OF THE COMING IN OF THE GENTILES’ FULNESS II.
James Dodson
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DISCOURSE VI.
Rom. xi. 25. “Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
To confirm the faith of men in the truth of Divine revelation, and to prevent them from ascribing Divine works unto idols, the Lord has been pleased to foretell future events: “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” The prophecies, and their exact accomplishment, are also designed to prevent men from robbing God of the glory of his works: “I have even from the beginning declared it to thee, before it came to pass I showed it thee, lest thou should say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them.” Those predictions foretell the Lord’s doings, both of mercy and judgment, both of less and of greater importance, both concerning his Church and his enemies, and some of them refer to events of a long, and others of a short distance of time, from the date of the predictions. When we survey the past operations of Divine providence, and find in them a minute accomplishment of Divine prophecies, who can withhold his assent from that truth, That the Scriptures are the word of God? Besides, some events, especially of the more extraordinary and important description, are predicted in different parts of the sacred writings. This observation applies to those Divine operations which are foretold in the Apostle’s words, “Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved.”
Having spoken of the import of these words, “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” we must now proceed to the
II. Branch of this part of our subject—To make some observations concerning the time when Jewish blindness shall depart, and their salvation shall approach, at the coming in of the Gentiles’ fulness.
1. The Apostle’s words, “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” apply to the same object, refer to the same era, and signify nearly the same thing with the words of Christ, “Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled;” and the words of Daniel, “And when he
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shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be fulfilled.” Our text assures us, that the mournful condition of the Jews will end, and their salvation will begin, when the fulness of the Gentiles will come in. By our Lord’s prediction we are informed, that Jerusalem and the Holy Land shall remain under the power and tyranny of the unconverted Gentiles, and that the Jews will continue in their unbelief and dispersion, until the time of the Gentiles’ peculiar enjoyment of the privileges of the Christian Church will expire. And Daniel’s words declare, that, at the end of the dispersion and unbelief of the Jews, or the termination of God’s judgments on them, all the wonderful things which the Prophet had seen, concerning the Jews and the Gentiles, should be fulfilled. These three Divine oracles illustrate each other, point to the same happy era, relate to the same transactions, and foretell the future and blessed destinies of the house of Israel and the Gentile nations.
2. In our text, this era is not fixed by any prophetic number; but it is described, with clearness and certainty, by a wonderful event, the conversion of the Gentile nations which will be effected at the same time. The Apostle does not mention any of the numbers which were revealed either to Daniel before him, or to John after him; but he fixes the period of the conversion and restoration of the Jews, by a most solemn and important work of Divine power and grace; for the fulness of the Gentiles shall then come in. Their blindness, their hardness, and every other part of their guilt and misery, shall be removed, and their salvation shall be accomplished when the fulness of the Gentile nations shall embrace true Christianity. The time which God has fixed for the Jews’ deliverance cannot be mistaken, because it has this mark, the coming in of the Gentiles’ fulness. In some parts of Scripture, God has described this time by prophetic numbers, and in other parts he has characterized it by cotemporary events. In the same way he described the period of the incarnation of his only begotten Son, and the termination of Israel’s captivity in Babylon. The departure of the sceptre from Judah was the cotemporary event, and the expiration of Daniel’s seventy weeks, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, was the prophetic number; by both of them the time of the incarnation was clearly revealed. In the same manner, the time of Israel’s deliverance from Babylon was discovered to
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the ancient Church. Jeremiah foretold that the captivity should continue seventy years, and that the war of the Medes and Persians against Babylon should indicate the near approach of their deliverance. Both of these are necessary to delineate the time of Israel’s salvation. They elucidate and confirm each other. Both the numbers and the events are profitable to the Church. The former directs us to calculate the time pointed out by the numbers, and the latter should turn our attention to Divine Providence, that, by observing the manifold signs of our time, we may know what the Church is authorized to expect. They are like two most credible witnesses, concurring in their testimony, on a most important cause; they strengthen the faith of christians, encourage their hope, animate their exertions, and enlarge their desire of good things to come.
