OUR MOTTO.
Though we have changed the sentence expressing the subject of our paper, we have by no means abandoned the thing itself. This would be impossible. Ruin, slavery, and death, are preferable to such a departure from the only thing that sweetens life and makes its evils tolerable. “THE FAITH,” and the contention for the faith “once for all delivered to the Saints,” are the most interesting as well as important subjects of thought and action that can be presented to the human mind. They are the only things upon which we enter with any spirit or energy of mind; for there is no real abiding profit to be derived from any thing else. Abandon the faith then, and cease to contend for it! Let not our readers impute to their friend so evil a thing. We have changed our motto, not as significative of this, but that it may be superseded by another strikingly expressive of “the faith” for which we do earnestly contend.
Our paper is the Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come. A stranger taking it up and casting his eye upon the title would very naturally enquire, “Of what kingdom in this republican country is this paper the Herald?” In the former volume he would see the motto, “Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints”—“What faith is this?” he might add. “What is it about; is there a new question in politics? Are the saints tired of republicanism and going to found a kingdom for themselves? Is this their faith for which the Herald professes to contend? If it be, the sooner our authorities look after them the better; for the greatest revolutions have ever resulted from small beginnings.” Now, to keep these authorities in their proper place, and to give sensitive strangers all the information possible in a few words, we have set forth a new motto that will at once show him for what the Saints are patiently waiting; what is to be the fate of all other kingdoms; and by what power they are to be demolished and expunged for ever. When, therefore, he shall read our new motto, it may strike him, notwithstanding all his admiration of the regenerative influence and potency of republicanism and democracy, that they are not exactly the “sanctified ones” by whose power the Lord of heaven and earth proposes to abolish the existing royalties of the world!
By comparing the motto with Daniel 2: 44, in the common version, it will be seen that it differs a little in the reading. Our rendering of the Chaldee is more literal and accordant with other parts of the same book. The first variation is in the expression of the time. The common version is not so emphatic as the original words. “In their days (even) of those kings” points more precisely to the Toe-divisions of the FOURTH KINGDOM, than the words “in the days of these kings.” The phrase beyomayhon signifies “in their days;” then follow di malchayyah innun “of those kings.” We have only inserted even to show that “their” is explained by “those kings.”—In their days—of those kings is the plain English of the text.
The Fourth Kingdom still exists, only in its divided form. Speaking in general terms, we may say that it has assumed three forms—one, in which it was a united dominion under one head; a second, in which it was united under two heads; and a third, in which it is disunited under two heads, and ten smaller divisions. It has not yet, however, passed through all the forms predetermined. The fourth kingdom has yet to exist in its fourth form, which will be its last. Under this its final constitution, it will be united under ONE HEAD bearing rule over SEVEN DEPENDENT ROYALTIES.
This Fourth Kingdom, represented by the iron legs and ferro-aluminous feet and toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s Image, endures symbolically from its union, or incorporation with the brazen thigh-kingdoms of the Macedonians, till the manifestation of the Stone-kingdom which grinds it to powder. The One Head who rules the fourth kingdom at the crisis of its fate, and has dominion over the Toes is the Head of Gold, a king of Assyria, and prefigured by Nebuchadnezzar, who may be regarded as the first individual of the Golden Dynasty. The king of Assyria in all ages, from Nimrod to Christ’s glorious advent, is he who encloses the old Assyrian territory within the limits of his dominion. Hence, Darius the Persian, who reigned from India to Ethiopia over an hundred and twenty-seven provinces, is styled by Ezra “the king of Assyria”—Ezra 6: 22: and hence also THE CZAR, whose dominion when consummated will be vastly more extensive than Darius’, is styled in prophecy “the Assyrian” and “THE KING”—Isaiah 30: 31, 33. This Assyrian king cannot be any of the ancient rulers by that name, for he is declared to be contemporary with the day when Israel shall cast away his idols to the moles and to the bats—Isaiah 2: 20; 31: 7: when the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth, and men shall be afraid of him, because of the glory of his majesty; and when He alone shall be exalted. Here then is a long line of kings—the kings of the Golden Head, the kings of the Silver Breast and Arms, and the kings of the Brazen Body and Thighs. But these never reigned over the Fourth kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander, and the Seleucidae were all kings of Assyria, but never of the Iron Power. As yet the Head of Gold—“the Assyrian”—has presided over only three fourths of the Image; but it is as necessary to the decorum of the symbol—a colossal man—that he should preside over the Legs and Feet, as it is that the human head should direct the motions of all the members of the human body. Where then are we to look for the Assyrian? None of Julius Caesar’s successors who have ruled the Iron Legs, nor any of the kings of the Toe-royalties, ever ruled Assyria, or had any claim to be regarded as the Assyrian. The Assyrian Head of the Fourth Kingdom must be looked for in the Scythian dynasty that now, as yet indeed, only rules Assyria in part. That dynasty is the Czar’s. He is the Image’s Head of Gold when it stands complete upon its Feet “in the latter days,” * for the Image is the symbol of the Assyrian’s dominion when the Stone-power shall contend with it in battle.
