A GENERAL AND CONNECTED

VIEW THE NUESES
THE PROPHECIES, .ir

RELATIVE TO To his sans

OF

RELATIVE TO

THE CONVERSION, RESTORATION, UNION, AND FUTURE GLORY

1778-1854

BY THE REV. GEORGE STANLEY FABER, B. D.

VICAR OF STOCKTON-UPON-TEES.

* At that time shall Michael 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." Dan. xii. 1.

BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM · ANDREWS.

T. B. WAIT & CO. PRINTERS.

1809.

TO THE

HON. AND RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD,

SHUTE BARRINGTON, LL.D.

LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM:

MY LORD,

To complete the plan of my Dissertation on the 1260 years, there was wanting, a general and connected view of the various prophecies which treat of the wonderful events about to take place at the expiration of

that period. Prevalent as the powers of darkness may ' be during their allotted season, they are destined to be at length destroyed. Their destruction will synchronize with the restoration of the Jews, and will usher in that glorious state of things so frequently and so exultingly described by the ancient prophets. The lost ten tribes will be united with the tribe of Judah; and the blessings of pure Christianity will be very generally diffused throughout the world. Such, we

are led from holy Scripture to believe, will be the · magnificent close of the great period of 1260 years.

Without presuming to inquire too curiously into the state of the millennian Church and the nature of the Messiah's earthly reign, it is not difficult to conceive, how materially the face of society would be changed, and how wonderfully the general condition of mankind would be meliorated, were the Gospel.

Rewaco, 2-15-32. Emb

cordially embraced and faithfully acted upon, if not

absolutely by all, yet by an incalculably great majori: ty. At present, to say nothing of the huge multitudes .. involved in the darkness of Paganism or the mists of

Mohammedism, the greatest exertion of Christian charity, the most laborious attempt to hope against hope, will leave no conviction in the minds of the truly serious, that even in countries professing the religion of the Messiah the majority are faithful followers of their Lord. We are compelled to acknowledge, by the melancholy testimony of our very senses, that too

many have a name that they live, and are dead; that ; not merely lukewarmness and indifference and a disre

regard to the spirit of Christianity are prevalent, but that numbers, in consequence of their actual criminali.

ty, can be distinguished from Pagans only by an appel..' tation, in their cases, an empty geographical appellation.

Now let us suppose this state of things to be reversed;

let us picture to ourselves either the whole, or nearly ... the whole, of mankind as being Christians not in word

only, but in deed : and we may perhaps form some conception of the nature of the Millennium. What the narrow primitive Church was in spirit and in prac. : tice, the immense millennian Church would likewise be. Behold how these Christians love each other, would again become a true remark. Where universal affection prevailed, where selfishness was as much

extinguished and evil lusts and passions were as much : subdued as among the first believers, wars and disseni tions, both public and private, would be no more. the Where holiness of conversation, springing from grate

ful love to God through Christ, was predominant, the various miseries arising from vice and immotality would be unheard of. The world, in a degree, would be brought back to a Paradisaical state;

and, when the minds of men ceased to be agitated by
bad dispositions, and their bodily strength to be under-
mined by intemperance and excess on the one hand
and by poverty and wretchedness on the other, it is
natural to suppose, that their lives would be extended
to a much longer period than they are at present.

But some perhaps may ask, How can these things
be? To such a question the believer finds it not very
difficult to give an answer. It was by an abundant effu-
sion of the Holy Spirit, not by any natural inherent
goodness of their own, that the primitive Christians
were made to differ from others. It is by the agency
of the same Spirit (I speak throughout of his ordi-
nary operations), that every believer of the present
day thankfully acknowledges, with Scripture and the
Church, that a new heart is created within him. And
it is by a yet more abundant effusion of the Holy
Ghost both on Jews and Gentiles, as we are expressly
taught in prophecy, that the great mass of mankind
will truly and effectually be gathered into the fold of
Christ in the days of the Millennium. There is no
difficulty in conceiving, had it been agreeable to the
purposes of the Most High so 'to have, ordered mat-
ters, that all men in the apostolic age might have been ::
made like-minded with the primitive believers; and
that the Gospel might have been universally received,
instead of being universally opposed. There is no dif. ,
ficulty in conceiving, that the heart of a Nero .or a :.
Dioclesian might, through the Spirit; have been as. .
effectually turned to the knowledge and love of the
truth, as the heart of a Peter or a Paul. Consequently,
there is no difficulty in conceiving, that the Holy Spi.
rit, who was pleased only to operate to a certain extent:
in the days of the Apostles, may hereafter operate so
generally as to render nearly the whole of mankind.,