Daniel and Revelation - Revelation Chapter 22

CHAPTER -- XXII -- The Tree and the River of Life

p 763 -- VERSE 1. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The angel continues to show John the wonderful things of the city of God. In the midst of the street of the city was the tree of life.

The Broad Street. - Although the word street is here used in the singular number, with the definite article the before it, it is not supposed that there is but one street in the city; for there are twelve gates, and there must of course be a street leading to each gate. But the street here spoken of is the street by way of distinction; it is the main street, or, as the original word signifies, the broad way, the great avenue.

The River of Life. - The tree of life is in the midst of this street; but the tree of life is on either side of the river of life; hence the river of life is also in the midst of the street of the city. This river proceeds from the throne of God. The picture thus presented before the mind is this: The glorious throne of God at the head of this broad way, or avenue; out of that throne the river of life, flowing lengthwise through the center of the street; and the tree of life growing on either side, forming a high and magnificent arch over that majestic stream, and spreading its life-bearing branches far away on either hand. How broad this broad street is, we have no

p 764 -- street diagrammeans of determining; but it will be at once perceived that a city three hundred and seventy-five miles from side to side in either direction, would be able to devote quite an ample space to its great avenue.

A very natural conception of the arrangement of the streets of the city would be that shown in the accompanying diagram; namely, the throne in the center, and a grand avenue in which is the river of life and the tree of life extending out in four directions to the wall of the city on all of its four sides. This would give all corresponding parts of the city equal access to the grand avenue. It would also furnish opportunity for one magnificent gate in the center of each side of the city, opening upon the grand avenue. The length of each of these four branches of the avenue (depending of course on how much space is allotted to the throne) would be at least some one hundred and eighty miles. It may be said that this is carrying speculation a degree too far. Perhaps it is. But it is assumed that those who hope soon to enter into that city, will not be averse to a little innocent speculation in that direction.

The Tree of Life. - But how can the tree of life be but one tree, and still be on either side of the river? 1. It is evident that there is but one tree of life. From Genesis to Revelation it is spoken of as but one - the tree of life. 2. To be at once on both sides of the river, it must have more than one trunk, in which case it must be united at the or in its upper branches, in order to form but one tree. John,

p 765 --

(picture omitted)

p 766 -- caught away in the Spirit, and presented with a minute view of this wonderful object, says that it was on either side of the river. Another who has been priviliged to behold in vision the marvelous glories of the heavenly land, has borne similiar testimony: "We all marched in, and felt that we had a perfect right in the city. Here we saw the tree of life and the throne of God. Out of the throne came a pure river of water, and on either side of the river was the tree of life. At first I thought I saw two trees. I looked again, and saw that they were united at the in one tree. So it was the tree of life on either side of the river of life; its branches bowed to the place where we stood; and the fruit was glorious, which looked like gold mixed with silver." Experience and Views, pp. 12, 13. And why should such a tree be looked upon as unnatural or impossible, since we have an illustration of it here upon earth? The banyan tree of India is of precisely the same nature in this respect. Of this tree the Encylopedia Americana thus speaks: "The ficus Indica (Indian fig, or banyan tree) has been celebrated from antiquity from its letting its branches drop and take root in the earth, which in their turn become trunks, and give out other branches, a single tree thus forming a little forest." In just this way the tree of life could extend and support itself.

The tree of life bears twelve kinds of fruit, and yields its fruit every month. This fact throws light upon the declaration in Isa. 66:23, that all flesh shall come up "from one new moon to another " to worship before the Lord of hosts. The words new moon should be rendered month. The Hebrew has (hhodesh), the second definition of which Gesenius gives as "a month." The Septuagint has mhn ek mhnoV (men ek menos) "from month to month." The redeemed come up to the holy city from month to month to partake of the fruit of the tree of life. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations; literally, the service of the nations. This cannot be understood as implying that any will enter the city in a diseased or deformed condition to need healing; for then the conclusion would follow that there will always be persons there in that condition, as we have no reason to understand that the

p 767 -- service of the leaves, whatever it is, will not be perpetual, like the use of the fruit; but the idea of disease and deformity in the immortal state is contrary to the express declarations of other scriptures.

VERSE 3. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him.

This language proves that the great God, the Father, is referred to, as well as the Son. The marks of the curse, the deadly miasma, and the ghastly scenes of desolation and decay, will no more be seen on the earth. Every breeze will be balmy and life-giving, every scene beauty, and every sound music.

VERSE 4. And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

The word his, in the sentence, "And they shall see his face," refers to the Father; for he is the one whose name is in their foreheads; and that it is the Father, we learn from chapter 14:1. This will be a fulfilment of the promise in Matt. 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."

VERSE 5. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign forever and ever. 6. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. 7. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Here, again, we have the declaration that there shall be no night in the city; for the Lord God will be the light of the place. Verse 7 proves that Christ is the speaker, a fact which it is of especial importance to bear in mind in connection with verse 14. To keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book is to obey the duties brought to view in connection with the prophecy, as, for instance, in chapter 14:9-12.

VERSE 8. And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. 9. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this

p 768 -- book: worship God. 10. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. 11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. 12. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

(For remarks on verse 9, see on chapter 19:10.) In verse 10 John is told not to seal the sayings of the prophecy of this book. The popular theology of our day says that the book is sealed. One of two things follows from this: either John disobeyed his instructions, or the theology above referred to is fulfilling Isa. 29:10-14. Verse 11 proves that probation closes, and the cases of all are unalterably fixed, before the coming of Christ; for in the very next verse Christ says, "Behold, I come quickly." What dangerous and insane presumption, then, to claim, as age-to-come believers do, that there will be probation even after that event! Christ's reward is with him, to give every man as his work shall be, which is another conclusive proof that there can be no probation after that event; for all the living wicked, those "who know not God," the heathen, and those "who obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ," the sinners of Christian lands (2 Thess. 1:8), will be visited with swift destruction from Him who then comes in flaming fire to take vengeance on his foes.

The declaration of verse 11 marks the close of probation, which is the close of Christ's work as mediator. But we are taught by the subject of the sanctuary that this work closes with the examination of the cases of the living in the investigative judgment. When this is accomplished, the irrevocable fiat can be pronounced. But when the cases of the living are reached in the work of judgment, we apprehend that what remains to be done will be so speedily accomplished that all these cases may almost be said to be decided simultaneously. We have therefore no occasion to speculate as to the order of work among the living; that is, whose cases will be decided first, and whose last, nor whether or not it will be known that any are decided before all is finished.

p 769 -- VERSE 13. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Christ here applies to himself the appellation of Alpha and Omega. As applied to him, the expression must be taken in a more limited sense than when applied to the Father, as in chapter 1:8. Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, of the great plan of salvation. Verse 14, as before noticed, is the language of Christ. The commandments of which he speaks are his Father's. Reference can be had only to the ten commandments as delivered on Mount Sinai, He pronounces a blessing upon those who keep them. Thus in the closing chapter of the word of God, and near the very close of the last testimony which the faithful and true Witness there left for his people, he solemnly pronounces a blessing upon those who keep the commandments of God. Let those who believe in the abolition of the law, candidly consider the decisive bearing of this important fact.

Instead of the reading, "Blessed are they that do his commandments," some translations, including the Revised Version, have, "Blessed are they that wash their robes." On this point Alford's Testament for English Readers has this note: "The difference in the readings is curious, being in the original that between poiountes tas entolas autou, and plunontes tas stolas auton, either of which might easily be mistaken for the other." In view of this statement, it is not surprising, perhaps, that this difference of reading is found. But there seems to be good evidence that the first is the original, from which the latter is a variation by the error of transcribers. Thus the Syriac New Testament, one of the very earliest translations from the original Greek, reads according to the common English version. And Cyprian, whose writings antedate any extant Greek manuscript (Ante-Nicene Library, Vol. XIII, p. 122), quotes the text as reading, "Blessed are they that do his commandments." We may therefore safely consider this as the genuine reading.

p 770 -- VERSE 15. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Dog is the Bible symbol of a shameless and impudent man. Who would wish to be left in the company of those whose lot is outside of the city of God? yet how many will stand condemned as idolaters, how many as those who make lies, and how many more as those who love them, and love to circulate them afterr they are made!

VERSE 16. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

Jesus testifies these things in the churches, showing that the whole book of Revelcion is given to the seven churches, which is another incidental proof that the seven churches are representatives of the church through the entire gospel dispensation. Christ is the offspring of David, in that he appeared on earth in the line of David's descendants. He is the root of David, inasmuch as he is the great prototype of David, and the maker and upholder of all things.

VERSE 17. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Thus are all invited to come. The Lord's love for mankind would not be satisfied in merely preparing the blessings of eternal life, opening the way to them, and announcing that all might come who would; but he sends out an earnest invitation to come. He sets it forth as a favor done to himself if persons will come and partake of the infinite blessings provided by his infinite love. His invitation, how gracious! how full! how free! None of those who are finally lost will ever have occasion to complain that the provisions made for their salvation were not sufficiently ample. They can never reasonably object that the light given to show them the way of life was not sufficiently clear. They can never excuse themselves on the ground that the invitations and entreaties that Mercy has given them to turn and live, were not sufficiently full and free. From the very beginning, there has been a power exerted as strong

p 771 -- as could be exerted and still leave man his own free agent, - a power to draw him heavenward, and raise him from the abyss into which he has fallen. Come! has been the entreaty of the Spirit from the lips of God himself, from the lips of his prophets, from the lips of his apostles, and from the lips of his Son, even while, in his infinite compassion and humility, he was paying the debt of our transgression.

The last message of mercy as it is now going forth, is another and final utterance of divine long-suffering and compassion. Come, is the invitation it gives. Come, for all things are ready. And the last sound that will fall from Mercy's lips on the ear of the sinner ere the thunders of vengeance burst upon him, will be the heavenly invitation, Come. So great is the loving-kindness of a merciful God to rebellions man. Yet they will not come. Acting independently and deliberately, they refuse to come. So when they shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and themselves thrust out, they will have no one to accuse, no one to blame, but their own selves. They will be brought to feel this in all its bitterness; for the time will come when Pollok's thrilling description of the condemnation of the lost will be true to the letter: -

"And evermore the thunders murmuring spoke

From out the darkness, uttering loud these words,

Which every guilty conscience echoed back:

'Ye knew your duty, but ye did it not.'

Dread words! that barred excuse, and threw the weight

Of every man's perdition on himself

Directly home -

'Ye knew your duty, but ye did it not."'

