UC-NRLF $B 2fi SbT •THcrtiTfeiRC* OF THE Ujiited States "B^ IDivn le Hppointnient, AND THE Doom of Monarchy As Predicted in Revelation. THE FUTURE Of THE — UNITED STATES BY DIVINE APPOINTMENT ^^^^ AND THE DOOM OF MONARCHY, AS fREDICTED IN I^EVELATIO^I. BY REV. 0. B. WRIGHT. t. 1887. ELIJAH GAY, PUBLISHER. LOS ANaSLES, CjLL. • •• ••» • • < DEDICATION, WE dedicate this little volume to the working class ot America. For — to them we owe the liberty we enjoy ; they have stood by our country in every instance ; they have raised the provisions to feed their brethren in the field ; and at one and the same time fought her battles, tilled the soil, and are ever ready to bear their breasts to the bullets when her free institutions are in danger. God bless them, and forever give into their hand the country they so richly deserve. THE AUTHOR. Entered accordirgto act of Congress in the year 18S7 by D. B. WRIGHT in the oflace of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. INTRODUCTION That either the monarchical form of goyernment, or thft Republican form, must become universal on earth, is a self- evident truth. We Americans see very readily that the free. Democratic, representative form of government, of which we are the great successful representative, must and will supplant all monarchy and become universal. And it begins to be seen and felt by the crowned heads of Europe and the more enlight- ened and thoughtful of their subjects. The Empress Eugenie, several years ago, ventured the prophecy that in fifty years t'lere would not be a crowned head in Europe. And an event that is so readily sanctioned by reason, and is such a natural and unavoidable sequence of our rapidly advancing civilization, and, above all, is plainly taught of God in the predictions of prophecy, must and will be among the events of subsequent history, and cannot be very far distant. The history of the world is but the history of God's dealings with the nations, and prophecy is but the history of nations pre-written. Now, we claim in this unassuming book that God has a grand and glorious future for our nation, one that will make the heart of every true citizen swell with patriotic joy, and cause all lovers of Bible democracy in every land to rejoice • with us. And in accomplishing it God will not use the great things of the world, great in the estimation of men, or the wise things of men. " But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty: and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen; yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are." (I. Cor., 1 — 27.) 740014 ' ' 4* ^' ' S.' INTRODUCTION. We announce here in the beginning of our book that God intends to accomplish the great future of our nation througli the instrumentality of the laboring classes. God has always claimed the poor of this world as his own peculiar inheritance. When his Son was in the world it was not the learned, the rich, and the great, or the officials in either church or state that received him, but the '' common people heard him gladly." This book claims that God's ancient nationality, the Jewish Republic in the wilderness, and finally established in the land of Canaan, was a type of which our nation is the antetype, he established that nation to prefigure our glorious nation in the "time of the end." And when he established that nation he did not employ the wealth and power, and influence of kings and heroes and states- men, etc., but he took a band of degraded, ignorant slaves, laboring in a brick yard in Egypt under task-masters; none could be found poorer, or weaker, or in a more hopeless con- dition, and the first dash he made with them he shook proud Pharoah's throne to the dust, and nearly destroyed the most powerful empire in the world. God uses only those things that are put in his hands freely and voluntarily to be used according to his will. Those pos- sessed of wealth or power of any kind will not do this, but the poor of all ages have ever lifted their hands to heaven and prayed: "Our Father lead us." God intended in raising up this nation to establish a nation in which the elective franchise should be in the hands of the laboring classes, and that the masses should rule, and not a hereditary aristocracy as in Europe, nor an aristocracy built upon a monied monopoly as in America, for it is a well known fact that in our glorious " land of the free," a monied monopoly seeks to throttle our government, and we call upon the working mpu of America to wield that mighty weapon which God has INTRODUCTION. placed in our fingers — the ballot — take to yourselves that mighty power, and rule this nation as God has intended you should. We asked an ex-senator not long since what would be the end of this monied monopoly that was so rapidly gathering strength in our nation, and he replied, that it was the opinion of most men that it would end in the destruction of life and property. Well, now there is no need of that; if you will take to your- selves your right and your power to rule this nation before it 6 rested from you. No people have a right to resort to severe means while they hold in their grasp the elective franchise; when that is rested from them, then death to tyrants in any form is justifiable; that is why we sympathize with the poor people of Russia who are writhing beneath the iron heel of des- potism. They have not the omnipotent ballot or if they have any power in that direction it is very suspiciously and vigil- antly guarded, and neutralized by the few that, in Russia, seem determined cost what it will, to rule the many; that magnani- mous fett; that ever seeks to rule the many have always been found in every age and in all lands, even in our beloved America. Now, my countrymen, suffer this little hortatory as an intro- duction to our book, and put your ballot where it will tell for you and your children; where it will tell for liberty of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience. We shall now address ourselves to the task of showing God's hand in our rise, growth, and glorious future that awaits us, and also His direct interposition in the overthrow and utter annihilation of monarchy on the earth. PREFACE. We do not claim to be a discoverer. The honor of the dis- covery of the following theory is, we think, due to the late Dr. Baldwin. We give his views in his own language, or nearly so, but we do not follow him strictly in our own views. We take him only in the main features. While we readily acknowl- edge that without him we could not see as far as he did, as we are privileged to stand upon his shoulders, we ought to see farther. We take up this great subject because those who rank among the scholars of our day, hence have the power of research necessary to the great task, and ought to take it up and give the ministry as well as the laity some definite theory of prophecy, refuse to do so. But they might reply to my friendly censure by telling me that I can afford to " tackle " it, as I have all to gain and nothing to lose, while they have all to lose and nothing to gain. But we are encouraged in this bold "adventure, feeling the blessing of God upon us in it, and emboldened by the fact that that time promised to Daniel when the Prophecies should be unsealed, has come, " the time of the end," not end of time, as some read; that would have been useless to have given to the world of mankind a revelation that was not intended to be understood until it was too late for mankind to be profited by it. Such a thought is too dishonoring to God. Nay, leave it to the heathen oracles to surround themselves with an imag- inary mystery, well suited to awe the marvelousness of human nature. But