from the glory of his power. And again, in another place in the same epistle, where he is certainly and professedly speaking of Antichrist, he saith: And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Thus, too, St. John The beast goeth into perdition. Again: Her plagues shall come in one day, and she shall be utterly burnt with fire. The kings of the earth shall bewail her, and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning standing afar off, for fear of her torment, saying, Alas! alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come -in one hour so great riches are come to nought. They shall see the smoke of her burning: And a mighty angel took up a stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And immediately after this, the inhabitants of heaven rejoice, saying, Hallelujah, and her smoke rose up forever and ever. these are very strong expressions, and imply a punishment extremely severe. It is as remarkable also, that all the country about the city It must be allowed of Rome is a kind of bi And in the And in the year of our tumen, or pitchy substance. Lord 80, a fire burst out from beneath the ground in the middle of the city, and burnt four of the principal heathen temples, with the sacred buildings of the Capitol. Italy, indeed, is a store house of fire. And when the 1260 years, or time, times, and a half time, shall have elapsed, and the time to cleanse the sanctuary come, Rome itself, imperial Rome, with all its magni ficence, will be absorbed in a lake of fire, and sink into the sea, to rise no more at all forever." Thus far the opinion of Mr. Simpson, which is an awful but rational conclusion. 1 would here remark, with humble confidence, that when Babylon is thus destroyed, the period will not be the general judgment; because the kings and merchants of the earth are represented as standing far off, and fearing her torments, and bewailing the loss of so great riches, which, it is not reasonable to suppose, they would do, if the judgment were passed by. It is probable this signal mark of vengeance against Rome, or spiritual Babylon, will take place a little sooner than the destruction of sinners in other places, that she may be distinguished as peculiarly obnoxious to the displeasure of the great God above other sinners; and perhaps, too, that others may improve this terrible example during the short respite which may be granted, and repent, for great are the mercies of God if they will lay it to heart. But of the saints in that country, it is said, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Rev. 18, 14. And now it may be, that what St. John saw will be accomplished literally with all sinners, (as was the fact with the ancient Gog and Magog of Syria, the carcases of whose army was eaten of the fowls and beasts of the mountains of Israel) except such as shall be destroyed by fire in the country of Rome. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat of the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. Rev. 19, 17, 18. But in the midst of all this terror and desolation, the heart of the Christian shall not be moved, nor one of their lives shall be lost; for, if at sea, the storm that whelms the wicked in the deep, shall waft the righteous to the shore; or, if in sinking cities that go down to the pit, when the earth opens her mouth to swallow them up, a way shall be made for their escape; or, if the volcanoes shoot their cataracts of fire to the clouds over the heads of the righteous, the same God who was with the three Hebrews in the seven times heated furnace, will withhold the flames till they are escaped. Nor the pestilence, nor the destroying angel's sword, shall hurt them, for who can prevail against those who have in them the seal of the living God, which is holiness of heart. Thus shall be removed from the earth af sinners, and the way prepared for the immediate commencement or the Millennium, the seventh day of the great week from the creation, when the whole church shall rest, and shall take the kingdom and possess it forever. This is the great antetype of all the other Sabbaths-this is that good thing which they in the law, and the prophets shadowed forth. SEVENTH DIVISION. Shows when the Millennium may be expected. The method pursued in this division, to ascertain the arrival of that period, will be, 1st, by a compared and concise view of the several kinds of ancient Jewish Sabbaths; and, 2d, as analagous to the same point, will be presented a view of natural and supernatural periodical recurrences. 3d. An illustration of the three visions in the book of the prophet Daniel, will be given, so far as it is thought they refer to the Millennium, or to the time when the sanctuary shall be cleansed. The sevenfold Sabbaths, kept by Israel's kings, MANY have been the uninspired prophecyings of the period in which the Millennium is to come. A certain anxiety for its speedy commencement probably has driven many, who delight in the joyous anticipation, beyond the proper boundaries assigned for its commencement by the great chart-book, the Holy Scriptures; for the accomplishment of all those things foretold in the Scriptures, must be realized before its glory can bless the world. The measurement of every thou sand cubits, which characterized the length of that river which Ezekiel saw measured by an angel, must be realized in its dispensations before that day shall come. The account of that symbolical river, which is so minutely described by Ezekiel, and its final envelopment in the sea, is precisely what is meant in other places in the word of God, where the sanctuary is spoken of prospectively, anticipating a time when it must be cleansed. I suppose there will be no disagreement with the following opinion: That the sanctuary, as spoken of in the Scriptures, is spoken of as being the visible church, whether under the patronage of Jews or Christians. This appears to be the meaning in Daniel, chap. 7, verse 11, By him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. This is spoken of the temple at Jerusalem, at which place the church was organized; therefore, the term sanctuary is the church. But this church, this visible sanctuary, is contemplated as being composed of good and bad, otherwise a cleansing would not be contemplated, and agrees with the similitude of our Lord, who represents the gospel by a fishing net, bringing to the shore both the good and the bad; but the good are preserved, while the bad are cast away. From which it is clear, that the sanctuary may be thus contaminated, and so continue, till the great era of cleansing it shall come. The period for cleansing it is the grand point at which all books, written upon this subject, have aimed. 'Different periods have been fixed upon for its accomplishment, and some of these periods have already |