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culiarly difficult and obscure: yet it at least serves to shew, that the end of the world does not immediately follow the rout of Gog and Magog.

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" vours to maintain purity and fidelity are increased in conse66 quence of Gog's invasion. Being fully sensible of the great "evils arising from a spirit of opposition to the discipline of "the Church which animated Gog and his followers, they "endeavour to discover and suppress the first movements of "it. So I understand the expressions in Ezek. xxxix. 14, 15. "They cannot be taken in a literal sense; because the army "of Gog, if it were allowed to remain unburied for seven "months, would occasion pestilential disorders. Again, if 66 you suppose the bones mentioned to be a few scattered over "the mountains, which had escaped the notice of those who "buried the main body at the end of seven months, the danger "arising from them would be over; and the burial of them "does not appear of so great importance, as to require that i men should be appointed for that employment, nor could it "be said that the burying of these bones cleansed the land. "The expressions are certainly figurative. As the Jews un"converted are compared to dead and dry bones (Ezek. xxxvii.); so the bones of Gog's army here signify persons unconverted, "who resist the authority of the Church, and hate the cou"straints of religion. That men answered to the continual em"ployment of discovering these bones implies, that the Church "appoints officers for the purpose of searching into the first move"ments of the spirit mentioned. When the spirit is discovered, "the officers employed make it publicly known to the ordi66 nary civil magistrates, who, by every legal method, suppress "it. The proper employment of the civil magistrate is to "suppress all vice, immorality, and irreligion, as a burier 66 covers out of sight a nauseous carcase. By the lawful diligent exercise of discipline, the land is sleansed, the Jewish "church

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PROPHECY XXVI.

Descriptive character of the powers that will compose the Antichristian confederacy-The progress of Antichrist to Palestine-His overthrow thereThe restoration of Judah during a time of great trouble at the close of the 1260 years.

Dan. ii. 40. The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and, as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41. And, whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's 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 with the miry clay. 42. And, as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43. And, whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with

"church is kept pure" (Fraser's Key to the Prophecies. p. 458.). If the passage is to be understood symbolically, I doubt whether Mr. Fraser gives quite the proper explanation of it. The Jews are not symbolized by dead and dry bones on account of their infidelity, but on account of their long political extinction as a nation. The burying therefore of Gog's army, if interpreted symbolically, would denote the utter extinction of his national existence.

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the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 44. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever: 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest-34.-till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 35. 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 threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them and the stone, that smote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

vii. 7. After this I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that went before it; and it had ten horns. 8. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn there were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. 9. I beheld, till the

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thrones were set, and the ancient of days did sit:-10.-the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 11. I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame 23. The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole. earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise and another shall rise behind them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three king's. 25. And he shall speak great words by the side of the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most Higli, and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of a time. 26. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, by consuming and destroying it unto the end. 27. 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 king dom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

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Rev. xiii. 1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy-8. And I saw one of his

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heads as if it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast-5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to practise forty and two months. 6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations 10. He, that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity: he, that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword.

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11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13. And he doeth great wonders, that he may make fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image for the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15. And he had power to give life unto the beast's image, in order that the beast's image should even speak, and in

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