* See what is said about “the latter days” in these references—Daniel 2: 28; 10: 14; Ezekiel 38: 8, 16; Jeremiah 30: 24; Hosea 3: 5.
The One Head, then, bearing rule over the seven dependent royalties is the Assyrian Autocrat. At present they are independent. They have no imperial chief who directs their policy to one common end. Great events must happen to bring them under his dominion. The probability is, that finding themselves too weak to contend successfully against the armed and combatant Democracy, the governments will place themselves under the protectorate of the Assyrian, who will guarantee to them their existence as kingdoms but without power to form alliances, or to act in any way in foreign affairs independent of his will. Whatever turns up among the nations the seven kingdoms will continue to exist until the Stone-power is revealed. Their thrones are to be cast down, but the Democracy cannot do it so as to keep them down. The Assyrian will be their guard. He will be ready to sustain them “until the words of God be fulfilled.”
“And in their days even of those kings will the God of heaven set up a kingdom.” In the days of which of all these kings we have treated of will God do this? That learned mystifier and perverter of plain truth, Moses Stuart, professor of profane nonsense, which “theologians” term “Sacred Literature,” has the absurdity to aver that the kings referred to are ten kings who preceded Antiochus Epiphanes, one of the Seleucidae, who flourished upwards of 2000 years ago! His words are “the Little Horn—(Daniel 7: 8)—beyond all reasonable doubt symbolises Antiochus Epiphanes.” Having said truly that the Ten Toes and the Ten Horns represent the same kings, he goes on to say, “the ten toes appear to designate in special manner, the ten kings who precede the king symbolised by the Little Horn, whose reign and character correspond well with the symbol of the iron and clay.” “Those kings must of course mean the kings that belong to the fourth dynasty (the Antiochian) although they have not thus far been expressly named, but only by implication.” But seeing that the Fifth, or Stone, kingdom has not yet been set up, how does Professor Stuart make it break the kings of the Antiochian dynasty in pieces? Hear him! “When the Fourth Dynasty is crushed, which virtually comprised all the others, then the whole are represented as being crushed. If the crushing took place, as being necessary to prepare for the coming or ushering in of the fifth kingdom, then it may be well said that this kingdom occasioned the crushing. It is enough, that before the fifth dynasty becomes actually established, the other preceding dynasties are no more. This last circumstance seems very plainly to oppose the idea that the Roman dominion constitutes the fourth dynasty; for this had not reached its acme when Christianity was established”—Commentary on Daniel pages 65, 67-68.
Another professor, y’clep’d of “Sacred History,” differs from Moses Stuart, and avers that the kings in whose days the God of heaven sets up the kingdom are Roman emperors, to wit: Augustus and Tiberius Caesars! But why should we trouble the reader with learned nonsense any more? We will not. We only quote these “authorities” that they may know how blind are they who say they see, and whom the people are wont to look up to as the great and blazing luminaries of the age!
The Fourth Kingdom is the Assyrian’s “whose princes are altogether kings.” It began with the Roman, and ends with the Assyrian, to whom the ten Toe-kingdoms belong—kingdoms which though on the Roman territory, were never subject to the Roman emperors; but not only so, they had no existence in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, nor in those of Augustus and Tiberius; no, not even for centuries after their reigns. They do, however, now exist and will exist until the Stone-power puts an end to them for ever. Their kings, the last of the race, will witness with dismay the introduction and growth of the power of their invincible enemy, who will not only defeat them and bind them in captive chains, but seize their kingdoms and make a spoil of all they call “their own.”
The fourth or Iron Kingdom is symbolised in the seventh of Daniel by “a Fourth Beast.” The prophet has a vision of it in which it is presented to him under two aspects. He saw it first as having conquered all before it, and subsequently divided into Ten Independent Kingdoms, which he terms “horns.” In its second aspect, he sees it subdivided into Eight governments yet all one Beast or dominion. These Eight are seven regal and one imperial. He saw how this change of constitution was produced, namely, by war. Of the ten Toe, or Horn, kingdoms, the Imperial Power which arises after them, conquers three, thus reducing the ten to seven. “He shall subdue three kings,” says the interpreter; a subjugation which makes the victor imperial. This imperiality originates with Charlemagne, the founder of the “HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE,” which was temporally suspended in 1806, and renewed in the Austro-Papal in 1815. As such it still exists at this the crisis of its fate, but even now as the mere satellite of the Assyrian Czar. It is only prevented from falling to pieces by the support it derives from him. When the house of Hapsburg loses its dominion, the Imperiality of the Fourth Beast will be Assyrian, the Head of which will receive the kingdom of the ten kings for one hour, even until the words of God shall be fulfilled; for they have one mind, and shall agree to give their power and strength to him until then—Revelation 17: 12-13, 17. Now, it is the kings of these ten divisions of the fourth beast or kingdom who will be contemporary with the Stone-power; for “they shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall” do to them what is affirmed of the kingdom in our motto, grind them to powder and bring them to an end, or “overcome them.” It is “in their days even of those kings” the kingdom of God shall be established.
