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النشر الإلكتروني

Fifth. All symbolic prophecy of great events is given in twice doubled forms, or is interpreted by symbols, or literally. Sixth. The people of God are symbolized, always, in a dual character, coinciding with the spiritual and civil departments of government, growing out of the spiritual and social nature of man and the dual nature of the great law of love to God and love to man.

Seventh. The globe and mankind are to be freed from the curse, and the globe is not to be annihilated, but renewed with all the splendors in the gift of Deity, and be the tabernacle of God, the Holy of Holies forever and ever.

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For our work, we ask the calm and charitable attention of the reader. We present it as a theory, a true theory, of the dealings of God with the nations of the world; but we would by no means compel any one to adopt our conclusions against his will; we would rather let the demonstrations be examined, and persuade by invincible and logical argument. Our deductions are not the result of fugitive thoughts, but of unceasing attention, by day and by night, without intermission, for more than twenty years. Our labors have been of the severest and most painful and patient character, in making the discovery of the principles of interpreting the seventy weeks to ascertain them, we have made not less than fifty thousand numerical experiments. In addition to this, it may not be improper to remark, that daily, and more than daily, through a space of sixteen years, have we sought God for wisdom to understand the mystery which he said should be unsealed. Through the pity of some, the derision of others, the rebukes of many, and with the good wishes of but few, we have steadily pursued our course in quiet to the goal of our wishes; and we now return gratitude to God for our success. We commit the work we have written to the direction of Him who hears the prayer of the humble, and doubt not but that it will do some good to our country, the church, and world.

The style of our composition is not labored, though we have been long in preparing our book; our time has been devoted mainly to systematizing and harmonizing the prophets. In doing this we have re-written the substance of the work very many times over. We have tried to make every sentence plain; but still it will require time and patience on the reader's part to go through with it. It will be observed that our interpretations of the future coincide with the positions assumed by Hon. John Bell, on non-intervention; and the coincidence is the more singular, because our positions were taken in a course of lectures delivered some eight days sooner than the speech. This coincidence attracted the attention of many persons, and resulted in a written request, on their part, that our views should be published in a book form. That we both should entertain the same views, from positions differing so widely, is very remarkable, and is entitled to grave consid

eration.

Should we be found somewhat in error in some smaller points relating to the future, it is no more than would be. naturally anticipated; but we feel assured that we are not, and can not be, mistaken about the conflict of our country with Europe in the battle of the great day. So far as the past is concerned, we feel assured that we are presenting to the public some of the most extraordinary proofs of the inspiration of the scriptures that have ever been in print. Being sustained, triumphantly, by the facts of the past, and judging the future by principles deduced from certain knowledge, we feel that our judgment, in most cases, will be found coincident with plain common sense views of things. That ill fed and wounded vanity may instigate the hostility to our work of small envy and jealousy, of pride of sect and self-inflated opinion, is what we expect to a small extent, and we rather court than shun such prejudiced enmity.

We have not combated the theories of other expositors to a great extent, because it was foreign to good manners, in some cases, to do so, and useless in others. In every instance where we differ from others, we do so because they do not strictly conform to past facts, and by consequence must err, proportionally, with reference to the future. In some cases, very exalted human authorities will be consulted against us; but we appeal, for support, to inspiration and to history, and refuse to yield to any sanctified human opinion that is not punctiliously in accordance with known truth. We claim to have discovered, that all old interpretations of one great era are either erroneous in whole or in part. Unknown to fame or to the famous, we appeal to common sense people, to read and decide our correctness, for on account of such we have written; we crave not the attention of chiefs and princes, but seek an humble place of consideration among the great Christian democratic PEOPLE throughout the world. Misfortune is the fate of discoverers and inventors generally, and we expect no exception will be made in our favor; yet, from a better sphere than this, we hope in triumph to descend at the appearing of the victory of God, and advent of that kingdom for which from infancy, each Christian child is daily taught to pray. If, then, some humble place be ours among the glorified, we shall be more than recompensed for all our years of bitter toil.

PART FIRST.

PROPHETIC HISTORY OF THE WHOLE WORLD.

CHAPTER I.

THE FIRST SPIRITUAL AND POLITICAL PROPHECY.

(This prophecy is found in the third chapter of Genesis.)

At the fall of the world, or rebellion of mankind against God, he determined upon their reduction to allegiance, and immediately declared war against his foes. From the nature of things, this war was of a double character, or spiritual and political. Man originally possessed, and still possesses, a spiritual nature, which makes him a religious creature, and also a social nature, which constitutes him a political being. From these two constitutional qualities has resulted the universality of some kind of religion and civil government. In a state of perfection, these two principles would have ultimated in true religion and true civil government. At the fall of man, the rejection of the true God as monarch in both of these departments, led to the wildest disorder and universal misery. It is also a truth, established by universal experience, that all civil governments among mankind have conformed in principle and practice to the genius of the prevailing religion of the people;

religion has controlled the politics of the world in all ages. If the religion has been mild, so has been the civil government; if it has been bloody and despotic, so has been the civil government; if it has been liberal and enlightened, so has been the civil policy. This has resulted from a law of nature, by which inferior things are controlled by superior; and as the spiritual nature of man exercises supreme power over his conduct in his individual capacity, so does it in his aggregated state. To subdue man, it was therefore necessary to subjugate his spiritual nature first; to regenerate him as a religious race, and then his political regeneration would follow inevitably.

A physical victory might have resulted in a moment. from the weight of Omnipotence, but a moral victory could not thus speedily be obtained, from the eternal, and immutable, and self existent principles of moral agency. To the principles here stated, the great declaration of war by Jehovah is strictly conformed.

SECTION I.

DECLARATION OF WAR.

"I will put enmity between thee and the woman; and between thy seed and her seed; HE* shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

This declaration is a generic history of the whole contest for dominion of the world, from the fall to the final victory of God. The serpent and the woman, though real persons, are nevertheless, in this passage, used as

* Clark's Comm.

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