God says His revelation was sent as a light into the world, and "that no prophecy of the Scriptures is of any private interpretation, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." A prophecy PREFACE. given in one dispensation of time, to transpire during a future period or dispensation of time, is sometimes sealed, or inten- tionally hidden from us, until the beginning of that period, when it becomes the duty of all God's enlightened people to discern them, and even the unconverted world that lieth in darkness is held culpable for not recognizing God's hand in the unfolding events. While God gives the Prophecies in such occult language as to not be understood until they begin to be fulfilled, or, in other words, until they are unsealed, he does hold us culpable for not discerning them when that time arrives. One of the most severe rebukes which Christ dealt to the people of his day was for their not discerning the fulfillment of the Prophecies, then being fulfilled before their eyes. We claim for the fo lowing theory that it systematizes the Prophecies. It will be readily discerned by the Bible student that the true theory would of necessity throw all prophecy into a beautiful and harmonious system, and that no other theory could, hence the leading principle to be laid down, in the inter- pretation of prophecy, is that it must systematize and harmonize the Prophets. . Error cannot be systematized; truth only can. All interpretations must coincide with the literal and evan- gelical doctrines of the Bible. It is a true maxim that "the •:)erfect coincidence of events with prophecy is infallible prool of the fulfillment of prophecy." Jesus held closely to this pdnciple, strictly fulfilling all that the prophets had predicted of Him, and it is in recognition of this principle that we believe in Him as the true Messiah. Many predictions refer to two, and sometimes more, events, as in the case of Matt* ii., 17, 18. If we look at Jer. xxxi. 15, we will find those words applied to altogether another and dif- ferent event, as Dr. Adam Clark plainly shows; also see Adam Clark on Isaiah, Ixi. 1, where he shows the double application more forcil ly as .Jesus makes the application himself. It is iu PKKFACE. peculiarity of prophecy to give " here a little and there a little," hence one sentence will follow another, as wide apart in their application as the first and second advent of Christ. As in Luke iv. 18, there our blessed Saviour '*went into the syna- gogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read," and he read from the book of the Prophet Isaiah, and he stopped reading in the middle of a sentence. Now, it is evident to our mind that the omitted part of the sentence applies to his second coming to our world. He closed the book and sat down, and said unto them: "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." When He comes again will He not finish the sentence with propriety ? THE UNITED STATES IN THE RESTORATION. All the intellectual creatures of God throughout the universe have a dual nature; a spiritual nature that constitutes them religious beings, and a social nature that constitutes them political beings; hence God's great universal empire is in keeping with these two principles, and is of a dual nature. These two constitutional qualities in man "have resulted universally in some kind of religion and some kind of civil government. In a state of purity and perfection, as with the angels in Heaven, or with man as he was first created, this has resulted in a pure religion and a perfect civil government. At the fall of man, the rejection of the true God as monarch in both of these departments, led to the wildest disorder and universal misery. Probably the greatest corruption visible to mortals is brought to view in human governments. A great mind has said: " It is a truth, established by uni- versal experience, that all civil governments among mankind have conformed in principle and practice to the genius of the prevailing religion of the people." Religion has controlled the politics of the world in all ages. If the religion has been mild so has been the civil government; if it has been bloody and despotic, so has been the civil government; if it has been lib- eral and enlightened, so has been thu civil policy. This has resulted from a law of nature, by which inferior things are controlled by superior; and as the spiritual nature of man exercises supreme power over his conduct in his individual capacity, so does it in his aggregated state. To subdue man it was, therefore, necessary to subjugate his spiritual nature first, to regenerate him as a religious race, and then his polit- ical regeneration would follow inevittibly. A physical victory 10 THE UNITED STATES might have resulted in a moment from the weight of Omnipo- tence, but a moral victory could not thus speedily be obtained from the eternal and immutable and self-existent principle of moral agency. As it is the natural result of all kinds of religion to form its subjects into some kind of civil govern- ment, so it has been with the religion of the Bible. The Jewish Church, as soon as it extricated itself from bond- age, formed itself into a nationality. That nationality, on account of the backsliding and infidelity of the people, came to an end, as it had been predicted by their prophets. At the same time they predicted its rise again and establishment on earth as the Israel of God to endure forever. There is noth- ing more forcibly predicted in the word of inspiration than the restoration of Israel. All the prophets have dwelt upon it and spoke of its future glory in the most extravagant language, and use the loftiest types and symbols, from Daniel to St. John, the Apocalypse, and tl\^ Christian world has ever looked and is still looking for its ribc. Now, Israel restored is to be a nation- ality naturally arising c iit of God's recognized Church. The Christian Church claims to be that Church. We have come in the place of the Jewish Church. As the Apostle Paul says : " The Jews being the natural vine, and being broken off' through unbelief, we gentiles, a wild olive tree, are grafted onto the natural stock." But he says also: " There is no dif- ference between Jew and Gentile; we are all counted in unbe- lief and are all received through faith, whether Jew or Gentile, for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that cir- cumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. So it is Chistian Israel or, in other words, Christ's Israel, that is to be restored, but the Jews are to be compre- hended in it, for I truly believe our Hebrew brethren will yet come to see and believe that Jesus Christ was and is the true IN THE RESTORATION. H Messiah which was promised by their Prophets, and they, through xVith will be received of God the same as we Gentiles are received by faith, and they, comjng with that true inward circumcision of the heart, they will bear a grand and glorious part in the glorious restoration of God's Israel. But, in order to recognize God's Israel when it is restored and appears among the nations of the earth, we must know what kind of a nationality it will be, what kind of a govern- ment it will have. You will all see at a glance that there never was and never can be but two kinds of government. According to the constitution of man, there can be but two kinds of civil or spiritual government. All governments must either be republics or monarchies. There may be^various kinds of each, but there is no harmonious medium kind, nor can there be. There may be absolute, limited, constitutional or hereditary monarchies, but they all agree in asserting or practicing the doctrine that the right of governing does not exist in the consent of the governed. There may be autocratic, democratic, representative and confederate republics, but they all agree there is no right of government except by the expressed consent of the governed. These two can never exist in a blended state harmoniously, because their principles are essentially and originally antagonistic. Now, it is equally plain that God's Israel, restored to nationality, must be a den - ocratic republic. First, because republican principles are the natural out- growth of Christianity. Wherever Christianity is received into the human heart, and the man becomes imbued with its spirit, civil and religious liberty are at once felt to be the great bless- ings of man on earth. Again, nothing but a republic can be in keeping with the great law of love, as taught in the Gospe] and throughout the Bible. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul and strength and thy neighbor as thyself." This great law of God, the dual law of love supreme to God and 12 THE UNITED STATES equal love of neighbors, is justly called the great constitutional law of the universe, and the Decalogue, based upon it, is but the constitutional law of a single province of God's empire, as in our world. This great law of love to neighbor as to self, is a ]aw conferring equal rights among all citizens of the same government. It is diametrically opposed to human legitimacy, p' )acy, and absolutism. It is not conformable to hereditary a ^stocracy, nor can it be; it is democratic, purely, and places all citizens of the same country upon a dead level as to right to rule, and confers exclusive favors upon none. God is, accord- ing to it the only one that has a divine right to exercise kingship, and He is, by consequence, opposed to all human monarchy and hates it as a feature of hell. In the first book of Samuel, 8th chapter, we have the opinion of God and Israel about kings, and it is one of great repugnance on God's part and repentance on Israel's. Israel asked Samuel to make them a king, but he was displeased with the proposition and prayed to God about it, and God replied to him, " they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Now, therefore, hearken unto their voice, yet protest solemnly and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." After a king was chosen, God sig- nified his displeasure by a terr^'ble thunder storm in wheat harvest, and the people were greatly terrified, for Samuel said, "I shall call unto the Lord, and He shall send thunder and rain that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king," and the people said unto Samuel, " pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not, for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king." )It is evident that God considers a human monarchy as exceedingly sinful, and as standing in direct hostility to Him- self, and he has but little patience with it. It is also obvious that in the recovery of the world to good government, in the IN THE RESTORATION. 13 progress of Christianity, that human monarchy will share no part nor lot in the new organization. God is, therefore, hostile to human monarchy, because the system is iniquitous in prin- ciple, and he will destroy it because of its wicked nature. If you reply, " the powers that be are ordained of God," we answer that this does not prove monarchy correct in principle, for God uses monarchy as he does other curses, for the sake of chastising evil people. Thus the king of Babylon punished the Tyrians, and Cyrus punished Babylon at God's instigation, and wicked nations need tyrants to punish them for their vice. God said: " 0, Israel, I will be thy king. I gave thee a king in my anger, and took him away in my wrath." Monarchy is, therefore, a curse added to a vicious people, who are unworthy of freedom. In the spiritual and political redemption of 4ihe world, it therefore follows that monarchy must be overthrown. God permits human monarchies to exist, and he always has a purpose in it, but all the governments He has established among men have been of the democratic-republican form. The government of the ancient Jews, their first government, the one God organized for them, was a theocratic democracy. Now, the Hebrew system was a typical one throughout, in both Church and State, and Israel restored to nationality, that nation which should arise in the world and endure forever, and should develop into the millennial kingdom, and to which we are told Christ is to come, is to be its ante-type. All who read the Bible know that this nationality is une- quivocally promised to Israel in the Christian era, or latter day. Now, the United States, being a late and extraordinary Chris- tian people, arising late in the Christian era, we enquire may it not be the veritable nationality of the Prophets. If it coin- cides with all the great characteristics predicted of a Christian nationality, then all doubt must end, and our country, says Mr. Baldwin, "rise into an importance and sublimity abso- lutely overwhelming." And this is what we propose to show 14 THE UNITED STATES beyond a successful contradiction: We propose to show in these papers that this great nation is the one predicted by the Prophets, and is the great millennial kingdom in embryo. We have said that the Hebrew Church and State were the type of which the Church and State, in the restoration of Israel to nationality, were to be the ante-type. About 300 years after the Jewish Church started in Abraham, it went into bondage in Egypt, and through Joseph was connected with the throne; and about 300 years after the Christian Church was estab- lished, it went into bondage by being connected with the throne of the Roman empire. As the Jewish Church came out of Egyptian bondage, crossed a sea and established a nationality in a wilderness, so the Christian Church came out of spiritual bondage in Europe, the Union of Church and State, and crossed a sea and established a nationality in a wilderness. As many people in the American colonies were not pious, and yet approved of the liberty taught by Christianity, so many of the Hebrews were unbelievers in the religion of Moses, and yet approved and contended for the justness of constitutional liberty. Those who imagine that ante-typical Israel was to be composed of pure and holy men altogether, are greatly mis- taken.- On this principle, the Hebrew Church, as a type, would have required that ever;y rnember of the ante-typical or Christian Church should have been holy. As the Church of typical Israel (Hebrew nation) possessed true doctrine, though many who belonged to it were impure, so the common- wealth of ante-typical Israel (Christianity in America) pos- sesses the true doctrine of human government, though many who enjoy its benefits are not true Christians. Many Chris- lians get a la^r period blended with the rise of Israel; they read that in the restoration all shall be taught of the Lord and all shall be holy, etc.; but if they would read a little more carefully, they would perceive that this is not said of the rise of Israel, it is of a later period. IN THE RESTORATION. 15 111 the end of time the angels shall gather out of the govern- ment of ante-typical Israel, or "out of the kingdom, all things that offend, and them that do iniquity." As there were twelve tribes of Israel, and Joseph's tribe was divided, making thirteen, so William Penn had two colonies ceded to him, making just thirteen colonies in the restoration.