The bride also says, Come. But the bride is the city, and how does that say, Come? If we could be strengthened to behold the living glories of that city and live, and should be permitted to gaze upon its dazzling beauty, and be assured that we had a perfect right to enter therein, and bathe in that ocean of bliss and blessedness, and revel in its glory forever and ever, would it not then say to us, Come, with a persuasion which no power could resist? Who of us, in view of this, could turn away, and say, I have no desire for an inheritance there?

p 772 --

(picture omitted)

p 773 -- But though we cannot now look upon that city, the unfailing word of God has promised it, and that is sufficient to inspire us with implicit and living faith; and through the channel of that faith it says to us, Come. Come, if you would inherit mansions where sickness, sorrow, pain, and death can never enter; if you would have a right to the tree of life, and pluck its immortal fruit, and eat and live; if you would drink of the water of the river of life, that flows from the throne of God, clear as crystal. Come, if you would obtain through those glittering gates of pearl an abundant entrance into the eternal city; if you would walk its streets of transparent gold; if you would behold its glowing foundation stones; if you would see the King in his beauty on his azure throne. Come, if you would sing the jubilee song of millions, and share their joy. Come, if you would join the anthems of the redeemed with their melodious harps, and know that your exile is forever over, and this is your eternal home. Come, if you would receive a palm of victory, and know that you are forever free. Come, if you would exchange the furrows of your care-worn brow for a jeweled crown. Come, if you would see the salvation of the ransomed myriads, the glorified throng which no man can number. Come, if you would drink from the pure fountain of celestial bliss, if you would shine as the stars forever in the firmament of glory, if you would share in the unutterable rapture that fills the triumphant hosts as they behold before them unending ages of glory ever brightening and joys ever new.

The bride does say, Come. Who of us can resist the invitation? The word of truth is pledged to us that if we keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, we shall have right to the tree of life, we shall enter in through the gates into the city. And we shall feel that we are at home in our Father's house, the very mansions prepared for us, and realize the full truth of the cheering words, "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." Rev. 19:9.

"Let him that heareth say, Come." We have heard of the glory, of the beauty, of the blessings, of that goodly land, and we say, Come. We have heard of the river with its verdant banks, of the tree with its healing leaves, of the ambrosial

p 774 -- bowers that bloom in the Paradise of God, and we say, Come. Whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely.

VERSE 18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

What is it to add to, or take from, the book of this prophecy? Let it be borne in mind that it is the book of this prophecy, or the Revelation, which is the subject of remark; hence the words concerning adding to or taking from have exclusive reference to this book. Nothing can be called an addition to this book except something added to it with the intention of having it considered as a genuine part of the book of Revelation. To take from the book would be to suppress some portion of it. As the book of Revelation could not be called an addition to the book of Daniel, so if God should see fit to make further revelations to us by his Spirit, it would be no addition to the book of Revelation, unless it should claim to be a part of that book.

VERSE 20. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 21. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

The word of God is given to instruct us in reference to the plan of salvation. The second coming of Christ is to be the climax and completion of that great scheme. It is most appropriate, therefore, that the book should close with the solemn announcement,"Surely I come quickly." Be it ours to join with fervent hearts in the response of the apostle, "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Thus closes the volume of inspiration, - closes with that which constitutes the best of all promises, and the substance of the Christian's hope - the return of Christ. Then shall the elect be gathered, and bid a long farewell to all the ills of this mortal life. How rich in all that is precious to the Christian

p 775 -- is this promise! Wandering an exile in this evil world, separated from the few of like precious faith, he longs for the companionship of the righteous, the communion of saints. Here he shall obtain it; for all the good shall be gathered, not from one land only, but from all lands; not from one age only, but from all ages, - the great harvest of all the good, coming up in long and glorious procession, while angels shout the harvest home, and the timbrels of heaven sound forth in joyous concert; and a song before unheard, unknown, in the universe, the song of the redeemed, shall add its marvelous notes of rapture and melody to the universal jubilee. So shall the saints be gathered, to be joyful in each other's presence forever and ever, -

"While the glory of God, like a molten sea,

Bathes the immortal company."

This gathering has nothing in it but that which is desirable. The saints can but sigh and pray for it. Like Job, they cry out for the presence of God. Like David, they cannot be satisfied till they awake in his likeness. In this mortal condition we groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. We can but be "upon tiptoe" for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. Our eyes are open for its visions, our ears are waiting to catch the sounds of the heavenly music, and our hearts are beating in anticipation of its infinite joy. Our appetites are growing sharp for the marriage supper. We cry out for the living God, and long to come into his presence. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. No news more welcome than the announcement that the command has gone forth from the Lord to his angels, Gather together unto me my elect from the four winds of heaven.

The place, of gathering has nothing but attraction. Jesus, the fairest among ten thousand, is there. The throne of God and the Lamb, in the glory of which the sun disappears as the stars vanish in the light of day, is there. The city of jasper and gold, whose builder and maker is God, is there. The river of life, sparkling with the glory of God and flowing from his throne in infinite purity and peace, is there. The tree of

p 776 -- life, with its healing leaves and life-giving fruit, is there. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Noah, Job, and Daniel, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, the perfection of heavenly society, will be there. Visions of beauty are there; fields of living green, flowers that never fade, streams that never dry, products in variety that never ends, fruits that never decay, crowns that never dim, harps that know no discord, and all else of which a taste purified from sin and raised to the plane of immortality, can form any conception or think desirable, will be there.

We must be there. We must bask in the forgiving smiles of God, to whom we have become reconciled, and sin no more; we must have access to that exhaustless fount of vitality, the fruit of the tree of life, and never die; we must repose under the shadow of its leaves, which are for the service of the nations, and never again grow weary; we must drink from the life-giving fountain, and thirst nevermore; we must bathe in its silvery spray, and be refreshed; we must walk on its golden sands, and feel that we are no longer exiles; we must exchange the cross for the crown, and feel that the days of our humiliation are ended; we must lay down the staff and take the palm branch, and feel that the journey is done; we must put off the rent garments of our warfare for the white robes of triumph, and feel that the conflict is ended and the victory gained; we must exchange the toil-worn, dusty girdle of our pilgrimage for the glorious vesture of immortality, and feel that sin and the curse can never more pollute us. O day of rest and triumph, and every good, delay not thy dawning! Let the angels at once be sent to gather the elect. Let the promise be fulfilled which bears in its train these matchless glories. EVEN S0, C0ME LORD JESUS.

p 777 -- APPENDIX

1. -- RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN OUR TIMES AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

In the books both of Daniel and the Revelation distinct reference is made to that abnormal national experience known as "The French Revolution." (See Dan. 11:36-39; Rev. 11:7-10.) The time when the principles of irreligion and infidelity were given full opportunity to bud and blossom and bear fruit, that all the world might judge of their nature; when men were left to show to what deeds of darkness the carnal heart would lead, unrestrained by any principles of righteousness and truth, was most appropriately noted in prophecy. And the descriptions given of the character of the last days by the same pen of inspiration, are such as to show that the masses will then fall, to a large extent, if not wholly, under the same principles of evil. While such is the representation of prophecy, it is a serious question in many minds whether the preliminary stages of this condition of things are not already appearing before our eyes, and if we may not now be on the threshold of one of those eras wherein "history repeats itself " in its worst forms.

Those who entertain the sentiments concerning the nature of our times set forth in some portions of this work, are often charged with being pessimists, alarmists, and looking too much on the dark side of the picture. To the charge of being alarmists in the bad sense of that term, we do not plead guilty. While there may be such a thing as imagining evils which do not exist, and anticipating trouble which never comes, there is, on the other hand, such a thing as crying, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace, and shutting our eyes to real danger till it is too late to guard against it, and we find ourselves involved in irretrievable calamity and loss. The wisest of men has said, "A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished." Prov. 22:3. Noah was not an alarmist when he warned the world of the approaching catastrophe of the flood; nor Lot, when he warned the Sodomites that an all-devastating storm of fire was hanging over their doomed city; nor our Lord, when he foretold the utter destruction of Jerusalem, and gave his people directions how to escape it. Let us not be diverted from the real situation by the cry of "alarmist," nor think that there can be no danger because all do not see it; for St. Paul has warned

p 778 -- us that "when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them." 1 Thess. 5:3.

But we need offer no apology for ourselves in this particular; for the strongest utterances we put on record are simply those we find in the secular press of the day. Even so cautious a paper as the Chicago Evening Journal, in its issue of Aug. 26, 1874, under the heading "The Reign of Crime," drew the following picture of the times, which no one can say have been growing better since that time: -

"If Mr. Beecher used to be rather soft on the doctrine of ' total depravity,' we suspect he may have got more light on this point by this time. But Brooklyn does not by any means monopolize the illustrative evidence of it. Crimes of all sorts and sizes seem just now to be 'breaking out,' like the measles, all over the body social. The newspapers, if they give the news at all, have to be darkened with the wretched records of misdoings. We confess that the dailies at the present time are not so cheerful reading as might be. Suicides, murder, and the whole catalogue of offenses against God and man, are startlingly prevalent. Is it symptomatic of some great social disease, the seeds of which have long been growing, but long hidden? Is there some malign moral miasma in the air, some taint in the blood, some great, though subtle, popular error that has been silently conceiving sin, and is at last bringing forth iniquity? Or is it only a kind of spiritual contagion, or epidemic, like the epizootic, for instance, among animals, that has somehow got started, and is sweeping across the continent?

"Such questions are full of significance, even if not easily answered. The philosophy of epidemical influences in society is better understood than it was a generation ago; but we suspect the subject is far from being cleared up yet. We need more light, both as to the incipient causes and the concomitant conditions which allow such alarming potency to causes that seemed to be latent, until, all at once, they break forth, as if thousands had suddenly taken to the habit of carrying loose powder and matches in the same pocket. 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.' Is it, then, that somehow communities get to thinking of the same ill things, and the bad thought becomes a tempting suggestion, and forthwith begins to work in the heart like a spark of an old-fashioned tinder-box? If so, one scarcely dares to think of the frightful consequences that may come of this Brooklyn scandal-sowing throughout the land."

While this extract speaks of our own land, there is testiniony to show that an equally alarming state of things prevails in Europe. As a representative statement upon this point, we quote from the distinguished and devoted J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, author of the History of the Reformation, who, just previous to his death, prepared a paper for the Evangelical Alliance, which was read at a meeting of that association. All thoughtful persons will consider his words most solemn, and his statements as startling as they are true: -

"If the meeting for which you are assembled is an important one, the period at which it is held is equally so, not only on account of the great things which God is accomplishing in the world, but also by

p 779 -- reason of the great evils which the spirit of darkness is spreading throughout Christendom. The despotic and arrogant pretensions of Rome have reached in our days their highest pitch, and we are consequently more than ever called upon to contend against that power which dares to usurp the divine attributes. But that is not all. While superstition has increased, unbelief has done so still more. Until now, the eighteenth century - the age of Voltaire - was regarded as the epoch of most decided infidelity; but how far does the present time surpass it in this respect! Voltaire himself protested against the philosophy which he called atheistic, and said, 'God is necessarily the Great, the Only, the Eternal Artificer of all nature' (Dialogues, xxv). But the pretended philosophers of our day leave such ideas far behind, and regard them as antiquated superstitions. Materialism and atheism have, in many minds, taken the place of the true God. Science, which was Christian in the brightest intellects of former days, in those to whom we owe the greatest discoveries, has become atheistic among men who now talk the loudest. They imagine that by means of general laws which govern the physical world, they can do without Him from whom these laws proceeded. Some remains of animals found in ancient strata of our globe, make them reject the creation of which the Bible inaugurates the account in these solemn words: 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.'

