SAD SIGN OF PAPAL ERROR.

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of darkness, which blind men's eyes in the way to utter ruin!!! There may be seen a SIGN of popular religion, in opposition to the meek and lowly religion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And there, there may be seen a SIGN of a determined preparation for the battle of the great day of God Almighty,

Oh Christians, of every evangelical denomination, whenever, and wherever your eyes behold the imitation of that wooden cross, on which the Divine Saviour in manhood was crucified for the salvation of sinful man, the doctrine of which has given rise to all your hopes of salvation; and that sign now perverted to identify the followers of Antichrist, and as a banner to multiply recruits for the war which is to decide whether God shall rule the dominion of the whole universe, or whether Satan and the powers of darkness shall rule this revolted earth independent of the Divine Government ;-then let your hearts arise to God in humble prayer, that His kingdom may come, till the powers of darkness shall be brought under His feet, and the dominion of earth be given to the saints, exclusive of the influence of Satan and all anti-Christian power or influence, during the divinely-revealed Millennial Sabbath of holy rest, as a type of the Eternal Sabbath of rest in glory.

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LECTURE IX.

ON Bible principles, the following axiom is a selfevident truth: viz., That every prediction of God's word has been fulfilled, or will be fulfilled, in God's time, without possibility of failure.

PROPHECIES, yet to be fulfilled, preparatory to the great battle-day of the Lord.

Divine Prophecy reveals the existence of two important events before the battle of the great day, both of which are now future to us. One is the restoration of the Jews to Palestine, the ancient land of promise, which is now in possession of the Ottoman Turks. The other is, the death and resurrection of God's Two Witnesses. A consideration of the predictions of those events, will be the subject of this lecture.

God's ancient covenant people, the Jews, have been in a divided state, since the revolt of the Ten Tribes from under Rehoboam, the successor and son of King Solomon; and their establishment under the proverbially wicked Jeroboam, upwards of 970 years before the birth of Christ. About 250 years after their for mation into a separate kingdom, the Ten Tribes were carried captives into the Assyrian Empire by Shalmaneser; since which time they have been lost in the

ory of nations, and, according to Scripture, in an

"state. Most probably, the Aborigines of

DISPERSED AND OUTCAST JEWS.

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North America, are the remnant of that "outcast" branch of the house of Israel, which was denominated "Ephraim."

The other branch of the house of Israel called Judah, continued proprietors of the land of promise after their return from the Babylonish captivity, until the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under the Emperor Vespasian, in A.D. 70. Since that time, they have literally been dispersed among all nations of the earth; still continuing a nation distinct, and diverse from all other people; and suffering the reproach of all nations among whom they reside, as the scourge of the Almighty for their great national sin, of crucifying the Messiah of their own prophets, whom God sent into the world, to redeem both Jews and Gentiles from their sins.

But the literal restoration of the remnant of both houses of Israel, i. e. the outcasts of Ephraim, and the dispersed of Judah; their permanent re-union, and resettlement in Palestine, the promised land of their fathers; and also, their national conversion to the faith of the Gospel of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus whom they crucified; are events clearly foretold by the ancient prophets, the predictions of which are recorded in the Scriptures of truth; and the period of the fulfilment of which, is divinely designated, and to be looked for, previous to the battle of the great day of the Lord. But while the Turks are in possession of Palestine, the Jews will not be permitted to return to the land of their fathers. Hence the removal of this obstruction out of the way, is also clearly predicted.

The literal restoration, re-union, re-settlement in Palestine, and conversion of the remnants of the whole house of Israel both Ephraim and Judah, were foretold in plain language by the Prophet Ezekiel, almost 600

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PROPHECY OF RESTORATION.

years before the birth of Christ. The particulars of that remarkable prophecy are recorded in the 36th and 37th chapters of his book, from which the following selections are extracted.

"Thus saith the Lord God, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way, and by their doings. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land; and I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God,-I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; a new heart, also, will I give unto you, and a new spirit will put within you; and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

I

"In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded, and the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, and desolate, and ruined cities, are become fenced, and are inhabited. I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. I will increase them with men like a flock. So shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men,-and they shall know that I am the Lord."-[See Ezek. ch. xxxvi.]

FACTS OF PROPHECIES NOT FULFILLED.

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So also, in the next chapter, the vision of dry bones in figurative style, is literally explained in plain language. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel. They shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. They shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children forever. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

The same things were foretold by Moses more than 1450 years before the birth of Christ. [See Deut. xxx. 1-8.] Other ancient prophets predicted the same events, which may be seen by consulting the marginal references of the Bible.

That the foregoing predictions have never been fulfilled, is as evident, as it is that the Jews are to this day in a state of disunion; the house of Ephraim outcast, and their history lost; and the Jews, i. e. the house of Judah, still dispersed among all nations of the earth; and that Palestine, the land of Divine promise to Abraham and his seed, and the land once inhabited by the fathers of the present existing nation of the Jews, is now in possession of the Ottoman Turks. These are incontrovertible facts which prove that the prophecies under consideration have never been fulfilled, and no prospect appears that they ever