“And in their days, even of those kings, the God of heaven shall set up A KINGDOM which shall never perish, and A DOMINION that shall not be left to another people. It shall grind to powder and bring to an end all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever.”—DANIEL.

JOHN THOMAS, Editor. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1853—

Volume 3—No. 9

PREFACE.

The above is the title of the pamphlet already referred to in our strictures upon the London Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. There are several vulnerable positions assumed by the compiler of its pages, which it is remarkable the reviewers have not seized upon in demonstration of the supposed unscriptural conclusions it contains. But critical orthodox ignorance has been the compiler’s safety. “Theology” has blinded the eyes of “the ministry” so that they cannot see afar off. “Divines,” therefore, being in the dark, and the people being led by them, it is “like priests, like people;” all are in the fog, and the errors of The Coming Struggle have escaped detection.

In the following pages this renowned pamphlet is not reproduced as it came from the Edinburgh press. I have expurgated it of what I consider its untenable assumptions, and in so doing have converted it into a brochure properly my own. The original pamphlet undertook to present my views of the next fifteen years. But no one can present the views of another with sufficient precision to satisfy the original thinker. “The Coming Struggle” does not satisfy me. I have therefore revised and corrected it, as well as I could without rewriting the whole. I have made three hundred and twelve corrections on the thirty-two pages, which have materially altered the sense of the compilation in many places. I should not, however, have presumed to do this, but for the peculiar relation I sustain to the original.

I am not able to say who the artist is that has undertaken to work up my published ideas of things into “The Coming Struggle.” Some have styled him the learned Dr. Cumming; others, “the eloquent Mr. Wylie;” others, “a journeyman printer in Edinburgh;” others again, “a disciple of Dr. Thomas,” &c. Be he whom he may, he must be greatly astonished at the success of his doings. Seventy-three thousand sterling six-pences must have afforded him a wonderful profit on the copy of Elpis Israel, out of which he fabricated his pages. I should have no particular objection to inheriting a dividend; but hitherto the case has strictly fulfilled the saying, that “One sows and another reaps.” But perhaps good has been accomplished notwithstanding the errors. In this, therefore, I rejoice; but hope that no more of the original may be sold after this revise shall appear in Britain.

JOHN THOMAS.

Mott Haven, Westchester, N.Y., June 24, 1853.

* * *

Never was there a time, in the past history of the world, when such a terrible and universal excitement prevailed regarding political affairs, as at this moment exists in the social mind. Wherever we turn, or into whatever society we enter, the same restless anxiety is apparent, the same question passes from circle to circle and from friend to friend, but no reply comes forth to cheer or satisfy the alarmed interrogators. “What is about to happen?” is murmured in all the assemblies of men; and whether the sound floats along the noble halls of the great, vibrates among the rafters of the straw-roofed cottage, or wanders through mazes of tobacco smoke in a village ale-house, echo only answers, What! Conjectures, indeed, are made and opinions delivered, but as these rest solely on the shifting sand of political appearances, and assume the various aspects with which faction and party-spirit invest them, they are uttered only to be rejected; the same question is again asked by the same individual on the morrow, and with like success.

That such an excitement should prevail at the present time is not at all wonderful. The position in which the powers of Europe and Asia are placed, render it evident to every thinking mind—and in this age of boasted intelligence all should be thinkers—that we are on the very eve of a crisis, and a crisis unparalleled in the annals of the past. It is not at one part merely, or in one or two nations, that we discern the signs of an approaching storm; but from one end of Europe to the other, the ominous cloud has gathered, and when it bursts, as soon it must, the deluge will be not only overwhelming, but universal. Such a prospect as this is entirely new. The shadows which preceded the advent even of the most devastating hurricanes that swept over the world in the ages that are gone, were not so gloomy or portentous as those which now hover above our whole horizon; and as the image must resemble the reality, that reality must be awful indeed. We are in the midst of that oppressive calm which reigns when the elements are fully charged with all the ingredients of a storm, and, like the mariner, we long for its inevitable outbreak, in order that we may escape from our suspense, and learn at once how we are likely to cope with it.

