STUDY II

Though Alexander conquered the world in the short period of thirteen years, the kingdom did not continue as one nation in his family after his death, but was divided by his four generals and broken into fragments generally, as stated in verse 4.

At verse 18 those who claim that verse 31 applies to Antiochus Epiphanes continue to apply the prophecy to the little squabbles and battles between Seleucus, Philopater, Antiochus Epiphanes and Ptolemeus Philomater down to the end of the chapter--as the Jews were evidently accustomed to apply it. The Jews, continuing this interpretation into chapter xii, would have strong grounds for expecting deliverance by Messiah speedily; and so we read that at the time of our Lord's birth "all men were in expectation" of him, and through him, of their deliverance from the Roman yoke. But from verse 18 onward, we who see the real "abomination," part company from them, and understand the prophecy merely to touch prominent characters down to Papacy; and then, touching and identifying it, to pass on to the end of its power to persecute, and to mark that date by a detailed account of one of the most noted characters of history--Napoleon Bonaparte.

But it may be asked, why this change of the particular method of the preceding verses, to touch only prominent features of history? We answer, that this has been part of God's method of sealing and closing the prophecy. Besides, everything in prophecy was so arranged as not to stumble Israel at the first advent. Had the minutiae and detail of twenty centuries been spread out as is that prophecy contained in verses 3 to 17 of this chapter, it would have been long, tedious and beyond comprehension; and it would have given the Jews and the early Christian church an idea of the length of time before the Kingdom of God should come; and this was not God's purpose.

Says White: "Tiberius was fifty-six years old when he ascended the throne, professing great unwillingness to take upon him its important cares....All restraint being now removed, the tyrant gave loose reign to his cruel and sensual passions."

Says Willard: "At first he dissembled and appeared to govern with moderation; but the mask soon dropped.... The senate, to whom he transferred all the political rights of the people, had become degraded, and thus obsequiously sanctioned his acts and offered the incense of perpetual flattery to the man who filled their streets with blood. It was under the administration of this most debased of men, that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in Judea."

These pictures fit exactly the prophet's description, and are further confirmed by the next verse--22. "With the powers of an overflow [flood] will they [all opposers] be swept away before him, and be broken; yea, also the Prince of the Covenant." This last statement seems unmistakably to refer to our Lord Jesus, who, as above noted by the historian, was crucified under the administration of Tiberius by his representative, Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, and by Roman soldiers.

It was the policy of both Augustus and his successors to preserve peacefully the control of the dominions previously gained, rather than to seek by conquest further additions; and, to secure this hold, it was their policy to divide the spoil by appointing local governors, with dignity and authority, whose tenure of office was made to depend upon the preservation of order in their provinces, their fealty to the Caesars and the prompt collection of taxes. They no longer, as at first, pursued the policy of sacking and plundering the world merely to carry the spoils as trophies to Rome. By this diplomatic policy, by thus "forecasting devices," Rome now ruled the world more completely and with greater prestige than when her armies went hither and thither.

In this division Italy belonged to Cassander's department, which was the northern division, designated "King of the North," while Egypt was the southern division, or "King of the South." Gradually the Roman influence prevailed, and piece by piece the territory originally held by Seleucus, Lysimachus and Cassander was brought into subjection to Rome, which was part of the northern division, and left only Egypt, the southern division. This king of the south, Egypt, became subject to the power of the northern division, as above narrated, in the days of Cleopatra, Antony and Augustus Caesar, partly by the will of the father of Cleopatra, who dying while his children were young, left the kingdom under the protection of the Roman Senate, and partly by Mark Antony's defeat. For a while, indeed, the "King of the South," Egypt, was quite as powerful as the "King of the North," Rome. Historians tell us that "it was the greatest mercantile nation then existing"; that it had "33,000 cities"; and that its annual revenue "amounted to 14,800 silver talents," about $20,000,000.

Recognizing the sense and design of the prophecy, we should not expect detailed, personal accounts of the monarchs of these kingdoms, but by "King of the North" we should understand the Roman empire's representative, and by "King of the South" a representative of Egypt's kingdom. With this explanation we proceed with the prophecy.

Verse 25: "And he [Rome] will stir up his power and courage against the King of the South [Egypt], with a great army; and the King of the South shall be stirred up for the war with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand; for they will [treacherously] devise plans against him."