3. The Jews’ deliverance shall be accomplished when the time appointed for the Gentiles to enjoy exclusively the special privileges of the Church, shall come to an end. An allusion is again made to our Lord’s words; “Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” The judgments on the Jews shall be removed, and their salvation shall commence, when those times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. In the course of time, there has been a season which may be called the times of the Jews; and there has been another period which is denominated the times of the Gentiles. Those times of the Jews and the Gentiles were successive; for the times of the Gentiles began, when those of the Jews were ended. The times of these different communities must be calculated from the period at which they began to possess exclusively the invaluable privileges of the Lord’s word and ordinances, membership in his Church, and the blessings of the covenant of grace. The times of the Jews commenced soon after their departure from Egypt, when the system of Divine laws was revealed to them, when they were taken into covenant with God at Horeb, when the tabernacle was erected among them in the wilderness, and when the house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi were consecrated to the service of God. The times of the Jews ended, in right, at Christ’s death, and in fact, at the destruction of Jerusalem. The times of the Gentiles began soon after the Jews had crucified the Saviour, when the Gospel was preached to them, when many of them in different places believed in the Lord Jesus, and when Christian Churches and Gospel administrations were established among them. Those
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times of the Gentiles shall end at the blessed era of the conversion of Israel. When those times of the Gentiles shall expire, Jewish blindness shall depart, and all Israel shall be saved. The Jews ceased to be the privileged people of God, when the Gentiles were called into the fellowship of Christ. But when the Jews, through the mercy of the Gentiles, shall be reinstated in the Church of God, the Gentile churches shall not suffer any deprivation, or even diminution of their privileges; for at that blessed day, as the Gentiles were enriched by their fall, they shall be much more enriched by their fulness; and the receiving of the Jews will be to the Gentiles like life from the dead. From that happy era, the Jews and the Gentiles, to the end of time, shall be one in the knowledge, faith, and profession of the Gospel; and Jesus will then become, in an extraordinary degree, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel. An affecting view of these Divine administrations among Jews and Gentiles, obtained by the Apostle, through the Spirit of prophecy, induced him to exclaim, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”
4. Israel’s blindness will depart, and their salvation will come, when the fourth beast and his ten horns, which Daniel saw, will be destroyed. Some eminent writers on prophecy understand our Lord’s words, “Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,” to signify the whole period of the four beasts which were represented to Daniel, Chapter vii. This era began in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, who was the golden head in his own dream, and the first beast like a lion in Daniel’s vision. And this period will end at the final destruction of the fourth beast and his ten horns. This beast still exists in the civil and ecclesiastic tyranny of the Roman Pope, and in the secular despotism of the ten kingdoms which worship or support him. To this interpretation, without relinquishing the view of Christ’s words suggested above, there can be no objection; because it is agreeable to other predictions, is not inconsistent with our Saviour’s design, and it furnishes us with another certain character of the time, when the fulness of the Gentiles will come in, and when all Israel shall be saved. It makes no alteration in the time at which the darkened Gentiles will be enlightened, or the Jews engrafted into their own olive tree. Those events will commence when this beast shall be slain, and his ten horns rooted up
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for ever. Daniel’s prediction ascertains this truth: “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and the 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, or rulers, shall serve and obey him.” In different parts of John’s Revelation, the same thing is affirmed. The Church’s joyful song of praise for the enemy’s destruction, and the account of her own happy condition, Chap. xix. 1—8, are immediately introduced, after the beast has fallen, and his votaries have lamented his sudden and fearful overthrow, Chap. xviii. The awful carnage of the last battle, issuing in the capture and perdition of the secular beast and the antichristian false prophet, Chap. xix. 11—21, is instantly followed by a figurative account of the blessed millennium, Chap. xx. 1—6. From these predictions it is evident, that the Church’s glory, comprehending the full illumination of the Gentiles, and the salvation of all Israel, will be introduced, when the beast and his ten horns, with the antichristian false prophet, are destroyed. As the coming in of the Gentiles’ fulness is produced in our text, as a character of the time of the Jews’ deliverance; our Lord’s words, “Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,” in both of these views of their meaning, will receive their accomplishment at the same era. The beast and his ten horns hold a great part of the Gentiles in darkness and bondage, and are still a snare and a stumbling-block to the Jews; their removal of course must be necessary to the fulfilment of the predictions in our text. When they shall fall, “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea.”