But while the painful anxiety everywhere visible is, in the circumstances, extremely natural, it is not at all necessary that the equally manifest uncertainty and ignorance regarding the extent and duration of the coming struggle should remain; and were the prophetic declarations of the Bible properly understood, the inhabitants of Britain would comprehend all that is about to take place. In that Book—a book which some despise, many neglect, and nearly all misunderstand—is to be found a series of visions and prophecies, under which is symbolised the political history of the world, from the Babylonian Empire down to the Millennium, that happy era to which the human family have long looked forward with delight. Unfortunately, however, as we have said, these prophecies have been, and are, sadly misunderstood. The authorised interpreters of God’s revelations have hitherto failed in finding a key to unlock their mysteries; but of this we do not complain, as we are told that the vision was to be sealed until the time of the end. What we regret, however, is that in the face of this declaration our divines should have attempted an explanation of these mysteries, before God’s time for their solution was come. They have done this, and the result is, that by their erroneous interpretations, a mass of obscurity, contradiction, absurdity, and error, has been heaped upon them, which serves completely to mystify both its authors and the world. Had Fleming and others contented themselves with tracing those parts of the prophecy which were fulfilled in their day, and left those sublime consummations mentioned in the Apocalypse to be disclosed at “the time of the end,” the present generation would not now be under the necessity of throwing off a host of commentaries and opinions, which from early childhood they have considered unerring. This, however, must be done. The position of the world clearly intimates that the end has come, and events now furnish an explanation of the hitherto dark visions of Daniel and John, and by a careful examination of these and other prophets, the political history of the next thirteen years is spread out before us, nay, we are enabled to pass beyond that period, and trace almost accurately the regular course of events down to the beginning of the thousand years. DR. THOMAS OF AMERICA (Editor of “The Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come,” published at Mott Haven, Westchester, New York.) WAS THE FIRST TO FIND THE KEY, and they who have read his book will at once be able to understand the following description of the period mentioned. For the sake, however, of those who have not seen Dr. Thomas’s work— (This work is styled “Elpis Israel,” and should be in the hands of every one desirous of understanding the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God, which is indispensable to all who would attain to it.)—and we believe this applies to the majority of general readers—it will be necessary to give a rapid and connected sketch of the prophecy on which the whole hangs, and point out the errors into which former interpreters have fallen.

The first intimation we have of the prophecy is in the second chapter of Daniel, where we are told that one morning during the palmy days of the Babylonian empire, Nebuchadnezzar, its head, awoke from a troubled sleep, in which he had a strange and unaccountable dream. Being fully awake, he endeavoured to call to mind the particulars of the vision which had passed across his sleeping spirit, but the “thing had gone from him,” and do what he could he was unable to recall it. Nevertheless his “spirit was troubled to know the dream,” and this he demanded of his magicians, who, being of course unable to comply, Daniel, a young Hebrew captive, volunteered to make it known and interpret it. Having “desired the mercies of the God of Heaven concerning the secret,” Daniel had it revealed to him in a vision, and with a joyful countenance went with it to the king. He informed the monarch that in his sleep he had seen a great image standing before him. The head was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet partly iron and partly clay. After the king had gazed on this giant of metal for some time, he beheld a stone poised in the air, unsupported by hands, slowly descending to the earth. Falling at length with a heavy crash upon the feet of the image, it “brake them to pieces,” and the whole superstructure was hurled to the ground, where the wind carried it entirely away. The stone which smote it, however, grew into a great mountain, and filled the earth.