From the year B.C. 30, when Augustus Caesar made Egypt a Roman province, no hostilities occurred between the two countries until Queen Zenobia, a descendant of Cleopatra, about A.D. 269, claimed and exercised its control. Her reign was short; Aurelian, the Roman emperor, conquering her in A.D. 272. The historian says: "Syria, Egypt and Asia Minor acknowledged the sway of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra. But she had to cope with the superior force of the empire and the military skill of the first captain of the age. Yet Aurelian writes of her, 'The Roman people speak in contempt of the war, which I am waging against a woman. They are ignorant both of the character and fame of Zenobia. It is impossible to describe her warlike preparations and her desperate courage.'" Firmus, the ally of Zenobia in Egypt, was speedily vanquished and put to death, and Aurelian returned to Rome covered with honor and with great wealth as described in verse 28--"Then will he return into his land with great riches, and his heart will be against the holy covenant, and he shall do [various exploits] and return to his own land."

As an evidence of the riches he accumulated, note an extract from Gibbon's account of his march of triumph through the streets of Rome. He says:

"The wealth of Asia, the arms and ensigns of conquered nations, and the magnificent plate and wardrobe of the Syrian queen, were disposed in exact symmetry or artful disorder....The beautiful figure of Zenobia was confined in fetters of gold; a slave supported the gold chain which encircled her neck, and she almost fainted under the intolerable weight of jewels. She preceded on foot the magnificent chariot in which she once hoped to enter the gates of Rome."

As to the Prophet's statement, that on his return his heart would be against the holy covenant [Christianity], Mosheim says:

"Aurelian, although immoderately given to idolatry, and possessing a strong aversion to the Christians, yet devised no measure for their injury during four years. But in the fifth year of his reign, either from his own superstition, or prompted by the superstition of others, he prepared to persecute them: and, had he lived, so cruel and ferocious was his disposition, and so much was he influenced by the priests and the admirers of the gods, that his persecution would have been more cruel than any of the preceding. But before his new edicts had reached all the provinces he was assassinated; and therefore only a few Christians suffered for their piety under him."*

*History of Christianity, Vol. II, page 101.

This persecuting spirit against Christianity was manifested after his return from the conquest, as indicated in the prophecy. Aurelian was a worshiper of the sun, and he ascribed his victory over Zenobia to the sun; and immediately after the battle he repaired to the magnificent temple, dedicated to the sun, to acknowledge the favor. As the Christians deemed the sun unworthy of worship, it is presumed that their refusal to participate in this sun-worship was the provocation of his sudden and violent opposition.

Verse 26: "Yea, they that eat of his food will bring his downfall: and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain." Aurelian was assassinated by his own generals; his army was successful, though many were slain.

We regard verses 29 and 30 as a parenthesis, thrown in to conceal the meaning for a time by breaking the order of the narrative, and believe it to apply to a then far future collision between the representatives of the Roman empire and Egypt. No further conflict between these would occur except one, and it would be just at "the time appointed"--the time of the end, 1799. For this reason we will leave the examination of these verses until considering that last battle between them, as detailed in verses 40-45.

This we interpret to mean that, though neither the church nor the civil power succeeded in swallowing up the other, as at one time seemed probable, yet "strong ones" arose, who polluted the fundamental principles both of the civil government and also of true religion. The "sanctuary of strength," the sacred precincts of civil authority, which for the time God had delivered over to the Gentiles, to the kingdoms of this world, was undermined by those in the Church who thirsted for present dominion, and who sought by every device to obtain civil power to help forward their ecclesiastical schemes; and the sanctuary of God (his sacred dwelling--the Church) was defiled and degraded by the persistent efforts of these "strong ones" to obtain power with the civil rulers, and numbers, and influence with the people. This was Papacy in embryo, scheming to set itself up in power as a sacerdotal empire.

Verses 34,35: "Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help." The full period of the persecutor's (Papacy's) power, 1260 years, would not end until 1799; but before its end God granted a little help through the Reformation movement, which, though at first it rather increased persecution, afterward gave some comfort and protection to those falling because of fidelity to God's Word. The Reformation prevented the complete crushing out of the truth from the world. But, alas! with the little help came the "flatterers" again. As soon as persecution began to abate the adversary resorted to the same device, by which he had formerly succeeded in corrupting and degrading the church, to now overcome the reform movements. Kings and princes began to give honors and titles to Protestants and to unite with Protestantism; and this led to serious evil results and deflection from the covenant, as we read: "But many shall cleave to them with flatteries; and some of them of understanding [leaders, reformers, teachers, who had been able to instruct many concerning Papacy's errors] shall fall; to try them [the faithful few] and to purge and to make them white."