5. The coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles, and the salvation of all Israel, will be effected at the same time. These glorious events will be carried on and completed, by simultaneous operations of Divine providence and grace. Our text does not require us to believe that the fulness of the Gentiles must completely come in, before the deliverance and salvation of the Jews will commence. But our text assures us, that no efficient exertions will be made for converting the Jews, until corresponding means shall be used for bringing in the Gentiles’ fulness; and then the work of God shall proceed and prosper with them both at the same time. This opin-
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ion is confirmed by Scripture, by reason, and by facts.—It is established by the oracles of God. The prophet Isaiah, Chap. xxx. 26, says; “Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.” In this Divine oracle, the time when God will bring in, or illuminate, the fulness of the Gentiles, is characterized by this sign, that he will then bind up the breach of his ancient people, and heal the stroke of their wound. In our text, the time when the Lord will accomplish the salvation of all Israel, is described by this mark, that the fulness of the Gentiles will then be come in. If it is asked, When will the Lord enlighten the darkened Gentiles? The Prophet answers, When he binds up the breach of the Jews, and heals the stroke of their wound. If it is inquired again, When shall Israel’s darkness be dispelled, and his salvation come? The Apostle replies, When the fulness of the Gentiles is come in. Both these declarations must be true, because Isaiah and Paul were holy men of God, and spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But both of them cannot be true, if the breach and wound of the Jews are completely cured before light shined on the Gentiles; or the Gentiles completely brought in, before salvation visited Israel. In order to reconcile these Divine oracles, we must believe that these works of God among Jews and Gentiles, will be carried on together; and that the present existence of the one, as well as the other, encourages us to hope for the success of both.—This opinion is agreeable to reason. The Jews are scattered among the enlightened and the darkened nations of the Gentiles. It would be a moral impossibility for the enlightened Gentiles to use means for converting their darkened brethren, without attracting the attention of the Jews, and producing some effect upon them. But this is morally impossible in another way. Christians could not religiously engage in the work of enlightening the heathens, without feeling their obligation and exerting their powers to remove the blindness that has happened to Israel. It appears then to be in unison with human reason, that when labourers are sent to work in the Gentile field, messengers should be despatched at the same time with Gospel tidings to the Jews.—This opinion is also supported by facts. Divine providences, when properly understood and applied, are the
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interpreters, because they are the accomplishments, of Scripture predictions. In the holy, wise, and powerful providence of God, many Societies have been established in our own days, and have begun their labours for converting the Heathen. By the same providence, many Societies have been formed, and have commenced their operations, at that very time, for accomplishing the salvation of Israel. In this hallowed cause, those Societies have continued and increased their exertions, and encouraging success has attended them all. On these grounds, we are authorized to conclude, that the conversion of the Gentiles, and the salvation of the Jews, will be effected at the same time. There are three things in which they will be coeval; their commencement, their progress, and their consummation. Operations which are intended to produce a moral and spiritual change on the minds, the hearts, and the conduct of men, must have a beginning, they must make progress, and they must arrive at their appointed perfection. These important words, “Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved,” may convey to our minds the following truths: No combined exertions will be made to dispel Jewish blindness, till efforts have been commenced for enlightening the darkened Gentiles. The grand work of illuminating the Jews will make no progress, till some success attend those means that are employed for bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles. The removal of blindness from the Jews, and the bestowal of God’s salvation on them, will not be perfected, till the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles reach its consummation. These astonishing works of God will be carried on together. The advancement which either of them makes will accelerate the progress of the other. When the Jews shall perceive the benighted Gentiles turning to Jesus, it will incline their hearts to seek the Lord their God and David their King. And when the Gentiles shall hear that the Jews’ conversion to Christianity is advancing, they will be encouraged to stretch out their hands unto God. Who will have the hardened audacity and obstinate presumption to deny, that these mighty works have had their beginning, and a small part of their progress, in those eventful times in which we live? By printing and publishing the Scriptures, in almost every language, by preaching the Gospel to men, by giving them religious tracts and books, and by bestowing education on them, the kingdom of Satan, both among Jews and Gentiles, is attacked, by the