In the common version it reads, “the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom * * * and the kingdom shall not be left to other people;” but in our motto this rendering is varied somewhat. There it reads, “he shall set up a kingdom and a dominion.” This distinction evidently obtains in the original Chaldee. The word used there for “kingdom” is malchu, while that for “dominion” is malcuthahh. It is also sustained by parallel testimony as well as by a verbal difference. This may be seen by turning to the reference below—Daniel 7: 13-14, where Daniel tells us that he saw one like the Son of Man to whom there was given “dominion, glory, and a kingdom.” It is true that “dominion” in this text is shahltahn authority or empire, and not malchuthahh; but the reason of that is that the latter is dominion delegated to the saints, which is not left to another people; while the shahltahn is dominion absolute conferred upon the Son of Man. Our motto, then, contains the glorious announcement to the saints of God that he intends to establish in the earth a kingdom and an empire which shall be imperishable; and that they who shall possess them at their institution shall possess them always, for the dominion “shall not be left to another people;” but the saints shall possess it, for “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”—Daniel 7: 27.
But while our motto proclaims such “glad tidings” to the Saints, it heralds forth dismay to every son of Adam interested in the continuance of the Fourth Monarchy and in the perpetuity of “all dominions” contemporary with it. Hear this, ye kings of the Roman earth, that your kingdoms are to be ground to powder and to be put an end to! And ye also, O ye rulers of the world, be ye absolutists or constitutional, republican or regal, ye are to have your dominion taken away—Daniel 7: 12, 14; and the Saints whom ye know not—1 John 3: 1, and whom ye have despised, opposed, and prevailed against, are to possess it in your stead. Righteous is God; just and true in all his ways is the King of Saints. The world’s rulers and their people are his enemies and hostile to his sons, therefore according to the measure they have meted out, so will he measure to them again.
Our motto, moreover, announces in part the nature of the Stone-power, or kingdom, which constitutes with all its attributes the subject-matter of “the faith” for which the Saints contend earnestly. And by the way, we would remark, that they have no scriptural right to reckon themselves of the Saints who do not believe in this kingdom according to its true character; nor are they of the Saints in the gospel or higher sense, who though they believe do not become subject to “the law of faith,” that is, to the obedience which it requires. Having stated this much on account of faithfulness, we proceed to say, that our motto declares the kingdom which God is about to set up to be a military power and imperishable, and therefore invincible. The common version says, “it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,” or divisions of the fourth monarchy. The Chaldee phrase is taddik vethahsaiph. The root dahkak signifies to beat or grind small, reduce to powder; hence dak a substantive signifying small dust. We prefer “it shall grind to powder” as the rendering of taddik, rather than “it shall break in pieces,” because that interpretation has been sanctioned by Jesus himself. Referring to our motto he said,
“What is this then that is written, The STONE which the builders rejected, the same is become the Head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you (Chief Priests and Pharisees, verse 45) and given to a people—Daniel 7: 27; 1 Peter 2: 9—bringing forth the fruits thereof—Romans 14: 17. And whosoever shall fall upon this STONE shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder”—Matthew 21: 42-44.
The word in the Greek is likmeesei “to winnow grain; to scatter like chaff anything broken fine; by implication, to grind to powder, dash in pieces, destroy.” Such are the words used to express the nature of the power employed in bringing the royalties of the Fourth Kingdom to an end. According to college professors and their satellites, the crushing or grinding operation which is to exterminate the kingdoms, is preaching what they call the gospel, by which all kings and potentates and peoples will come to do God’s will on earth, and hell will be no longer receiving accessions of disembodied souls to the decillions already there! Grinding to powder kingdoms by preaching! By preaching commenced on Pentecost, when the kingdoms of the fourth monarchy to be so reduced had no existence whatever! Is this learned nonsense, or ignorant foolishness? What ever it is we do not envy the college divines all the renown of the exegesis!
But let us turn from them to the truly wise and great men of Israel. In speaking of this destruction of the fourth kingdom and its divisions, Isaiah writes thus—
“The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee afar off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like thistledown before the whirlwind”—
Isaiah 17: 13.