* ' The Hebrew Confederacy was organized into a more perfect union alter the exodus, by adopting a written democratic con- stitution, and so the Confederate colonies after the war of inde- pendence, in order to form a more perfect union, adopted a written, representative, democratic, federative constitution. The Hebrew constitution was submitted to the tribes for acceptance and ratiftcation, and so was the American constitu- tion. It is not a little- remarkable that the Hebrew and Amer- ican constitutions are the only two written ones ever known to have been adopted at the birth of any nationality prior to 1776. The Hebrew bondage, consequent upon the descent into Egypt coincides with the civil and spiritual bondage suff'Ted by spirit- ual Israel after the union of Church and State. The exodus from typical Egypt, the crossing a sea, the overthrow of Pharoah's host, the general thanksgiving, the organization of a republican con- federacy of thirteen tribes, composed of three millions of people; the adoption of a written constitution by the tribes; the separa- tion of the Church and State departments; their freedom from control of one by the other; their laws of servitude and natural- ization, and their full organization and deliverance, under a noble leader in a wilderness, have all a complete correspondence in the United States of America. • We will take up now some of the literal prophecies of the *NoTE Since these papers were written, we have seen in the public prints an account stating that they were about to bring the remains of William Penn to this country ( ante-tvpical Israel) for interment. It Avould seem they were (without intending so to do) trying to make ante- typical Israel answer its type in detail. Joseph's' bones liad to be carefully *aken up out of Ejrypt k d buried in Israel. 16 THE UNITED STATES restoration of Israel. And that we may better understand the literal prophecies, we will do well to keep before us the fact that God revealed to his Prophets, the facts but not always the manner of them. Again He did not increase their scientific knowledge; they spoke of everything in keeping with the scientific knowledge of their day. The word of inspiration is so full of this class of prophecies, all so minutely pointing out our nation, that we hardly know where to begin. Perhaps it would be as well to commence with that prediction that so minutely describes the first settlement of this continent and the first inception of our nationality. This is recorded in Isaiah Ix. 9 : " Surely the isles shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish, first to bring thy sons from far." To understand a prophecy, we must understand in what age of the world it was uttered, and where the prophet stood when he uttered it. This prophecy was made in Palestine in western Asia, called Asia Minor. There were vast countries at that day supposed to exist in the Atlantic, west of Gib- raltar, and we artj told by the best authority on history that they were termed "isles " by both Plato and Diodorus Siculus. You will please observe that the Prophet represents God as speaking, and speaking in the first person, in the first part of the Prophecy, " the isles shall wait for tti^," and then he speaks in the second person, " and the ships of Tarshish, first to bring thy sons from far," as though he would say, " the great conti- nent (lying on the other side of the then unexplored Atlantic) shall be kept for this purpose of which I am speaking. The hardy Norsemen may navigate its seas and touch upon its shores, but I shall frustrate every attempt to colonize. It ' shall wait for me ' until a great Christian people shall need it to flee to from spiritual bondage and oppression, and start the embryo of my Christian Israel, and then, Israel, 'the ships of Tarshish ' shall be ' first to bring thy sons from far.' " It was a fact constantly kept in mind by all of Gods^ IN THE RESTORATION. 17 Prophets, even at that early day, that " westward the course of empire takes its ways." Hence the Prophet knew that the glorious nation, which he was describing, was in the west, and hence, according to his knowledge of geography, roust be in the region known as the " isles." " The ships of Tarshish " — Tar- shish, as you all know, was the most ancient name of Spain. " Ships of Tarshish /rsi." As prophecy notes only the greatest events of time, the term "first " must apply to some very im- portant and famous circumstance. America answers to the " waiting isles," and " the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy sons," to the discovery of America by the ships of Spain. It has always seemed very strange to i:s that America was not colonized before it was; that this great and rich continent, capable of sustaining such a vast population, should lie here unoccupied, and that, too, when the population of Europe was so dense and needed this continent to spread out in. But God plainly tells us in this Prophecy that He preserved it until His Christian Israel was strong enough and the time had arrived for them to take possession and build up a great Christian republic, which should develop into the millennial kingdom. ^^ Surely the isles shall wait for me"; the words "surely" and "me" plainly show that He intentionally resevyed it for His own purposes. Again, Ezek. xlvii. 13; " Ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions." Joseph had two portions of old Israel, and thus there were thirteen tribes; and here we are informed that the same numler was to exist at the rise of Christian Israel. In the next chapter, the 48th, it is said these divisions shall lie side by side on a great sea, with their limits extend- ing from sea to sea, " from the east side unto the west side " of the continent. Now, is it not an astonishing fulfillment of prophecy, when we see the United States taking its rise in twelve colonies, and William Penn, like Joseph, having t,vo ceded to him, making thirteen in all, and they lying side by 18 THE UNITED STATES side on a great sea? But it is truly overpowering evidence of fulfillment, when we see that the langupge of the old charters was that they should " extend westward irom sea to sea." Again, Isaiah ii. 2-3: "And it shall come to pass, in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exhalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it, and many people shall go and say, ' come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.' " The term " mountain " in the prophecies invariably means govern- ment of some kind, either civil or ecclesiastical. The expres- sion *' last days" signifies the Christian era; in this place it means the time from the rise of Christian Israel to the coming of Christ. The expression, " let us go up to the mountain (or nationality) of the Lord," intimates that its locality shall be elevated, and Lieutenant Maury shows that the whole earth, to reach us, is literally obliged to come up to us. We are on the physical head of the world. The gulf stream runs at the rate of four miles an hour across the whole breadth of the Atlantic. The expression, " all nations shall flow unto it," does not mean simply that emigrants shall come from all nations to it, as they do indeed to us, but that all nations, as nations, shall ulti- mately flow into it. It will eventually absorb all the king- doms of the world. As St. John says, in speaking of a later period of Israel restored, when the seventh trumpet sounded, " there were great voices in heaven saying, ' the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.' " Ezek. xxxviii. 8: "After many days thou shalt be visited; in the later years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword and is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste; but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them." The expression, " after many days," is explained IN THE RESTORATION. 