224

NOTE.

After I had finished Chapter X., I received a letter, in which the writer states that time and eternity "are two and distinct," and that "there is no reason for supposing that time, however long extended in duration, can or will form any part of" eternity. Repentance, he says, "can only have place with man, while he lives in time, the stability of which state, is its capability of change. But when man has done with time, there can be no more change; man has become an angel or a devil: he is no longer man; he has lost the capability of change; he can proceed, eternally, to the perfection of that state of life which he is in; and which he has made his own, by the love of it while a man.'

I think it can scarcely be necessary, to attempt to disprove these positions. For suppose that the present time were, if possible, annihilated, could we afterwards say, that absolute eternity existed? The loss of any speck of time from eternity, would be a destruction of eternity in an entire sense. Time means portions of eternity, marked by, or having relation to motion; but eternity itself, is absolute time, considered without such relation.

You might as well allege that any measured space, forms no part of infinite space, as to assume that time forms no part of eternity. If I hold a staff in my hand in any direction I may say, space is continued infinitely in that direction from my hand, yet it would not be correct in me to pretend, that the portion of that infinite space which is measured from my hand, by the length of the staff, is no part of the infinity, but is separate and distinct from it. I might indeed, say so, and truly, if my object were to affirm that it is of no consequence how many extensions of measured space you subtract from infinity; the remainder is still infinite. But I should be under a misapprehension, if I should affirm that relative space, viz: that space which is the interval between any two or more objects, as between two stars, constitutes no part of the absolute infinity of extension. Men are now, in this life, and ever will be, angels or devils, according as they have the spirit of Christ, or the spirit of satan, and by continuance in sin, they only increase sin. But when they turn from iniquity, their transgressions are mentioned no more, and they are new creatures. We always do, and ever shall make a moral character our own; "by the love of it."

225

CHAPTER XI.

PROPHECIES IN DANIEL.

"THE day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts; that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."*

The above prophecy, had its fulfilment in the time of the advent of our Lord in the flesh, when He was put to death on the cross: the fire was a spiritual fire, with a fearful abundance of outward afflictions; but not such a physical fire, as the carnal minded look for. I see nothing in the Bible to convince me, that the earth may not exist for hundreds of thousands, or millions of centuries to come; in fact, I see no prophecy, that it shall ever physically be destroyed: although possibly, and probably, immense changes, conflagrations and deluges, may occur from natural causes. Science may teach us the doctrine of the future physical destruction of our globe, but I do not think that the Scriptures teach it.

If then the earth shall continue for many thousands or millions of centuries to come, and changes and revolutions shall occur in future generations of men, in regard to morals, government, society, and religion, do you not perceive that the Bible, in order to be a perfect book, must extend its prophecies and instruction to the most remote periods of our race, as well as to the present day? Yet, the customary mode of the interpretation of prophecies, is to make all the Scriptures bear upon a single point of time, and to forget the generations who are to succeed us in existence.

In the seventh chapter of Daniel, the prophet speaks of four kings, or kingdoms, which the angel told him "SHALL arise out of the earth." I cannot be persuaded that the Babylonish empire formed any one of these kingdoms; because the vision was seen in the reign of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, and Babylon was then near its fall. It had lived its day, and was to perish; but these four kingdoms were spoken of in the future tense," which shall arise."

* Mal. iv. 1.

Having dwelt upon this in "A Voice to the Jews," I shall now only briefly say, that I believe these four kingdoms are successive reigns of DEATH and HELL, and, at the destruction of the last one of them, there is to be a final end of wickedness on this earth; pure and undefiled Christianity shall then reign forever, as an everlasting kingdom.

The first death and hell, which was like a lion, with eagle's wings, I believe represents Judah, after the time of Malachi until the advent of our Saviour in the body. The lion of the tribe of Judah passed under the Roman Herodian yoke; a man's heart of baseness and fear, was given to it.

After the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, another reign of death and hell gradually was formed, diverse from that which had gone before. before. We are now in that state of death and hell. It is represented by a bear, with three ribs; although I do not know that the three ribs are intended to denote the doctrine of the Trinity of persons, but, possibly, is only an emblem of the ferocity of the beast, yet the whole figure, I conceive, is exceedingly well adapted to the state of the present churches.

The leopard, which is the third reign of death and hell, I think, comes up in Revelation ix. 13-21, from which a deliverance will be effected, as told in Revelation xi. 13-18.

The fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and which, in Daniel, is more fully described than the others, makes its appearance, I think, in Revelation xx. 7-10. My reason for supposing so is, that a state of DEATH and HELL then occurs, as is manifest from the language used in representing the deliverance from it. You will see that “a new heaven and a new earth," (Rev. xxi. 1,) were then created; which could not have been necessary, if the old heaven, (or churches,) and earth, (or nations,) were the residences of righteousness. My impression therefore is, that the destruction of the fourth state of death and hell, in Daniel, by the sitting of the judgment, is the same that is meant by John in Revelation xx. 12. Daniel describes the death and hell more particularly than John does; but John describes the deliverance more particularly than Daniel. It is in some instances the case, in other passages of Scripture, that when a subject is once mentioned fully in one place, it is only briefly referred to in a subsequent text.

Daniel was very much favored with visions and knowledge. Some of the visions are particularly explained to him, as, for instance, those relating to the Medes and Persians, and Greece: wherefore, of such, we can have no doubt whatever. I shall, however, only speak further of the last revelation which is recorded, in his book, chapters xi. and xii. The object of it was, among other things, to make him understand what should befall his people, (the Jews,) in the latter days: the consummation of it, after a period of very many hundred years, is, at this moment, on the very eve of being verified.

Remember that Jerusalem was an outward, visible type of the true church. But after the crucifixion and ascension of our Lord, the true church was set up in the hearts of our Lord's disciples, and Jerusalem ceased to be a representative of it. Therefore, in interpreting a prophecy concerning the church, I would be guided by many considerations, in making a distinction between the degree of a literal fulfilment of the prophecy before and after the advent of our Saviour. Prophecies concerning the state of Jerusalem, while it remained the outward sign and type of our Lord's temple, I might interpret more literally than I should prophecies having relation to the church since that period. But whether I should do so or not, would, I admit, depend on all the circumstances, and the whole

context.

I take it for granted, that the object of the angel, in this vision, was to make Daniel understand what should befall the churches, or professing people, both before and after the advent of our Lord, in the flesh, until the time should come when the Jews, at least the greater portion of them, should cease their rebellion, and be grafted into the true faith, as foretold also by Paul in Romans xi. 24-26.

Let us now consider the two periods of the church, before and after our Lord, and interpret these Scriptures of truth more literally, in reference to typical Judah before the advent and death of our Saviour, and more figuratively, or spiritually, since that event, in reference to professing christendom.

In Daniel xi. 22, we see that the Prince of the Covenant was to be broken by the power which should then have sway. CHRIST was the PRINCE OF THE COVENANT, and we know that He was slain under the Roman power. Hence we learn, that the vile person, or power, to whom they should not give the honor of the kingdom, but who was to come in peaceably by falsehoods, was the Roman

nation. By starting from this point, as a landmark, we can easily, I think, trace backward the events to the beginning. The power in Judah, before the Roman, was the Maccabean, and this, I believe, is what is meant by the "raiser of taxes, in the glory of the kingdom. Before the Maccabees, was Antiochus Epiphanes. And thus, by the help of Newton on the prophecies, I might easily ascend to the commencement, when the rival claims of Syria on the north, and of Egypt on the south, after the death of Alexander, brought distraction and desolation upon Judah.

After the crucifixion of the Prince of the Covenant, viz: of the Messiah, a league was made between the professing church and imperial Rome, in the reign of Constantine. The emperor then was permitted to enter peaceably upon the highest offices in the church; to dispose of bishoprics and archbishoprics, and to do that which no other emperor before his time had done.

The most important events, after the union of church and state, were the dissensions and violences in the south-that is to say, in Africa; which continued for a long period, and produced much bloodshed. They led to the councils and the decrees of Nice and Chalcedon, in which the doctrines of the Trinity of the Godhead, and the Duality of Christ, were established.

But the hearts of both church and state were false and mischievous: they spoke "lies at one table" of communion.

These dissensions in the south were followed by the irruptions of many enemies, more especially into the European provinces of Rome. The power of the emperor was destroyed there; but arms stood on the part of the Pope of Rome: for Pepin and Charlemagne erected the Papal kingdom. Chapter xi. from verse 30 to verse 39, inclusively, I think, then, sets forth the power and corruptions of Papal Rome, which now became the principal, and comparatively the sole potentate in the west.

At verse 40, the prophecy, I believe, returns to consider the history of the eastern empire. The king of the south there mentioned, I think, is the Saracens, and they were followed by the king of the north, or the Turks. The Turks finally prevail, and plant the crescent and the palace of the successors of Mohammed in Palestine, on the glorious holy mountain, between the seas of the Mediterranean and Galilee, as well as in many other countries.