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appointed weapons of the christian warfare; and we have reason to hope, that they will be “mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds.” By such a process as this, it is very probable the Lord will carry on his work, as he has begun it, among Jews and Gentiles, till the headstone of their salvation shall be brought forth with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
6. The fulness of the Gentiles will come in, and all Israel shall be saved, when the numbers mentioned by the Prophet Daniel and the Apostle John shall expire.—In different publications, I have considered these numbers, in their beginning, arrangement, and termination; and were it not that I am inclined to state my views of another number, of which I have yet said nothing, I would not have adverted again to this subject. You will remember that the number of the Beast, which is 666, Rev. xiii. 18, was considered as the number of the years of his age, as a prophetic Beast, when the Roman Emperor identified himself with the Roman Antichrist, and became the Beast that carried the Mother of Harlots. From the time when the Roman dynasty became an Asiatic power, in the 133d year before Christ, until the time when Justinian, by an imperial decree, constituted the Bishop of Rome the Head over all the Churches, in the 532d year of the Christian era, there are 666 years. From the time when the Romans had finished their conquests in the East, and began to be chiefly employed in defending them, in the 60th year before Christ, till the time when Phocus confirmed the Bishop of Rome in his Antichristian supremacy in 606, there are also 666 years. If we add Daniel’s numbers, 1260, 30, and 45, which make 1335, to the former of these numbers, 532, deducting from the number 533 one year, as the first of the Pope’s reign, we are brought to the year 1867. From what Daniel says of the last year, in that number, we must consider it as the first year in the Millennium, and must be taken from that number, and 1866 will remain. If we add John’s number, 1260, to the latter number, 606, we are brought to the same year 1866. The first year of John’s 1000 years, and the last year of Daniel’s 1335 years meet in the year 1867. I have also attempted to calculate Daniel’s number of 2300 days, at the expiration of which the sanctuary shall be cleansed. Beginning this number from the time of the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, in the year 457 before Christ, we are brought to the year 1843. According to this view of the prophecy, the Jewish
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and Christian sanctuaries shall be cleansed, by the destruction of secular tyranny and false religion among the nations, in the year 1843. During the 24 years that intervene betwixt 1843 and 1867, the great body of the Jews will be converted to Christianity, and restored to their own land, and the Gentile nations will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
To what has now been stated, I shall subjoin a few thoughts on that number which is mentioned, Rev. ix. 13, 14, 15: “And the sixth Angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth Angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four Angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 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.” It is universally agreed, I suppose, that the Turkish Power is symbolized by these four Angels. They originally existed in four Sultanies in the neighbourhood of Euphrates. There are five things predicted of them in this vision: They were bound—They were loosed—They were prepared—The work for which they were prepared was to slay the third part of men—And the time in which they should be employed in this service is represented to be an hour, a day, a month, and a year. They were bound, or prevented from making conquests, by their own disunion, by the power of the Persian empire, and by the Antichristian crusades who held in possession Jerusalem and the land of Judea.—They were loosed, or the providential restraints were removed, when they were united under one Head, when the Persian empire was greatly declined in power, and when the Sultan of Egypt had, with great slaughter, driven the European crusaders ignominiously out of the Holy Land.—There was also a season of preparation for the work they were destined to accomplish. This season of preparation commenced after they were loosed, and when they began to attack and conquer the countries around them. This preparation was continued during all the bloody wars which they carried on against the nations, and the conquests they made, especially against the Eastern Christian Empire. This preparation was finished when they took the city of Constantinople, after which all the provinces of the Grecian Christian Empire submitted to their power.—The work which they were appointed to perform was to slay the third part of men. Having gone through this course of preparation, and obtained such
