can be no doubt.* The same is called in the New Testament, "The kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven." This is to succeed the kingdom of the Romans, and to fill the whole ́earth, in which all nations, all mankind will be included. The Roman empire or kingdom, is not yet wholly destroyed; there fore what is here predicted of the kingdom of Christ is not yet accomplished, but shall take place in some future day. Nothing can be plainer and more certain than this. In the seventh chapter of this book there is a representation of the same thing in a vision which Daniel had. He saw the same four empires or kingdoms in their succession, represented by four great, wild, fierce beasts, coming up from the sea. The last kingdom turned into a little horn which came up last; and Daniel "beheld till this fourth beast with the little horn was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." then the vision proceeds; "I saw in the night visions, and beheld one like the Son of man, come with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." This vision is briefly explained to Daniel in the following words: "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, (1. e. kingdoms) which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." Daniel requested a more particular explanation of the fourth beast, and of the ten horns, and of the little horn, " Even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. And the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judg ment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." And he is then told, "That the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth. And the ten horns out of this kingdom, are ten kings that shall arise: And another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: And they shall be given into his hand, until a time, and times, and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end. 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 kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." As in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, so in this vision, the fifth and last kingdom, is the kingdom of Christ, consisting wholly of * Sec Newton on the Prophecies, vol. i. page 426, 427, &c. saints. It is Jesus Christ whom Daniel saw," And behold, one like to the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve him." His kingdom and dominion is universal, including all the inhabitants of the earth. And these shall be all saints or holy persons; as no others can be the proper subjects of this kingdom. "The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shail be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." The strongest expressions are used and repeated, to assert the universality of this kingdom, comprehending all mankind who shall then live on earth. And it is repeatedly declared, that this kingdom shall stand forever. It shall not be destroyed by any succeeding power or kingdom, as the former kingdoms were, but shall continue to the end of the world, and then be removed to heaven, to a more perfect and glorious state; and there exist and flourish in the highest per fection forever and ever. The little horn which was on the beast, and destroyed with the beast, whose body was given to the burning flame, is the Pope of Rome, with the kingdom and power, civil and ecclesiastical, of which he is the head.* This beast, with this horn, is not yet destroyed. When this is done, the kingdom and power of sin and Satan in the world will fall; and then the kingdom of Christ will rise and fill the world, as is predicted here, and in the second chapter of this book. This is very evident by these prophecies, if there were no other; but this truth is greatly illus trated and established by those predictions of the same event which have been considered; and more so, by those which are yet -to be mentioned. The prophet Micah predicted the prosperity of the church of Christ, and the prevalence of his interest and kingdom in the last days. And there is a particular prophecy of the same event by Zephaniah This is also particularly foretold by Zechariah : "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my peo'ple; and I will dwell in the midst of thee."S "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: And his dominion shall be from sea even This is abundantly proved in Newton's Dissertation on the Prophe. cies, vol. i. p, 441——— -498. Chap. iv. 1-4. v. 1-4. Chap. iii 8. to the end of the chapter. VOL. II. The to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." whole of the fourteenth chapter relates chiefly to this great event, and happy time; of which only the following words will be transcribed. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark. But it shall be one day, which shall be known to the Lord, not day and night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: Half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea in summer and in winter it shall be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one." This is a prophecy of the Millennial state in figurative language. Then, in the moral world, the church, there shall be no night or darkness; no change of day and night, as there was before, when the church was in a state of affliction, when ber days of prosperity were short, and soon succeeded by darkness and night of degeneracy and affliction: But at the time when night used to come on, it shall be day; so that it shall be constantly light and day, and the enjoyment of prosperity, light and holiness, without interruption. And there shall be a constant flow of living waters, without any interruption, into all parts of the earth, among all nations; that is, spiritual blessings, consisting in spiritual life, holy joy and happiness. And then all idolatry and false worship shall be wholly abolished; and Christ shall reign in all the earth, and all nations shall trust in him, and obey him. This prediction agrees exactly with all those which have been mentioned, pointing the to sarae important glorious event. The prophecies in the New Testament foretell the universal spread of christianity, until all nations shall become the servants of Christ; and that Christ and his people shall reign on earth a thousand years; when Satan shall be cast out of the earth, and his subjects and kingdom shall be destroyed; agreeable to the numerous prophecies in the Old Testament, which have been mentioned. Jesus Christ has foretold this, by the following parables."Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which indeed is the least of all seeds: But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree; so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Another parable spake he unto them, The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."t By the first of those parables Christ teaches, that his church and kingdom, though small in the beginning of it, should increase and become great in the world. In the next, he makes an advance, and more fully predicts the universal extent of this kingdom; that the gospel shall not cease to spread and influence the world, till Zech, ix. 9, 10. Matt. xiii. 31, 32, 33 all mankind, living on earth, the whole world, shall be formed by it, and imbibe the spirit of it; so as to become the children of this kingdom. If the kingdom of heaven shall not finally prevail and extend to all nations, and fill the whole world, how can this parable be a just or true representation of it? In this view of it, it agrees exactly with many of the prophecies which have been mentioned; and with others, which are yet to be considered. Agreeable to this, are the following words of Christ, in which indeed he asserts the same thing," Now is the judgment of this world: Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”*, What is here foretold by Christ is not yet accomplished, except in a very small part, as the first fruits and pledge of the whole. A foundation for this was laid in the death of Christ, when he was lifted up on the cross; but the prince of this world, the devil, is not yet cast out of the world; nor has Christ yet drawn all meti unto him. Christ has drawn great numbers to him, who have become his faithful subjects and servants, and has made great inroads upon the interest and kingdom of the prince of this world; but very few of mankind, compared with the whole, have been drawn to Christ; by far the greatest number, even in the christian world, have rejected and opposed him; and the kingdom of Satan has been great and strong, including the most of men who have lived in the world, from the time in which these words were spoken by Christ, to this day. Both of these events are therefore yet future, and the former is to make way for the latter; or rather one is included in the other. The same things which are here foretold, are predicted in different words, in the twentieth chapter of the Revelation, which will be considered. When Christ says, He will draw all men unto him, he does not mean that every one of mankind shall come unto him; for this is contrary to known fact; and to many express declarations of Christ. But that in consequence of his death, the kingdom of Satan shall be utterly destroyed on earth, and then all nations, even all men then in the world, shall become his voluntary subjects, and believe in him. This was suited to support and comfort his disciples and friends at that time, when he had been speaking of his own death as at hand, in the view of the glory thai should follow his dying on the cross; and served to explain what was spoken by the voice from heaven, in answer to his petition, "Father, glorify thy name." "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."t . What the Apostle Paul says in the eleventh chapter of his epistle to the Romans, of the Jews and Gentiles, which comprehend all mankind, holds forth this same truth. He there speaks of the Jews who were then, the most of them, broken off from the church by unbelief, as yet to come into the kingdom of Christ, even all of them, which he terms their fulness. And he says, that when they shall in their fulness be brought in, the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in also. The fulness of the Jews, and * John xii. 81, 32: verse 28. the fulness of the Gentiles, must include the whole of all nations. And he speaks of what had taken place in the days of the Apostles, in the conversion of Jews and Gentiles, as only the first fruits, the root, foundation and beginning, of the whole lump, and the tree which were to follow in the coming in of the Jews and Gentiles, of the whole world, in the fulness thereof.* This leads to recollect the many prophecies by the ancient Prophets, of the restoration of the Jews to a state of holiness and happiness, in the last days, which has not yet come to pass, some of which it may be proper to mention here, as they serve to con firm the point under consideration. The thirty fourth, thirty sixth, and thirty seventh chapters of Ezekiel, relate chiefly to this event. Though the return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon may be implied in this prophecy, and some expressions may have particular reference to that, yet it evidently looks farther, to a deliverance and salvation, of which their return from Babylon was a type or pledge: And there are many things predicted, which cannot be applied to the former, and were not true of it. Particularly the following: "I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David: And he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. One king shall be king to them all. And I will cleanse them, so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David, my servant, shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children, and their children's children forever, and my servant David shall be their prince forever "t By David, Jesus Christ the Son of David is meant, as the former was an eminent type of the latter. Therefore this must refer to their restoration and happy state under Christ, which is certainly not yet come; but will take place, when there shall be one fold, and one shepherd, and Jews and Gentiles shall be united in one church under the Redeemer, which, after the Millennium, shall be transplanted from earth to heaven: where the spiritual David will reign over it forever. The same is foretold by the Prophet Hosea. "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a Prince and without sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward shall the childrenof Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the latter days."-The children of Israel are now in the state here described, without a king, and without a prince, without a sacrifice; for their temple is destroyed, and they cannot go to Jerusalem, and their law forbids them to sacrifice in any other place. They are without an image, without an ephod and teraphim; for they have a great and obstinate aver, Rom. xi. 12, 16, 25. † Ezek. xxxiv. 23. xxxvii. 22, 23, 24, 25. Hosea iii. 4, 5. |