The interpretation given by Daniel to the king, was to the effect that the golden head, silver arms, brazen thighs, and iron legs, denoted a succession of four dynasties in the Babylonian Empire. The iron kingdom, which was the last, was at first to be divided into two parts, and latterly into ten, temporarily cemented to the feet by clay, and these were finally to be destroyed by the establishment of a kingdom of God upon the earth, a kingdom which should never be destroyed. This was a dim, yet true outline of the future history of the great empire which was at that time aptly termed the whole earth; but it was only a rough sketch, and the purpose God had in view in disclosing it required that a more detailed representation should be given; accordingly, after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was favoured with a more extended view. In this second vision, the four dynasties were symbolised by four beasts, and an outline of the history of each given. The fourth power, which in the first vision was described as iron, and divided into ten parts, is in the second shadowed forth by a beast with ten horns. The causes of the destruction of these ten powers by the God of heaven is in this vision also accounted for, and the time of their duration determined. They were to be destroyed on account of their civil and spiritual despotism, —crimes which can never in the moral government of Jehovah pass unpunished. After the ten horns had been for some time established, a little horn came up among them, in which were the “eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things.” After making room for itself by plucking up three of the large horns, this little horn waxed insolent and domineering, and continued so “till the beast was slain, and his body given to the burning flame.” Daniel was extremely anxious to find out the meaning of this, and having asked “one of them that stood by,” he was informed that the ten horns were ten kings that should arise out of the fourth dominion; that another should rise after them, diverse from all the others, that he would “subdue three of the first kings, speak great words against the Most High, wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change the times and laws;” but after continuing thus for “a time and times, and the dividing of time,” his dominion would be taken away, and he would be utterly destroyed.

In future visions a still more detailed representation of certain portions of this first vision was given to Daniel, and many of the prophecies of Ezekiel contain important developments of the same history; but God’s determined measure of revelation was not yet full. Indeed, the chief part remained behind, and consisted of an ample view of the operations of the fourth beast and his ten horns, especially of that little horn which subsequently sprung up and became so prominent. Many hundreds years after Daniel’s time, when the gold, silver, and brass of Nebuchadnezzar’s image had given place to the iron power, there lived an aged man on one of the desert islands that dot the bosom of the Aegean Sea. To this place he had been banished for adhering to, and promulgating, the gospel of the kingdom in the name of Jesus Christ, emanating from the land of Judea, but now almost entirely unknown to the professors of Christianity. In this lonely spot, and to this persecuted follower of the despised Nazarene, God gave his concluding Revelation to man, and wound up the whole by shadowing forth the history of the beast, and the horn, under the emblems of seals, trumpets, and vials. The iron power of Nebuchadnezzar’s Image, or fourth beast of Daniel, is here represented by a Dragon with seven crowned heads and ten crownless horns; and the system of governments of the Roman West is at first called a beast, with seven uncrowned heads and ten crowned horns—the one being thus exactly the reverse of the other—and afterwards Daniel’s Little Horn power of the west is represented as a two-horned beast covering the area of three of the horns. The same distinguishing features are apparent here as in Daniel’s vision. The beast waxes great; the dragon gives him his power, and his seat, and great authority; he makes war against the saints for a time, and times, and half a time, till the judgment sits, and his dominion is taken away, and he is cast with the Little Horn into a fiery lake, and the dragon into imprisonment for a thousand years.

Such, then, is a brief outline of this important prophecy—a prophecy which has occupied the attention, and engaged the interest of Bible readers, for many generations. The language in which it is couched has hitherto rendered it impossible for interpreters to agree concerning its fulfilment; and indeed, in past times, the occurrence of the events it foretells was the only guide to its course. Fleming is thought to have verged upon a correct interpretation of a part that was as yet unfulfilled; but it was only a faint glimpse he obtained of the truth; the elements that were to be engaged in the final conflict had not, at the time he wrote, assumed the position, by which the time of the end could be recognised, and this, together with his adherence to the stereotyped but false theories of commentators, led him far astray. All, however, are agreed as to the general meaning of the prophecy. * The gold, silver, brass, and iron powers of the image, and the four beasts of the vision, are the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman Empires. The seven heads and ten horns are the various forms of government and kingdoms of this latter power. The first beast of John is the civil and ecclesiastical system of Roman-Europe; and the second, or two-horned beast, is the Austro-Papacy grafted upon it. Thus far the history of the past might have enabled our divines to expound and agree could their theologies have permitted them to interpret the prophecy by the things that are. With regard to the time of the end, and the nature of the events which must take place previous to it, there exists an almost endless diversity of opinion, the greatest union lying in a universal misapprehension of both, particularly of the latter.