Again,
“Then (baydayin, at that very time) were iron, clay (the Feet and Legs) brass, silver, and gold, ground to powder TOGETHER—dahku chakhadah—and they became like chaff of the summer threshing floor; and the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them; and THE STONE which smote the Image became A GREAT MOUNTAIN, and filled all the earth”—Daniel 2: 35.
This is a contemporaneous and most complete grinding to powder. Not a vestige of them remains—not even space to receive them were their existence possible; for the place previously occupied by them is taken possession of by the Conqueror whose power is submitted to by all the earth. The meanest intellect must comprehend what it is to grind metal to powder. It is a pounding, rasping, violent operation, by which it is broken down and comminuted into the finest dust; so that the molecular attraction being completely overcome, it is easily blown away by the wind. This familiar process, then, reducing hard substances to dust is referred to in our motto to give the reader some idea of the manner in which the kingdom of God will “bring to an end” the Assyrian and the Royalties over which he will have established his dominion.
We have said that the kingdom of God in its beginning is a military power. By a military power, we mean, that “the King of the Jews” will set it up after the same manner that Joshua set up the Commonwealth of Israel in the land of the seven nations he subdued. He will gather armies together, which will consist of officers and privates, armed with weapons even as the armies of the kingdoms are accoutred, whose honour and glory it will be to outgeneral and overthrow them in the name of the Lord, whose power will cooperate with them as in the days of old. Now, if the reader be a disciple of Moses Stuart, of the Evergreat, of John Wesley, Calvin, or Martin Luther, or one whose mind is unenlightened by “the Testimony of God,” he will hold up his hands in most lack-a-daisical astonishment, and perhaps conclude that we are beside ourselves. But before he comes to conclusions we would enquire of him—Do you know what is written in the prophets, and if you know do you understand it? What would you say of us if you were to hand to us a book we had never looked into, and you were to tell us that such and such was written in it, and we were to laugh at you for a fool and deny that there was any such thing contained therein? Would you not conclude that the ignorance, the folly, and the ill-manners were on our side? You would conclude rightly; for no wise or reasonable and well-bred man would pass a judgment upon a matter without considering it.
If the reader reflect upon what is to be accomplished he will see the necessity of a military power arising that shall be stronger than those already in existence. The work to be done is to overthrow all kingdoms and dominions; to set up one instead of them, which shall rule over the whole earth; and to put an end to the study and practice of war. There are in Europe alone about 3,000,000 of men who live by soldiering. It is by these the governments are sustained, and society defended as at present constituted. The world-rulers are wicked spirits, and so are the priests that minister unto them; and if they were ever so much disposed to believe and obey the truth, which they are not, and will never be, there are none able to teach them. You cannot persuade such men as these to disband, and study war no more; nor can you induce them to “renounce the devil and all his works with all the pomps and vanities of this wicked world;” in doing which they would have to abdicate their crowns, and titles, and wealth, and honours, and become the poor of Christ’s flock. And suppose they did, who would assume the government of the world? The people! Bah, the people are as evil as their rulers, for it has ever been “like priests like people;” so that to put the reins in their hands would only be a change of drivers equally devoted to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. That man knows but little of human nature, and has studied the history of the world to but little purpose, who can imagine that its evils can be cured by preaching and persuasion; or who thinks that kings priests and nobles will strip themselves of all their glory, honour, wealth, and power, and dismiss their soldiers to cultivate the fields, from conviction of its benefit to other people. Men are so constituted, especially those who fancy themselves “born to command,” and grow up like wild beasts of the forest, as is the case with the world-rulers, that they will die and be the death of thousands, yea, millions, rather than lose caste and position and power in society. This is doubtless wisely so ordered, for it will involve them at last in a contest that will be their ruin. We have only space now to say, that the Bible reveals that the work to be done will be effected upon the same principle that one kingdom overthrows another—host will encounter host until victory shall remain with the strongest. What purpose does the reader suppose God had in scattering Israel among the nations, and in accumulating them in greater numbers where the tyrannies are the strongest? The Bible reveals, that their king may make use of them as his battle-axe and weapons of war in subduing the kingdoms. And why are not the living saints to be immortalised as soon as the dead are raised? Is it not because he has use for them as men in the flesh to take command of Israel in the wars of the kingdom? For is it not said concerning all the Saints,
“Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the nations, even punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles in fetters of iron: to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his Saints?”—Psalm 149.
Does it not say also that the Gentile powers “prevailed against them UNTIL the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the Saints of the Most High?”—Daniel 7: 21-22. And again, “the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end?”—Daniel 7: 26. This is the work of the Saints, to cooperate with Israel’s king and his hosts in grinding the kingdoms to powder, and so bringing them to an end. Let the reader think on these things, and give his mind to learn.
EDITOR.
