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full proof of its truth-At the end of this period, these witnesses, or the church, and Lord's day, with the ordinances of the gospel, without any or with very small visible human means, but as by the spirit of God, will not only rise again but be adopted and brought into more general and universal practice, with renewed purity and greater vigor than ever. As the death of these witnesses shall be, so shall be their resurrection; that is, the joy and satisfaction given to their enemies by their apparent destruction, will be out-done by the exultations and happiness of their friends and advocates by their reinstatement to more than their former glory and usefulness.*

The worship of God shall again be established, and his churches and temples restored throughout the government, to the great joy of the people of God. -The Lord's day with all the ordinances of the gospel, and its faithful ministers and teachers shall again become the delight of all the faithful, and more fully answer their original design, and continue living witnesses for Jehovah among the people; and witnesses for the people, before the God of all the earth-Then will the invaluable importance of public worship and the Lord's day, with its ordinances, appear in strong colors to the world; be held in greater esteem and be more attended to, than they have been during the space of 1260 years-Hence will arise such convictive evidence of the truth of the divine predictions,

The political resurrection of the witnesses happens, when Rome falls and the beast is destroyed. Daubuz, 931.

and the meaning of the holy spirit in the prophetic declarations relating to the church during this period, that the faith of God's people will be enlarged, their love enflamed and their confidence in the future events foretold increased and confirmed, especially in the glorious event on which all their hopes are founded, the second coming of their risen Saviour in glory-This will be followed by another unequivocal testimony to the truth of the divine word, for "great fear will fall upon them who see these things," that is, upon the enemies of the church of Christ, who shall be witnesses of these astonishing instances of divine prediction and power; especially as somewhere about the completion of this event, the destruction of the city of Rome by fire, is to happen.

Verse 12th. And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, come up hither-and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them.

This will be verified by the supreme powers of the renovated government, formerly the beast, becoming the friends and advocates of these slain witnesses, and establishing them again in full exercise* and use-They will not only restore them to

* I think it necessary here, as there will be no more proper place for it, to give to my readers the substance of the issue of an extraordinary convocation of the constitutional clergy of France, assembled in national council, in the years 1797 and 1798, as stated in the new Annual Register for 1798, fol. 270— 278. This convocation seems to be a strong evidence of the

their former state and circumstances, but to much greater glory and honor, than they have ever yet enjoyed-This is the general meaning of being taken up into heaven in a cloud, and is so construed by the

revival of a new order of things relative to religion and as looking towards the restoring public worship and the exercise of religious instruction-It was attended by 33 bishops and 53 priests.

"Amidst the civil commotions of France, the fathers of the Gallican church had assembled in national council, to deliberate on a mode or plan of conciliation to repair and cement such genuine parts of this venerable edifice, as had been shattered by the rude and savage hand of persecuting power.-By this plan they also hoped to gather into one commen fold, those who agreeing in the unity of the faith, had separated from them in certain points, in which each individual became his own guide; since, the church not having foreseen the desolation which would attend it in these latter times, had made no prescriptive regulations for the conduct of the faithful, whose fate it should be to fall on such "evil tongues and evil days." No one, whatever be his religious, or political creed, except his mind be hardened by the fanaticism of irreligion, and blinded by that ignorance which the cant of infidelity has termed "the age of reason," can behold without sensibility an assembly of pious and sincere witnesses to the truth of the doctrines they professed, creeping out of their hiding places, after the storm of Jacobinical fury, like the christians of the first ages, after the philosophical proscriptions they suffered in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and fifteenth persecutions, under the administration of Trajan, Adrian, Antouiuus, Mark Aurelius and Julian; and behold them looking over the wreck of the visible church driven by the tempest on the rocks, anxious to gather up the fragments, wherewith to fit out the bark, in which they hoped

ancient Jews: it signifies to be in full power; to obtain rule and dominion, with the protection and assistance of God and those earthly powers ordained by him.

to steer safely into port. The meeting of this council had been prepared by the labors of divers bishops, who after the reign of terror, had assembled in Paris for the purpose of giving provisionary instructions.

These exhortations were set forth in two encyclical letters which till that period of this national council, had been the chief rule of discipline to such of the faithful as acknowledged the spiritual authority of those ecclesiastics who had conformed to the constitutional laws respecting public worship.

The past and present state of the church were laid before this venerable body. The fire of the late persecution, whilst it had vitrified the faith of some, had melted away the constancy of others-Among the instances of apostacy laid before the couneil was the marriage of nine bishops-Twelve others had formally abdicated their episcopal seats, or refused to fill themEight had perished on the scaffold, and thirteen had died natural deaths.

Of the new departments in the south of France, two bishops had emigrated, those of Porentru and Nice; and that of Avignon had not assumed his functions. In the newly united departments of the north, four bishops had emigrated and three had died natural deaths, the other two were only titular. Of the emigrant bishops, it appears that forty had died in foreign countries: one, the bishop of Dol had been shot as a rebel at Quiberoon, and others it appeared had held ecclesiastical synods in different countries, and been active promoters of counter revolutionary projects against the republic.

When the episcopal seats were vacant in various places, presbyteries were formed, whose office it was to hasten the

When our Lord tells the high priest that hereafter he shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, the elders and priests considered it as blasphemy, because only applicable to the Messiah him.

nomination of bishops.-Of fourteen presbyteries three only had followed the mode prescribed in the encyclical letters, published in the preceding year.-Some few dioceses that had neither formed presbyteries nor named bishops, were under the direction of some other kind of administration, and fifteen others remained without any spiritual government or adminis tration whatever.-To re-organize public worship and ecclesiastical government throughout the republic was an arduous and difficult task. For this purpose exclusive correspondencies were established; periodical publications, such as the annals of religion, were circulated, and societies formed, in imitation of the Taylarian society at Harlem: many works were published, and many are in the way of publication, among which was the bishop of Landaff's apology for the bible.

After attempting to re-organize the administration of the church, the next solicitude of these bishops was, to attempt to call back their non-conforming brethren: for which purpose they were invited by a circular letter to join in the council.

Such was the ecclesiastical state of France, previous to the holding of this national council.-The church in the WestIndies, particularly in St. Domingo, had partaken of the commotion of that colony, of which the priests had divided the ecclesiastical labors-The apostle of that colony, as well as its civil deliverer, appears to have been, the negro general Touisant Louverture, who by his christian virtues, his attachment to liberty, and his military talents, merits universal esteem-The general, who has been called the man predicted by the Abbe Raynal as the avenger of his race, and their redeemer from slavery, and who was himself a slave at the time

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