Ye have condemned, ye have murdered the Just ONE: is He not setting Himself in array against you?"-James, v. 5, 6. From Greaves's New Translation. Sir, should you deem this worthy a place in your periodical, I will, with your permission, resume the subject on a future occasion. Your's respectfully, H. MENCE. London, July, 1844. To the Editor of the Biblical Inquirer. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Allow me, through the medium of your valuable publication, to throw out to the view and criticism of the Christian community a few observations on that vastly important subject so frequently styled the Millenium, or the reign of Christ in Zion. One of your able correspondents has already copiously written, and that with much clearness, on the sealed book by John, and with much ability proves it to mean no other than Daniel's prophecy. Otherwise I should attempt to adduce evidences of the same nature, to prove that Daniel's prophecy engrosses the commencement and consummation of the reign of Christ, and consequently the close of the thousand years; at which close, or end of the days, this kingdom was surrendered to Jehovah the "all and in all," as a kingdom established in victory and peace. The contents of John's visions of Christ's kingdom were shortly to come to pass; which events our friends the Millennarians are daily expecting to transpire naturally in the land of Palestine, although the Holy Spirit of truth intimated to John nearly 1800 years ago, that they should then shortly to come to pass. The most prominent feature presented in those predictions relative to the reign of Christ in Zion, is that of the return of the Jews. Here it may be necessary to advert to Scripture history, in reference to the state of that nation. In consequence of their departure from the worship of God under the Mosaic covenant, the ten tribes, frequently called the house of Israel, were ejected from their land, and from the blessings of that covenant, and carried into captivity, never to return; whilst the house of Judah, consisting of the other two tribes, were carried into the land of Babylon for their good, (Jer. xxiv. 5,) for the period of seventy years; after which they were again to be restored to the land. We have an account of this return in the book of Nehemiah. How delightful to contemplate the manner, in which God's divine purposes were fulfilled; for, when the house of Judah returned, we find the genealogy of this house was strictly investigated, in order to preserve it inviolate until the days of the birth of Christ. Hence we find this referred to in the gospels of Matthew and Luke; thus proving the direct line of the genealogy of Christ according to prophecy. But of the house of Israel we find they were never to return. Hence Hosea i. 4, "I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel :" that is, in the land of Palestine; but we find num predictions of their being gathered and brought to Mount Z LAST DAYS. A remarkable prophecy of this kind we find g If a wicked man could be happy, who might have been so happy as Haman-raised from an inferior station to great riches and power; exalted above his rivals, and above the princes of the empire; favourite and prime minister to the greatest monarch in the world? But, with all these advantages on his side, and under all the smiles of fortune, his happiness was destroyed by the want of a bow, usual to those of his station, from one of the porters of the palace.* Enraged with this neglect, this vain man cried out, in the pang of disappointment, "All this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai sitting at the king's gate." This seeming affront sat deep on his mind. He meditated revenge. A single victim could not satisfy his malice. He wanted to have a glutting vengeance. He resolved, for this purpose, to involve thousands in destruction, and to make a whole nation fall a sacrifice to the indulgence of his mean-spirited pride. His wickedness proved his ruin, and he erected the gallows on which he himself was doomed to be hanged. If we consider man as an individual, we shall see a further confirmation of the truth contained in the text, "There is no peace to the wicked." In order to strengthen the obligations to virtue, the practice of sin hath been rendered fatal to our peace as individuals, as well as pernicious to our interests as members of society. From the soul that is polluted with guilt, peace, and joy, and hope, depart. What succeed?— Confusion, shame, remorse, despair. "There is no peace to the wicked." 66 LOGAN. *This is a mistake. "Mordecai sat in the king's gate, not as a porter, though that was an honorable post, but as one of the king's privy council." Bate's Crit. Heb. p. 679. See also Dan. ii. 9, which Wintle illustrates by the following quotation from Shaw's Travels. Speaking of the judicature of the Algerines, he says,-" all affairs of moment are laid before the Dey; or else, when he is absent or otherwise employed, they are heard by the treasurer, master of the horse, or other principal officers of the regency, who sit constantly in the gate of the palace for this purpose." And, on the word "gate," he observes in a note, thus we read of "the elders in the gate," Deut. xxii. 15, and xxv. 7; and Isai xxix. 21, Amos v. 10, of "him that reproveth and rebuketh in the gate," &c. Ed. fol. p. 315. This mistake, however, of Logan, affects not the truth of his reflections.