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Revelations, the battle of Armageddon. When that dreadful scene is concluded, its body will be completely destroyed by being given to the burning flame; this will be effected during "a "time of trouble, such as there never was "since there was a nation, even unto that same "time*."

From the 12th verse it is to be inferred, that the Western Roman empire will not be continued in an inferior state of existence, after its power and strength are gone, as was the case with the other ruling kingdoms of the world, for it will immediately be utterly destroyed; whereas the three Beasts, which represented the three other kingdoms, have had their lives prolonged, for a season and a time, since their dominion was taken away; for their total destruction does not take place till they perish together with the fourth beast, or Western Roman empire.

The period of the destruction of the fourth beast, and of its little horn, being that of the Vials, and occupying therefore the thirty years of Daniel, together with the additional uncertain period of the seventh Vial, has no known termination; for the event with which it closes, is, the Coming of the Son of Man, in the clouds

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of heaven, to the destruction of all his enemies, and those of his Church, preceding the establishment of his glorious kingdom; of the precise day or hour, of which, it is said, no man knoweth, no, not the Angels of heaven.

The consideration, however, that there is reason to believe, that the cleansing of the Sanctuary, at the end of the 2400 years, or, in the year 1847-8 is a subsequent event, and that nothing precedes it in the 45 years, but the events of the seventh Vial, which do not seem of a nature, necessarily, to occupy any great length of time, should give additional force to those numerous admonitions of our Lord, that his Church should watch for his coming.

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The prophecy thus proceeds" I saw in the night vision, 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 king

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dom, 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."

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The events here spoken of seem to answer in Saint John, to the period of preparation (of 20 years), preceding the Marriage Supper of the

Lamb or Millennium; and in the vision of the Great Image, to the Stone becoming a great Mountain, and filling the whole earth.

We are informed by Daniel, chap. xii. ver. 1, that during that time of trouble which occupies the commencement of this period, the restoration of the Jews will take place; and from many texts in Scripture there is reason to think that this event will be attended with some extraordinary manifestation of the power of Christ. In Saint John we read these words: "Behold "he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall

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see him, and they also which pierced him : "and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him*." And in Zech. xii. 10, when the conversion of the Jews is spoken of, it is said, that "they shall look upon him whom "they have pierced." From a comparison of which texts we may conclude, that the conversion of the Jews will be at the second coming of Christ. We learn also, that at his second coming "all the kindreds of the earth" will be in a state of enmity to him; or that it will be at the period when infidelity is at its height. So our Lord himself saith, "When the Son of "Man cometh shall he find faith upon the "earth?" Saint Paul likewise gives a similar

* Rev. i. 7.

description of the time when the Son of Man should come, speaking of the Papacy as that wicked one, that should ere long be revealed; and whom the Lord should destroy with the brightness of his coming*.

The 110th Psalm contains also a remarkable prophecy of the establishment of the temporal kingdom of Christ. ver. 1." The Lord said un"to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until "I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2. The "Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out "of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine ene"mies. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the "day of thy power; in the beauties of holiness, "from the womb of the morning, thou hast the "dew of thy youth. 4. The Lord hath sworn, "and will not repent, Thou art a priest for "ever after the order of Melchizedek. 5. The "Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. 6. He shall

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judge among the heathen, he shall fill the

places with the dead bodies, he shall wound "the heads over many countries. 7. He shall "drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall "he lift up the head."

The day of the wrath of Christ, or the period of the Destruction of the Roman empire,

II. Thess. iii. 8.

is the principal subject of this Psalm (which period is also spoken of in similar terms by the prophet Isaiah, as "the day of the Lord" that "shall be upon every one that is proud "and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted "up"), and I conceive that the Jews are particularly spoken of, as repenting and turning to Christ at his second coming (agreeably to the description which is also given by the prophet Zechariah t), when it is said in verse 3, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy "power."

The descriptions of the second advent of Christ, found in the Evangelists, direct us likewise to the same period as this psalm of Da. vid, as the prophecy of Daniel, now under consideration, and as the second epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. That given in the 24th chapter of Saint Matthew is as follows: "29, "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon "shall not give her light, and the stars shall "fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; 30. And then shall ap

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pear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: " and then shall all the tribes of the earth "mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man "coming in the clouds of heaven, with

power

* Isaiah ii, 12.

+ Zech. xii. 10.

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