* No interpreter has succeeded in correctly expounding Nebuchadnezzar’s Image. They have overlooked the fact that it is composed of five elements instead of “four.” The fifth is “the clay,” or Russo-Assyrian, styled by Ezekiel “Gogue of Magogue’s land, the Prince of Rosh, Mosc, and Tobl.” The interpretation of the clay element has been brought out for the first time in the Herald of the Kingdom. —Editor of the Herald.

The great cause of misapprehension, besides that to which we formerly alluded, —viz., a premature interpretation, —is owing to the fondness of theologians for the allegorising method of Origen. Following this early father, they assert that the events to take place at the time of the end, are less physical than moral, and will consist of a series of spiritual changes which will usher in the universal triumph of the Church, and the regeneration of the world. They do not understand, or rather they refuse to believe, that the Jews will be restored to their own land, and that the kingdom of Israel will once more be established, though not precisely after its ancient model or with its former inferior splendour. With a very restricted partiality, they have construed all those glorious promises of a political restoration which have lighted up with hope the heart of the wandering Jew, into nothing more and nothing else than a spiritual conversion, and they claim for the Church all the glory of the latter-day. This, we apprehend, is a fatal mistake. The restoration of the Jews to Palestine forms the very keystone to the whole political structure of the world, and is the principal object to be accomplished by the awful events of the coming years. It is the grand consummation of which the Hebrew prophets spake and Jewish bards sung; it is emphatically “the hope of Israel,” and the Word of Judah’s God is pledged to its accomplishment.

Having done away with a literal restoration, our interpreters have necessarily erred in deciding regarding the many minor parts of the prophecy. Hence the locality of the final conflict has been a matter of much dispute. The general notion is, that Italy will be the scene of the great battle of Armageddon, and one individual has actually measured a large valley in that country to see if it answers the inspired description. Another class, in the extremity of their fondness for spiritualism, say that at the moral destruction of Popery, wherever Protestantism encounters and overcomes Romanism, there will Armageddon be. In the sequel of this pamphlet, we shall show how erroneous are both of these conjectures.

Another great error, and one which has led to a host of misconceptions, is the belief that Britain is one of the ten horns, and that consequently she will be involved in the destruction that overtakes the toes of the great metallic image. This is a complete mistake. Though once a part of the Roman dominion, she is not within the boundary of the image territory, and none of the countries beyond that territory will be overthrown with Papacy, except those who have continued to worship the beast, such as Austria and others. And this is just an evidence of the evil effects of a premature interpretation of the prophecy. At the period when many of our commentators wrote, it was actually necessary to include Britain in the toe kingdoms, in order to make up the number required. Up to the year 1820, there were only eight independent powers within the Roman Empire, but in that year the Greeks rebelled against the Sultan, and after several years’ war, succeeded in establishing a new kingdom, which became the ninth horn. Still another was wanted to complete the prophetic symbol, and it did not come up till 1830, when the revolution of Paris divided the kingdom of the Netherlands into two, and Belgium became a separate power, to defeat the calculations of divines, and pluck Britain from the anomalous position in which they had placed her. We say anomalous, for how is it possible to reconcile the past history of Anglo-Saxon progression—of which she has been the mover and sustainer—with sudden and complete destruction? The very thought is a libel on the eternal law of development and the wisdom of the moral government; but it is false, and we will by-and-by show how different is the destiny of this country, and what the part that has been assigned her in the last act of the mighty drama. The powers which really answer to the toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image are Bavaria, Lombardy, Hungary, Greece, Sardinia, Naples, Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium; and if we understand the prophecy aright, these kingdoms will be brought to the verge of their final subversion at the end of the next thirteen years.

The next great error of our interpreters, and the last to which we will particularly advert, is in regard to the “time, and times, and half a time,” or the duration of the beast. They do not understand that it means a period of 1260 solar * years, and they have failed to find the true commencement of the era. The general theory dates it from the year 606, when Phocas proclaimed the universal supremacy of the Bishop of Rome. This fixes the secondary termination of the 1260 years in 1866. But the “time, and times, and half a time” began by its primal epoch earlier than this. The year 606 is the period of the ecclesiastical constitution of the beast, or the time when the dragon gave to its Lion-mouth his authority. Its civil constitution dates 75 years earlier, or from 531, when the Justinian code was completed and published. These two epochs were the real beginnings of the 1260 years.