19 in the next line by the expression, "in the latter years." He tells us in this verse that Christian Israel shall be restored in a land which has " been always waste." What land can an- swer to this but America, and the world has all been explored and there is no rich section lying waste of sufficient extent in which to found a great empire, as Israel restored must of neces- sity be. He says again, " it is brought forth out of the nations." This is not the same as the similar expression in this Prophecy, '• gathered out of many people," and in the 12th verse of this chapter, " gathered out of many nations," an expression so fre- quently used by the Prophets in speaking of the nationality of Christian Israel, but this expression, "brought forth out of the nations," means that it had its rise outside of the nations, (not founded on other empires, etc.,) a characteristic of Christian Israel which runs through all the predictions of it. You will please note this fact in the further progress of this subject. That this is the intended meaning is further seen in the ex- pression that follows. "And they shall dwell safely all of them," means that their position in the earth shall be such that they shall not be easy of access to other nations, that their natural fastnesses shall be like the great Atlantic and Pacific. In the 8th verse, as we have seen, God was addressing Israel; in the 11th and 12th, He addresses "Gog." ^ Gog and Magog are put for the enemies of Israel in the "latter days." "Gog" is derived from "Magog," and literally means a "prince" or " ruler." He is called a prince or head of many countries. They are both symbolic terms, and are meant to represent Is- rael's enemies. Hence God addresses him "thou" (Gof^).^ I would premise, before quoting this, that God is speaking of a later period than the rise of Israel. He is speaking here of the great battle of Armageddon, which ushers in the millennium. "Thou ,(Gog) shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, hW of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars 20 THE UNITED STATES nor gates; to turn thy hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, upon the people that are gathered out of the nations." Here we have the same expression, "I will go up to the land." This expression is always used when speaking of approach to Christian Israel. " The land of unwalled villages, dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, finds its complete fulfillment with us. The phrase, " at rest, that dwell safely, etc.," refers again to their being a distance from other nations. We are '' the desolate places that are now in- habited;" we are "the people that are gathered out of the na- tions." Isaiah xlix. 23: "Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and queens thy nursing mothers." The word "nursing" in the margin is translated " nourishers." These terms imply atten- tions to the infancy of the restoration. If it had not been for the attentions of royalty in our early history, we could not have survived. From the time Isabella sold her jewels, through all our weak and dependent history, they were our support. Mr. Baldwin says: "The memorial of nursing kings and queens and princes will remain upon our rivers and waters, our coun- ties and towns, our cities and States, while time shall last. Louisiana, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, Dela- ware, New York, ^ew Jersey and New Hampshire will ever suggest the early interest of royalty in our colonial history." Isaiah i. 26: "I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning.''^ This shows emphatically what kind of a government Christian Israel shall be. It shall be like the Hebrew republic in the beginning, not after they had wickedly changed it into a monarchy. Judges and coun- selors were an essential part of Hebrew democracy, or of th'.- first government, the one God established for them, and it shows emphatically that their restoration implies republicanism Jere. xxx. 21: "Their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor from the midst of them." What country but IN THE RESTORATION. ours will answer to this? No comment of ours will enlighten this. Isaiah xlvii. 17: "Thy destroyers, and they that make thee waste, shall go forth of thee." The principles of mon- archy in any form, spiritual or civil, have always wasted the true Christian Church. The abandoning of Christian Israel by all monarchies leaves the only alternative of freedom. But the great destroyer of the true Christian Church has been the papal power, which is called in Revelations "the beast; " call- ed by St. Paul "that man of sin, the son of perdition, who," he says, " opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." And since he has arrogated to himself infallibility, how completely he fulfills these predictions of him. Now, the prophecy we are considering, I believe to be a promise that Christian Israel shall be freed from this element so hostile to civil and religious liberty. Now there are two ways in which this may be brought about. One is by war and bloodshed, and the other is by their becoming Americanized by being brought in contact with our systems of enlightenment, our public schools, our teaching of pure Gospel doctrines, and our free institutions. Some fear the former; I do not. I believe it will be brought about in the last mentioned way. God does not save people by churches and societies and corporate bodies, but individually. Human salvation is an individual concernment; hence there are many good people in the Romish Church, and thousands are being saved out of it constantly; and no class of people, however deep they may be sunk in ignorance and superstition, can be brought in contact with our systems of enlightenment and free institutions, without coming up out of the wilderness. And this is the reason why some, who want to keep the masses in subjection to them, and consequently try to keep them in ignorance, are so hostile to our public school system and free institutions in general. 22 THE UNITED STATES We are aware that great efforts are put forth, and Cardinals are sent over, but we will enlighten their masses, Americanize and Christianize them, and make good subjects of Christian Israel of them. Some of their leaders and some few bigoted mem- bers, who refuse to advance with progressive America (or Is- rael), will finally leave our Israel of their own accord, as a soil not congenial to the growth of their principles. Fear not, my American citizens; fear not the bloody inquisition, nor the power of the beast and the dragon, in any form, for the promise has gone forth from Jehovah, " thy destroyers shall go forth of thee." Again, Isaiah xxxiii. 20: " Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; but there the glorious Lord shall be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ships pass thereby." The term Jerusalem is used as often as the term Israel to designate God's nation- ality. It is a circumstance to be noted, that whenever the Prophets speak of the restoration of Israel, they always express in some form its peace and permanency. Here it is expressed in the sentence, " Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habi- tation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down." " A place of broad rivers and streams," implies a land of great pros- perity and peace. Mr. Baldwin says: "It is common in Scripture to embody a promise or threat in terms figurative, which, when taken literally, designate the very agencies by which the threat or promise is realized. Sword and fire may symbolize Avar, or rain may represent plenty, yet each is an essential agent in the realization. So, broad rivers and streams may symbolize vast inland prosperity, and yet are essential means in effecting it, and may, therefore, be taken in a literal as well as figurative sense." " Galley " and " gallant ship " represent the greater and smaller classes of war vessels. Their presence would indicate the vassalage of Jerusalem to foreign- IN THE RESTORATION. 