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powerful conquests in Europe, they became qualified instruments of God’s judgments on the idolatrous, tyrannical, and persecuting Beast, secular and ecclesiastic, and his ten horns.—The time in which they will be employed in this work is an hour, a day, a month, and a year. A prophetic year of 360 days, signifies 360 years. A month of 30 days represents 30 years. One day symbolizes one year. And an hour being the 12th part of a day, must signify one month. Accordingly this period amounts to 391 years and one month. The Turks got possession of Constantinople in the year 1453. That year must be considered as the first year of the Turkish reign over the eastern empire of the christians. Let us now add 391 years to 1452, which was the last year of the christian dynasty in Constantinople, and we will be brought to the year 1843. This is that very same year to which our calculation of Daniel’s number of 2300 days conducted us, when the sanctuary shall be cleansed. That two numbers of such unequal length, announced by an ancient Prophet and a christian Apostle, recorded in sacred books which were written at such a distance of time from each other, and relating to different matters, should so exactly agree, without any conjectural management or contrivance, in pointing out this year, certainly demands our most careful attention. I am aware that this view of the number contradicts every other scheme of calculating it; but this is no valid objection to its correctness. If the eastern empire was that third part of men, which the four Angels were destined to slay, the 391 years should expire at the taking of Constantinople, because at that time this work was finished. If the Turkish power is now so much reduced, as not to be able to torment the Antichristian kingdoms, even this supposition does not overturn our calculation. A man in old age continues to be the same person, though he cannot exert himself as he did in active youth or confirmed manhood; so is it now both with the Turkish dynasty and the influence of the Pope of Rome. The hour which is added to this number signifies one month. This encourages the opinion, that there will be a dreadful and sudden overthrow of Popish and Mahometan tyranny, in the last 30 natural days of this prophetic number. When it is said that the destruction of the Antichristian and Turkish tyrannies, and the absurd and idolatrous systems of religion which they support, will take place in 1843: it is not asserted that the Pope will dwell at Rome, or the Grand Seignior at Constantinople
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till that time; but that the tyranny and false religion of both will continue in some degree, and in some parts of the earth, till the year 1843, when the Jewish and Christian sanctuaries will be cleansed from Mahometan and Popish impurities. At that period shall commence the peculiar preparations of all lands for the Millennium, which is to begin in 1867. Far, very far indeed, be it from me to affirm, or even to imagine positively, that this scheme of calculation is certain and correct. There may be mistakes in it, but the prophecies and numbers are without error, and will be fulfilled at the appointed time. At their fulfilment, whether at the time specified above, or on a more distant day, we may be assured, that the fulness of the Gentiles will then come in, and all Israel shall be saved.
We conclude this Discourse with the following reflections:
1. How important must the Millennium’s commencement be! God has discovered it to the Church by prophetic numbers, and by simultaneous events. In this way he did describe the time of that most important event, the incarnation of his beloved Son. The seventy weeks, which were to begin at the going forth of the order to restore and to build Jerusalem, and expire at Messiah’s death, constituted the prophetic number, and the departure of the sceptre from Judah was the concurrent event. In the same manner, the time of Israel’s deliverance from Babylon was pointed out to that people. Jeremiah foretold that their captivity should continue seventy years, and that the war against Babylon should indicate the near approach of their restoration. In his wisdom and goodness, the Lord our God has revealed to us this happy era, by stating, in different forms, the number of years that must expire before the Church can enter into her millennial state; and by describing a variety of events which will announce its arrival, and be the means of introducing it. As many were praying and waiting for redemption in Israel, when God was manifested in the flesh; and as Daniel, when he understood by books that the captivity was near its end, fasted and prayed for the Church’s deliverance; let the saints of God, at the present time, imitate their example.