*It is proper to say that Papal dominion passed away at the beginning of the present century; for after the French Revolution the authority of Rome over rulers and kingdoms (and even over its own territory in Italy) was only nominal and not real. It should be remembered, too, that until that time France had been, of all the nations, the most faithful and subservient to the Papal authority. It was her kings and princes and nobles and people who most readily obeyed the behests of the pope--organized crusades, went to war, etc., etc., in obedience to the pope's command, and who were so loyal as not to permit a Protestant to live on her soil after the massacre of St. Bartholomew's night. No other nation, therefore, could have struck Papacy so stunning and destructive a blow as the French.

The public career of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was recognized even in his own day as "the man of destiny," is so clearly portrayed by the prophetic statement as to positively fix the date of "the time appointed." This method of fixing a date is accurate. And if we shall show that the events here mentioned in prophecy agree with Napoleon's career in history, we can determine the date as certainly as we could the beginning of the reign of Augustus Caesar, or Tiberius, or Cleopatra--described in verses 17, 20 and 21. Napoleon's career, in the light of prophecy, marked A.D. 1799 as the close of the 1260 years of Papal power, and the beginning of the period called the "Time of the End." The prophetic description runs thus:

*See SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Vol. II, pp. 274 and 275.

*Campaigns of Napoleon, pp. 89,95,96.

"Whilst the secular princes who had concluded treaties with the French adhered to them in good faith, and paid the contributions stipulated, the sovereign Pontiff was guilty of the most unwise violations of his engagements. Surrounded by priests who were his only counsellors, the Pope had resource to his old expedients of artifice and pious frauds; and great efforts were made to inflame the minds of the people against the French....The priests pretended that heaven had interfered, and it was positively asserted that various miracles had been performed in the different churches in vindication of the holy catholic faith of Papal supremacy, showing the displeasure of heaven at the conduct of the French. Bonaparte, perceiving that such was the infatuation of the Court of Rome that all his efforts for peace would be unavailing, took immediate steps to bring 'His Holiness' to his senses.

"He ordered General Victor to invade the Papal territories, who scattered the army of the Pope 'like chaff before the wind,' and spread a general panic through the ecclesiastical states....'His Holiness,' finding that St. Peter afforded him no assistance in this emergency,...dispatched plenipotentiaries to Bonaparte to supplicate for peace. Peace was obtained, but upon conditions sufficiently humiliating: In addition to complying with the provisional treaty previously entered into and infracted by the Pope, he was obliged to cede a part of his territory and pay a sum of money amounting to about thirty millions of French livres [about six million dollars], as an atonement for the last rupture."

It may be thought that this summary and successful overturning of Papal power would be sufficient to prove to the world that its claims to divine right to rule kings, etc., were mere assumptions; but if not, surely the final touches were added the following year, when the French general, Berthier, entered Rome, organized there a Republic, on February 15, 1798, and five days later carried the pope a prisoner to France, where he died the following year. From that time until the present, Papal dominion over the kingdoms of earth has been merely a shadow of its former self. Since then, it has scarcely mentioned its assumed right to make and unmake kings. In fact, the pope who succeeded in 1800, under the title Pius VII, "published an address in which he declared it to be the doctrine of the gospel that all should obey established governments," which of course included himself.

Verse 37: "He shall neither regard the god [ruler] of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god [ruler]; for he shall exalt himself in opposition to all."

Not only did Napoleon not respect the god of his fathers, Papacy, but neither did he regard favorably any of the Protestant sects, here represented as women.* In fact, nothing but his own personal ambition controlled him.

*As the one true Church is symbolically called the Bride of Christ, and as the Church of Rome in unfaithful alliance with earthly empire is called a harlot, so the various Protestant sects are called "women."

