Page images
PDF
EPUB

St. Peter's patrimony, was carved out of the mass of their subjugated dominions."* The Pope, as the little horn, which subdued the three others before it, wears to this day his appropriate triple crown, and answers, in every respect, to the description which is given of him to Daniel.

Having brought this colossal power into view, and fixed the term of its continuance, the vision of the fourth beast or Roman Empire does not terminate, but extends down to the day of judgment. This, the vision affirms, is to be at the same time with the destruction of the little horn's dominion. The coming of the Son of Man, the destruction of Popery, and the establishment of the dominion of the saints of the Most High, are, according to the vision, cotemporaneous. Thus runs the record: "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 a time. I saw in the 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 them. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king

* Faber's Sac. Cal., vol. ii. p. 102.

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. I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit, in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever."*

After having noticed the fourth beast, or Roman empire, and the ten horns on its head, or kingdoms into which it was divided, he contemplated the horn that had eyes, or Popery, and relates, "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and PREVAILED AGAINST THEM; UNTIL the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 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 be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue these kings. And he shall speak words against (beside) 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 a dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the

* Dan. 7.9-18.

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."*

Our object is not to give a minute interpretation or exposition of this prediction, but only, in so far as it is necessary, to bring into view the pre-millenial date which it assigns to the coming of Christ. The following facts then are not to be questioned,-that the judgment, as Daniel describes, the coming of the Son of Man, the destruction of the Roman Empire and of the papacy, and the establishment of the dominion of the people of the saints of the Most High, occur at the same season-at the time of the end, when the act of restitution begins. Daniel distinctly and unequivocally teaches, that the destruction of the beast, and of the little horn, and the setting up of the dominion of Jesus Christ, are to be secured by the coming of the Son of Man. These are events which are to occur when Christ comes, in the clouds of Heaven with a fiery flame, and which Daniel places before the Millenium or establishment and prosperity of the kingdom. The argument, therefore, in a few words, is this:

The fourth beast is the Roman empire. That beast is to continue in existence, till there should be ten horns seen on its head, i. e. ten kingdoms, into which the Roman empire should be divided. Among those horns, a little horn should spring up, which would eradicate three, and affect an equality with God; all which has been already verified in the barbarian invasions, the universal supremacy and triple dominion of the Bishop of Rome. Both the beast and the little

* Dan. 7. 19-27.

horn, are to continue, till the Ancient of Days should sit, and the Son of Man come in judgment, and give the dominion to the people of the saints of the Most High. The conclusion, therefore, is irresistible, that as Popery and the Roman Empire are both to be destroyed together, before the dominion is given to the saints; and as they are both to continue till the judgment shall sit, and Christ shall come in the clouds of Heaven, so his coming must be before the Millenium.

There are but two methods, by which to avoid this conclusion. The one is, by saying, as Dr. Maclaurin has done, that the coming of the Son of Man with the clouds of Heaven, applies to the ascension of our Lord to Heaven, which, apart from the forced meaning that it gives to the whole passage, and the violation of all chronological order, is utterly in violation of the meaning of the original word here employed to express his coming. It is never understood to signify ascent.

The other is, to deny that Daniel's vision refers to the great day of judgment, or to any visible coming of Christ at all. This the spiritualist must do, or give up the passage as teaching a pre-millenial advent. If he does so, then he must never quote this passage at all, in proof of a day of final judgment and manifestation of Jesus Christ. Mr. Faber has taken this ground, and affirmed that Daniel's description is all symbolical, and that therefore the judgment is to be allegorically. explained, as being merely the providential inflictions of Divine vengeance, on Popery and the anti-Christian nations; and the coming of the Son of Man here spoken of, merely an invisible providential interposition of Divine power. Having affirmed the whole vision to be symbolical, he says that the symbols are taken from the day of judgment, and thus ingeniously claims to use it nevertheless, as descriptive of that day.

תול

But this is altogether inadmissible; for there is nothing in the fire or flame, or any other particulars in the description, which render it naturally or morally impossible to be understood in its plain, obvious, literal meaning, so as to require it, according to the law of interpretation applicable in such cases, to be regarded a smetaphysical or allegorical. Besides, the idea is absurd, that Daniel should borrow symbols from the judgment, a scene which he had never witnessed, and which, according to the spiritualists' own showing, had not been revealed to him. Such an idea is utterly inconsistent with the nature, origin, and character of symbolical language.

The passages in Revelations, such as the sixth chapter, and others which are quoted in proof of this posi tion of Mr. Faber, are not conclusive. It is denied that the judgment scene is ever made a symbol.

It cannot be the case here; for then must the kingdom of the saints of the Most High be symbolical too, and not real, which none will pretend; and Mr. Faber particularly will not admit; for he affirms, that the kingdom is a kingdom here upon earth—a literal affair, which the saints are to secure, i. e. occupy, or possess -a very different thing from the dominion of grace in men's hearts.

Besides, this is to violate an essential principle of interpretation, and utterly to confound every attempt at explaining symbols; for it is to make the antitype a symbol of the type, just the reverse of what is usual, and what Mr. Faber has taught. What Daniel saw in vision we admit was all a scenical representation; but the entire scenes of judgment, such as the casting down of the thrones, i. e. the pitching or setting them, the sitting of the Ancient of Days, his garments and his throne, the fiery stream before him, the ten thousand

« PreviousContinue »