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world; and the blood of Armageddon; and the great day of the wrath of the Lamb.

CLAUSE V.

Fifth View. Chaining of the Dragon.-1. "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit." In the fifth trumpet we saw that Mohammedanism had "the key of the bottomless pit," and opened it, and let in the Asiatics upon the Roman empire. The term is, therefore, symbolic of Asia, and the swarms of barbarous tribes out of the limits of the old empire. The angel with the key of the bottomless pit, therefore, symbolizes an agency that will shut up the dragon in the wilds of Asia.

2. "And a great chain in his hand." "A chain signifies hindrance from action."-(Sym. Dic.)

3. "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." At the beginning of the war declared by God against sin and hell, or between the woman and the serpent, the woman's seed and serpent's seed, and "HE" and the head of the serpent, we saw that the serpent symbolized the religion of its head, or of the devil, literally; and we have seen that the seven-headed dragon represented Roman monarchy, being the seed or spawn of the symbolic old serpent; and, as the child bears the cognomen of its sire, so monarchy is called a dragon, from its paternal cognomen of its sire, the old serpent. In the text, the distinction between the old dragon and the Roman dragon is clearly drawn; for it is called the old serpent, or Satan, in contradistinction to its seed. The name devil and Satan is added, because he was the head of it, and, of course, a part of it; the prime instigator and establisher of false religion. The binding of

the dragon is, therefore, the binding of false religion, that great agency of its head, the devil. This religion was to be bound, and kept from prevalence for a thousand years, in Europe. It will be remembered that it had before been cast out of the United States. Its being now cast out of Europe and the United States, or abandoned by the race of Japhet, and cast into the pit, shows that the bottomless pit refers to all the rest of the barbarous world. The thousand years of binding, is called the Millennium. It will, therefore, be seen that the Millennium embraces the Japhetic race, as Noah predicted, and does not extend over the whole world: it is but the prevalence of a pure Christian religion, and Christian democracy, in the bounds of America and the old Roman empire, embracing Europe, the south-west of Asia, and north of Africa. During its continuance the Shemites. and Hamites, as a mass, will be gradually Christianized, and elevated to the condition of dignified men; but they will not be admitted to political equality, generally, among the white race.

4. "And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled." Upon the definition of the term "nations" hinges the extent of the false religion. As it is ordinarily used in a limited signification among symbols, it, doubtless, here refers to those nations which had rejected it. It is possible that it may refer to a more extensive giving up of idolatry, over Asia and Africa.

5. "And after that he must be loosed a little season." This symbolizes the degeneracy of Christianity, after a thousand years prevalence. This loosing is further enlarged upon in a few sentences following. Thus, John says, "When the thousand years are expired Satan shall

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be loosed out of his prison. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.' The prevalence of a decayed Christianity, among the Asiatics and Europeans, represented by Gog and Magog, will lead them to prefer monarchy to Christian republicanism, and they will conspire together to overthrow the great system of freedom and pure Christianity. "And they went up on the breadth of the earth: " this shows that all of the old world will be engaged in the fray. "And compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city." This camp coincides with the seat of the ancient of days, or of the United States, or America, which was never to be entered again by the old serpent, as we saw, in treating of the revolutionary war. "And fire came down from God, out of heaven, and devoured them." This represents their total discomfiture by America, the heaven, or place of the church on earth. Mark this, the dragon was to be cast out of America forever; but out of Europe only a thousand years. "And the devil, that deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever." In one respect this must be symbolic, but that which is symbolized must itself have a fuller meaning than can be now understood. The beast, or monarchy, the false prophet, or British monarchy, and the serpent, or false religion, all symbolize political bodies, and their punishшent as such must consist in utter annihilation as political bodies. But the fact of their perpetual torment, after this overthrow, is only consistent with the punishment of their individual supporters, for spiritual crimes. It follows, therefore, that this general overthrow, by fire

from heaven, was accomplished at the time of the final judgment, which is then immediately announced.

The triumph of God's dominion was predicted at the fall of the world, but the details of the mode of its accomplishment were left to later ages. It was predicted to Abraham by Moses, by David, and other prophets, but especially by Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and John. The prophets, also, of each later age, enlarged upon the details of its accomplishment given by his predecessor. Daniel and John give their statements with such chronological accuracy, that they may be regarded as our chief guides in determining the future. John gives us the successive stages of the approach of the complete regeneration of the world with elaborate distinctness, yet he and Daniel must coincide, because they cover the same field and events. Daniel does not dwell upon a Millennium as antecedent to the full and eternal establishment of Christ's dominion, but he embraces it in the final kingdom, in one vision, and simply alludes to it in another; but Jolin shows the length of the duration of the preparatory periods of triumph. Daniel gives the length of "the time of the end," and gives two epochs at the inception of the final dominion. First, the coming of the ancient and giving of judgment, or democracy, to the saints or Christians. The first evidently coincides with the time of the end, the last with the close of that time. John shows that the political empire of the world will fall into the hands of the Christians at the Millennium, but that the spiritual empire will be delayed one thousand years longer. We shall treat of John's epochs in this kingdom particularly.

CLAUSE VI.

Sixth View. The Millennial Democracy.-1. "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment

was given unto them." A throne symbolizes a government, or state, or dominion, and thrones signify countries, or states, or dominions. "They sat upon them." The term they, is a symbol of multitude, and the sitting of the multitude on thrones, shows that this passage agrees with Daniel's account of the government of the world falling into the power of the Christian people. "Judgment was given unto them," is a stronger expression that the government was in the hands of the people, and is explanatory of the symbol before expressed. Daniel and John must agree on this point, for they both treat of it. The Millennium is a political redemption rather than a spiritual one, though it includes both to a certain extent.

2. "I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands." The generality of the European world were embraced in the preceding sentence, as having political emancipation given them, but here a distinct class of persons is cited as enjoying superior favors. Now, as the British empire is designated by the beast, his image, and mark, these persons who had been slain must be those overcome and crushed by the British power. These persons, it appears, had suffered martyrdom, and, as we understand it, they or their religion had suffered political martyrdom. Some persons will understand. these passages as purely literal and spiritual, but certainly such a view is not in harmony with the general scope of the prophecy, which, having described the overthrow of monarchy in Europe and Britain, now treats of the organization of the government that succeeds monarchy. It is, however, possible, that as at this period

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