Other great warriors made some acknowledgment to some supernatural powers for victories achieved. Alexander the Great visited the heathen temples, and thus celebrated victories; so did the Caesars; and in later times, under Papacy, it was the custom for both sides in a war to appeal to God, to saints, to the Virgin and to the popes for blessings and victory; and at least to pretend to accept victory as God-given. But Napoleon did nothing of the sort: he ascribed his success to himself and his own genius. Armies were his reliance; in brave men, quick maneuvering and able generals he put his trust; and to these he addressed his petitions. The form of his oath to the French "Council of the Ancients," on assuming command of the armies of France upon his return from Egypt, shows that his reliance was upon himself and his armies. He swore neither by God, nor by the Bible, nor by the Pope, nor by France; but he said: "I swear it! I swear it in my own name, and in the name of my brave comrades!" While serving his own ambition, he claimed to serve the people; and the treasures of Rome, and of other cities and countries which he spoiled, were turned over to the people of France, of whom himself and his soldiers were a part.

Verse 39: "And he shall do this to strengthen his hold with the strange [new] god: Whoever will acknowledge him, him will he give much honor; and he will cause such to rule over many, and he will divide the land gratis."

Napoleon put his friends and trusty generals into places of power among all the conquered nations of Europe. These offices were his gifts, yet they were held upon condition of fealty to him. They were "gratis," and yet the price of their loyalty to him. Of this history* says:

*Williard's Universal History, page 452.

"The ambitious views of Napoleon became still more apparent. Holland had the previous year been formed into a kingdom, of which his brother, Louis Bonaparte, was made king. Naples was now given to Joseph Bonaparte, the elder brother, who was also invested with the title of King of the two Sicilies. Several provinces were constituted duchies or grand fiefs of the empire, and given to the Emperor's relations and favorites. His sister Pauline was made princess of Guastalla; his brother-in-law, Murat, grand duke of Berg and Cleves; while Eugene Beauharnais, the son of his Empress Josephine by a former marriage, was sent viceroy to Italy. Fourteen provinces in the south and west of Germany were formed into the Confederation of the Rhine. They were separated from the Germanic body, and recognized Napoleon as their head, under the title of Protector.... Switzerland was also brought under the dominion of France, Napoleon declaring himself its 'Mediator.'"

The policy of Napoleon also led him to establish various honorable and honorary orders among the officers and soldiers, such, for instance, as the "Legion of Honor," "The Order of the Iron Crown," etc., etc.

Having thus furnished grounds for establishing the identity of this character (Napoleon), whose deeds mark the beginning of the "Time of the End," the prophecy proceeds to show which particular event of that time is to be understood as definitely marking the exact date of the beginning of the "Time of the End." This event is shown to be Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, which covered a period of a year and nearly five months. He sailed May, 1798 and, returning, landed in France Oct. 9, 1799. This campaign is graphically described in a few words in verses 40-44.

History informs us that the Egyptian army under Murat Bey "after a most determined struggle was repulsed;...the success of the French struck terror far into Asia and Africa; and the surrounding tribes submitted to the conqueror.... But fortune was preparing for him a terrible reverse. His fleet, consisting of thirteen ships of the line [war vessels], besides frigates, was found in Aboukir Bay by Nelson, the English admiral, who had long been in pursuit, and was attacked on the evening of Aug. 1, 1798, with a degree of vigor and activity ["like a whirlwind"] which was never surpassed in naval warfare."

Verses 41-43: "He shall enter also into the glorious land [Palestine], and many shall fall: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab, and the principality of the children of Ammon. [Napoleon kept to the coast, and did not enter but passed by these lands.] He shall stretch forth his hand upon the countries, and Egypt shall not escape. And he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians will follow at his steps."

"But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many [nations]. Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him."

While in Egypt tidings of fresh alliance against France reached Napoleon, and he at once set out for France. With reference to this history* says, "Intelligence from Europe now induced him to abandon Egypt; and, leaving his army under Kleber, he returned to France with secrecy and dispatch. ...A reverse of fortune had taken place in French affairs, a second coalition had formed against France, composed of England, Russia, Naples, the Ottoman Porte and Austria." Compare these words of history with those of prophecy: "But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him; therefore shall he go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many [nations]." Napoleon's great fury, and his attempted destruction of all the nations of Europe, are too well known to require repetition here. He almost succeeded in his ambitious designs; yet, as predicted by the Prophet, in a few years this most notable man of his day died an exile, forsaken by all.

*Willard's Universal History, page 446.

As verse 40 declares that this invasion of Egypt would be "at the Time of the End" or (as the Douay version renders it) "at the time prefixed," so do verses 29 and 30, which refer to the same event and which were previously introduced as a parenthesis. It will be remembered that we have found verses 25-28 to refer to a previous invasion of Egypt; and in verses 29 and 30 it is intimated that the next great invasion of Egypt would be "at the time appointed," i.e., at the "Time of the End," as described in verses 40-45.