"Eminent literary men continually put forward in their writings what is called Positivism, rejecting everything that goes beyond the limit of the senses, and disdaining all that is supernatural. These evils, which had formerly only reached the upper ranks of society, have now spread to the working classes, and some among them may be heard to say, 'When man is dead, all is dead.' But there is a still sadder feature of our times. Unbelief has reached even the ministry of the word. Pastors belonging to Protestant churches in France, Switzerland, Germany, and other continental countries, not only reject the fundamental doctrines of the faith, but also deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and see in him nothing more than a man, who, according to many of them, was even subject to errors and faults. A synod of the Reformed Church in Holland has lately decreed that when a minister baptizes, he need not do it in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. A journal, when relating this fact, adds, 'Will they then baptize in the God abyss?' At an important assembly held lately in German Switzerland, at which were present many men of position both in the church and the state, the basis of the new religion was laid down. 'No doctrines,' was the watchword on that occasion. 'No new doctrines, whatever they may be, in place of the old; liberty alone,' which means liberty to overthrow everything. And too truly some of those ministers believe neither in a personal God nor in the immortality of the soul. For a portion of the European population there is no other gospel than that of Spinoza, and often much less even than that."

Such words from such a source should cause the most thoughtless to pause and consider. Mark the expressions: The spirit of darkness

p 780 -- spreading through Christendom, superstition and unbelief increasing, the present age far surpassing that of Voltaire in infidelity, atheism taking the place of God, science becoming atheistic, eminent literary men teaching Positivism; the masses becoming pervaded with these ideas, and even Protestant ministers denying the fundamental facts of the gospel, - these are the prominent features of the times.

Professor J. Cairus, D. D., of Berwick, England, draws the following picture of the present generation: "The advance, so rapid and wonderful, of science and art, and the progress of education and the diffusion of literature; the self-assertion, by long-oppressed nationalities, of their rights and liberties; the approximation to a commercial and political unity of the human race, - all tend to foster the idea of man's inherent capacity, and to set afloat wild and chimerical schemes and hopes of moral regeneration, irrespective of Christianity. The dream of independent morality finds countenance. Theories of spiritual development, more exaggerated and fictitious by far than these of physical development, are accepted. The march of intelligence, or the revolutionary impulse, is to make all things new. Meanwhile, the sad and humbling aspects of the nineteenth century - its hideous vices and crimes, its luxury, selfishness, and greed set over against pauperism, debasement, and discontent; its wars and international feuds, with ever-increasing conscriptions and standing armies - are overlooked."

Hon. Geo. H. Stuart, of Philadelphia, thus spoke before the Alliance: "The field is the world. It has in it 1,300,000,000 immortal souls, destined to meet us at the judgment bar of God. Of these 1,300,000,000, there are some 800,000,000 bowing down to stocks and stones, the workmanship of their own hands. Besides these 800,000,000 heathen, there are 110,000,000 Mohammedans and 240,000,000 of other false systems of religion, leaving only 100,000,000 nominal Protestants. It is not for us to say how many of these 100,000,000 are true disciples of our risen and exalted Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Sad indeed is the view here presented; and is it not every year growing worse? Students of prophecy are sometimes looked upon as fanatics, because they believe that the second advent of Christ is soon to take place, when all the wicked will be destroyed and the righteous saved. But we ask the candid reader whether the man, who, in the face of all the facts above stated, believes in the speedy conversion of the whole world and the near approach of the millennium, may not more justly be regarded as a fanatic. While a few thousand pagans in heathen lands are receiving the gospel, millions in Christian lands are turning away from it, and embracing false religions and atheism; and among these we find the educated, the scientific, the so-called higher classes taking the lead. But this need not surprise us; for Jesus himself said respecting the last days, "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8.

From this general description, let us come to particulars. Every student of history understands that like causes produce like effects, and that indications which foretokened the occurrence of certain

p 781 -- events in one age, will generally reappear when similar events are about to transpire in any other age. As in the natural world there must be the gathering of clouds and the accumulation of electricity before the storm, so in the moral and political world there must be the dissemination of principles, the formulation of ideas, and the rousing of passions, before the revolution. Causes which in the past have led to anarchy, rapine, license, and a general disintegration of society, will, if permitted to operate, produce again the same results. The French Revolution of 1789-1800 stands fixed in history as the "Reign of Terror." Each succeeding faction which gained power during that awful era shed in torrents the blood of its enemies, until over 2,000,000 lives were sacrificed. All social order was destroyed. The marriage covenant was abrogated, and lust stalked abroad everywhere, licensed and unrestrained. Christ was declared an impostor, and his religion a fraud. The existence of God was denied, and the reading of his word forbidden. All this was the work of infidelity. Behold, therefore, in that terrible Revolution, the miniature of the world without the restraining influence of God's revelation. And is there danger that this frightful condition of things may be reproduced in our own day? Facts constrain us to answer in the affirmative; for the same causes are operating everywhere to-day which a hundred years ago were at work in France. The same names and principles may be heard and seen all about us. Let us first notice some of the more prominent elements which produced the French Revolution.

1. Spiritualism. - Says Samuel Smucker in his Memorable Scenes in French History, p. 116: "We find in the records of that period, materials and events which prove that then it was that the impostures of modern spiritual rappers and mediums were first practiced, in precisely the same way and for the same results as they are at the present day. ... Count Cagliostro enabled Cardinal Rohan to sup with the deceased D'Alembert, with the king of Prussia, and with Voltaire, all dead some years before. He convinced His Eminence that the worker of these wonders had himself been present with Christ at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. ... In the triumphs of Cagliostro, of Misner, and of St. Germain, which at this period were at their greatest height, we behold another instance of the uprooting of the firm and stable foundations of society in an excessive desire for novelties, and a restless itching after things new, mysterious, and wonderful."

As a system of pretended communication with the dead, Spiritualism, is as old, at least, as the Mosaic dispensation, for it was strictly forbidden in his day; and it has at favorable epochs manifested itself among men; but its wonder-working phase is peculiar to modern times, and first manifested itself in this country, according to the prophecy of Revelation 13. Its principles and spirit found congenial soil in France in the Revolution. But if what then appeared contributed in any manner to produce the state of society which then existed, what must be its tendency to-day?

p 782 -- 2. Infidelity. - Mr. Anderson, in The Annals of the English Bible, p. 494, says: "Never let it he forgotten that before the Revolution of 1792, the promoters of infidelity in France are stated to have raised among themselves, and spent, a sum equal to £900,000 in one year, - nay, again and again, - in purchasing, printing, and dispersing books to corrupt the minds of the people and prepare them for desperate measures."

Dr. Dick, in his work on The Improvement of Society, p. 154, says: "The way for such a revolution was prepared by the writings of Voltaire, Mirabeau, Diderot, Helvetius, D'Alembert, Condorcet, Rousseau, and others of the same stamp, in which they endeavored to disseminate principles subversive both of natural and revealed religion. Revelation was not only impugned, but entirely set aside. The Deity was banished from the universe, and an imaginary phantom, under the name of the Goddess of Reason, substituted in his place. The carved work of all religious belief and moral practice was boldly cut down by Carnot and Robespierre and their atheistical associates. Nature was investigated by pretended philosophers, only with the view to darken the mind, and prevent mankind from considering anything as real but what the hand could grasp or the corporeal eye perceive."

The infidelity of to-day, in many respects, according to the quotation from D'Aubigne, leaves that of France at the time of the Revolution far behind.

3. Socialism. - Webster makes this word synonymous with "communism," which he defines as follows: "The reorganizing of society, or the doctrine that it should be reorganized, by regulating property, industry, and the sources of livelihood, and also the domestic relations and social morals of mankind; socialism, especially the doctrine of a community of property, or the negation of individual rights in property."

These principles were carried into practice in France, and as the result the Revolution blossomed into all its horrid reality. The relations of the different classes of society were completely changed. The monarchy was overthrown, and an infidel republic established on its ruins. The king and queen were beheaded.

Alison, Vol. IV, p. 151, says: "The confiscation of two thirds of the landed property in the kingdom, which arose from the decrees of the convention against the emigrants, clergy, and persons convicted at the revolutionary tribunals, ... placed funds worth above £700,000,000 sterling at the disposal of the government."

Titles of nobility were abolished. It was a conflict between the rich and the poor, between capital and labor. The motto of the Revolution was, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" - blessed words, but, with the strangest inconsistency, wholly outraged and misapplied. The same principles are treated in the same way to-day, and are shouted as the watchword among the discontented masses and the labor organizations the world over. The principles of socialism, or communism, were probably never so widely diffused as at the present time.

p 783 -- 4. Free Love. - When the existence of the true God was denied, as it was during the French Revolution, and in his place men set up a lewd woman as the Goddess of Reason, and the object of their highest adoration, it was a natural consequence that the sacredness of the marriage relation should be wholly discarded. Marriage was therefore declared a civil contract, binding only during the pleasure of the contracting parties. Divorce became general, and the corruption of manners reached a height never before known in France. One half of the whole number of births in Paris were illegitimate. See Thiers's French Revolution, Vol. II, p. 380. Free-lovism is an integral part of the spiritualistic movement of our day, not so openly advocated as formerly, but none the less cherished and practiced as a part of the boasted "freedom" to which the human race is attaining.

5. The Commune. - This word is derived from a small territorial district in France governed by an officer called a mayor. It has come to have a much more extensive application at the present time; but the origin of the word is not so important as the principles which it is taken to represent. Of these we have already had a definition from Webster, and seen a practical illustration in the French Revolution. Thiers's French Revolution, Vol. III, p. 106, gives the whole number of persons guillotined during the reign of terror as 1,022,351, besides massacres of other kinds in other places, in some of which the population of whole towns perished. Dr. Dick, in his Improvement of Society, p. 154, says: "Such was the rapidity with which the work of destruction was carried on, that within the short space of ten years not less than three million human beings ... are supposed to have perished in that country alone, chiefly through the influence of immoral principles, and the seductions of a false philosophy."

In connection with this, as showing the tendency of the times, may be mentioned the "International," an association which, not long since, was prominent and created a good deal of apprehension. The object of its members was to overthrow those whom they esteemed their enemies, namely, kings and capitalists. Its platform was, briefly, the abolition of all class rule and privileges; political and social equality of both sexes; nationalization of land and instruments of production; reduction of hours of labor; education to be controlled by the state, and to be obligatory, gratuitous, and secular; religion to be ignored, a direct system of taxation based upon property, not upon industry; the abolition of all standing armies; and associative production instead of capitalist production.