2. A scriptural knowledge of the prophetic numbers and their accomplishment, must be necessary and profitable to christians. Some writers of considerable eminence have “protested” against all
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inquiries of this kind; and others have represented what has been written on this subject as “nonsense,” calculated only “to open the mouths of scoffers.” God has revealed those numbers to us in his holy word. He has commanded us to investigate them; “Let him that hath wisdom count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man,” Rev. xiii. 18. Daniel calculated Jeremiah’s number, and it is very probable, that those who expected Christ’s appearance in our world, at the time of his nativity, understood and counted Daniel’s weeks. We may, therefore, with humility and diffidence, endeavour to count those prophetic numbers which relate to our own times. If we desist from speaking or writing of every thing at which scoffers mock, and take occasion to blaspheme; we must be silent about the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, the special exercises and enjoyments of believers, the authenticity of Divine revelation, and even the mediatorial scheme for saving sinners. But we have not so learned Christ. Having a Divine command to count those numbers, and the approved example of the saints for doing so, we need not be afraid to endeavour, with modesty and caution, to inquire into the season when all these things shall be fulfilled. All those christians who understand and exercise themselves religiously about these matters, will have subjects for discourse, meditation, and prayer, sources of joy and hope, and excitements to many important duties, to which others, who are ignorant of them or inattentive to them, are strangers.
3. Scriptural signs of the Millennium’s commencement, at the time mentioned above, are visibly fulfilling among the Gentiles: “And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come,” Mat. xxiv. 14. In these words, our Lord foretold a most important event, “Then shall the end come.” He also mentions an infallible sign of the coming of the end, “This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world.” He also records the purpose for which this should be done, “For a witness unto all nations.” The end which is predicted, is susceptible of a threefold application. The end of the Jewish church and nation—The end of the ecclesiastic and secular beast—And the end of time. We are bound to believe, that the end of the church and nation of the Jews was in Christ’s view when he pronounced these words. This end came upon them, when the Roman armies ravaged their country, wasted their
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cities, destroyed Jerusalem, burnt the temple, slew multitudes of the people, and carried the residue of the Jews into a wretched captivity. By these judgments, Christ’s predictions were fulfilled on them, in the most terrific and conspicuous manner. During the forty years which intervened betwixt Christ’s death and Jerusalem’s destruction, the Apostles and Evangelists had preached the Gospel, and erected christian churches in almost every Province of the Roman Empire, which was then called “all the world,” Luke ii. 1. Christ’s sign, therefore, was completely verified, before this miserable end came upon the sinful nation of the Jews.—This end may also be applied to the destruction of the secular and ecclesiastic beasts, wherever they exist. The season of his perdition receives this name. “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end. And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation, for at the time appointed the end shall be. The time of the end,” Dan. viii. 26. xiii. 19. xii. 4, 9. Every Divine work, for the destruction of his enemies, is emblematical of those that are to come. When the Antichristian domination is compared, in John’s visions, to Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon; it shews that the destruction of modern idolatry and tyranny shall resemble the punishment of these lands. Besides, when our Saviour, in the next verse, refers to the book of Daniel, we are encouraged to conclude, that the end which he mentions, includes also that end which was predicted by that Prophet. “And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” The time of the end, or the last end of the indignation. Let us now inquire if there is any present appearance of the Saviour’s token, that this end is drawing near. For our satisfaction in this matter, we must look around us and behold the wonderful operations of the holy, sovereign, and almighty providence of God. By the extraordinary exertions of the Bible, Missionary, Tract and School Societies, the word of God, the preaching of the Gospel, and every other mean of Christian instruction, have been sent into almost every part of the earth. These means have produced the most beneficial effects, in the conversion of individuals in many places, and the erection of christian churches in other parts of the world. This glorious work in our own days, being a new thing in the earth, is the auspicious commencement
