example of hardness in sin, were evidently no curse to him, as they seemed in their tendency, well nigh humbling him to repentance, though hardening himself again so soon, every time after their removal, which was at his earnest request.* 7. In proof that a frightful, or very unnatural death, is no part of the threatened curse of God upon sinners, it is well known that the saints, in being taken instantly from their earthly troubles to their eternal rest, have frequently died as frightfully, so to speak, as the most ungodly; by lightning, drowning, cholera, &c. 8. Christ expressly exposed the falsehood of the tradition maintained by some, that earthly sufferings, or even a frightful form of temporal death, are the curse of God upon sinners, by his solemn admonition and declaration to those who believed the tradition, while most positively assuring them that temporal death by the sword of Pilate, or the providential full of the tower in Siloam, was no token of one's being a greater sinner than another; warning them of the fact, that they must all likewise perish as awfully, except saved by a timely repentance.† The great danger and evil of the unscriptural tradition here refuted, is, that it serves as the corner stone of what is called Universalism, in helping the wicked one to deceive the ungodly, with the falsehood that they are, even now, suf. fering, and “damned" for their sins, as threatened in the scriptures, according to their deserts; thus making themselves to feel secure in their open practical denial of the necessity of Christ's atonement, till too late for a remedy in their In the general case. APPLICATION of the preceding Principle, and others in unison with it, the student of the Prophecies will accordingly be led to the conclusion, that the threatened prophetical overthrow and destruction of cities distinguished for their wickedness, such as Babylon-Egypt-Moab-Edom * Exod. 9: 27, 34, 35, &c. † Luke 13: 1—5. Jerusalem, and others, when fully and finally accomplished, according to the spirit of the prophecy, must include the overthrow and ruin of all the ungodly with Antichrist in hell, since it is proved that nothing short of that can ever vindicate the divine law in their case, for which object only, the dreadful penalty is to be inflicted. The fact that God has chosen these various names of very wicked cities or nations as figures of the various departments of Satan's kingdom, should be no barrier in the way of readily seeing the force of the truth in the threatening, since the instruction is no more figurative than was the acknowledged custom with Christ in his parables of spiritual things, and in the whole book of the Revelation.* PRINCIPLE V. THE distance of the final judgment appears to have been neither foretold nor foreseen, by any of the prophets of the Old or New Testaments, and for aught they knew, was near at hand when they wrote. ILLUSTRATIONS. Should it be taken for granted, as it is supposed many have done, that the prophets generally had a vision or revelation of the real distance of the great day when they wrote, or of the thousands of years then to pass away before its coming, together with the great political events of those centuries, it would be natural to search the prophecies, with the expectation of being entertained more or less with such things. But if those writers have not presumed to say how far off, nor near at hand, is the great day, and have not of course attempted to fill up the long period, now expired, with such political affairs; they must, then, have filled their books with the more spiritual affairs and interests of mankind; and we should wander in darkness altogether, were we to search their writings, expecting to find things of which they never wrote, and of which they could have had no distinct knowledge. PROOF OF THE PRINCIPLE. 1. "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand, it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty."*"Alas, for the * Isa. 13: €. day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty."*"For the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand."t "Hold thy peace, at the presence of the Lord, for the day of the Lord is at hand."‡ "The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly." "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels, but my Father only."§ "But this I say, brethren, the time is short."¶ "We which are alive and remain unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall be caught up together with him in the clouds."** "But the end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." "Be ye also patient, stablish you hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." "He that testifieth these things, saith, Surely, I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus."|||| These passages, it will be seen, as a specimen of many others, prove that it was common for the holy writers to speak not only as though they thought it possible that the final judgment were then near at hand, but as though they thought it indeed probable. 2. There are supposed to be no passages in all the pro phetical writings, which, with a scriptural construction, can be understood as directly, or indirectly fixing the distance of the great day, and showing that any of them knew, but it was then actually at hand.. 3. It seems like a display of the divine wisdom in keeping the distance of that day a profound secret, since, had it been known by mankind from the first to be thousands of years off, as it was, it would naturally have injured the divine word, in its power to slay the carnal mind. Under such circumstances, sinners might be more easily tempted to delay their necessary preparation for it, than when left to tremble under Zeph. 1: 7. || Zeph. 1: 14. § Mat. ** 1 Thess. 4: 15, 17. tt1 Pet. 4: * Joel 1: 15. + Joel 2: 1. 24: 36, &c. T 1 Cor. 7: 29. 7. James 5:8, | Rev, 22: 12 the apprehension of its being near at hand. Should it be said, that there is no difference in this respect, between the two cases, it being sure that the souls of all the present generation of man must shortly appear before God; it might be replied, that as "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned," seeming scarely to know that they have souls to be judged; the difference must be great between the cases, when properly understood, and faithfully exhibited by the church to others. When even the hardest sinners are constrained to feel the force of the truth, that something of themselves, as important in their dark view as their very bodies, may be sending up the smoke of their torment "forever and ever,"† to commence perhaps this very day, it is certainly calculated to move their minds very differently, from the soothing idea to them, that their beloved, and idolized bodies are secure from the judgment for thousands of years yet to come. 4. Christ himself has expressly and repeatedly confirmed the truth of this Principle, not only by declarations that neither men nor angels have obtained a knowledge of the day of his final appearing, but when curiously inquired of, to know the time when he should "restore again the kingdom to Israel," ("the saints,"‡) he gave them to understand that the time was, indeed, one of the secrets of the Lord; in his significant reply" It is not for you to know the times, or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power."|| It would not seem like a logical, or scriptural way of evading the force of these and other parallel passages, in an attempt to find a predicted year for the coming of this event, should an opponent say, that although the precise day and hour of the event may not be foretold, the identical year of it is re 1 Cor. 2: 14, 15. † Rev. 14: 11. + Dan. 7:18, 22, 27. Mat 25:34. Acts 1:7. |