: be destroyed. "And the kingdom shall not be left to other people." All the former kingdoms were to be left to other people, even to the people for whom this kingdom shall be set up. "But it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms." All these kingdoms before spoken of are to be broken and consumed by this kingdom-by this people who are to be raised into a kingdom; and it shall stand for ever; their reign shall be everlasting. The second prophecy called symbolical, is in Dan. vii. 7 to 14. "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Explained, lb. 23 to 27. "Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise and another shall rise after them; and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And 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, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." This fourth beast is allowed to be the Roman empire, divided into horns, or different governments or kingdoms; in other words, ......endom, as it is at present apportioned. This prophecy, if not explained by the angel to Daniel, might have been called symbolical; but after the angel explains it to the prophet, it is certainly as literal as future events can be made. "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth;" the Roman empire," which shall be diverse from all kingdoms," republican or imperial. "And shall devour the whole earth." All the civilized world shall be conquered by the Roman republic, or empire. "And shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns: out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise: and another shall arise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings." Out of the Roman empire shall arise a divided kingdom, (......endom,) of several kingdoms or branches, the root of which shall be in the Roman empire. The little horn subdues three divisionsis not like the first, neither republican nor imperial, but a kingdom founded on religion. "And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his band until a time and times and the dividing of time." He shall teach a false religion, contrary to the worship of the Most High, the true God," and shall wear out* the saints of the Most High." He shall cause persecutions against the Jews, and think to break down the Jewish festivals appointed at set times, and change the laws of God; and the Jews shall be given into his hands, &c. "But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end." But at the expiration of *Exterminate in part-force into a semblance in part-persuade in part-and bribe in part-all this is wearing out. It appears, protestants are resolved to show the world they have all the features of this dominion-that they are as much the horns of the beast as the catholic. the above term, this ecclesiastical dominion is to be taken away. Not only so, it (the dominion) is to be consumed and destroyed unto the end; this religion, on which the dominion is founded, is to be consumed and destroyed. "And 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, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." When this rule is destroyed, the Jews are to have the dominion, and be universal. This our preacher calls intimations of figured prophecy, symbolical. We will now examine what he terms literal prophecy. He proceeds- "Such are the intimations conveyed to us in the language of figured prophecy; intimations abundantly plain and intelligible, even if nothing more had been said on the subject; but with the language of figured prophecy the language of literal prophecy exactly corresponds. "In the last days,' we are assured, 'the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills: and all nations shall flow unto it.' Isa. ii. 2. "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.' Isa. xi. 9. "The Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name One.' Zech. xiv. 9." The prophecy alluded to Isa ii. 2. is in these words: "The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we shall walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall men learn war any more." The very preface, in verse 1, tells us whom this prophecy concerns, to wit, Judah and Jerusalem. Recollect, it is conceded by the preacher, that this is literal prophecy; consequently, Judah here spoken of must mean the Jews, not the Gentiles; and Jerusalem their city, not the church. According to this literal prophecy, then, Jerusalem is to become in those days the metropolis of the universe; and so far is this from showing that the Jews are to become a nation of itinerant missionaries, all the nations are to come to them to be taught; all nations are to agree together to go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; "for from Zion shall go forth, the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem;" they are not to itinerate; the nations are to come to them, to Jerusalem, to Zion, to receive religious instruction; and consequently all national disputes will be brought to them to be judged of, at the metropolis of the universe; "and he will judge between the people, and exhort the multitude of nations, and with effect teach them peace." And as after this there will be no more necessity for the sword, or national warfare; the science of war will be entirely superseded, and be no more taught. : וריק הבל The next literal prophecy mentioned by the preacher is found Ibid. xi., and is treating of the same time and events as the preceding in chapter ii., the peace-teaching and peace-enforcing kingdom of Israel, under the Messiah. And it is remarkable, that the prophet, who speaks (as it is allowed) literally, says, (ver. 10.) "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall be placed as an ensign to the people, to it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious:" that is, the day for the Messiah, not before; every Messiah taught of before this is vanity and emptiness. To him To him shall the nations seek; not to any former one; and his rest shall be glorious. His rest only shall be glorious, but the rest of every other false Messiah will, on the contrary, be inglorious; consequently, any Messiah, so called, who has, will have, or has had, an inglorious end, is not the Messiah here intended; for his rest is to be glorious. And the consequence of this will be, as mentioned in the text particularly quoted by the preacher, "The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the seas." The third acknowledged literal prophecy is from Zech. xiv. 9; and the words quoted are fully sufficient to overthrow the whole foundation of the doctrine the reverend gentleman teaches. "The Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be ONE Lord, and his name ONE." In times before that day shall have come, some will hold the essence of the deity is plural, but in that day, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, there will be no such doctrine held In he will be acknowledged universally ONE, a UNIT. days prior to that day, his name will be called on as several, to say, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; but in that day, this will be entirely done away; the world will be convinced of the error, and in consequence his name will be ONE, not THREE. Remember always, this is literal prophecy, and, literally speaking, One cannot mean or signify Three, or any thing more than a perfect Unity, indivisible into portions or parts. Our preacher has made a concession which......ians had better look to, to wit: "The predicted universal dominion of the Son of Man," (that is, the dominion of the kingdom of Israel, which is represented to the prophet in the likeness of the son of a man,) "but which the angel (verse 27.) explains to signify the saints of the Most High, shall take the kingdom;" (though, no doubt, the kingdom under the Messiah is intended ;) "so that all people, and nations, and languages, should serve him, is not established till after the day when the fourth great empire, in its last form of sovereignty, shall be utterly destroyed." The question then must occur to every inquirer, is the fourth empire, in its last form of sovereignty, utterly destroyed? is not the fourth empire, in its last form of sovereignty, now in the plenitude of power and dominion? is not the present order of things the reign of the horns of the beast--the kingdom sprung out of the Roman empire? and was the Son of Man (to use the preacher's language) brought into view at all, till after the beast in its last form has been? and is not universal dominion, immediately on his coming given to him? How, then, can you teach that the Messiah came in the first form of the Roman empire? The Messiah does not appear till the rule of the fourth beast is destroyed, even in its last ramification, that is, the religious dominion of the little horn, together with the other horns, as well as the body of the beast, the whole dominion, is first destroyed. The beast is slain, and his body given to the burning flames, before the Son of Man (the Messiah) is at all brought forward. This itself is proof sufficient that Messiah is not yet come; for we cannot expect him to come till after the fourth kingdom, in its last form of sovereignty, is destroyed, which, the preacher allows, is not yet done. In return I very willingly concede to the preacher the prophecy of the revelation of John being figurative; and not only so, but symbolical; that is to say, figurative, and symbolical of whatever |