of a mighty wind. A generation is seventy years; and sixty-three years of this generation, which has seen all these things, having passed away; and as our Saviour commanded us, when we should see all these things, to know that it was near, even at the doors, we are fully justified in believing his word. All the other signs spoken of the last days, which were to mark the closing scenes of time, having also been witnessed in these days, we are further justified in such an expecta

tion.

IX. In the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, Paul assured the church that this day would not come except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, who should be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming. As we have witnessed that falling away-as papacy, that Man of Sin, has been revealed and continued his appointed time, and as no other events are spoken of to delay the coming of Christ, we are warranted in looking for his coming to destroy the Man of Sin, as an immediate event.

X. In the sixth and seventh chapters of Revelation, John describes a vision he saw, under the emblem of seven seals being successively opened, and unfolding a series of events, which were to be fulfilled from the time of John to the end of time. The events under the sixth seal bring to view, with the end of the world, the same signs our Saviour gave us in Matthew xxiv. to precede his coming, and, being fulfilled, we have reason to continually look for the closing scenes, when the wicked will call on the rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, and the opening of the seventh and last seal.

XI. In the eighth to the eleventh chapters of Revelation, is another vision of the events to precede the end, under the figure of the sounding of seven successive trumpets. The fifth was to give power to hurt men five prophetic months, or one hundred and fifty

years, from July 27th, 1299, when the Turks, according to Gibbon, made their first attack on the Grecian kingdom, to 1449, when the Greek monarch voluntarily surrendered his authority into the hands of the Turks, and then ruled by their permission. The sixth trumpet was to give them power to kill men for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, prophetic time, or three hundred and ninety one years and fifteen days from the end of the one hundred and fifty years, and which expired August 11th, 1840, when the Sultan of Turkey made a like surrender of his power into the hands of the powers of Europe, and now reigns by their sufferance, in accordance with calculations made and published to the world two years before its expiration. The seventh angel was then to sound shortly; and we are told that when he begins to sound, the mystery of God will be finished, time will be no longer, and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever; also, the wrath of God will then have come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, those that fear the Lord small and great be rewarded, and those that destroy the earth be destroyed. As the sounding of the sixth angel ceased about three years since, and the third wo was to come quickly, we are admonished to be continually ready, and prepared for the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet, when, the apostle says (1 Corinthians xv.) in the twinkling of an eye, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

XII. In the eleventh of Revelation is given the suppression of the word of God, under the figure of two witnesses, which were to testify in sackcloth twelve hundred and sixty years, and which we believe were fulfilled from 538 to 1798, during the supremacy of Papacy. The church, or holy city, was also to be trodden under foot during the same time. In the twelfth chapter, the persecutions of the church under Papacy are predicted for the same period of time, under the figure of the woman's fleeing into the wilderness.

In the thirteenth of Revelation, the papal beast itself is predicted to continue the same period of time, at the end of which it was to be led into captivity. These periods being all past, and at their close the pope of Rome having been led into captivity as predicted, they can no longer delay the coming of that day; so that we should live as commanded, with our loins girded about, and lights burning, like unto men that wait for their Lord.

XIII. In the seventeenth of Revelation, John is shown, under appropriate symbols, pagan Rome and its ten divisions, with papal Rome or mystic Babylon. Her end is shown in the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters, with the last battle of that great day, while in the twentieth, the resurrection and judgment are predicted; the remainder of the book being occupied in the description of the new earth, where the saints will reign forever. All of these events, which were to precede the destruction of Papacy, by the coming of the Lord, having been fulfilled, we should look for his coming as the

next event.

XIV. According to the literal reading of the Hebrew text, and the testimony of the best chronologies extant, we are at or near the end of six thousand years from creation. As it was the universal belief of the primitive church that the Lord would come when the curse had continued for that period, and was taught by those who sat under the teachings of the apostles, who saw our Lord and heard of him respecting those days; it should serve to admonish us that the end of all things may be at hand, and the judge be now standing at the very door.

XV. We are also compelled to believe that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto us, for the reason that the only argument which is adduced by the church to prove it far from us-a temporal millennium-contradicts the word of God. As the little horn of Daniel seventh will make war on the saints till the Ancient of

Days comes-the tares and wheat will grow together till the end of the world-and the Man of Sin will be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming,-it follows that the period spoken of, when all shall be holy and happy, must be, as St. Peter says, "in the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.'

XVI. Finally, we thus believe, because Christ has commanded us ever to live in expectation of his coming, and warned us against being overtaken as a thief, or having that day come upon us unawares. And we are told that they who are to shine as the brightness of the firmanent, shall understand.

The above is a mere outline of reasons which induce the belief of the immediate advent of Christ. We know not how to avoid this conclusion. We find these scriptures in the word of God, and are assured by him that all scripture is given for our learning, and is profitable. We are told that the things which are revealed, are unto us and to our children forever, and are commanded to search the scriptures, and to give heed to this sure word of prophecy, as to a light in a dark place. No one has ever yet been able to explain away this plain and obvious meaning.

Those who oppose our views attempt to disparage these portions of God's word by assuming that they are not to be understood, and that we can never know anything respecting the approach of that day. They also evidently show us that they are unwilling for the Lord to come. As such will never know; as those who acknowledge their ignorance of these prophecies must be in the dark respecting their meaning, and as those, whose reasons contradict the word of God, must be in error, we prefer to live in continual expectation of the coming of the Lord, as he has taught us, than to put it far from us. "The great DAY of the Lord is near.

IT

IS NEAR and HASTETH greatly," Zephaniah i. 14. May all who may peruse this be prepared for its approach, that they may escape all these things which shall come to pass, and stand before the SON OF MAN.

THE SAINTS WILL POSSESS THE KINGDOM FOREVER.

PROOF.

Dan. vii. 18, 22, and 27: But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Matt. xxv. 34: Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Luke xii. 32, xxii. 29: Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.

1 Cor. ix. 25: And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

2 Tim. iv. 8: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

James 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.

1 Pet. v. 4: And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.