"At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former or as the latter" invasions. Napoleon's invasion of Egypt did not result either like that in the days of Cleopatra, or like that in the days of her descendant, Queen Zenobia. Napoleon, though successful as a general in Egypt, achieved no such victories as his predecessors; and the reason is described in the next verse--"For the ships of Chittim ["of the Romans"--Douay] shall come against him." The English navy harassed Napoleon and hindered his conquest. Since England as well as France had been a part of the old Roman Empire, and since France was at war with the remainder of that empire, endeavoring to conquer it, we see the propriety of these being called Roman ships. "Therefore he [Napoleon] shall be grieved, and return and have indignation against the holy covenant: and he shall succeed."

On his return from Egypt, Napoleon abandoned his former policy of violent opposition to Papacy, and signed a Concordat or agreement with the pope, by which the Roman Catholic religion was re-established in France. This was an action against the truth; but he seemed to see that by this policy he could best succeed in overturning the Republic and in establishing himself in power as Emperor. And he did "succeed." But this policy did not last long after he obtained imperial power: he soon began again to work against that system called the "Man of Sin," as the prophecy describes in the following words: "And he [Napoleon] shall return [change about] and shall devise against them that have forsaken the covenant of the sanctuary"; i.e., he began to scheme and operate against the apostate church of Rome. In this also he succeeded.

Notice how in the few words of verses 34 and 35 the decline of the Reformation and its cause are described. The love of the world and a desire to be in power, influence and ease were the snares which first seduced the church and brought forth Papacy; and the same desires and endeavors interrupted the Reformation. Luther and his companions at first boldly denounced, among other of the papal errors, the union of church and state; but when, after some years of brave resistance to powerful opposition, the Reformation began to have some influence because of numbers, when kings and princes began to flatter the reformers, and avenues to social and political preferment opened before them, the evils of church and state union, which once they saw and opposed in Papacy, were lost sight of. The reformed churches in Germany, Switzerland, etc., stepped into the very shoes of Rome, and stood ready to unite with and favor any political party, or prince, or government, willing to own and recognize them. Thus some of understanding fell, and from being leaders of reform they became leaders into temptation. Thus the reform movement, well begun, was greatly checked.

If we are correct in placing the beginning of the Time of the End at 1799, we should expect that there the falling into the error of church and state union would measurably cease, though it might require long years for the full recovery out of that snare of the devil. Looking back, we find that facts exactly correspond with this. Since that date there have been separations between empires and churches, but no new unions. Really, this date marks a new reformation on a more substantial basis. The influence of Papacy over the kingdoms of Europe had previously been so great that its curses were dreaded by the nations as a withering blight, and its blessings desired for national prosperity. When Protestants separated from Papacy, they were received by the world as being merely a less corrupt substitute for the Papacy; and their favor, advice or sanction was often very similarly sought. But when Napoleon boldly ignored both the blessings and the curses of Papacy, and yet prospered phenomenally, his course not only greatly weakened the Papal influence over civil governments, but it also weakened the influence of the various Protestant systems, in matters civil and political--which influence had grown very strong in two and a half centuries.

To a long down-trodden and priest-ridden people, America became a source of wonderment. Truly it was "Liberty enlightening the world." Finally, oppressed by priest-craft, royal extravagance, etc., augmented by repeated failures of the crops, which impoverished and almost famished them, the people of France arose in desperation and accomplished that most terrible revolution which lasted for fourteen years, from 1789 to 1804.

Awful as were those scenes of anarchy and violence, they were but the legitimate fruit, the reactionary effect, of the awakening of a long oppressed people to a realization of their shame and degradation. It was the reaping of a whirlwind by the civil and religious powers, which in the name of God and of truth had been blinding and binding, for their own aggrandizement, people for whom Christ died.

