ever."

guages, should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." And further, (verse 18)-"The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and And yet farther, (verses 21-27): "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom, are ten kings that shall arise, and another shall arise 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 destroy it unto 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."

In his second epistle to the Thessalonians, the

Apostle says it is a "righteous thing with God" to 66 recompense rest" to his "troubled people;" "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe, (because our testimony among you was believed,) in that day."-2 Thes. 1: 7-10. And farther, (chap. 2: 1-9)— "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition: who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. For the myste

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ry of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth, will let until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of ́his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his COMING."

Writing to Timothy, the same Apostle says:

"I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his APPEARING and his KINGDOM."-2 Tim. 4: 1. Jude, describing the apostacy, hypocrisy and blasphemous wickedness of the last days, says: 66 Enoch, also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."Jude, verses 14, 15.

With a quotation of but one more of the numerous passages describing this subject and referring to it, we may leave it to the reader's contemplation, and to his own decision for himself, whether the world is to look for the coming of the Lord for its final judgment, and the establishment of his own everlasting kingdom on the purified and regenerated earth, at the termination of the evil state of things at present existing, and to continue to become yet more evil till his advent or to have, before that event, or before the Judgment, a temporal state of rest, peace and holiness, to a degree far greater than known before, to be succeeded by the general judgment, with no definite expectation of any proper kingdom of his to follow, or of the subsequent destination or state of the burned earth :

"This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your minds by

way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commmandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior-knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days, scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as from the beginning of the creation." For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth, standing out of the water and in the water; whereby, the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is

not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness; looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being

on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2d Peter, 3: 1-13.

NOTE.-At the close of the preceding chapter mention was made of the evil resulting from identifying the Apocalyptic Millennium with the much predicted kingdom of the Messiah. We here repeat the idea as regards the confounding the mediatorial ruling of the Redeemer with his true proper kingdom and reign. This, equally with that, seems to be radically erroneous, and fatally bad, standing most effectually in the way of the right reading and interpreting the prophecies. It is utterly impossible to peruse many of the plainest and most important predictions of the Word of God, having a bearing on what has been named, and understand them as they naturally speak, while a person continues so to hold. Let an individual cease thus to confound and identify, and he will find a most perplexing embarrassment removed out of the way of his understanding, and explaining, in a natural and easy manner, one and another of the prophetic sections of the Sacred Scriptures.