-ED. NOTICE. Mr. Ryder's and W. B.'s letters have been received. Printed by W. C. POLLARD, North-Street, Exeter ; And published by Longman, Brown, GREEN, & LONGMANS, Paternoster Row, London; D. MARPLES, Liverpool; NETTLETON, Plymouth; and COCKRAM, Torquay. Price 4d. In resuming the subject of my last, I shall not consider it necessary, at this time, to go into a lengthened examination of the meaning of the expression 'THE END', or 'THE TIME OF THE END;' but rather, in the first place, endeavour to discover, by the events, the period to which reference is made. No sooner had Daniel, chap. xii. 6, seen the other two, like the "similitude of the sons of men," than he heard "one" say to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" Let us give heed to the remarkable events ascribed to the time of the end," which Daniel "heard but understood not." The answer given to the question is this, ver. 7, " And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him who liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." It is necessary to clear up the apparent obscurity of these verses. "When Daniel said he saw 66 OTHER TWO," it necessarily implies, that it was in addition to some that he had seen before; and when he heard "one" say "to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river," the language implies a prior acquaintance with this tation of "the man clothed in linen." represen It is not said that he heard one say to a man clothed, &c. but definitely to THE man; that is, to the man seen before in this vision. And this is of great importance to note, because we discover by this, the beginning, continuance, and end of this vision, and what is meant by "the end of these wonders," also when "all these things shall be accomplished;" and the question must naturally arise in the mind of the careful reader, what "things," what "wonders," are meant? The terms "these things," and "these wonders," the end of the one and the accomplishment of the other, refer not to events related, heard, and seen, in the twelfth chapter only, but to the whole of this vision, and to the "thing revealed unto Daniel," beginning at chap. x. 1, embracing chapters x, xi, and xii; therefore, when the prophet says he saw "other two," it means in addition to those he had seen in chap. x. 16-18, "Behold one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips." "Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man." This enables us to see the force and propriety of the expression, xii. 5, "I Daniel looked, and behold, there stood other two." I have said this is of importance: it connects the latter part of this vision with the beginning in chap. x, and shows its oneness. Again, when Daniel heard "one" of the "other two" say "to the man clothed in linen," chap. xii, we find on reference to chap. x. 5, that, at the beginning of the vision Daniel writes, "I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and a certain man clothed in linen," &c. Here is the introduction of this appearance, Daniel writes, "Behold, a certain man," therefore, at chap. xii. he writes," One said to THE man clothed," &c., referring directly to that, which he had previously seen in the vision at the beginning; and his conclusive evidence, that the terms "All these things shall be accomplished," and "the end of these wonders," embraces the whole of the events described from the first verse of chap. x. to the last verse of chap. xii. I am the more anxious to be understood on this point, because it is so common a thing for persons to take the eleventh chapter, and the events therein recorded, out of its connection with the other two; and interpret it apart from its necessary relation to them. Nothing can be more plain when viewed in the mirror of "the revelation of Jesus Christ," than that this vision, in all its parts and relations, should be wholly, entirely, and absolutely fulfilled; for says "the man clothed in linen, when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." That this refers to the Jews, nationally and religiously, there can be little doubt; for the "one" that spake to Daniel, chap. x. 14, said, "Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days: that is, that this vision did refer to Daniel's people, the Jews-"the holy people," and the end-"the time of the end," to the period of their power being scattered, when their temple, city, covenant, and priesthood, were utterly destroyed. I have unavoidably been detained longer than I intended on this branch of inquiry, and will now fall back on the subject stated at the end of the last, and the beginning of this letter: that is, the remarkable events which should in fact be the answer to Daniel's question, "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" I have already, unintentionally, disposed of one or two subjects, perhaps not less forcibly, because somewhat out of strict order. In answer to the prophet's question, just quoted, Dan. xii. 6, he says, "I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and an half." It is quite clear, that this answer was figurative or symbolical, and among the hidden and secret things of the book; for the prophet adds, “ I heard, but I understood not. Nor did he understand what was meant by the 1290 or 1335 days, at verses 11 and 12. One meaning of "time, times, and an half" is, that before the end of the wonders, a certain time should elapse, there should be delay to the finishing of all these things. It is the same as chap. x. 14, " for yet the vision is for many days." The other figure or symbol, in verse 6, is that of the man "when he held up his right hand and his left hand, and sware by him that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and an half." This is one of the events which can be understood only by the opening of this seven times sealed book, in the" revelation of Jesus Christ." There is a passage of a similar |