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phant Word of God shall break his confederacy, that Babel which he had so long been carefully erecting; and, at the head of the armies of heaven, shall supernaturally overwhelm him with sudden destruction.

During this period of unexampled trouble, which so awfully terminates with the slaughter of Megiddo, we are expressly taught by Daniel, in perfect harmony with the other inspired prophets, that the restoration of Judah shall take place: consequently the whole prophecy relative to the expedition of Antichrist must be so interpreted as to harmonize with the many predictions which treat of the conversion and return of the ancient people of God.

Yet, at the time when the power of Antichrist is broken, all his followers will not be involved in indiscriminate destruction. The least guilty will be spared, converted, and scattered into all nations. Wherever they go, they will carry the wonderful tidings, that God hath overthrown his enemies, and accomplished the restoration of his people Judah. One thing only remains to complete the grand scheme of general redemption, and fulfil the sure word of prophecy. Though Judah hath returned, the lost sheep of the house of Israel remain still to be gathered. But they shall not long continue in the land of their captivity. Struck with the marvellous tidings of those that had escaped from the slaughter of Megiddo, all nations shall bring the brethren

brethren of Judah, an offering unto the Lord, to his holy mountain to Jerusalem; the stick of Joseph shall be united with the stick of Judah; one king, even the mystical David, shall be king unto them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided any more into two kingdoms *.

This circumstance of a two-fold successive restoration will perhaps shew us, as I have already observed, why Daniel divides the 75 years, which will intervene between the expiration of the 1260 years and the commencement of the 1000 years or the season of millennian blessedness, into 30 years and 45 years. The 30 years may be taken up with the restoration of Judah, and the antichristian war of the infidel king and his associates at the time of the end; the 45 years may be occupied with the subsequent restoration of Israel, in consequence of the tidings carried far and wide by the converted fugitives from Armageddon. When the 75 years have elapsed, and when the whole house of Jacob has been brought back, then will commence the thousand years of the reign of the saints. None except vital Christians, none except

* Isaiah lxvi. 19-24. Ezek. xxxvii. 19-25. + "We may venture to say in general, that there may be a "considerable space of time between the fall of Antichrist, and "the last judgments which shall be inflicted upon him. Some "learned men, who have compared the prophecies of Daniel "and the Revelation together, suppose the interval of time be

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except protestants in reality no less than in name, will then hold the reins of government throughout the whole world; the tyranny of Popery and Infidelity will be every where subverted; earth will become a school for heaven in a far higher sense than it has ever yet been; and man, daily conversing with his Maker, shall eat as it were angels' food, and walk as it were upon the threshold of the world of spirits.

At the close of the Millennium, after the destruction of Gog and Magog, the second or general resurrection will take place. The first heaven and the first earth shall pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth shall occupy their place. The Church of God shall be finally translated to everlasting rest and happiness; tears shall be wiped from every eye; and death shall be swallowed up in victory.

"tween the 1260 days and the 1335 days to be included within

the times of the seventh trumpet, during which the seven last "plagues will be fulfilled" (Mr. Lowth's Comment. on Dan. xii. 12.). This interval of time, or at least that part of it which is placed between the expiration of the 1260 years and that of the 1290 years, appears to me to belong exclusively to the seventh viul, as others have perhaps more justly imagined. See Mr. Lowth on Dan. xii. 1. and my own remarks on the proper apocalyptic arrangement of the 1260 years in the preliminary statement prefixed to this work.

PRO

PROPHECY XXVII.

The restoration of Israel-Their instrumentality in converting the Gentiles--The state of the Jews in the days of their dispersion.

Hosea i. 2. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea was in this manner. The Lord said unto Hosea; Go, take to thee a wife of prostitution, and children of promiscuous commerce: for the land is perpetually playing the wanton, forsaking the Lord. 3. So he went, and took Gomer, daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bare him a son. 4. And the Lord said unto him, call his name Jezrael (a seed of God); for yet a little while, and I will visit the blood of Jezrael upon the house of Jehu, and I will abolish the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5. And it shall be in that very day *, when I break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrael. 6. And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said, Call her name Lo-Ruhamah (not beloved) : for I will no more cherish with tenderness the house of Israel, insomuch as to be perpetually forgiving

• In that very day.] "This entire abolition of the kingdom "of the ten tribes shall take effect at the time when I break the "bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrael." Bp. Horseley's Hosea

in loc.

them.

them. 7. But the house of Judah with tenderness I will cherish; and I will save them by the Lord their God; and will not save them by bow, nor

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* I will save them by Jehovah their God.] "sions are too magnificent to be understood of any thing but "the final rescue of the Jews from the power of Antichrist in the "latter ages, by the incarnate God destroying the enemy with the 66 brightness of his coming; of which the destruction of Senna"cherib's army, in the days of Hezekiah, might be a type, but "it was nothing more. It may seem perhaps, that the prophecy points at some deliverance peculiar to the house of "Judah, in which the ten tribes will have no share; such as "the overthrow of Sennacherib actually was: whereas the de"struction of Antichrist will be an universal blessing. But, "in the different treatment of the house of Judah and the house "of Israel, we see the prophecy hitherto remarkably verified. "After the excision of the kingdom of the ten tribes, Judah, though occasionally visited with severe judgments, continued "however to be cherished with God's love, till they rejected "6 our Lord. Then Judah became Lo-Ammi; but still con"tinues to be visibly an object of God's love, preserved as a "distinct race for gracious purposes of mercy. Perhaps in "the last ages the converts of the house of Judah will be the principal objects of Antichrist's malice. Their deliverance "may be first wrought, and through them the blessing may "be extended to their brethren of the ten tribes, and ultimately "to the whole world. This order of things the subsequent "prophecy seems to point out" (Bp. Horsley in loc.). Other prophecies teach us, that the deliverance of the converted of Judah will be first wrought. In fact, the ten tribes will have no share in the deliverance from Antichrist. His wrath will be directed exclusively against Judah: and the ten tribes will not be restored until after his final overthrow between the scas in the land of Palestine.

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