authorities” and “competent judges” of the divinely excommunicated court, who, in the multiplication of manuscripts, are careful to insert 2300 instead of 2400.

Be this, however, as it may, the question with us is not so much how came the error, but what is the truth in the case? This is what I shall try to get at; and, in so doing, I remark, that it appears to me that the solution of the difficulty depends upon the working of the matter by a correct rule of interpretation. My rule or reed, then, is this, that the time of the Vision must be calculated from the first event symbolized in the vision. I see no flaw in this p. 686 rule. I can see no reason why any of the events symbolically represented should be left out of the time given, whatever it may be. The time of the vision is the 2200, 2300, or 2400, as may be determined. Many affirm (and I was once of the same opinion, when I took for granted the correctness of the English text) that the commencement of the Seventy Weeks was the beginning also of the time of the vision, B. C. 456. But to begin at this date would be to exclude the symbolical events of over eighty years. Why should they be excluded from the time of the vision? I can see no reason for such exclusion; and, therefore, cannot consent to it. Besides this, it terminates too soon. This will appear from the Hebrew text, לעת-קץ החזון, l’ēth-kaitz h’khāzōn, “to the time of the end the vision.” The vision is to extend to the epoch of the manifestation of “the appearance of a man,” answering to the symbolism exhibited in Dan. viii. 15-18; x. 5, 6; when “the Holy shall be vindicated,” or avenged—ch. viii. 14. If 2300 be assumed as correct, then, commencing as above, it terminated in the vulgar era 1843. This was twenty-two years ago; too long an interval for a correct ending. The Man has not appeared, nor has the Holy been justified, cleansed, vindicated, or avenged, in any sense. I therefore conclude that this beginning and ending in connexion with the 2300 is a mistake.

My rule excludes the idea of the time of the vision beginning with “the going forth of a commandment for causing to return, and for building Jerusalem,” in the 20th of Artaxerxes, B. C. 456. This commencement was assumed on the ground of the word, נחתך, nekhtak, rendered in the English Version, “are determined,” signifying, cut off. It is true that this is one of its meanings; but it also signifies cut upon, or notched, divided, decided, decreed, determined. Sir Isaac Newton has the following note upon the word: “Cut upon—A phrase in Hebrew, taken from the practice of numbering by cutting notches.” The word in the prophecy for “cut off,” is יכרת, yikkaraith—ver. 26. The Seventy Weeks were divided off from the time of the vision; but not necessarily from its first years. If a reed of any length represent the time of the vision, the most that can be argued from the cutting import of the word is, that the seventy weeks, or 490 years, were notched into the reed—that they were placed between two notches; of which, the first answered to the decree of Artaxerxes; and the second, to the “cutting off of Messiah” by crucifixion.

But decreed, or determined, in the sense of divided or apportioned, p. 687 is doubtless the sense of the word in this the only place it occurs in the book. Seventy weeks are apportioned out of the time of the vision for the development of certain specified events. Hence, their beginning or ending affects only themselves; and the commencement of the time of the vision must be sought for elsewhere.

Seeing, then, that it is reasonable that all the events of the vision should be included in the time of the vision, I am prompted to inquire, what was the first event symbolized in the Evening-Morning vision? The answer to this is in the words of Daniel: “The higher horn of the ram came up last.” This was the first event symbolized. It represented the Persian Dynasty of the Ram Empire succeeding the Median. Darius and Cyrus reigned conjointly in Babylonia two years, when Darius the Mede died, and Cyrus the Persian became sole ruler, B. C. 540. This was the third year of Cyrus from the death of Belshazzar; the first from the death of Darius—Dan. i. 21; x.i. Now, if this be admitted as the commencement of the time of the vision, it is fatal to the claims of the 2300; for this number, calculated from B. C. 540, would end A. D. 1760, since which year over a hundred years have elapsed, in no part of which has the trampling of the Holy and the Host been finished, nor the Holy avenged.

For this reason, then, I reject the 2300 as spurious; and if so, I can have nothing to say for the 2200, which, by the same rule, terminated two hundred years ago. What then remains? One thing only, and that is, if my rule of interpretation be correct, that the 2400 is the best reading of the three, and alone worthy of all reception. Adopting this as the true time, we are brought by it to A. D. 1860-’1, which is the ending of the 2400th year. If I am right, A. D. 1865 is hard on the beginning of “the time of the end,” styled by John “the Hour of Judgment.” The numbers of Daniel and John all seem to terminate in the epoch now upon us. After the 2400 is finished, “the appearance of the Man clothed in linen,” “the voice of whose words is the voice of a multitude,” transpires, judgment is given to them, and the Holy is avenged; but how long exactly intervenes between the end of the 2400 and his appearing “as a thief,” I see no evidence to prove.

The vision, of which the 2400 is the time, is styled “the vision of the evening and the morning,” in allusion to “the daily,” which was offered in sacrifice every evening and morning under the law. No movement was to take place for its restoration until the end of a day of 2400 years. That end seems to have arrived, and with it the p. 688 end of Daniel’s “time, times, and a dividing of time,” the 1335 days, and John’s “forty and two months.” I therefore now look for the advent of Christ, and the resurrection, at any time within the epoch ending in a very little season.