It will be seen at once that to put these principles into practice would be completely to change the present political and social relations of society. The different branches of this revolutionary body may now go by different names, as Nihilists in Russia, Communists in Germany, Anarchists and Monarchists in France, Fenians and Land-Leaguers in Ireland, the different secret labor organizations in this country, and Socialists everywhere. The principles involved are similar in all their divisions; the end sought, the same; and in the natural order of things, a great crisis in respect to these movements is inevitable.

p 784 -- The impress of the Satanic hand is clearly seen in that the state of society sought for is exactly the opposite of that established by God in the garden of Eden. There God was supreme; Christ, by whom God made all things, was recognized and honored; God's law was the governing rule; a spirit of true worship, prompted by love, controlled man's mind; the marriage relation was sacred; and the Sabbath was honored as God's great memorial. In the French Revolution, God was dethroned, Christ crucified afresh, Christianity denounced, and all restraint broken off from the carnal heart, worship discarded, the rest-day abolished, the marriage relation annulled, and society rent into mournful fragments. Let Communism prevail, and such is the state of society we shall have again.

The fruit of this agitation is appearing more and more in the strained relations between labor and capital, all the time growing greater, the multiplication of "orders" among the working men, and the combination of capital for self-protection, the great strikes and mobs of 1893-95, necessitating even armed intervention on the part of the government. Suspicion and mistrust everywhere prevail; and "What are we coming to?" is the question that trembles on many a lip. Truly, as our Lord said it would be just before his coming, "men's hearts" are "failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." Luke 21:26.

2. -- THE "SEVEN TIMES" OF LEVITICUS 26.

Almost every scheme of the "Plan of the Ages," "Age-to-come," etc., makes use of a supposed prophetic period called the "Seven Times;" and the attempt is made to figure out a remarkable fulfilment by events in Jewish and Gentile history. All such speculators might as well spare their pains; for there is no such prophetic period in the Bible.

The term is taken from Leviticus 26, where the Lord denounces judgments against the Jews, if they shall forsake him. After mentioning a long list of calamities down to verse 17, the Lord says: "And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins." Verse 18. Verses 19 and 20 enumerate the additional judgments, then it is added in verse 21: "And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins." More judgments are enumerated, and then in verses 23 and 24 the threatening is repeated: "And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins." In verse 28 it is repeated again.

Thus the expression occurs four times, and each succeeding mention brings to view severer punishments, because the preceding ones were not heeded. Now, if "seven times" denotes a prophetic period

p 785 -- (2520 years), then we would have four of them, amounting in all to 10,080 years, which would be rather a long time to keep a nation under chastisement.

But we need borrow no trouble on this score; for the expression "seven times" does not denote a period of durathion, but is simply an adbverb expressing degree, and setting forth the severity of the judgments to be brought upon Israel.

If it denoted a period of time, a noun and its adjective would be used, as in Dan. 4:16: "Let seven times pass over him." Here we have the noun (times) and adjective (seven); thus, (shibah iddan); but in the passages quoted above from Leviticus 26, the words "seven times" are simply the adverb (sheba), which means sevenfold." The Septuagint makes the same distinction, using in Dan. 4:16, etc., epta kairoi but in Leviticus simply the adverb, eptakiV.

The expression in Dan. 4:16 is not prophetic, for it is used in plain, literal narration. (See verse 25.)

3. -- THE TEN DIVISIONS OF ROME.

The ten kingdoms which arose out of the old Roman empire, are symbolized by the ten ten horns on the fourth beast of Daniel 7. All agree on this point; but there has not been entire unanimity among expositors as to the names of the kingdoms which constituted these divisions. Some name the Huns as one of these divisions, others put the Alemanni in place of the Huns. That the reader may see the general trend of what has been written on this subject, the following facts are presented: -

Machiavelli, the historian of Florence, writing simply as a historian, names the Huns as one of the nations principally concerned in the breaking up of the Roman empire. Among those who have written on this point with reference to the prophecy, may be mentioned, Berengaud, in the ninth century; Mede, 1586-1638; Bossuet, 1627-1704; Lloyd, 1627-1717; Sir Isaac Newton, 1642-1727; Bishop Newton, 1704-1782; Hales, -1821; Faber, 1773-1854.

Of these nine authorities, eight take the position that the Huns were one of the ten kingdoms; of these eight, two, Bossuet and Bishop Newton, followed by Dr. Clarke, have both the Huns and the Alemanni; only one, Mede, omits the Huns and takes the Alemanni. Thus eight favor the view that the Huns were represented by one of the horns; two, while not rejecting the Huns, consider the Alemanni one of the horns; one rejects the Huns and takes the Alernanni. Scott and Barnes, in their commentaries, and Oswald, in his Kingdom That Shall Not Be Moved, name the Huns.

p 786 -- 4. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

-- Prominent Martyrs

John de Wycliffe, - born about 1324, styled the "Morning Star of the Reformation," was an English divine, whose piety and talents procured for him one of the highest ecclesiastical positions of honor. Having openly preached against the corruptions of the Roman Church, he was displaced, the pope issuing several bulls against him for heresy. Accordingly, he was examined by an assembly, but made so able a defense that it ended without determination. Continuing to denounce the papal corruptions, ordinances, and power, he was again summoned before a synod, but was released by order of the king's mother. It is remarkable that although he continued his vehement attacks upon vital points of Romish doctrine, he escaped the fate of others similarly accused; but over forty years after his death, which occurred in 1384, his bones were exhumed, burned, and cast into the River Swift, which bore them through the Severn to the sea, his very dust thus becoming emblematic of his doctrine, now diffused the world over. His most important work was the first English version of the Bible.

John Huss, - the celebrated reformer, was a native of Bohemia, born in 1370, and educated at the university at Prague, where he received the degree of master of arts, and became rector of the University and confessor to the Queen. Obtaining some of the writings of Wycliffe, he saw the errors and corruption of the Romish Church, which he freely exposed, though persecuted by several popes. By his teaching, a reformation began in the University, to check which the archbishop issued two decrees; but the new doctrine spreading still more, he was finally brought before a council, thrown into prison, and after some months' confinement, sentenced to be burned. Though urged at the stake to recant, he firmly refused, and until stifled with smoke, continued to pray and sing with a clear voice. He was burned in 1415, and his ashes, and even the soil on which they lay, were carefully removed, and thrown into the Rhine.

Jerome of Prague, - who derived his surname from the town where he was born somewhere between 1360 and 1370, completed his studies at the university of the same name, after which he traveled over the greater part of Europe. At Paris he received the degree of master of arts, and at Oxford he became acquainted with the writings of Wycliffe, translating many of them into his own language. On his return to Prague, he openly professed Wycliffe's doctrines, and assisted Huss in the work of the Reformation. Upon the arrest of the latter, he also expressed his willingness to appear before the council in defense of his faith, and desired a safe-conduct of the emperor. This was not granted, but on his way home he was seized, carried to Constance, and after the martyrdom of Huss, threatened with like torments. In a moment of weakness, he abjured the fath;

p 787 -- but on being released, bemoaned his sin, and publicly renounced his recantation, for which he was consigned to the flames, 1416.

William Tyndale, - an eminent English divine, was born about 1484. He received an ample education at Cambridge and Oxford, and took holy orders. Embracing the doctrines of the Reformation, he excited so much enmity among Romanists by his zeal and ability in expounding them, that he was compelled to seek refuge in Germany. Believing that the Scriptures should be read by the masses in the vernacular, he produced a complete version of the New Testament in English, which, though ordered to be suppressed, was in such demand that six editions were published. This version was also the model and basis of that of King James, and is but little more obsolete. He also translated the Pentateuch. For these and other reformatory writings, he was arrested at Antwerp at the instigation of the English government, and after eighteen months' imprisonment, was burned, first being strangled by the hangman, 1536.

Thomes Cranmer, - the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury, was born in 1489. Although saintly in his profession as a divine, he was somewhat politic as a statesman, and thus was well suited to unite the religious and worldly enemies of popery. He was also a servile adherent of Henry VIII. After the death of the latter, he joined the upholders of Lady Jane Grey, who was also a Protestant, and was accordingly sent to the Tower on the accession of Mary; and being accused of heresy by the papal party, was burned at Oxford, 1556. As a reformer, he introduced the Bible into the churches, and so used his influence as a regent of Edward VI that the Reformation greatly prospered during the young monarch's reign. Shortly before his martyrdom, he signed a recantation contrary to his convictions, in hope of life; but at the stake he was more courageous, first thrusting into the flames the hand which signed the document, exclaiming many times, "O my unworthy right hand!"

Hugh Latimer, - born about 1490, one of the chief promoters of the Reformation in England, was educated at Cambridge, receiving the degree of master of arts. At the beginning of the Reformation, he was a zealous papist; but after conversing with the martyr Bilney, he renounced the Catholic faith, and labored earnestly in preaching the gospel. Henry VIII, being pleased with his discourses, made him bishop of Worcester; but being opposed to some of the king's measures, Latimer finally resigned. After the death of his patron, Cromwell, the latter's enemies sought him out, and he was sent to the Tower. He was released by Edward VI, but refused to be restored to his diocese, and remained with Cranmer, assisting in the Reformation. When Mary came to the throne, he was again sent to the Tower, thence with Cranmer and Ridley to dispute with popish bishops at Oxford. Here he argued with unusual clearness and simplicity, but was condemned and burned at the same stake with Ridley, 1555.

p 788 -- John Bradford, - was born in the first part of the reign of Henry VIII. He early evinced a taste for learning, and began the study of law; but finding theology more congenial, removed to Cambridge University, where his ability and piety won for him, in less than a year, the degree of master of arts. Soon after, he was made chaplain to Edward VI, and became one of the most popular preachers of Protestantism in the kingdom. But after the accession of that rigid Catholic, Mary, he was arrested on the charge of heresy, and confined in the Tower a year and a half, during which time he aided with his pen the cause for which he suffered. When finally brought to trial, he defended his principles to the last, withstanding all attemps to effect his conversion to Romanism. He was condemned, and committed to the flames in 1555. He died, rejoicing thus to be able to suffer for the truth.

Nicholas Ridley, - a learned English bishop and martyr, educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, was born about 1500. His great abilities and piety recommended him to the notice of Archbishop Cranmer, through whom he was made chaplain to the king. In the reign of Edward VI, he was nominated to the see of Rochester, and finally to the bishopric of London. By his influence with the young king, the priories and revenues devoted to the maintenance of corrupt friars and monks were used for charitable purposes. On the decease of Edward, he embraced the cause of Lady Jane Grey, and in a sermon warned the people of the evil that would befall Protestantism if Mary should come to the throne. For this, and for his zeal in aiding the Reformation, he was seized by Queen Mary, sent to Oxford to dispute with some of the popish bishops, and on his refusing to recant, was burned with Latimer, 1555.

