Page images
PDF
EPUB

fused, no two of them can agree; some cry one thing and some another. We have seen the D. D.'s calling it all "moonshine;" the A. M.'s putting it off for "ages yet to come;" the professors throwing it all upon the back of Antiochus; the Rev.'s charging it all to old Jerusalem; and thus we are, "confusion worse confused."

But the analogy: Daniel viii. 13-26: "Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man; for at the time of the end shall be the vision. Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright. And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be. The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia and the great horn that is between his

:

eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days."

And now we will be as wise as Belshazzar; at least we will call in Daniel. Hear him. Daniel ix. 20-27: "And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved:

therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." What do we learn from him? We learn that days are to be understood years in his prophecy; (not the historical parts of it;) for the seventy weeks were to seal up the vision and the prophecy, which it could not do, if the vision was only six years and a third in length; it would far exceed it. We see, in the 27th verse Daniel carries us far beyond the death of Christ, until the burning day, and destruction of the abomination that maketh deso

late, or the desolator. Then this seventy weeks, for so it must be rendered, (Professor S. to the contrary notwithstanding,) is 490 years of the vision of Daniel viii. 14: "And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Then if 490 years was a part of this symbolical hand-writing, showing the end of earthly kingdoms, and especially the end of mystical Babylon, I ask what night must she be slain? When will the kingdoms of this world be weighed in the balance of God's justice and be found wanting; be dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel, and carried away like the chaff of the summer's threshing-floor, and no place found for them?

But what does Daniel further tell us? See Daniel xii. 10—13: "Many shall be purified and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." Many will be purified and made white." Was this done when Antiochus died? If so, then I cannot understand what being clothed in white means. But it is explained, Rev. xix. 7, 8: "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself

66

ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." It is the marriage of the Lamb, which could not have been 164 years before Christ was born. "And tried." When is this? Let the apostle James tell us, (i. 12): "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." "And the wicked shall do wickedly." So they were doing in Babylon, eating and drinking, and so they will be doing when Christ comes. Matt. xxiv. 48-51: “But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." "And none of the wicked shall understand." So it was in Babylon. Daniel v. 15: "And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing." And so will it be in the end of the world. See Luke xxi. 35: "For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” "But the wise shall understand." So it was when Babylon fell. Daniel v. 14: "I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in

« PreviousContinue »