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of Christ’s sign, announcing the coming of the time of the end of the fourth beast, his ten horns, and every system which opposes our Redeemer’s kingdom. This sign, respecting this very end, is also foretold by Daniel, Chap. xii. 4; “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Supposing the foregoing calculations to be correct, there is another special resemblance between the labours of the Apostles and Evangelists, and the present exertions of those Societies. I hope it will not be thought so fanciful, as to render it unworthy of our notice. This resemblance relates to the time of the labours of the Apostles and others in the Gospel of Christ, before the destruction of Jerusalem. This period extended to about forty years. As the Apostles and Evangelists preached the Gospel and planted and watered the churches forty years before the destructive end came upon the Jews; so those Societies will have laboured about forty years, at the year 1843, when, according to the calculations above, we look for the destruction of the fourth beast, the Antichristian horn, and the ten secular horns of that terrific monster. The constituting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, on March 7, 1804, may be fairly assumed as the average date of the commencement of those Societies. Some very efficient Societies were established a few years before it, and others of equal importance and activity came into existence a few years after it, therefore its erection may be counted as the period at which those operations began. After the word of God and the preaching of the Gospel, with other instituted means of salvation have been sent to the nations, for the period of forty years, tyranny, idolatry, and delusion, may be expected to fall, and to rise no more at all for ever.—Contemplating this end, as relating to the conclusion of time, we are assured that this sign will precede it. During the thousand years of the Church’s glory on the earth, and even throughout the little season, though at this time not without opposition, “This Gospel of the kingdom will,” in the highest sense, “be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations.” When those periods expire, and this work is accomplished, the last end will come. By the judgment of the great day, time shall be finished for ever, and all mankind shall enter into their unchangeable and everlasting state.
4. Scriptural signs of the Millennium’s commencement, at the time mentioned above, are brightly appearing among the Jews.
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When christians combined for sending the Scriptures and the preaching of the Gospel to the benighted Gentiles, the lost sheep of the house of Israel were not forgotten. To bring them to abandon their unreasonable infidelity, and to embrace the true Christian religion, a Society was established in London, at that very time; and since that era, many Societies, both at home and abroad, have been erected, either to support or co-operate with them, in this sacred work. I have stated, that a shaking among the dry bones of the house of Israel, producing a conspicuous commencement of their conversion, and making way for their return to their own land, would take place about the year 1822, which ends Daniel’s second number; or, I now add, in the year 1823, which begins his third and last number. These things have indeed taken place. Many Christian labourers, both of Gentile and Jewish extraction, are still actively employed among the seed of Abraham. In circulating among them the holy Scriptures, and religious books or tracts; in preaching the Gospel to them, and conversing with them about it, and in giving them education, these messengers of the churches work incessantly in the Jewish field. The Jews in general receive and search the New Testament Scriptures, take and read the tracts, and listen to the instructions that are given to them. These means are now used very extensively in the places where any of that people reside. By the blessing of God on those endeavours, not a few of them have been converted to Christianity, and solemnly received into the communion of the Gospel Church. Places of refuge have been provided for those Jews whose unconverted relations have cast them off. In those places they are congregated, receive Christian instruction, and education, and learn useful employments. Schemes are formed and are now in operation, for enlightening and converting the Jews in the Holy Land, and in the regions around it. In many places, the present prospects, especially among the rising generation, are exceedingly hopeful and encouraging. In these, and such like ways, the Gentiles are applying their mercy to the Jews, that they also may obtain mercy. Contemplating these events in Divine providence and grace, we are certainly authorized to say, that the conversion of Israel is conspicuously begun.