John Hooper, - was born about 1495, and was educated at Oxford. After taking his degree of bachelor of arts, he joined the Cistercian monks, but his attention being directed to the writings of Zwingli, after a diligent study of the Scriptures, he became a zealous advocate of the Reformation. Knowing the danger to which his opinions exposed him, he went to France. On his return to England, he found that plots were again being laid against his life, and escaped to Ireland, thence to France, and finally to Germany, where he remained some years. Again returning to England, he applied himself to instruct the masses, laboring so successfully that the king, Edward VI, requested him to remain in London to further the Reformation, and created him bishop of Worcester. On the accession of Mary, however, he was immediately arrested, sent to the Fleet prison, and, after eighteen months' confinement, was tried for heresy, and condemned to the flames in 1555. He endured the agonies of the stake with great fortitude, though they were unusually protracted on account of the use of green wood.

John Rogers, - the first of the many who were martyred during Queen Mary's reign, was born about 1500. He was educated at Cambridge, receiving holy orders, and was afterward chaplain to

p 789 -- the English factory at Antwerp, where he became acquainted with Tyndale and Coverdale, and by their aid published a complete English version of the Bible. Removing to Wittenberg, he became pastor of a Dutch congregation; but when Edward VI came to the throne, he was invited home, and made prebendary and divinity reader of St. Paul's. On the Sunday after Queen Mary's accession, in a sermon at St. Paul's, he exhorted the people to adhere to the doctrines taught in King Edward's days, and to resist all Catholic forms and dogmas. For this he was summoned before the council, but vindicated himself so well that he was dismissed. This not pleasing Mary, he was again summoned, and ordered to remain a prisoner in his own house; but he was soon after seized, and sent to Newgate. He was then tried and condemned, and refusing to recant, was burned, 1555.

EMINENT REFORMERS

Martin Luther, - the greatest of reformers, was born in Saxony, in 1483. When a poor boy, a benevolent lady took him in charge to educate. At first he studied law, but a narrow escape from death so affected him with the uncertainty of life that he retired to a monastery. Here he came in possession.of a Bible, and was struck with the difference between the teachings of the gospel and the practices of the Romish Church. Being sent on an errand to Rome, the impression was deepened, and when the pope issued his famous bull granting the sale of indulgences, Luther, who was then professor of divinity in the University of Wittenberg, was prepared to oppose it, which he did so ably that multitudes, including many nobles, upheld him. He was ordered to appear at Rome, but refused. The pope issued a condemnation, which Luther burned. At the Diet of Worms he refused to retract, and soon spread his views throughout the kingdom by his writings. He also translated the Bible into German. A decree being passed that the mass should be universally observed, a protest was issued by the reformed party, from which they received the name of Protestants. The confession of Augsburg, the standard of their faith, was then drawn up. He still kept on writing and laboring until he died, worn out by excessive toil, in 1546.

Philip Melancthon, - the famous reformer and friend of Luther, was born in the grand duchy of Baden in 1497. At the age of seventeen he graduated as master of arts from the universitv of Heidelberg, and soon after obtained the Greek professorship at Wittenberg. Here he formed a friendship with Luther, whose opinions he accepted, and defended in his lectures and writings. His prudence aided the promulgation of Protestant doctrines greatly, as it guarded them from the abuses of intemperate zeal. His greatest work was the drawing up of the Augsburg Confession, although he was a fluent

p 790 -- writer, and was the author of the first system of Protestant theology, which passed through more than fifty editions, and was used as a text-book in the universities. His learning and moderation became famous throughout all Europe, and the kings of England and France invited him to their kIngdoms; but he preferred to remain at Wittenberg, where he died in 1560.

Ulric Zwingli, - whose name in the annals of Protestant reformers ranks second only to that of Luther, was born in 1484. As he early evinced a taste for study, he was sent first to Bale and Berne, and finally to the university at Vienna, to receive an education. On his return he was pastor of a large parish near his birthplace, and afterward preacher to the cathedral church at Zurich. Here he made a special study of the Scriptures committing to memory the whole of the New and a part of the Old Testament. His theological researches led him to see the corruptions of the Romish Church, and he commenced declaiming against them, especially against papal indulgences, until he effected the same separation for Switzerland from the Catholic dominion, that Luther did for Saxony. These religious dissensions brought on a civil war in Switzerland, and Zwingli, who accompanied his army as chaplain, was slain on the field of battle, 1531.

John Calvin, - an eminent reformer, and founder of the religious sect known as the Calvinists, was born in 1509. He was early destined for the church, being presented with a benefice when only twelve years old. He was educated at Paris for the ministry; but becoming dissatisfied with the tenets of the Romish Church, he turned his attention to the law. He soon received the seeds of the reformed doctrine, and so strongly defended them that he was obliged to leave France. He retired to Bale, Switzerland, where he composed his famous Institutes of Christianity, which was translated into several languages. He then settled at Geneva as minister and professor of divinity, but was compelled to leave for refusing to obey some papal forms. Going to Strasburg, he raised up a French church, where he officiated. By the divines of this town he was sent as deputy to the Diet of Worms. He returned to Geneva after repeated solicitation, and was actively engaged as speaker and writer in the interests of' the Reformation, until his death in 1564.

John Knox, - the celebrated Scotch reformer, was born in 1505 and was educated at St. Andrew's University. He received a Priest's orders, but renounced popery after reading the writings of St. Augustine and Jerome. He was accused of heresy, and his public confession of faith condemned; but he began to preach it openly from the pulpit, and the reformed doctrines spread rapidly. St. Andrew's being taken by a French fleet, he was carried to Rouen, and condemned to the galleys, where he remained nineteen months. After his liberation, he went to England, and was made chaplain to Edward V1, having refused a bishopric. On Mary's accession, he went to Frankfort and preached to the English exiles. Thence he went to

p 791 -- Geneva, where he was much esteemed by Calvin, to whose doctrines he was much attached. He returned to Scotland, where he died in 1572, after rendering the Reformation triumphant in his native land.

John Bunyan, - the most popular religious writer in the English language, was born in 1628. He was a tinker by trade, and therefore received but a meager education. His mind was little drawn toward religious matters until his enlistment as a soldier, during which one of his comrades, who had taken his post, was killed. This he looked upon as a direct interposition of Providence, and after his return home, became deeply concerned about his spiritual welfare. He soon joined the Baptist Church, and from an exhorter, became a successful preacher among them. At this time all dissenters from the Church of England were punished, and Bunyan was thrown into jail, where he remained twelve years. Here he wrote the world-renowned Pilgrim's Progress, which has since been translated into every tongue of Christendom. He was also the author of other religious writings, such as the Holy War. At the close of the persecution he was released. He soon resumed his former labors, and was popularly known as Bishop Bunyan. His death, in 1688, resulted from exposure.

John Wesley, - the founder of Methodism, was born in 1703, and was educated at Oxford, becoming an eminent tutor in Lincoln college. With his brother and a few others, he formed a society for mutual edification in theological exercises, and they rigidly occupied themselves in religious duties, in fasting and prayer, and visiting prisons and relieving the suffering. At the solicitation of General Oglethorpe, Wesley accompanied him to Georgia with a view of converting the Indians. He finally returned to England to engage in missionary labors, but his design was not to withdraw from the established Church of England, but to create a revival among the neglected classes by preaching salvation through simple faith in Christ. However, the churches being shut against him, he held open-air services, obtaining so many converts that organization became necessary, and spacious churches were built. Until his death in 1791, he was indefatigable in his self-imposed work, which he carried through England, Scotland, and Ireland, traveling nearly 300,000 miles, and preaching over 40,000 sermons, besides being a voluminous writer.

George Whitefield, - an English clergyman, born in 1714, was educated at Oxford, where he received the degree of B. A., and where he became acquainted with Charles Wesley, and was an enthusiastic member of the club which gave rise to Methodism. He was soon ordained, and commenced his remarkable missionary career. Upon the urgent invitation of John Wesley, who was in Georgia, he embarked for America, but soon returned to solicit funds for a proposed orphan asylum. He made five subsequent visits to America, preaching in all the large cities, also in those of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and made a journey to Holland. He met with great opposition from the clergy, and being shut out of the churches, was the

p 792 -- first to introduce open-air services. Having differed from the Wesleys in some belief, they finally separated, which gave rise to the two classes, Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists. He still continued his laborious efforts, sometimes speaking three and four times a day for weeks, until his death, in 1770, at Newburyport, Mass., while preparing for a seventh missionary tour in America.

John Fletcher, - was born in Switzerland, in 1729. He was of noble birth, and was educated at the university of Geneva. Not conforming conscientiously to all the Calvinistic doctrines, he forsook the clerical profession, and entered military service. Peace being proclaimed, he went to England as a tutor. He joined the Methodist society, and received orders from the Church of England. Though presented with a good living, he declined, saying "that it afforded too much money for too little work." The poor and suffering were his charge, and in a region of mines and mountains, midst opposition and persecution, he labored with charity and devotion. He visited France, Switzerland, and Italy, and on his return was president of a theological school, but his advocacy of Wesleyanism sundered the connection. He afterward devoted his life to parishional duties, making long missionary journeys with Wesley and Whitefield, and to the preparation in writing of their peculiar doctrines. His death occurred in 1785.

William Miller, - the greatest reformer of modern times, born in Massachusetts in 1782, was of poor but honorable parentage. Having a thirst for knowledge, he acquired considerable education by his own exertions. He served in the war of 1812, and was promoted to the rank of captain. Until 1816 he favored infidelity; but a careful study of the Bible for the purpose of refuting Christianity convinced him of his error, and opened to the world the then almost unexplored fields of prophecy. After much solicitation, he began his life work, - the promulgation of the prophetic interpretations, especially in regard to the second advent, thus inseparably connecting himself with the great religious movement of 1844. The message soon became so wide-spread that invitations came from all the principal cities of the United States, as many as possible of which he answered; and a revival such as had never been known sprang up in every denomination, extending even to Europe. Though disappointed in the time of the second advent, by a misapplication of prophecy, the majority of his views proved themselves to be correct, and introduced a new era in the never-ending work of reformation. He devoted himself to the work which he had begun, both lecturing and writing, until his peaceful death in 1849.

p 793 - 800

INDEX OF AUTHORS

AND AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO OR QUOTED IN THIS WORK.