* In the days of Moses, the servant of Jehovah, on founding the Commonwealth of Israel, and in arranging its time, the Hebrew years were solar, of twelve months, each month having thirty days, excepting the twelfth, which had thirty-five days. By the enumeration of the days of the deluge, it is evident that the Hebrew year consisted of 365 days. A time of years, however, is limited to 360 solar years, being reduced from 365 to 360 by the explanatory phrase, “forty and two months.”—Editor of Herald.

The victorious reign of the beast ought, then, to terminate about the years 1791 and 1866, or two years earlier or later. The resurrection of the two witnesses (or civil and ecclesiastical class-antagonists to the Powers), which were slain by Louis the Fourteenth, took place in 1789, or at the period of the first French revolution, and this was the first time any successful opposition was made to the Papal power after 1685. Then wrath began to pour out, and the civil dominion of the Pope was taken away, to be “consumed and destroyed unto the end.” And as 75 years elapsed between the imperial concession of a new code, and the acknowledgment of the Roman Bishop as the universal Father of the western dominion, or beast, so 75 years must elapse as the transition period, ending in the arrival of “the Hour of Judgment.” This period is represented by the seven vials, the mission of which is to pour chastisement on the beast and his followers, till at the end of the combined sixth and seventh the whole will meet with a wonderful and signal destruction. It is a mistake to suppose that the 1260 years limits the existence of the beast—it merely limits his unwaning power. The full term of his civil and ecclesiastical pre-judicial existence as a Roman power, is 1335 years, * and this terminates in 1866, or about thirteen years from this period. But what a number of awful events must take place within that short time; what revolutions, and strife, and bloodshed must be witnessed on the Continent, and in many parts of Asia! No wonder that the political sky is black and lowering, charged as it is with the elements of a storm, which, for tremendous force and severity, has never been equalled. The people of the present age have come to the very border of a thrilling epoch, and they know it not. The newspaper press laughs at the cry of war which has risen on every hand. It points to the progress of railways and electric telegraphs, and asks if these are signs of war. Railways and telegraphs, steam-engines and copper-wire, can these overturn the purpose of God or falsify His word? A few hours of strife will suffice to tear up every vestige of these so-called pledges of peace, and their component parts may yet form efficient instruments to carry on the conflict. In these days of scepticism and intellectual supremacy, it may be a hard matter to get such Bible truths borne home to the hearts of men; but in a very short time they will be compelled to acknowledge the reality and genuineness of that revelation they now despise or neglect. Amid the terror and confusion of the approaching hurricane, when men’s hearts are failing them for fear, they will be glad to turn to its long-forsaken pages, to learn the nature and extent of the fearful calamity. If the people of Britain and America are wise, they will make themselves acquainted with this beforehand, and thus enjoy that tranquillity which the knowledge will impart. It is, even on other grounds than personal comfort and mental peace, extremely necessary that they should do so. Though for the present they will, by caution and prudence, keep free from the struggle, they have a high and holy mission to fulfil, and are, as yet, ignorant of it. To them has been committed the task of conducting the moral progression of the world, and preparing it for the coming millennium. While other nations are murdering and devouring each other, and gnawing their tongues, and blaspheming under the iron rod of Jehovah, the Anglo-Saxon race will be opening up the pathway for the entrance into this sin-cursed and strife-torn world of the reign of peace and love. Blessed, indeed, are they that wait, and come to the thousand, three hundred and five and thirty days.

* This period of 1335 years is the diagonal of the rhombold 1260, initiated by the civil and ecclesiastical epochs of A.D. 529-531, and A.D. 604-606. —Editor of Herald.

