them."1 And thus will be verified God's covenant faithfulness, first, to the lineal multitudinous seed of Abraham, and second, the promised blessing, through them, to the nations, kindreds, and tongues of the Gentiles. In conclusion, then, we submit that we have demonstrated the utter fallacy of the theory of Millerism at the head of this chapter, which alleges the fulfilment of all the prophecies that set forth the restoration, union, and conversion of Judah and Israel, or the Ten Tribes, to and in the Holy Land, by the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. Not to go into a recapitulation of the ground over which we have passed, suffice it to say, that we have carefully and candidly weighed, and, we hold, successfully, refuted every argument and fact, as based either on Scripture or history, brought against the predicted future restoration, union, and conversion of the literal seed of Abraham to Palestine; and have shown that, when that event does take place, their national conversion is dependent upon, and can only be effected by, THE PERSONAL MANIFESTATION to them of the Lord Jesus Christ; the ingathering of the Gentiles to them; and the establishment of Christ's kingdom and reign over them as their Messiah. I will only add, by the way, that as all expositors, except the Millerites, admit that the Jewish nation is to remain in captivity, and Jerusalem is to be trodden down of the Gentiles, "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke xxi. 24; Rom. xi. 25); it will follow, unless that period can be shown to be identical with the millennial era and to end with it, that "THE DELIVERER'S coming to Zion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob," must be PRE not POST-millennial. 1 Isa. lx. 5. SECOND THEORY: CHAPTER II. AS ADVOCATED BY GROTIUS, PRIDEAUX, THIS THEORY ALLEGES, THAT THE PROPHECIES RELATING TO THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST THE most modern and popular advocate of this theory is the late Professor George Bush. He borrowed it from the writings of Grotius, Prideaux, Vint, etc. It is founded upon their exegesis of Rev. xx. 1–7. The nature and character of the Millennial state of the Church, according to these writers, is made to consist "in the cessation of the pagan persecutions, and the extirpation of idolatry and polytheism" in the Roman empire under Constantine the Great; is to continue until "the appearance of the Antichrist" predicted by St. Paul, 2 Thess. ii. 3-12, whose "reign is to last three and a half literal years; and is shortly to precede the second coming of our blessed Lord to judgment," etc. The interval between these two extreme points, i. e., "the Millennium, or the thousand years mentioned by St. John," is regarded by them as the period "during which Satan was bound and the saints reigned with Christ" in a state of "general peace and prosperity to the Christian Church," etc.; but whether this interval of blessedness has already expired, or is still running on, they are not agreed. In what we have to offer on the subject of this theory, we shall confine ourself, for the most part, to a review of Prof. Bush's "Treatise on the Millennium;" which will involve an examination. of the symbolical imagery employed by the Holy Spirit in the passage under consideration, as interpreted and applied by him in its defence. Speaking of "the doctrine of the Millennium," as founded on Rev. xx. 1-7, this writer affirms, First. That it "is the only express passage in the Scriptures, in which mention is made of a period of a thousand years, in connection with the prospective lot of the Church," and, 516694 A Second. That its only key of interpretation is made to consist of "what is to be understood by the dragon, or the Satan (the adversary) who is to be bound; what by his binding; and what by the bottomless pit in which he is represented as being shut up." 1. In reference to the "DRAGON" (verse 2), he enters upon a long, labored, and learned disquisition, to prove, first, that, according to the symbolic language of the Apocalypse, he denotes "a standing symbol of Paganism, including in that term the twofold idea of despotic government and false religion"-or in other words, that he is "Paganism personified;" and second, "the identity of the dragon which is bound [verses 1, 2], with the dragon which was cast out of heaven." [Chap. xii. 3–8.] The Professor then argues, that "if this be the true meaning of the dragon, his being seized, bound, and incarcerated for a thousand years, must necessarily signify some powerful restraint laid upon this baleful system of error,"-i. e., Paganism-"by which its prevalence, through the above-mentioned period, is vastly weakened, though not utterly destroyed."" And he continues, "if this be the true meaning of the binding of the dragon, then, his being 'cast into the bottomless pit,' etc., if we mistake not, is intended by the spirit of prophecy to signify the unknown world, comprising the immense, unexplored, undefined, boundless regions which stretched beyond the limits of the Roman empire, particularly to