PAGE

PAGE

PAGE

Adams, Dr 450, 451 Encyclopedia Americana 267, 268, 276, 307, 445 Paragraph Bible

368

Advent Herald 231, 639 Evagrius 151 Philadelphia Public Ledger 315

Advent Shield 218, 219, 237 Everett, Edward 574 Philadelphia Sun

660

Alford (New Testament) 769 Experience and Views 766 Pollok

771

Alison 301 Exposition of Seven Trumpets of Revelation 8, 9 478 Porphyry 21

American Tract Society 450 Faber

68 Porter, Commodore 699

Andrews, J. N 368, 64:3 Finney, Professor

661 Portsmouth Journal 450

Andrews, S. J. 227 Fox

157 Pownal, Governor 567

Arnold, Edwin 108 Gage, history of Rowley, Mass

450 Prideaux

24, 170, 174, 175, 225, 2:19, 248, 264, 271, 278

Bagster 242 Gavin, Anthony

157 Ranke 147

Barnes, Albert 145, 155, 237, 358, 425, 432, 441, 481, 484, 696 Geddes 157 Rapin

284

Baronius 150 Gesenius 134, 159 Religious Encyclopedia 174

Beecher, Charles 733 Gibbon

61, 146, 150, 151, 284, 481, 482, 487, 509, 510 Religious Telescope 60

Bellarmine, Cardinal 157 Gill

374 Rice. Dr

433

Benson 373, 422 Greenfield

417 Rollin

131, 236, 262

Bingham, Hon. J. A.. 579 Griesbach

370 Sabine, Ecclesiastical History

480

Blackwood's Magazine 293 Hales, Dr. 219 227, 22A 232 Sanctuary and its Cleansing 222

Blanchard, Professor 611 Harmony of Prophetic

Chronology 219 Sawyer, New Testament

695

Bliss 95, 226 Hengstenberg 216, 237 Scholefield 418

Bloomfield

358, 370, 418, 421 Henry, Matthew

100, 374 Scientific American 332

Blunt, H 386 Here and Hereafter 309, 676 Scott 374, 421, 425

Bolce, Harold 713 Hersehel 449 Scott, Church history

154

Bonaparte, Napoleon 314 Historic echoes of the

Voice of God 309 Scott's Napoleon

293. 295, 298

Boothroyd 135, 292 History of the Waldenses

388 Sears, Guide to Knowledge 450

Bower

148, 149, 564 Horne

308 Sears, Wonders of the

World 444

Brock, Mourant 641 Hudson

740 Signs of the Times

219

Buck 157, 443 Hugo, Victor

337 Smart, Rev. J. S 610

Burr, E. F., D. D. 330 Independent, N. Y.

662, 714 Smith, Key to Revelation

295

Bush, Professor George

622 Janesville (Wis.) Gasette

612 Smith, Phillip 540

Campbell, Alexander

605, 710 Jenks

733 Spiritualism a Subject of Prophecy 585

Catechism, Christian

Religion 601 Johnson's Universal

Cyclopedia

45 Stanley 144, 147

Catechism, Doctrinal 602 Josephus 175, 271 Statesman's Year Book,

1867

560

Cassiodorius, Aurelius 229 Keenan, Stephen

601 Stevenson, Dr

619

Catholic Christian In

structed 602 Keith

478, 487, 495 Stockins

216

Chambers' Encyclopedia 508 Kenedy, J. Y

602 Stonard, Dr

239

Champlain Journal 612 Kitto

281, 377 Stores, George 538

Chaumette 298 Kossuth, Louis 314 Stuart, Professor

696, 740, 750

Christian Advocate 662 Kurtz

378 Syriac New Testament 695

Christian Palladium 660 Life of Edward Lee 450 Taylor, D. T

641

Christian Statesman 614 Limbroch

157 Tenney

451

Christian Union 612 Litch, Josiah

507 Thiers

303

Chronicle, San Fran

cisco 314 Lloyd 68 Thompson 355, 357, 375, 407

Clarke. Adam 92, 107, 135. 154, 103, 280, 307, 309, 370, 384, 439, 750, 755 Lockhart 302 Townsend, G. A

568, 574, 611

Comprehensive Bible 368 Lockhart, W., B. A. 603 Treatise of Thirty Controversies

601

Comprehensive Commentary 388 Lyell, Sir Charles ...

445 True Wesleyan

711

Congregationalist, The 661 Machiavelli

147 Tuttle, Hudson

587

Cottage Bible 134, 368, 161, 286. 287, 564, 706 Macmillan & Co

669 United States Magazine

576

Cowles, H., D. D. 62 Madden, R. R

308 Vulgate, The

135

Croly, Geo

Current Literature 266 Martyn 576 Wakefield, New Testament

695

Cyprian

769 G McMillan, W. H.

616 Watchman and Reflector

661

D'Aubigne

142, 151 Mede

145, 292 Watson

384, 388

Davidson

134 Mercertis 216 Webster, Noah

600

De Tocqueville 568 Methodists (Wesleyan) 711 Weekly Alta Californian

612

Devens, R. M

454 Miller, William

384, 388, 437 Wesley

387, 416, 418, 420, 422, 696

Doddridge

424 Mine Explored 368 White 303

Domestic Bible

368 Missionary Review ... 586 White, Mrs. E. G.

550, 552, 719

Dowling

157,158 Montanus 216 Whiting, Prof., New Testament 650, 696

Dublin Nation 574 Mosheim

144, 148, 153, 434, 436 Whittier 451

Du Pin 284 Nelson, David

78 Who changed the Sabbath?

603

Du Pui, James

757 Nevins

368 Wicks

757

Dwight, President 450 Newton, Bishop 145, 166, 168, 252, 256, 200, 268, 273, 318, 373 Wieseler

226

Ecclesiastical Commentaries 433 Newton, Sir Isaac 145 Wintle 292

Edmonds, Judge 5S6 Newton, William 73 Wolff, Dr. Joseph 641

Elizabeth, Charlotte

157 Olshausen

368 Woodhouse 424

Elliott

150, 153, 222. 490, 510 Oswald 154, 157

INDEX OF TEXTS

IN OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE SUPPORTING THE EXPOSITION OF DANIEL AND REVELATION SET FORTH IN THIS WORK

PAGE

PAGE

PAGE

GENESIS

1:2

498, 735 25:12; 29:10

205 26:23

359

2:1, 2

602, 672 25:30 698 ROMANS

2:4

623

2:7

442, 688

Jeremiah

25:30-33

125, 455, 459 2:6-10

746

3:24

378

30:4-7

473 2:16

623

4:9, 10

441, 442

49:39

165 2:28, 29; 9:6-8; 11:17-24

380, 470, 756

10:10, 8-10, 11

24, 44, 45

50:25

686 3:31

674

17:11

460

51:9

659 4:11

460

48:5

471

51:25

650 4:13, 14

404, 427, 753

49:9, 10 423

EZEKIEL

1:14

212 4:17

358

EXODUS

5:2

533

4:6

160, 232 6:16 670

7:17-21, 25

689

9:4

460 Romans

8:24, 25

404

9:8-11

688 12:13

26 8:29

358, 359

9:23

698 14: 9, 20; 28:3

19 9:6, 7

380

10:21-23

690 20:12, 20 463 10:7

735

15:17

183, 184 21:25-27, 31

202, 339 I CORINTHIANS

6:2

539,680

19:4

553 23:2-4

543 6:2, 3

142, 390

20: 8-11

673 24:13

623 8:5

462

25:8, 9; 26:30; 27:8

189, 191, 396 45:18

397 9:27

394

25:9, 40

379 JOEL

1:14 -20

691 10:33

623

25:31, 32, 37; 26:35; 27:20

2 417 1:18-20

473 13:13

405

5:16; 31:18

542 2:32 323

l5:20

359

28:41, 43

396 2:30, 31

643 l5:20, 23

358

30:22-30

237 3:16

326, 629, 678, 698 15:24

321

31:13

463 AMOS

9:3

623 15:24-28

410

40:9, 10 218 OBADIAH

16

430 15:50

76

LEVITICUS

1:1-4; 4;3-6; 16:5, 10, 15, 16, 20-22

734 HAHAKKUK

2:11

441 15:51-54

381

8:10-15

237 ZECHARIAH

3:3-5

393, 405 15:52

525,678

16:17, 20, 21, 30, 33

197, 397 4: 1-14

531 16:2

601

16:8

733 6:12, 13

234, 410, 749 II CORINTHIANS

3:14

738

16:33

190 9:10

750 5:10

235, 635

17:11, 14

196 MALACHI

4:1

429, 532, 742, 751 8:13, 14

758

NUMBERS

13:11

471 MATTHEW

3:12

430 11:2

654

14:34

160, 232

5:5

427 11:13

375

22:25; 31:13-16

385 5:8

767 12: 2

377, 748, 749

19:13

442 5:17-20

674 GALATIANS

1:8

636

DEUTERONOMY

10:2, 5

542 5:18

31 1:11, 12

526

12:5, 11, 21; 14:23, 24; 16:6

465 10:15; 11:21-24

635 3:28, 29

380, 404, 427, 753, 756

12:5, 14, 18, 21; 14:23; 16:2, 6

630 10:28

381 4:21-31

728

28:49, 50

203 10:32, 33

395 4:26

378, 755

29:29 352 11:15; 13:9, 43

377 5:4

623

I KINGS

1:5-9, 19, 25

756 12:8

372 5:6

405

18; 19; 21

388 13:16

343 EPHESIANS

1:9, 10

525

II KINGS

19:15

464 18:17

602 1:20, 21

359, 546

20:14-18

27 18:19, 20

38 1:20-22

321, 410

II CHRONICLES

2:12

464 19:28

135 1:23

738

20:7, 8

184 22:1-14; 26:29

646, 728, 755 2:8

404

EZRA

1:1

21 23:34, 35

689 2:12, 13

756

1:1-4; 6:1-12;7

222 24:12

582 2:15

674

6:14

57 24:13

390 3:3, 6

526

7:9

233 24:14

344, 639 4:8

327, 415

NEHEMIAH

2:16; 6:15

223, 224 24:15, 16

19, 342 5:23

727

9:6

464 24:21

322,388 6:19

526

ESTHER

1:1

116, 166, 174 24:22

389, 532, 555 PHILIPPIANS

2:9

430

3: 12

461 24:24

627 3:11

629

JOB

9:8

464 24:27, 31

361 COLOSSIANS

1:15-18

358, 359

23:3 492 24:29-31

643 4:3

526

38:7

745 25:1-13

755 I THESSALONIANS

4:16

244, 320, 353, 361, 549.

