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clause. (5.) Chap. ii. 42, 43, with chap. vii. 8, 20, after the first clause, verse 24, after the first clause, and verse 25. (6.) Chap. ii. 34, 35, 44, with chap. vii. 11 and 14, first clause, and verse 27, first clause. (7.) Chap. ii. 45, with chap. vii. 9, 10, 13, and 14, last clause, 21, 22, 26, and 27, last clause.

Could you believe, without any other evidence than is presented in these chapters, that the kingdom of God would be estab'lished or commenced while any earthly kingdoms were in existence? And yet all commentators and expositors of the Bible refer us, as indeed they ought, to these chapters, for the true idea of the phrase "kingdom of God," as used in the New Testament.

Do the sacred writers of the New Testament represent this kingdom as set up before Christ's ascension to heaven? See Matt. iii. 2; iv. 17; x. 7; Mark xiv. 25; Luke xiii. 28; xxii. 29; xix. 11—27: xxiii. 42; Acts i. 6.

Do they represent it as still future in the days of the Apostles? If so, how far future? With Luke xix. 11—27, compare Matt. xxv. 34; Luke xxi. 31; 2 Thess. i. 5; James ii. 5; Heb. xii. 28; 2 Pet. i. 11; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10; Gal. v. 21; Eph. v. 55; Matt. xiii. 24—30, 36—43; Rev. xi. 15—18; 1 Cor. xv. 50; 2 Tim. iv. 1. See also and understand 2 Pet. i. 16—18, compared with Matt. xvi. 28 to xvii. 9; and then Rev. xx. 4—6, *and xxi. 2—4.

The kingdom of God is said, by our Savior, to be "like," or "is likened to," a great variety of things. But in all such cases the phrase is used (by metonymy) for some circumstance or transaction pertaining, or having reference to this kingdom, as yet future; for surely the kingdom itself cannot be, literally, like all the things.

But how shall we understand those passages which seem to teach that the kingdom of God is the reign of grace in the heart? Compare them with those already referred to: especially compare Luke xvii. 21, and Rom. xiv. 17, with Luke xiii. 29; John iii. 3, 5, and Coll. i. 13; and ask yourself how we can enter into, be translated into, and sit down in, that which is within us. In respect to Luke xvii. 21, see the correct translation given in the margin.

For an illustration of what is represented in the Bible as now going on with reference to the kingdom of God, see 1 Kings vi. 7.

3. Are the Jews, as a distinct people, to be returned to the land of their fathers, before the coming of Christ to raise the dead? And are they now entitled to any peculiar privileges or blessings as a people?

Here notice, particularly, the period during which they were to be rejected and punished, as a nation, as threatened in Deut. xxviii. 15—68; (notice particularly verses 20, 21, 22, 24, 29, 33, 45, 46, 48, 51, 61,) and in 1 Kings ix. 6, 7. Then read 2 Kings xvii.

1—23, and notice at the top of the page, B. C. 742. So much for the tribes of Israel.

Respecting the tribe of Judah, see Isa. vi. 8—12; Jer. ix. 16; Jer. xxv. 8—23, noticing particularly verses 9, 12, 18, 27; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 9—11, noticing, at the top of the page, B. C. 677, just 65 years from the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, as predicted in Isa. vii. 8. Since that period the Jews have never been an independent people, (see Neh. ix. 32—37,) although kings of the house of David, continued to reign on David's throne in Jerusalem, as tributaries to Assyria and Babylon, until the captivity of Zedekiah, king of Judah, as predicted in Ezek. xxi. 25—27, and recorded, as history, in 2 Kings xxiv. 18—20; xxv. 1—10.

Compare Luke xxi. 24, and Rom. xi. 25, with Dan. ix. 26, 27, last clause, and viii. 14.

But how shall such predictions and promises be understood as are found in Isa. xi. 11, 12; Ezek. xxxvi. 24, 28; xxxvii. 21, 22; Rom. xi. 26? See who are the true Israel on p. 22. Then compare Isa. lxv. 17—19, with Rev. xxi. 1—4, and 2 Pet. xi. 13. See also Dan. vii. 18, 27, and Ezek. xxxvii.

4. Is there to be a millennium, i. e., a thousand years of universal holiness, on earth, before Christ comes to close up the scene of this world's probation? Is there a single passage in the New Testament which clearly teaches it? If so, find it. Do you refer to the 20th

chapter of Revelation? And what does that say about it? Does it say that the spirit, the faith, or the piety, of the martyrs "lived and reigned" in the saints for a thousand years? See Rev. xx. 4, last clause. Does it say that the "souls" of the martyrs only, lived and reigned with Christ? Compare the passage carefully with Rev. xiii. 8; compare also verse 5, with 1 Cor. xv. 21—23; Luke xiv. 14; 1 Thess. iv. 16. Is it not clearly implied in verse 6, that all those persons who do not have part in the first resurrection, that they may be priests of God, and of Christ, and may reign with him, will suffer the second death?

Is it anywhere said in this, or in any other chapter in the Bible, that after a millennium of universal holiness, there will be a great apostacy, so great that, as Pres. Edwards has said, "much the greater part of the world will become visibly wicked, and open enemies of Christ ?" Where is there any prediction of such an apostacy, and of the means and agencies by which it is to be brought about, or of events which are to transpire while it is going on, as there is in respect to the apostacy referred to in 2 Thess. ii. 3—12? Is it not manifest, (see verses 7 and 8,) that Satan will be shut up in his prison till all the wicked, Gog and Magog, are found in the four quarters of the earth, perfectly prepared for the battle to which he will attempt to gather them? And if Satan had nothing to

do with it, how could they have come to such a pitch of wickedness, on the supposition of a great apostacy?

Do you inquire how such a multitude of wicked persons came to be in the four quarters of the earth, after Christ's reign of a thousand years on the new earth? See

verse 5.

In reading the 8th verse, you will notice it does not say that Satan shall go out to deceive the nations, and to gather them together to battle; but, "he shall go out to deceive them, to gather them," &c., i. e., deceive them in that way.

Respecting a thousand years of prevailing peace and righteousness on earth, before the final coming of Christ, see Dan. vii. 21, 22, 11, 13, 14, 23—26; 2 Thess. ii. 8; Matt. xiii. 24—30, 36—42, 49; xxv. 1—12; 2 Tim. iii. 12, and ii. 12; Rom. viii. 17—23; 2 Cor. v. 2--4; Rev. x. 7 and xi. 14—18: Ps. ii. 8, 9; Luke xxi. 24—28.

If there is no proof of a great apostacy, on the supposition of a temporal millennium, the following passages will be seen to have an important bearing on this subject: Jer. xxv. 15—38; Dan. xii. 1; Joel iii. 1—17.

Respecting Isaiah ii. 1—5 and Micah iv. 1—5, see on page 17.

In reading other prophecies which have so often been quoted, as predicting a period of prevailing righteousness, before Christ's coming to judgment, notice very particularly the

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