the north and east;"-i. e., the territory which embraced the more obdurate Pagan subjects of Constantine's bitter and implacable rival, Licinius, etc., in the eastern branch of the empire-"where," says he, "Satan had long established his throne, where he ruled with undivided sway, and where idolatry, in its most frightful, and horrid forms, has ever held a disastrous dominion.” . But this is not all. During this alleged absence of the "dragon," thus "cast down," "bound," "shut up," and "sealed" in "the bottomless pit" or abyss; that is, during this season "of general peace and prosperity of the Christian Church" for a thousand years; and "commencing about the time of the suppression of Paganism," or binding of Satan, or the dragon; he affirms was "the rise of the beast" of Rev. xiii. 1, “having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns," etc. But for what The dragon, he says, purpose? Let the learned author answer. "conscious of his being forced to withdraw in his own proper person,.... resolves on thrusting upon the vacated stage another agent, who should act as his Vicegerent, and into whom he deter mines to transfuse the full measure of his own Satanic spirit and genius. This was no other," adds he, "than the seven-headed and ten-horned beast that arose out of the sea!" etc. The Millennial Church, then, we conclude, must have been vastly benefited by this important exchange of the "dragon" for the "beast." Indeed, the Professor himself seems to have been considerably startled at this idea, and therefore says, "This may strike the reader as a very revolting conclusion; but this conclusion," he adds, "we know not how to avoid, nor can we see how any one can avoid it, who admits the premises on which it rests." 1 Now to all this we readily reply, neither do we. Indeed, who does not know that the right interpretation of any subject depends upon a correct understanding of the premises on which it rests? But in this, we must insist, lay all the difficulty in the Professor's ingeniously wrought theory. For, to say nothing of his violation of the laws of interpretation of the symbolic imagery of prophecy, by an indiscriminate jumbling together of the dragon with the beast, whether with one head or seven, or whether with horns and crowns, or no horns or crowns at all, the Professor, as the expositor of the Apocalypse, furnished himself with the amazing facility which marks his application of them en masse, as denotive of "the extirpation of idolatry and Paganism" from the Roman empire; and to confine the golden period of peace and prosperity of the Millennial Church under the reign of Constantine, and that of his successors, to the space of what he calls one thousand years! Now, the readiest mode of exposing the fallacy of all this, will be to place before the eye the several descriptions given of these objects, thus: The first, Rev. xii. 3, etc. : "And there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads." The second, Rev. xiii. 1. "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." 1 Treatise on the Millennium, p. 147. The third, Rev. xx. 1-3. "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed for a little season," etc. Now, the plainest-minded Christian cannot but perceive at a glance the marked distinction between these various objects re vealed to the Apostle John. Take, for example, the first and second. While the points of resemblance consist only in this, that both have seven heads and ten horns, yet they differ in the following particulars: 1. In name. "beast." The one is called a "dragon;" the other a 2. In origin. The "dragon" is "cast out of heaven;" the "beast" rises "up out of the sea," and receives his power from the dragon; for, although the dragon is represented as "having seven heads and ten horns," yet, as we shall see, the latter is only his subordinate agent in the execution of his purposes. Hence, 3. The mutation to which the "beast from the sea" is subjected. First, he appears with "seven crowns upon his heads," which crowns are subsequently transferred to his ten horns, and upon his heads is written "the name of blasphemy." 4. That the dragon and the beast are not identical, will appear from the following: In the first place it is to be observed, that so far from the dragon being a symbol of "paganism personified," the Holy Spirit says that he is "that old serpent called the Devil and Satan." On the other hand we read that "the dragon gave his power, and seat, and great authority to the beast." (Rev. xiii. 2.) Again: the "beast," with his seven crowned heads, as the agent of the "dragon," is symbolical of the Pagan "despotic government," under which form, having accomplished his mission and received his fate, the draconic Devil, or Satan, changes his tactics, by transferring the crowns from the seven heads to the ten horns of the beast, while on his seven heads are inscribed the name of blasphemy, under which new form he becomes the symbol of "false religion," or Papal anti-Christianism, to which power it was given to "make war with the saints, and to overcome |