23 ers; their absence, therefore, declares Israel's independence. Vast inland prosperity, afforded by broad rivers and streams, a glorious independence of all nations, are great features of Christian Israel and of the American people. Daniel says: " Unto 2300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. It shall be for a time, times and a half, and when he shall have accomplished, to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. From the time the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, there shall be 1290 days." These texts give each the length of Israel's desohition. Their starting point is at the cessation of the daily sacrifice on the 189th day of the year 68 A. D. Dr. Baldwin shows con- clusively that their ending is on July 4th, 1776. On that day a nation was born. CHAPTER II. We propose in this chapter to examine Nebuchadnezzar's celebrated vision of the great monarchy image. This vision was given 605 years B. C, or in the year of the world 3401. This prophecy contains a history of the world from that period to the millennium. It is recorded in Dan. II. and reads as fol- lows: "Thou, king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood be- fore thee; and the form thereof was terrible." "This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, nis belly and his thighs of brass." " His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay." "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces." '"'Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces 'together, and became like the chaff of the summer 24 THE UNITED STATES threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image be- came a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." This im- age is the embodiment of all the great monarchial governments that were ever to exist, for so the Prophet affirms. Now you will observe that this image expresses chronology from the head downward, and as the Prophet gives the first one, there is no trouble in recognizing each successive kingdom as they arise, for they arise in chronological order, and occupy the same ter- ritory. " This image's head was of fine gold," and the Prophet Fays: ''' Thou art this head of gold. ^^ Here the first kingdom is expressly stated by the Prophet to be the Babylonian empire. He says this empire embraced the whole earth, " wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field," etc., God " hath made thee ruler over them all," implies universal do- minion. Its capital was in Asia. It subdued a portion of Africa. Carried its conquests into Europe as far as Spain. It was not literally universal, but according to Daniel's interpre- tation, it was sufficiently so to answer the purposes of prophecy. Again, "This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver." Now Daniel says, "Thou art this head of gold, and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee." The first kingdom being given, and the next following Ml chronological order, and was to supply the place of the other, and occupy the same territory, it is easy to discover the name of the second as soon as it made its appearance. Media and I'ersia were originally provinces of the Assyrian empire, and in [he day of Cyrus they were unite! in one monarchy, and over- turned the Babylonian empire, and of course this was the second empire intended by Daniel, since it removed the first and raised iiself upon its ruins. Hence the " Medo-Persian " empire was the second, or silver empire. The Prophet says, the "Medo-Persian" empire was to be inferior to the first, which history corro' o ^tiS. It was in- IN THE RESTORATION. 25 ferior, both in extent of empire and morally. We will not spend much time identifying the four kingdoms of monarchy, they are so very easy to identify, and all modern writers on the Prophecies, as far as we are acquainted, agree as to these four empires. The third kingdom is that represented by the brass: The interpretation says, "Thou art this head of gold, and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and an- other third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth." Alexander the Great subverted the Persian empire and founded the Macedonian on its ruins. So the third king- dom that appeared in chronological order from the Babylonian was the Macedonian. It will be observed that no two of these kingdoms coidd exist at one and the same time, for each one was to be universal, hence had to occupy the same territory. So each successor was, therefore, compelled to overthrow its predecessor to make room for itself. The character of this empire was symbolized by the brass. Bishop Newton says? " the Macedonian empire was fitly represented by brass, for the Greeks were famous for their brazen armor, their usual epithet being, ' The Brazen-coated Greeks.' " But we think more important qualities were intended by the metal. Dr. Baldwin says, "the gold of the head indicated the refined character, splendor and value of the Babylonian empire; and the silver, the inferior value and splendor of the Persian power; the brass, being baser yet stronger than gold or silver, may in- dicate a baser moral character of government, but of greater energies and capabilities in war." Again, the third kingdom was to bear rule over all the earth. The term " all the earth " has various significations in the scriptures. It generally means the civilized world, and this empire comprised "all the earth " as extensively as the Babylonian, and Daniel says, that was .sufficiently universal to answer the prophecy. It is said that Alexander's empire comprehended Europe, Asia and Africa as largely as any empire ever did, except the Roman, and that 26 THE UNITED STATES was subsequent. It is related of Alexander that after he had subverted the Medo-Persian empire, he stood upon the shore of the Indian ocean and wept that there were no more to conquer. It was doubtless at this time in his history that he gave com- mand that he should be called " king of the world." Alexan- der conquered in obedience to his unbounded ambition, not knowing that he was putting in a link in prophecy when he did it. Again, the later existence of the third kingdom was to be marked by a division into two branches; this is indicated by the brass extending from the body into the limbs. Now, it is a well known fact in history, that after Alexander's death the Macedonian empire was divided among his four officers, Cassander, Lysymachus, Ptolemy, Seleucus. But these were soon reduced to two, Legidse and Seleucidse reigning in Syria and Egypt. Bishop Newton says: "Their kingdom was no more a different kingdom than the parts differ from the whole. It was the same government si 11 continued. They who gov- erned were still Macedonians. The metal was the same, and the nation was the same. Nor is the same nation ever repre- sented by different nutals, but the different metals always signify different nations. All ancient authors speak of the kingdom of Alexander and his successors as cne ar.d the same kingdom. The thing is implied in the very name by which they are called, the successors of Alexander. But perhaps we have spent time enough on this kingdom to identify it as the Macedonian. We come now to the fourth — the iron kingdom, or Roman empire. Interpretation: " And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron Lie keth, all theso shall it break in pieces and bruise, aid wiiereas thou . . .vest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. But there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed IN THE KES'l ORATION. with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iro i and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong ;> • partly broken. And whereas thou sawest i:oi mixea with clay, THEY shall mingle themselves with the seed of men. But they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is no mixed with clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut ou without hands, which smote the image upon his feet^ that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces." This kingdom i,- represented by the symbol as existing in three distinct forms. The first form is that of a unit, represented by the iron alone. " His legs were of iron." It was, you observe, purely an iron kingdom for a period of time. As each metal was a little stronger than the preceding one, as you come down the image in chronological order, showing the power of each kingdom to subvert its predecessor, so it is expressly state! that "the fourth kingdom shall be stiong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh, all these [kingdoms or metals] shall it break in pieces and bruise." One writer says: " Kome has the best claim to this iron character of any nation that ever existed; whether consolidated or in fragments, it has wielded greater power and commanded a larger measure of influence, bee i more resistless in war and endured more lastingly, than any other empire whatever. It was a vast kingd* m of warr' r , and that, too, for ages. And Mars was its tutelary deity. ilS code of jurisprudence also have yielded a commanding in- fluence in the earth for near two thousand years. As iron is the strongest of metals, so Rome has been the strongest of all nations." The fourth kingdom was to crush out all other na- tions. The Roman empire comprehended all of the civilized world and much of the barbarous. The three eastern conti. nents were within it, or tributary to it. In our Saviour's time the term Rome and the whole earth were used as synonymous terms. St. Luke says, when our Saviour was born a decree had gone forth from Caesar x\ugustus 28 THE UNITED STATES that " all the world should be taxed." Rome existed as an iron unit down to the days of Theodosius, or for a thousand years. Now, we come to the second form in which this king- dom existed. Now, you will observe, that the composition or material that symbolized each kingdom, symbolized its politi- cal character. So with this last kingdom, after it existed purely an iron kingdom for a while, another element, another material comes in with the iron. Of all the expositors, but one has treated with any critical attention the coming in of the clay. By this it is evident that the union of Church and State is intended. That the clay symbolizes a class of people, the same as the metals, not only stands to reason, but is put be- yond a doubt by the Prophet's own interpretation. He says, in referring to the clay, " they " — mark you, he uses the pronoun of multitude, "THEY," referring to people. "They shall mingle with the seed of men." By the expression, " seed of m n/' is implied men of the world, or political world. A simi- lar expression is found in the VI chap. 2d verse of Genesis, where it means the same. Again, as the iron unquestionably represented the political character of the empire before the clay came in with the iron and mixes with it in about equal proportions, and as this class of men represented by the clay, and designated by the pronoun " they,^^ are said by the Prophets to " mingle themselves with that class represented by the iron, they must of necessity conjointly represent the po- litical character of the empire after this union. And the Prophet also says that these two classes of men though united in the government, " shall not cleave one to another even as iron is not mixed [chemically] with clay." And as to the peace and harmony of this incestuous union of Church and State, I will refer you to all past history. . Dr. Baldwin has very well said: "As the clay is a base material, so the Christian Church, by this union with the State, has been grosslv corrupted, and they who mingled themselves with the IN THE KESTORATION. seed of men have become baser than the iron of the world. As the clay and iron were not to cleave closely to each other, so has been this debased alloy of Church and State. The exact relationship of the Church to the State has never been generally agreed upon, and there has been through past ages a constant struggle between them for political supremacy, the iron gene- rally prevailing over the clay. Popes have arrogated suprem- acy, and absolved subjects from allegiance to kings and princes; but kings and princes have generally carried the day. So, that while they have remained and do remain combined, they have never been united, even " as iron is not [chemically] united or mixed with clay." They have had conflicting in- terests, and, from the nature of the case, they always will have. Nothing can exceed the accuracy of the brief description the Prophet gives of Church and State union in the Roman empire since it institution. Nothing, in fact, could be more perfect. The Church, with her magical cross, has awed kings and princes, rulers and people, into submission. The Pope has brought kings to his feet, and powerful emperors have spent frosty nights in penance upon his door-step. While kings and emperors in return, rising from their magic spell, as from the deep of slumber, have, while gratifying their own ambition, thought it best to curb the ambition of the Pope, and with the sword have — in the language of the great Napoleon — "brought his highness to terms." While God intends that a pure and en- lightened religion, or Christianity, shall be the mother of a per- fect civil government in the earth. He evidently does not intend the union of Church and State. That has ever been fruitful of the greatest evil. While carnal Israel, or the Jewish Church, reaped some advantages by her bondage in Egypt and connec- tion with Pharoah's throne, drawing her supplies from the gov- ernment, was preserved from famine, multiplied in numbers, etc. So spiritual Israel, or the Christian Church gained some advantage at first, in going into spiritual bondage, by being THE UNITED STATES connected with the throne of the Roman empire. But since that day, blood and crime has marked her way in the earth. Aside from the terrible wars she has engendered, the lands she has desolated, the homes she has saddened, it is estimated that 50,000,000 souls have lost their lives by her union with the State. I have before stated, and I hope to show beyond a doubt, before I get through with this present vision of Daniel. That when a great and mighty nation suddenly arose on the 4th day of July, 1776, civil and religious liberty first dawned upon the world, by the complete and eternal divorcement of Church and State. . Up to that time we read of the horrid inquisitions, auto- defe, bloody massacres. But since that day that hellish trio, Pope, Pagan and Despot, with their concommitants, the rack, tbe wheel, the stake and the guillotine, have all felt that at our dawn, humanity arose, and with that humanity, a civil arm that will not brook such horrid means to force the impenetrable entrenchments of the human soul; to bind down the unconquer- able human conscience; to put out the unquenchable flame that Durns in the human heart for oivil and religious liberty. We have shown these kingdoms to be the Babylonian, Medo- ' ersian, Macedonian and Roman We have seen that the pro- ' iive histor'.an a^Tees with revelation in pointing out these king- doms. Prophecy is history pre-written, hence, the true Prophet c d the correct historian must agree. Bishop Newton says: 'All ancient writers, both Jewish and Christian, agree with Jerome in explaining the fourth kingdom to be the Roman." Mr. Mede says: " The Roman empire, to be the fourth kingdom of Daniel, was believed by the Church of Israel, both before and in our Saviour's time; received by the disciples of the Apostles And the whole Christian Church, for the first three hundred years, without any Jcnown* contradictions. And I confess, hav- . ng so good ground in Scripture, it is with me " Tantvm non est IN THE RESTORATION. 