Infidel France suddenly rose in its might, destroyed the Bastile, issued its declaration of the rights of man, executed the king and queen and declared war against all kings and sympathy with all revolutionists everywhere. Meanwhile the rulers of the world with bated breath dreaded lest the revolutionary contagion should break out among their subjects; and, fearful of world-wide anarchy, they organized alliances for their mutual protection against their subjects, who indeed were scarce restrained. The French renounced Christianity, and confiscated all the vast estates and revenues of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the estates of the king and the nobility. The streets of Paris again ran with blood, but it was the blood of priests and nobles and their supporters, instead of that of Protestants. The number of the executed is estimated at 1,022,000. These perished by hundreds of processes invented for the occasion. During the hunting and the slaughter, the priests were taunted with reminders of the similar course of Papists toward Protestants, and of their own doctrine--that "the end justifies the means." The Revolutionists claimed the end sought to be human liberty, political and religious; and that the death of those opposed to this was needful, as the only sure means.

*Napoleon's great European wars were but his attempts to re-unite that empire as it existed under Charlemagne.

+Chair of St. Peter, page 433.

"Acting differently from Charlemagne and other monarchs, who had repaired to Rome on similar occasions, he [Napoleon] insisted in his arrogance that the holy father should come to Paris to crown him. The pope felt extreme reluctance to depart thus from the ancient usage. In fact, he considered it derogatroy to his exalted office."

Concerning the humiliations heaped upon Papacy by Napoleon, history+ says:

+Campaigns of Napoleon, pp. 89,90.

For the nonfulfilment of these penalties promptly, the money fine was increased to 50,000,000 livres, and certain papal territories were compelled to be ceded to France; and the pope was finally made a prisoner and taken to France, where he died.

Even Pius VII, who had been restored to pontifical honors, and who in 1804 attended the crowning of Napoleon, was afterward by decree of Napoleon (1808-1809) bereft of every shred of temporal power; and the monuments and art treasures of Rome were taken under French protection. The language used by Napoleon was that "the donation of territories by our illustrious predecessor, Charlemagne, to the Holy See,...Urbino, Ancona, Macerata, be forever united to the Kingdom of Italy."

The import of this is thus told by a Roman Catholic writer*:

*Chair of St. Peter, pp. 439,440.

Following this, Pius VII issued a bull of excommunication against Napoleon, and was taken a prisoner to France, where he finally signed the Concordat of Fontainebleau, dated Jan. 25, 1813, in which he placed in Napoleon's hands the nomination of Bishops and Metropolitans, and virtually rescinded his own authority to veto such appointments. Thus he in effect gave Napoleon the authority of a pope, which was what Napoleon had long desired.

The effect of the partial breaking down of priest-craft and superstition, while it has led to more open infidelity, has also, in thus overthrowing a superstitious reverence for men, led to more intelligent thought on the part of the consecrated people of God--many of whom previously scarcely dared to think, or study the Scriptures for themselves. Thus, this revolution was favorable to the development of the truth and of true Christianity, by stimulating Bible study. It really carried forward the good work begun in the Reformation of Luther's day, which had been checked by the ignorance and servility of the masses, and the love of power, dignity, authority and ease on the part of the "clergy."

This Time of the End, or day of Jehovah's preparation, beginning A.D. 1799 and closing A.D. 1914, though characterized by a great increase of knowledge over all past ages, is to culminate in the greatest time of trouble the world has ever known; but it is nevertheless preparing for and leading into that blessed time so long promised, when the true Kingdom of God, under the control of the true Christ, will fully establish an order of government the very reverse of that of Antichrist. Since this period prepares for and leads to the Kingdom, it leads also to the great conflict between the old and the new order of things by which the latter will be introduced. And though the old order of things must pass away, and the new must supersede it, the change will be violently opposed by those advantaged by the present order. Revolution, world-wide, will be the outcome, resulting in the final and complete destruction of the old order and the introduction and establishment of the new.

All the discoveries, inventions and advantages which make our day the superior of every other day are but so many elements working together in this day of preparation for the incoming Millennial age, when true and healthful reform, and actual and rapid progress in every direction, will be the order, to all and for all.

AWAKE FROM THY SADNESS!

"Daughter of Zion, awake from thy sadness!
Awake! for thy foes shall oppress thee no more.
Bright o'er the hills dawns the day-star of gladness:
Arise! for the night of thy sorrow is o'er.

"Strong were thy foes, but the arm that subdued them,
And scattered their legions, was mightier far:
They fled like the chaff from the scourge that pursued them;
Vain were their steeds and their chariots of war.

"Daughter of Zion, the power that hath saved thee,
Extolled with the harp and the timbrel should be.
Shout! for the foe is destroyed that enslaved thee,
Th' oppressor is vanquished and Zion is free."