5. In the political state of the nations on the earth, also, probable evidences of the truth of those calculations may be found. The
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great city, composed of the potentates on the Roman earth, and their subjects, is still divided into three parts. Some of them are yet ardently desiring reform in their civil constitutions and government; others are wickedly combined to prevent by force all such alterations; and a few there are who condemn such interference with the affairs of other nations, and refuse to countenance it. The fall of the cities of the nations, and the last judgments on Antichrist, as predicted under the seventh vial, must follow this division. In different parts of the world, revolutionary wars are still continued. To deliver themselves and their posterity from the iron hand of tyranny, and to cast off the load of grievous sufferings, the inhabitants of several lands have grasped the sword, and are manfully employing it for their emancipation. Unsuccessful attempts at this, in various parts of Europe, have been overcome, more by bribery and perjury, than by valour and conduct in war. The principles of rational liberty, instead of being subdued, are gathering strength by opposition and disappointments. Restored despots are trembling on their thrones, and are preserved in the possession of their royal seats, merely by foreign armies. This unnatural state of things cannot be permanent. In many nations, popular discontent is still very prevalent, and no salutary means are used to allay it. Instead of this, some governments are persecuting their subjects, to imprisonment, degradation, and banishment, for speculative opinions. The stronger powers are compelling the weaker states to adopt measures, which are inconsistent with their constitutions and independence. The head of the Antichristian church begins again to grasp at power, and continues to rage against the means that are employed for the spiritual illumination of mankind. The horns of this beast are still worshipping and supporting him. Some of them prohibit entirely the entrance of the Scriptures into their dominions; while others restrict the enjoyment of God’s word to a certain class of their subjects. This presumptuous opposition to the Bible will soon bring down on their heads swift destruction. It is now perfectly evident, that the complete ruin of the liberties of men, and the perpetual establishment of absolute despotism, deceitfully called “the monarchical principle,” form the great object of the leagued emperors and kings. The shameful duplicity of some European cabinets, the rigid adherence of others to the system of tyranny, and the con-
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flicting interests of all, in matters of importance, may convince attentive observers, that the present harmony among them is more in appearance than in reality. Local wars seem to increase. Of what effects they may be productive, it is impossible to say. This critical state of the nations, in connexion with the other signs of our time, indicate God’s design to shake all nations, that the desire of all nations may come, in the glory of his kingdom on the earth.
6. From this subject we may be convinced of the present duty of christians, in this eventful time. I can think of nothing that declares it better, than our Lord’s own words: “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh,” Luke xxi. 28. The overthrow of Christ’s enemies, and the oppressors of his Church, the establishment of his kingdom in all the earth, the subjection of the nations to his sceptre, and the temporal and spiritual felicities of his people in this world, are the things that will be accomplished. Our Lord informs us of the time when those duties should be performed; “when these things begin to come to pass.” Not when they are completely finished and brought to a glorious termination; but when they are begun and making progress. Then christians should look up to God and lift up their heads to him, in the exercise of faith and hope, of adoration and praise, of prayer and patient waiting, of searching his word and observing his providence, and of undismayed courage and holy boldness before his throne of grace. When God begins his work, the Church must enter on her song. As the Lord’s work advances, the Church’s praise must be enlarged. And a more triumphant song will be sung, when the merciful operations are finished. Convinced of the certain approach of this day of the Church’s redemption, let all true christians look up, and lift up their heads, when these things begin to come to pass. If we are not employed in this manner, when those events are taking place, to our Lord’s command, to God’s dispensations, and to our own spiritual interest, we will be inattentive. In this slothful frame, our faith in Divine predictions, our love to the Redeemer’s glory, and our concern for the prosperity of his Church, will languish in our souls. Estrangement from those exercises to which we are called, both by the word and providence of God, must be an unprofitable and dangerous condition. That
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we may escape from those evils, and be found in the path of duty, let us stir up ourselves to search God’s holy word, to consider his doings, and to praise him for his wondrous works; for the command, given of old, to the Prophetess, seems to apply to christians of our times, “Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake, utter a song!”