31 articulus fidei,^^ little less than an article of faith. ISow, the third form, or period, of this kingdom was the broken one represented by the ten toes. Mark, these two things are affirmed of this kingdom: It was to be divided and then broken. It was to be divided into Church and State (clay and iron) after continuing for a period; it was to be broken up into smaller kingdoms, and its political character of clay and iron was to continue in its broken state, the clay continues with the iron down into the toes. The Roman empire was broken to pieces by the inroads of the Germans, Goths, Vandals and Huns, and ten kingdoms in less than two hundred years made their appearance. These ten were simply a representative number. There were to be many more than these during its broken period. Rome is still in its broken state, characterized still by the union of Church and State (clay and iron.) Now, there is this difference between the Prophet and the Historian — the Prophet looks upon the Roman empire as still existing in its broken state; the Historian, as having passed away, and its place supplied by smaller ones. Now, the Prophet inti- mates that it is to be reunited or consolidated again. This must be his meaning, for he says, the stone, or the fifth king- dom, smote the image on the feet, which must have been after it had existed for a period in that state represented by the toes. If I understand Dr. Baldwin, he thinks it is to be restored as it was before. I do not think so. I think by this is meant the confederation of all these monarchies, preparatory to the great blow to be struck against republicanism, or, as it is called in prophecy, the great battle of " Armageddon^^'' sybolized here by the stone kingdom, of which we purpose to speak in the next chapter. Let us mark this one particular, as we pass from tne time these kingdoms began to rise, the march of empire has been steadily westward. We will see when we come to treat of the THE UNITED STATES next, the fifth or stone kingdom, that " the star of empire " has not changed her course, but that " Westward the course of empire takes its way, The first four acts already passed. The fifth shall close the drama with the day, Time's noblest empire is its last." CHAPTER III. We will all agree, doubtless, in the beginning of this investi- gation, upon this one fact: That this fifth kingdom which the vision presents, and which Daniel interprets, is no other, and can be no other, than the restoration of Israel to nationality. For it is here doing precisely the work that is always predicted of Israel restored; that is, breaking in pieces and subduing monarchy, or, in the variable language of the Prophets, subdu- ing all the kingdoms of the world. Again, it occupies the same territory that Israel was to oc- cupy, and that is the whole entire world, and also its endless duration, which is here expressed in that same language so often used by the Prophets "for ever and ever." You must have observed all along, how careful the Prophets are in speak- ing of Christian Israel's nationality, to not leave the subject without speaking of its universality and perpetuity. You can invariably detect that the Prophets are speaking of this nation- ality by these two features. Something that cannot be said — of course — of any other nation that may ever arise; for it com- prises the whole world and shall endure '' forever." This king- dom, as you are aware, we claim to be the United States of America. IN THE RESTORATION. 83 You may say we are treading a new path for trul;h. Nofc wholly so. The late president of the "Soule Female College,'' a man of no mean talent, held the same views that we do. We are aware of the difficulties and disadvantages under which we labor in expounding prophecy. But, the difficulties are not in the prophecies, especially those that have been unsealed to man by a partial fulfillment. But they lie in the preconceived opin- ions of men upon the subject, and the firm and settled error of those opinions, and the determined hostility to any argument that would overthrow or unsettle them. Dr. Whedon, the commentator says, " every man is in an exegetical fix," the difficulty is, to get him out of that fix, and get new and correct opinions into him. A celebrated educator has said, "it is harder to unlearn what we have learned wrong than to learn correctly." One author says, " some persons have never fully formed an opinion on the subject; while others have satisfied themselves that some one has made a great mistake in explaining prophecy somehow, and are consequently distrustful of the ability of any man to throw any new light upon the subject. Others and of the smaller class, are ever ready fairly to examine all honorable argument and to decide justly. And as for ourselves, we can truly say, we had rather, by far, try to make a wide-awake, progressive infidel see these sublime truths, than some who have been rocked in the cradle of Christianity, for they will tell you that the old elder who baptized their great grand-father, and preached to four generations down from him, never interpreted Scripture that way. And you might as well try to shake Mt. Minsi down into a plain, as to enrich their minds with any new discoveries in Scripture. But to return; please pardon this digression. We will take up the points which are given to identify this kingdom. 1st. The time of its rise. This is expressed and implied in the positive words of the vision and in the interpretation, also, in ?A THE UNITED STATES the time when the destruction of the image was to take place. The Prophet says: "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands." Now, mark closely the following fact: " It is certain that the image was a chronological one and repre- sented successive kingdoms, from the Babylonian down to tlie broken state of the Roman empire represented by toes of iron and clay. It is certain that he saw the history of the world down to the subversion of the Roman empire. It is certain that he saw a period of time extending from his day down to the fifth century. It is certain that after he had seen the whole era of the image down to the broken stages of Rome, that he continued to look prospectively into the future. It is certain that he did not see the empire of the stone until he had seen counted among God's worthy people who sh^ll one day drop isorrow, care, death and age, and in perennial youth soar to the bright worlds aboye and around us.' Then go, Christian, go! and with the angels *' Wing thy flight from star to star," " From world , to luminous world as far" Taste ** all the pleasures of all the spheres," Enjoy " them through endless years;" And then thy heaven has Just begun. lOAN DEPT. LD 2lA-50m-12/60 (B6221sl0)476B General Library Berkeley Photomount Pamphlet Binder Gaylord Bros. Inc. Makers Stockton, Calif. PAT. JAN. 21. 1908 YG I54J8 740014 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY