have said against his absurdities. We will not detain you by offering any remarks upon the text here quoted, having shown, in our first Lecture, that it referred to Christ's coming at the destruction of Jerusalem.

Such is the way Mr. Miller applies the predictions of the Bible, to prove, that we live on the eve of time! Nothing could be more unreasonable. He contradicts the express testimony of the prophets! What they said was occurring in their day, or should immediately occur, he says, is now occurring. Besides, there is no agreement between the predictions and the events now occurring! Indeed, out of the twenty-six signs mentioned by Mr. Miller, there is only one which is any more suited to this age of the world, than any other, since the days of Christ; and that is the steam engine sign!

Such, then, are the arguments on which the theory is built, that, in 1843, the world will come to an end! How surprising, that one can be found, to believe a theory so utterly destitute of truth!!

LECTURE V.

PROPHECIES OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass." Rev. i. 1.

IN the book of Revelation we have various predictions which designate the time of their fulfilment. Thus it is said, - "The devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried ; and you shall have tribulation ten days." ii. 10. "And to them it was given, that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months." ix. 5. "And they had tails like unto scorpions; and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months." ix. 10. "And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men." ix. 15. "And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." xi. 2. "And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves." xi. 9. "And

after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw

them." xi. 11. "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." xiii. 5. "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth." xi. 3. "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there 1260 days." xii. 6. It is also said, she shall be nourished there for a time, times, and half a time. xii. 14.

Such are the predictions which define the time when their fulfilment shall take place. These are thus explained in the Lectures we are reviewing.

1. The 1260 days which the two witnesses prophesy in sackcloth, are 1260 years, in which the Old and New Testaments are not allowed, by the Pope, to be read.

2. The 1260 days which the woman is in the wilderness, are 1260 years, or time, times, and a half, which the church is in the wilderness.

3. The 42 months which the beast had power to speak great things and blasphemies, was 1260 years which Papal Rome reigned.

4. The 42 months, which the holy city was to be trodden under foot, were 1260 years which Papal Rome trampled upon the Christian power.

By such calculations as these our author seeks to show, that the book of Revelation relates to the reign of the Papal beast, and that its predictions agree with Daniel's, which he has labored to prove, refer to the same thing. In carrying out his plan, he has divided the church into seven periods; and applied what is said to the seven churches of Asia to these periods, thus regarding

the seven churches as figurative, and not literal churches.

The seven seals which are opened by the Lion of the tribe of Judah, represent events to the end of time.

The seven last plagues denote seven judgments, all of which have been inflicted but one, which is to come A. D. 1843.

Here, then, you have a synopsis of what is said on the book of Revelation. In examining it we will inquire,

I. If our author gives any new proof for calling a day a year, and reckoning 42 months as 1260 years? In considering his calculations upon Daniel, we proved, that he entirely assumed the ground on which his whole argument rested. He assumed, that a day was to be reckoned as a year. It is true he referred to the seventy weeks of Daniel to justify his assumption; but this was no justification; for when Daniel used the term seventy weeks, he meant weeks of years; he spoke in language perfectly understood by the Jews, who were instructed to reckon a week as seven years. But because a day in weeks of years signifies a year, it is no proof, that a day means a year wherever it occurs in prophecy. There is no relation between the terms, and one is no criterion by which to fix the meaning of the other. Of this we have the most abundant proof. In Jonah we have an account of a prediction against the city of Nineveh. "Yet 40 days," says the prophet, "and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Jonah iii. 4. Now, no one pretends, that a day is here to be reckoned as a year; and that the 40 days mean 40 years. The immediate proclamation for

a fast issued by the king, and observed by all the people, shows how a day was understood. The threatened judgment was looked upon as at their doors; and they felt that there was not an hour to be lost. A day, therefore, in this prediction, does not mean a year.

Again. Joshua said to the children of Israel, "After three days ye shall pass over this Jordan." Joshua i. 11. Now, Joshua did not mean, that in three years they should pass over; he used days as we use the term.

In Gen. vii. 4, we read, "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days. and 40 nights. This is prophetic language, and if in prophetic language a day is to be reckoned a year, the rain continued 40 years. But Moses, in giving the history of the flood, says, it continued 40 days, so that day is used simply for a day.

"And

That we are right here is certain, because, in Ezekiel iv. 6, we find a day used for a year, and the prophet is directed so to reckon it, which would not have been the case, if it were always so used in prophetic language. Thus we read, when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days: I have appointed thee each day for a year." Now, in this case a day is reckoned a year, but then the prophet is instructed so to reckon it. But no such direction is given to Daniel; and in no place are we told, that a day must be uniformly reckoned as a year, in prophecy. By what authority, then, are we told, that Daniel's 2300 days are so many years? that his 1290 days are 1290 years? that his