But it is now time that we enter on the principal part of our present work, to which the foregoing forms a necessary introduction. And before speaking of what is about to occur, let us see the exact portion of the prophecy that has been fulfilled. By going back along the history of the past, we could clearly trace the course of the prophecy, from its first beginning to the present time, but this is unnecessary. It will suffice if we make the reader understand where we are at present. We are, then, under the sixth and seventh vials. The gold, silver, and brass of Nebuchadnezzar’s image, in their imperial ascendancy, have passed away; three of Daniel’s beasts have, in this sense, departed; and John’s seals have been opened, his trumpets have been sounded, and five of his vials have been exhausted. By turning to the 12^th verse of the 16th chapter of Revelation, the reader will find a description of the sixth vial. It was to be poured out on the Euphrates—or the Turkish Empire, —and began in 1820, when the Greeks rebelled against the Sultan and established a new kingdom. From that time Turkey has been subjected to incessant trouble with neighbouring powers, distraction and strife from civil rebellions, and ravaging pestilences from the hand of God. Six years after the successful revolt of the Greeks, the Janissaries attempted to withstand the will of the Sultan, but their fanaticism was repressed, and by the despot’s command thousands of them were butchered. The next year she lost 110 ships in the battle of Navarino, and in the following season had to sustain a double conflict in a Russian war and an Albanian insurrection. Then followed the long war of France against Turco-Algeria, which resulted in the separation of that province from the Moslem empire and its annexation to that kingdom. In 1839 Egypt and Syria were taken by Mehemet Ali, and this led to sanguinary and bloody strife in that direction. Besides these reverses at the hand of man, the country was scourged with cholera and plague for eleven years; and thus wasted and weakened, she is in daily fear of being totally overthrown by a foreign power. But why, it may be asked, is such a vial of wrath poured upon the Turkish Empire? Ah, God had a long and heavy account to settle with this nation! What iniquity and injustice did it not perpetrate against the Jews, God’s own peculiar people; and though permitted to succeed in its cruelty for the express purpose of punishing the Jewish nation for their transgressions against the Most High, yet such is God’s jealousy with regard to this race which he has chosen, that even the instruments with which he chastises them are made the objects of his retributive vengeance. It was so with the Babylonian nation who carried them into captivity, and it is so with the Ottoman Empire, which has now the seat of the dragon, which in former days dispersed them among the Gentiles. For this and other causes, enumerated in the 11th chapter of Daniel, the Lord has a controversy with Turkey, which will never cease till its power is destroyed unto the end.

The seventh vial began in 1830, when the whole political atmosphere, as if charged with democratic electricity, gave forth flashes, and appeared to be on the eve of an explosion. These two vials are therefore both going on at this time, and will end together, at the beginning of the thousand years. It is at this critical period that the vision is to be unsealed. In other words, the Roman powers are to be placed in a certain position, and to be actuated by a certain agency, which, we are told, is to indicate the time of the end, and warn the inhabitants of the earth to prepare for the coming of the kingdom. This important information is given in the following words: —“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole habitable, to gather them to the war of that great day of God Almighty.” The demons that represent the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet powers, are the Sultan, the Emperor of Austria, and the Pope; and the frogs, or frog-power, is France—frogs being the original heraldic symbol of that nation. When, therefore, we perceive the French government causing “unclean spirits,” or evil policy, to emanate from these three incarnations of power, then are we to recognise the immediate approach of the end; for this, says the prophecy, will cause the kings of the earth to be gathered together to “the war of that great day of God Almighty.” This period has now come. We are living in it. France has at this moment the Pope, the Emperor, and the Sultan, in a very critical position. By occupying Rome and forcing its protection on the Pope, it has obtained the power, to some extent, of dictating the policy of his Holiness, —now, alas for him, robbed of his imperial dignity, and reduced to the position of a “false prophet”—and is, by its policy, causing him to contribute to the involvement of other governments in war. By this move it has also placed itself in inevitable antagonism to Austria, and brought forth an unclean spirit from thence, which in a little time will create an open war between the powers, involving many other kingdoms in the strife, and ultimately producing consequences of a fatal nature to the whole ten kingdoms. France is also causing an unclean spirit to proceed from the Sultan, by its diplomacy connected with the Holy Places and demonstration of support in case of a Russian invasion, and thus involving him in a war with that mighty power, when he would otherwise quietly yield to it. Thus we see in full operation that agency which was to indicate the time of the end, and produce the terrible events which must precede and accomplish that period. Let us no, by the light of the prophecy, try to discover the nature of these, and thus be able to read the political history of the next thirteen years, and learn something of the events which will take place from that time till the millennium.

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