BUT IT IS TIME TO INQUIRE INTO THE IDEAS OF THE ANCIENTS, BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES, AS TO TRADITIONS ON THIS SUBJECT.

THE terms the great day of the Lord-the great day of judgment—the judgment of the great day, or the day of the great judgment, are all Jewish terms, and were very familiar to, and well understood by the inhabitants of Judea, before the coming of Christ. They were originally

pire passing to the Goths, being the time of the end of the Roman empire or government, or of him who letteth (or hindreth) being taken out of the way, and must be the beginning or rise of the Man of Sin, which is the beginning of the 1260 years-This is pointed out by St. Paul, as a certain mark of the coming of the Man of Sin-He solicits earnestly that the Thessalonians should not be troubled on this account, for he assures them, that it could not happen until a falling away of the Church should first come, for it was then only that the Man of Sin should be revealed, the son of perdition. He was not to be merely a temporal power, for he was to be one," who should oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, should sit in the temple of God, showing himself, that he is God." And referring to more particular instructions, that he had before given them, in private, on this subject, he adds, "And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time, for the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth (or hindereth the appearance of the Man of Sin) who was the emperor of Rome and Pontifex Maximus of that heathen Church, will (continue to) let, or hinder, until he (that is, the one who letteth or hindereth, the emperor of Rome) be taken out of the way. And then, (when he is taken out of the way) that wicked one shall be revealed, whom the Lord shall (at last) consume with the spirit

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taken from the 7th ch. of Daniel, where an account is given of the judgment of the fourth beast, when he was to be destroyed. The description of the process is taken from a session of the Sanhedrim or Consistory of the Jewish rulers, wherein the Pater Judicii and his assessores sat in a semi circular form on his right hand and on his left.

of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."

4th. The time in which the Pope's ecclesiastical power over the Church of Christ was completed. About the year 500, Pope Anastasius excommunicated the emperor, as an adherent of Acasius. In his apology to the emperor he says, "that the successor of St. Peter is, at least, as great as an emperor. pares the Episcopal, with the Imperial dignity, and concludes a bishop to be as much above an emperor as the heavenly things, which the bishop administers and dispenses, are above the trash of the earth, which alone the greatest among the emperors have a power to dispose of. He pretends, by the higher powers, is meant the Spiritual powers, and to them chiefly every soul ought to be subject." The year previous to this, (the year 500,) was the first time that the Pope claimed and insisted on an absolute independence of both Church and State. He was to be judged by none but God.4-5th. The prediction of Daniel, 8th ch. 7th and 14th v. of the 2300 years, beginning about 540 years before Christ, which ends in 1760.

There were many antichrists, for whatever opposed the coming or reign of Christ, is antichrist, but the antichrist, by way of emphasis, was that government foretold as arising from the bottomless pit, or abyss, about the finishing of the testimony of the witnesses.

Again, it is not the temporal power of the Pope, or his becoming universal bishop, that shows the commencement of the 1260 years; but the defection, or falling away of the Church of Christ to image worship, which is the worst kind of idolatry, and, with the worship of angels and saints, is called spiritual whoredom and idolatry.

* 2d Thess. 2d ch. 3-12 v.

2d Bowen's Hist. of the Popes. p. 268.

+ Ibid. p. 262.

"I beheld, says Daniel, till the thrones (or seats) were pitched (to wit, for the senators or assessores to sit upon) and the ancient of days (Pater consistorii) did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered unto him; and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened."

Most of the expressions in the New Testament relative to the day of judgment are also taken from the same source, hence they were well understood by the Jews and their proselytes to whom they were addressed by our Saviour and his apostles-But it must not be forgotten, that it was also pretty well known by the most intelligent Jews, that by the word day, applied to the last judgment, was generally meant one thousand years, as St. Peter himself explains it, when writing to the Gentiles on the subject of the day of judgment, "But beloved be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years; and a thousand years is as one day."* As if he had said, as I have mentioned the day of judgment, I would forewarn you that I do not mean a common day, but a thousand years, which it means in the language of the Holy Spirit.

Hence it will follow, that whenever the Scriptures speak of the kingdom of Christ, or of God, or of Heaven, or the time of refreshing and restitution of all things, to take place at the second coming of the Saviour in glory, or at the destruction of antichrist; it is the same

* 2d Epist. Peter, 3d ch. 8th v.

that Daniel speaks of, which he had seen at the destruction of the fourth beast, and so must be the kingdom of the thousand years, which in the Revelation to St. John is included between the beginning and end of the great judgment. This is also spoken of in Luke, 17th ch. 20th v. to the end-19th ch 11th, 15th-21st ch. 31st v.-2 Timothy, 4th ch. 1st v.-Mr. Mede is express on this subject.*

The expression of the son of man's coming in the clouds of Heaven, is also taken from the same prophesy of Daniel, being no where else to be found in the Old Testament, and refers to the commencement of the same kingdom of a thousand years.

The formal words of the Jewish doctors, when speaking of the day of judgment, were "una dies Dei sancti benedicti sunt mille anni," one day of the holy and blessed God, is one thousand years, which seems to be the very phrase quoted by St. Peter, for they are not the words of the 90th Psalm.

The ancient Jews, while yet the Church of God, although they firmly believed in a resurrection of the body, yet they knew nothing of such an order in it, as the first and second resurrection, but only in general of a great judgment; yet they constantly looked for such a resurrection, as would enable all those concerned in it to reign upon earth.†

This appears, from the language of the Apochryphical book of wisdom, where it is expressly said, speaking of the souls of the righteous who are dead, "that in the time of their visitation they shall shine-they shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.

Medes Com. Apoc. p. 531. ↑ Vid. Rev. 5th ch. 10th v.

So in the Jewish liturgy in the morning prayer, "specdily revive the fathers with all the dead, and be unto Israel as a dew to refresh them, and to restore them to life, to sanctify the holy one of Jacob, and the God of Israel."

Again in the standing prayer for the daily service; "Thou, O Lord, art for ever powerful. Thou restorest life to the dead and art mighty to save. Causing the dew to descend. Sustaining by thy benevolence the living, and by thine abundant mercies animating the dead. Supporting those who fall. Healing the sick. Setting at liberty those who are in bonds, and performing his faithful word unto those who sleep in the dust.-Who is like unto thee most merciful father, who remembereth his creatures in mercy unto life, and art faithful to quicken the dead. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the restorer! And thou O Lord our God, even thou shalt speedily reign over all thy works on Mount Zion, the residence of thy glory, and in Jerusalem, the city of thy sanctuary.— Vouchsafe me this day the reward of the righteousness of my ancestors. Grant me the same lot and portion with them in glory. And may glad tidings be proclaimed unto my people, saying, I will redeem them from the power of the grave, because that Abraham obeyed my voice. We will therefore wait upon thee, O Lord our God, speedily, to behold the glory of thy power, to remove all impurities from the earth, and that idols may be entirely destroyed. To well order the world in the kingdom of the Almighty, and that all the human race may invoke thy name; to reclaim unto thee all the wicked ones of the earth. That unto thee only, every knee shall bend, and by thy name shall every tongue swear."

This same opinion may be found in the Chaldee pa