38: 22, 23

686, 699 25:21, 23

762 4:16, 17

381

PSALMS

2:7-9

546 25:31-34

76, 476 5:4

393

2:8, 9

79, 359, 390 25:34

142, 539 II THESSALONIANS

1:6-10

362

36:8

474 25:41, 46

742, 747 1:7, 8

322, 768

37:11

427 26:29

76, 728 2:1-3

521

37:20

429 27:52, 53

327, 416 2:3

384

69: 4

623 MARK

1:14, 15

226 2:8

136, 637, 731

78: 53, 54, 69

183, 184 8:38

395 2:8-12

627

78: 68

184 9:43-48

744 2:15

602

85:10

234 13: 24-26

643 I TIMOTHY

6:18

405

91:9, 10

623, 701 14:25

728 II TIMOTHY

2:12

364

96:5

464 LUKE

1:11, 26

201 3

643

110:1

411 1:32, 33

321, 396, 423 3:1-5, 12

582

112:8

31 2:1

265, 548 4:1, 8, 20

76, 355, 381, 645

114: 1-8

185, 727 2:25, 26, 38

545 HEBREWS

1:2, 6, 14

358, 430, 633

115: 4-7, 15; 96:5; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3 542 3:1-3

269 2:14

429

3; 146:6

464 3:21, 22

226 4:1

602

119:126

622 3:23

226 6:7; 8; 9

237

126:1, 2

50 10:16

602 7:23-25

199

146:4

585 10:23, 24

343 7:27; 8:4, 5; 9:6, 7, 12; 13:11

397

149:9

391, 680 12:8, 9

395 8:1, 2; 9:23, 24

182, 410

PROVERBS

11:8

121 12:32

76 8:1

546

11:31 740 12:35-37; 19:12, 13

755 8:2

396, 735

ECCLESIASTES

9 : 5, 6, 10

585 12:37

728 8:4, 5

192

ISAIAH

3:10, 11

683 14:16-24, 12-15

728 8:12

394

8:7

692 14:14

381 9:1

188, 190, 191

8:16

461 16:19-31

440 9:1-5, 8, 12, 21, 23, 24

396

9.:6

755 17:17

39 9:2-5

188

11:1, 10

423 17:26-30; 18:8

582 9:8, 9, 23, 24

182

11:4

731 18:7, 8

678 9:12

198

13:19-22 54 19:10-12

137 9:22, 23

195

21:2

165 19:12

646 10:19

396

23:1

280 19:13

390 10:25

398

24:1

736 21:24

339 10:36

676

24:19, 20

455 21:27

323 11:1

404

25:8

474 21:25-36

643 11:6

404

28:17; 30:30 699 22:18, 30

728 11:33

116

30:33

742 JOHN

1:1, 3; 5:26

430 12:8

406

30:26; 66:23

762 2:13; 5:1; 6:4; 13:1

227 12:22

427

32:18, 19

700 5:28

244, 320, 353 12:23

470

33:14

744 5:28, 29

549 12:25-27

454

33:14, 15; 66:24

739 5:44

623 12:26

678, 698

33:16 473 14:2, 3

637 12:26-28

629

34:8

675, 719 14:3

381 13:22

98

37:16; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 51:13

464 14:26; 16:13

405, 406 JAMES

1:1, 18, 27

393, 631, 756

39:1

45 19:30

525 2:5

76

51:7

753 ACTS

1:6; 14:22

76 2:11, 12

635, 674

54:1-17

728 1:9, 11

360 5: 4, 7, 8

441, 676

55:1

403 3:15; 5:31

175, 320 I PETER

1:1, 5

356, 674

56:1, 2

674 3:19

394 2:9

360, 363

60:13

182 4:24; 14:15; 17:23, 24

464 3:21

621

63:1-4

729 6:5

377 5:4

381

63:18; 64:11

185 7:26

623 II PETER

1:19

391, 394

64:6

405 7:44

191, 396 2:4, 9, 14

262, 551, 635

65:17-25

427 7:56

413 3: 3, 4

582

66:22, 23

674 9:1-7

240 3:7

541, 748

66:24

744 10: 38

405 3:7, 10

740

JEREMIAH

2;3; 31:32

654 14:22

363 3:7-13

429, 744

4:23-27

456 15:1-35

375 3:13

427, 429

4:19-26

736 15:14

526 I JOHN

2:20, 27

405

10:10-12; 32:17; 51:15

464 16:26; 27:24

40 3:15

689

10:11

463 17:29

597 JUDE

6

635

15:16-18

528 17:31; 24:25

635 9

1 549

17:-24-27

26 20:7

60l 4, 15

645

25:8-11

20, 24 20:17-38

355 24 419

GENERAL INDEX

ABOMINATION that maketh desolate set up, 285.

Abubekr, his singular commands to his army, 500.

A. Campbell describes sects, 605.

Actium, battle of, 275.

Adding to, or taking from, 774.

Alexander, the Great, first king of the Grecian Empire, 58; his generous treatment of the royal Persian captives, 59; his self-conceit, 59; his debaucheries and death, 59; celerity of his movements, 131; how his kingdom was divided into four parts, 131; fulfils Dan. 11:3, 4, 249; his posterity extinct in 22 years, id.; names of the four generals who divided his kingdom, 249; their territory, id.

Alaric invades Rome, 479.

A new power introduced, 292.

Angel, Christ's, who, 353.

Angel of the church, who, 375.

Angels not disembodied souls, 728.

Anger of the nations, when, 539.

Anointing the most holy, what, 237.

Antiochus Magnus fulfils Dan. 11:13, 255.

Antipas, who, 384.

A thousand years in heaven, 741.

Attila, the Hun, ranks with Alaric and Genseric in the destruction of the Roman Empire, 485, 487.

Ark of testament in heaven, 667.

Armageddon, battle of, 695.

Assistance rendered Turkey, 311.

Azazel, name of the deil, 733.

BABYLON, city, description of; stratagem of Cyrus by which it was taken, 51; its final ruin, 54.

Babylonish Empire, the head of gold, 44; when founded, id.; its extent, 45; how universal, 46.

Babylon, symbolical, what, 636.

Baalam, his doctrine, what, 385.

Bear, a symbol of Medo-Persia, 128.

Beast, great and terrible, symbol of Rome 132.

Beast, image to, what, 587; mark of, what, 596.

Beast of Rev. 13:1, and little horn of Dan. 7: 25 identical 563.

Beasts, four, who, 417.

Belshazzar, son of Nabonadius, joint ruler with his father, 50; his impious feast, 102; chosen by Cyrus as the time to capture Babylon, 102; its conclusion, 107; poetical description of, by Sir Edwin Arnold, 108-114.

Benediction on commandment-keepers, 769.

Berenice married to Antiochus, 251; murdered by Laodice, id.

Bible names, significance of, 28.

Binding of Satan, what, 736.

Blessing, the, at end of 1335 days, what, 343.

Bonaparte dreams of glory, 303; Egyptian expedition, 304; his views of Russia, 314.

Book of life, 394.

Books, ancient, style of, 420.

Bottomless pit, meaning of, 498, 735.

Bride, the Lamb's wife, who, 727, 753.

CAESAR aesar, Augustus, a raiser of taxes, fulfils Dan. 11:20, 265.

Caesar, Julius, assumes control of Egypt, 261; is captivated by Cleopatra, 262; fulfils Dan. 11:18, 19, 264.

Caesar, Tiberias, fulfils Dan. 11:21, 22, 266.

Candlesticks, meaning of, 371.

Catholic catechisms, testimony of, .602, 603.

Catholic Federation, the, 582, 583.

Changing times and laws, what, 159.

Character of U. S. government, 579, 580.

Chastisement, a token of love, 406.

Chittim, what country, 280.

Chosroes, king of Persia, 496.

Christian Endeavor, aims of, 616.

Christian era, 227, note.

Christ's present reign, 321; change of position, id.

Chronology of the kingdom of God, 74-77.

Chronology of third message, 666.

Church and state in America, 609-621.

Churches, the seven, cover the whole gospel age, 355-357.

Closing thoughts, 774.

Cold and hot, signification of, 401.

Coming of Christ visible, 361.

Commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes one decree, 231.

Confession and denial of Christ, 395.

Conscious state of the dead not proved by Dan. 12:2, 327.

Constantine XIII, last emperor of the East, 509.

Constantinople, siege and overthrow of, 509.

Consulship of Rome extinguished by Justinian, 489.

Convulsions of nature, 721.

Cyaxares, the Mede, called in Dan. 5:31 "Darius," 50.

Cyrus, son of Cambyses, king of Persia, nephew of Cyaxares, or Darius, king of the Medes, 57; conquered Babylon, B.C. 538, 56; takes the throne on the death of Darius, 115; his decree for the return of the Jews, 57; length of his reign, 57; his successors, 57.

DAILY, Dan. 8:11-13, what, 179.

Daily taken away, how, 282.

Dan. 8:11; 11:31, and Rev. 13:2, parallel, 282.

Daniel and Revelation counterparts of each other, 3.

Daniel in the lions' den, 115-122; recognized by Paul as a true record, 116.

Daniel's prophecy to be understood, 5; Daniel and Ezekiel, 19, 20; Daniel's place in prophecy, 20; source of his fame, id.; nature of his prophecy, 21; his integrity, 29; his exaltation, 81; his wonderful prayer, 206; his age and decease, 21.

Darius Codomanus, the last king of Persia before Grecia, 57; overthrow at Arbela, 331 B.C., 58; his sad end, 58.

Date of the captivity, 32.

Dates of Christ's baptism and crucifixion, 269.

Days, the 1290, 341; the 1335, 342.

Days, the 2300, why not explained in Daniel 8, 204; explained in chapter 9, 209-213; reach to cleansing of heavenly sanctuary, 200; termination of, 397.

Decree of Justinian, 286, 287.

De Tocqueville's testimony, 568.

Dimensions of the holy city, 756.

Distinction between Christ and God, 358.

Door opened in heaven, 413.

Dragon, symbol, in one form, of Satan; in another, of Rome, 550.

Dura, the site of Nebuchadnezzar's rival image, 83: dedication of the image, 85; integrity of the three worthies, 87; Nebuchadnezzar's rage, id.; their deliverance, 89; Nebuchadnezzar's conversion, 90.

EARTHQUAKE, the great, at Lisbon, 444-449.

Elders, four and twenty, who, 415.

Eminent reformers, 789.

Enoch, contemporary with Adam, 3. l

Ephesus, meaning of, 375.

Era, Christian, 227, note.

Euphrates, symbolic, what, 691.

Events of the year 508, A.D., 285.

Exploits of saints, 289.

Eye-salve, meaning of, 405.

Ezra receives decree to restore Jerusalem, 223.

FAMOUS marches of Alexander, 131.

Federal Council of Churches, the, its purpose, 588; its formation, 588, 589; zeal for Sunday legislation, 591; intolerant character revealed, 592-594; aims at a religious monopoly, 593, 594.

Firearms prophesied of, 510, note.

First settlements in America, 576.

Five months of Rev. 9:10, where located, 506.

Forever and ever, meaning of, 675.

Four beasts, Daniel's vision of, 123.

Four heads of leopard, what, 131; arose when, id.

France an atheistical power, 292; fulfils Dan. 11:36-40, 292-302; fulfils Rev.11:7-13, 532-537.

GABRIEL, a prominent angel, 201; his glory, id.

Genseric, naval warfare of, 481, 482.

Genseric, the Vandal, 281.

Geo. Alfred Townsend's testimony, 568.

Glass, sea of, what, 417.

Glories of the stellar worlds, 329, 330.

Gluttony rebuked, 721.

God's people preserve the world, 40.

Gold tried in the fire, explained, 403.

Gov. Pownal's testimony, 567.

Great wonders originating in the United States, 583, 584

Grecia, the brass of the great image, 58; the leopard of Dan. 7:6, 128; the goat of Dan. 8:5, 166; comes into Prophacy B.C. 331, at battle of Arbela, 168.

HAILStorm, the final, 700.

Heads, the seven, explained, 704.

Heaven and earth flee away, how, 744.

He-goat, as a symbol, explained, 166.

Heraclius' bold enterprise, 497.

Horn, little, of Dan. 8, not a symbol of Antiochus Epiphanes, 172; but a symbol of Rome, 175; how it came forth from one of the four horns of the goat, 175; accurately fulfilled by Rome, 175-178; further explained, 203.

Horn, notable, of the goat, explained, 168.

Horns, four, of the goat, what, 171.

Horns, the three, plucked up before the little horn, 145-153.

Horn with eyes and mouth. a symbol of the papacy, 134, 138-144.

How long to the end, 338, 339.

IMAGE, great world kingdom of Dan. 2:31, 42; adapted to Nebuchadnezzar's position, 43.

Indignation, what, 202.

Interpolation in Rev. 1:11, 370.

Interpretation, two systems of, 4; Origen's mystical system, id.

JERUSALEM'S overthrow predicted, 24; three times taken by Babylon, id. Jews, who are, 380.

Jezebel, who, 388.

John Palxologus, death of, 508.

John, why banished, 364.

Judgment before second advent, 644.

Judgment, investigative, 135.

Justinian, papal decree, when established, 289.

KEEPING the commandments, what, 674.

Key of David, what, 396.

Key to movements in heaven, 322.

Kingdom of Rev. 1:9, meaning of, 363.

Knowledge, increase of, 332-336.

LAKE of fire repeated, 741.

Lamps of fire, the seven, what, 417.

Land divided for gain, 301.

Laodicea, meaning of, 400.

Laodice put away by Antiochus, recalled, poisons him, and seats her son on the throne, 251.

Last church not to perish, 622, 623.

Last war against Babylon, 50.

League between Jews and Romans, 259, 270.

Leopard, a symbol of Grecia, 128,

Life, book of, 746.

Life of fourth beast not prolonged like that of the others, 136.

Lion, a symbol of Babylon, 127.

Location of government symbolized by two-horned beast, 580.

Lord's day, meaning of, 367, 372.

Lot, meaning of, 344.

MAGICIANS, etc., who, 333; their cunning, id.; issue of the struggle between them and Nebuchadnezzar, 34, 35; God's providence manifest in theiroverthrow, 37.

Mark of the beast, what, 606; who have it? 606, 607. Martyrs by the papacy, estimated, 154-158.

Medo-Persia, the breast and arms of the great image, 56; how inferior to the head, id.; chief scriptural event in its history, 56; overthrew Babylon, B.C. 538, and continued 207 years, 128.

Michael, who, 244, 320.

Mistake of Adventists in 1844, 645.

Mohammedanism, rise of, 496.

Moon darkened, 451.

Morning Star, the, who, 391.

Mystery of God, what, 525.

NABONADIUS, the last king of Babylon, 50.

Name, new, unknown, 387.

National Reform Movement, the, its origin, 610; its object, 610; aims at church and state union, 611-613; would amend federal Constitution, 613-615; rapidly gaining in influence, 615, 616.

Nebuchadnezzar's wise policy, 27; commendable character, 41; his humiliation and final decree, 92-101.

Nehemiah's grant not a decree, 224.

Nicolaitanes, who, 376.

Nineveh, battle of, 497.

North, king of, who, 249, 302.

"Number of his name" what, 624.

ODOACER governs Italy, 492.

"Once in grace, always in grace," disapproved, 394.

Opening and shutting, meaning of, 396.

Ottoman supremacy, fall of, 515.

Our deeds all recorded, 745.

Overturning of kingdom three times, 202.

PARADISE withdrawn from the earth, 378; where, id.

Paraphrase of 1 Cor. 15:24-28, 411.

Patmos, description of, 364.

Perdition of ungodly men, when, 739; they never tread the new earth, 740.

Pergamos, meaning of, 383.

Persecuting powers, professedly Christian, 558.

Peter the Great, will of, 313.

Philadelphia, signification of, 395.

Plagues, seven last, poured out, 684.

Political changes in the world between 1817 and 1865, 569.

Pompey takes Jerusalem, 259; quarrels with Caesar, 260; flees to Egypt and is murdered, 261.

Pope Pius VI, death of, 564.

Prayer often heard before answers appear, 243.

Prince of the covenant, who, 269.

Proclamation of Christ's coming, not given by the apostles or the Reformers, 635; belongs to the present generation, 637; its extent, 641-643.

Prominent martyrs, 786-789.

Prophecy, importance of, 4.

Prophetic time, close of, 524.

Protestant church not true to its profession, 652.

Ptolemy and Cleopatra placed under guardianship of Rome, 260.

Ptolemy Epiphanes supported by Rome, 257.

Ptolemy Euergetes fulfils Dan. 11:7-9, 251.

Ptolemy, king of Egypt, fulfils Dan. 11:5, 250.

Ptolemy Philadelphus fulfils Dan. 11:6, 250.

Ptolemy Philopater fulfils Dan. 11:11, 12, 253.

Punishment, degrees of, 745.

RAM, as a symbol, explained, 165.

Reading of Rev. 1:8, 363.

Reformation, the great, 290; prophecy of, 555.

Religious declension of present day, 660-663, 713-715.

Resurrection, a special, 324-327.

Revelation, meaning of, 349; wrong title given to, 351; date of, 364; object of, 352; dedicated to whom, 355; to be understood, 354.

Revelation 12, symbols explained, 543.

Reward of the righteous, 328.

Robbers of God's people, Romans, Dan, 11:14, 256.

Rome, the legs of iron, 61; the terrible beast, 132; the horn of Dan. 8, 175; the great red dragon, 543; the leopard beast, 559; the scarlet beast, 704; succeeds Grecia, 61; Gibbon's testimony, id.' interferes in behalf of Egypt, 260; fulfils Dan. 11:14-35, 255; its divided state to continue to the end, 72; a false application, 63-66; growth of, by legacies, 273; growing influence of the papacy at Washington, 583.

Romulus, nicknamed Augustulus, last emperor of Rome. 488.

Russia's encroachments, 314.

SABBATH, by whom changed, 603.

Sabbath exists in this dispensation as Lord's day, 369.

Sacred writings, characteristics of, 23.

Saints reign with Christ, 737.

Sanctuary, the, not the earth, 182; not the land of Canaan, 183; not the church, 185; it is, first, the tabernacle of Moses, expanded later into the temple at Jerusalem, 186: secondly, the sanctuary in heaven, 191; how cleansed, 194-199; importance of the subject, 199, 236; in heaven, size and magnificence of, 427.

Saracens and Turks, 495.

Sardis, meaning of, 392.

Scopas defeated by Antiochus, 258.

Seal of God, what, 460-465.

Seals, the seven, explained, 431-457.

Seleucus Callinicus plundered by Ptolemy, 252; died in exile, 252.

Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus Magnus fulfil Dan. 11:10, 253.

Seleucus, king of Syria, fulfils, Dan. 11:5, 250.

Seven Spirits, who, 357.

Seventh-day Adventists, papers and books, 669; evangelical work, 669; how this work is fulfilling the third message, 671.

"Seven Times," of Dan. 4:16, literal, not prophetic; "seven times" of Leviticus 26, not a prophetic period, Appendix II, 784.

Shrinkage of Turkish territory, 315.

Siege of Jerusalem by Titus, 278, 279; fulfiled Deut. 28:53, id.

Silence in heaven, why, 475.

Smoke going up forever, 726.

Smyrna, meaning of, 383.

Souls under the altar, who and where, 439.

South, king of the, who, 249, 302.

Spirit, to be in the, meaning of the expression, 366.

Spiritualism, its place in prophecy, 584, 585.

Stand up, meaning of, 247.

Stars, falling of, 453, 454.

Startling events in papal history, 162, note.

Successors of Nebuchadnezzar on throne of Babylon, 46, 50.

Summary of Sabbath arguments, 672.

Sun darkened, 449-451.

Sunday Legislation, parties working for it, 618; recent history of, 619, 620.

Syria made a Roman province, 259.

TEN horns represent the ten kingdoms which arose out of the old Roman empire, 68.

Ten virgins, parable of, 639, 646.

Testimony of Adventists, 219.

The 144,000, who, 470, 630; include all who die under third angel's messege, 677, note.

The coming crisis, 607.

The Constitution violated, 617.

The danger threatened, 622.

The Father's house, 750.

The French Revolution and our own times, Appendix I, 777.

The general invitation, 770.

The judgment set, when, 161.

Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, 489.

The open book, 518.

The relative "which" in Rcv. 20:4, 738.

The sea no more, 749.

The ten kingdoms, enumeration of, 132, and Appendix III, 785.

The ten kingdoms still in existence in modern empires, 79.

The three messages cumulative, 664.

The word "king" used for "kingdom," 56.

They which pierced him, who, 361; how these who died so long ago see Christ at his second advent, 362.

Third part, refers to the divisions of Rome, 480, 481.

Thrones cast down should be rendered "set up," 134.

Thyatira, meaning of, 387.

Time in Dan. 11:24, how reckoned, 273.

Time of Dan. 12:1, 319.

Time of papal oppression, 289.

Time of the end, when, 290.

Time, times, and a half, 159.

Titles assumed by the popes, 153.

Titles of Christ, 358, 359.

Toes of the image same as horns of the beast, 67.

Tree of life illustrated, 764.

Tripartite division of Rome, 280.

Triumverate, who, 273.

Trumpets, the seven, exposition of, 477, 493.

Turkey declares war against France, 304; fulfils Dan. 11:40-44, 305-309.

Turkey's future, 310-318.

Twelve tribes of Israel under the gospel, who, 469.

Two general resurrections, 738.

Two-horned beast symbol of America, 567.

Two returnings, Dan. 11:28, what, and when, 278.

Two thrones occupied by Christ, 410.

UNIVERSAL empire, meaning of, 46.

Until, singular use of the word, 31, explains use in Matt. 5:18.

VENI, VIDI, VICI, the occasion when written, 264.

Vision of Daniel 10, date of, 238.

Vision, wonderful channel of, 246, 351.

Voice of the great words which the horn spake, 136; gives the beast to the burning flame, id.

WAR between France, Egypt, and Turkey, 302.

War in heaven, when, 549.

Waters, symbolic meaning of, 706.

Weeks, the seventy, part of the 2300 days, 215; when to begin, 220; intermediate dates, 225-230; their termination, 220; genuineness of the reading, 2300 days, 232.

"We grew into empire," 574.

White raiment, meaning of, 405.

White stone, custom of, 386.

Winds and the sea as symbols, explained, 125.

Winds, holding of, fulfilled, 467.

Wine of Babylon, what, 655.

Witnesses, the two, who, 529-538.

Word of Christ's patience, what, 397.

Wound, deadly, healed, 563.

XERXES, his mighty army, 248.