failure! Was it not the barbarian hordes of Goths and Vandals from the North that overran imperial Rome? But how are we to account for the stone smiting the image "on the feet?" Why was the attack not made upon the head, or upon some vital part? Let it be remembered, the feet was the point of the union of Church and State; consequently, the mission of this great fifth nationality was the destruction of State and Church union, as well as the utter and ultimate extermination of ecclesiastical and political despotism from the face of the earth. Now, we appeal to the assembled wisdom before us, to profound statesmen, and venerable ministers of God, if the antagonism of the stone to the iron and clay is not fully answered in the genius of the American people? Are not the sentiment and feeling of this great nation more harmonious and universal in their hostility to Church and State union than on any other subject? Has not the Constitution of the United States, in devoting a whole chapter to the subject, raised an eternal barrier against it? And is not our nation the only enlightened government among the nations of the earth, where the illegitimate union of Church and State is most solemnly interdicted? thus leading our free people to "Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's." While it is, therefore, conclusive that the stone kingdom is a providential political government, "cut out of the mountain without hands," incompatible with, hostile to, and destined in its great mission to annihilate the last vestige of monarchy from the nations of the earth, it is equally evident that "the mountain" out of which the stone is cut is Christianity. So our great government is founded upon the Bible. Remove this indestructible basis that supports the fair fabric of our political institutions, and we have no government. The Declaration of American Independence evidently recognizes the obligations of the first, and fully embraces the principles of the second great commandment. The smiles of a Christian Sabbath inspire the devotion, and call from labor to rest our toiling millions; while the obligation of every officer of state, from the chief magistrate of the nation down to the humblest minister of justice, is rendered inviolate by a solemn averment upon Divine revelation. The history of the world confirms the fact, that a nation's religion moulds the character of its civic government. A despotic, superstitious, and bloodthirsty system of religion will form and fashion its political economy after the same model. So a pure, enlightened, and divinely authorized religion has ever been the maternal source of a pure, liberal, and happy civil government. As, therefore, the four great empires were to be succeeded by a fifth great government, altogether differing in its principles and character, and as the United States of America is the only great nation that ever has or ever can arise to answer the description and fill the mission of that fifth empire, the conclusion is inevitable, that our glorious republic is the stone kingdom that the God of heaven was to "set up." A glimpse of this sublime reality inspired the good Bishop Berkeley, more than a hundred years ago, to declare what even now seems a wonderful consummation: "Westward the star of empire makes its way; The first four acts already passed, The fifth shall close the drama with the day: The United States of America is symbolized by the man-child of the winged woman of the wilderness. "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. . . And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God, and to his throne. . . And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place. . . And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth. with the woman," etc. It is almost universally admitted that the true Church of God is represented by the woman in this symbol. And, without pausing to examine the many opinions which divines have entertained as to the true meaning of the man-child-some supposing it refers to Christ, and others to Constantine-we will demonstrate that the symbolic meaning of the man-child is that of a great nationality that was to arise under the superintending providence of Al mighty God in the latter times; and that that great nationality is the United States of America. To this man-child a rod was given to rule-always the ensign of political power; so that, while the mother represents a pure, enlightened religion, her offspring, "a man-child," who is invested with political authority, must represent an enlightened nationality. This exposition we claim with great confidence to be legitimate. We shall now show that such is the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. Isaiah declares, "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. Who hath heard such things? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth." In this passage, the term "Zion," meaning the Church of God, settles, beyond all doubt, the symbolic meaning of the "woman clothed with the sun;" and as “the man-child in the one case is put in apposition with "a nation born at once,” he must be understood in the other instance to be the symbol of a nation also. We cannot deny the explanation without denying the interpretation the Holy Scriptures give of their own symbols. But is this nationality, arising from a true and |