Romish Babylon, was divided. This many take to be the kingdom of France, it being the tenth and last of the kingdoms, according to the rise, and that which gave Rome the denomination of the beast with ten horns, and also it being the only one of the ten that was never conquered since its rise. However unlikely this, and other prophesied events, may appear at the time, yet the almighty hand of the only wise God can soon bring them about when least expected." These sermons were published in A. D. 1742, more than fifty years before the fulfilment of the prediction. Many other authors of great celebrity, who wrote many years before the French revolution, might be quoted, who all believed that the two witnesses would be slain in France, that the earthquake would be in that kingdom, and that there the names, titles, or orders of men would be abolished. And nearly all of them fixed the time between the years 1785 and 1795. I will give one more extract on this point, from DR. GILL, taken from a sermon on the answer to the question, "Watchman, what of the night?" published in A. D. 1748, almost one hundred years since. He says, "If it should be asked, What time it is with us now? whereabout we are? and what is yet to come of this night? as a faithful watchman, I will give you the best account I can. I take it, we are in the Sardian church state, in the last part of it, which brought on the Reformation, and represents that. We are in the decline of that state, and there are many things said of that church which agree with us, as that we have a name that we live, and are dead, &c. It is a sort of twilight with us, between clear and dark, between day and night. As to what of the night is yet to come, or what will befal the churches, and will bring on the dismal night before us;-they are the slaying of the witnesses, and the universal spread of Popery all over Christendom; and the latter is the unavoidable consequence of the former. The slaying of the witnesses, which I understand not so much in a literal sense, or of a corporal death, though there may be many slain in this sense when it will be, but in a civil sense, with respect to their ministry being silenced by their enemies, and neglected by their friends; this is an affair that is not yet over: the witnesses have not yet finished their testimony; they are still prophesying, though in sackcloth or under some discouragements; whereas it will be, when they have finished their testimony, and at the close of the 1260 days or years of Antichrist's reign, that they will be killed. The ruin of Antichrist will immediately follow the rising and ascension of these witnesses; for at the same hour that they shall ascend, will be a great earthquake, or a revolution in the papal state; and the tenth part of the city, or of the Romish jurisdiction, shall fall; that is, one of its ten horns, kings or kingdoms belonging to it, and perhaps the kingdom of FRANCE is meant, and seven thousand men of name will be slain, and the rest be affrighted, and give glory to God; nothing of which has yet been done. From all of which it may be concluded, that the slaying of witnesses is yet to come, and will make the dismal part of that night we are entering into, and which will be accompanied with a universal spread of Popery: but her 'plagues shall come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burnt with fire. Before the utter destruction of Antichrist, he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many; yea, he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain, or the mountain of delight, of holiness; and what place is there, in all the globe, to which this description so well answers as Great Britain? (I answer, Italy.) This will be done before, and but a little before, his ruin; for it follows, 'yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.' If these doctors had lived in this day, with the same spirit in which they then wrote, they would not have called my views "moonshine," for they harmonize to a charm; or if our D. D.s had a little more of their Bible knowledge, some of their modesty, and less of their own sufficiency, they would not bluster in "resolutions," nor be blinded in "lunar rays," but, like our author above quoted, they would be able to give the time of night, that the people might be prepared for the morning. These writers which I have quoted, and a number more which might be given with equal propriety, predicted, on the authority of the Bible, a grand and very important revolution in France, a change of ecclesiastical and civil polity, the introduction of a new system, fatal to Popery and tyranny, but friendly to the liberty, peace, and happiness of man. They foretold that this revolution should be effected, not in the ordinary course of things, nor by the ministry of the gospel, but by a peculiar dispensation of God; by a sudden convulsion, like an earthquake, attended with the destruction of names, titles, dignities, orders, and the humiliation of the French monarchy, falling from the support of Papacy. They foretold her subsequent exaltation, liberty of the nations, spread of the gospel, and the death and resurrection of the witnesses. They fixed the time between 1785 and 1795. Love, who wrote in 1651, prophesied that Babylon should begin to fall in 1790. Rev. Robert Fleming, minister of the Scotts church in London, in a discourse on the rise and fall of Papacy, published in 1701, says, "The French monarchy will begin to be humbled as soon as 1794." What can all this mean? Can you not see the signs of the times in all this? If not, your eyes are indeed closed that you cannot see, and your ears stopped that you will not hear; and in such an hour as ye think not, it will come upon you. Oh! you scoffers, and scorners of the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh !"-what will you do? LETTER I. ON THE SECOND ADVENT. DEAR BRO. HIMES:-The following is an extract of a letter which I wrote sixteen years since to a friend, on the subject of the near approach of the dear Savior. This was several years before I publicly avowed my faith in the doctrine. WILLIAM MILLER. 1.*Come, blessed Savior! nor let time delay 2. The sacred morn of that expected day, 3. When all the happy throng, the heavenly band, 4. Descending from above, "the spirit land ;" 5. When the seventh trump its solemn blast shall sound, 6. And Gabriel's voice shall shake the solid ground. 7. Then sleeping myriads from their graves shall rise, 8. And meet their Savior in those nether skies; 9. While those who yet remain, by men oppressed, 10. Will feel a sudden change and join the bless'd; 11. Where, in one chorus joined, the song be raised, 12. To God, the Father, Son,-" Ancient of days." I sometimes almost flatter myself I shall live to see this glorious day. "Fanatical," say you. Very well; I should not be surprised if you and I should both be on this earth, alive, 13. When from the east we see a cloud arise, 14. And bring to view a Savior long despised; The figures refer to proof-texts, having the same numbers, imme diately following the letter. 15. When we shall hear that trumpet's dreadful roll, 16. That shakes the earth from centre to the pole; 17. When, from the great white throne, indignant ire 18. Shoots forth its blaze, and sets the world on fire:— 19. Then all the wicked, all that pride can boast, 20. Shall be as stubble, saith the Lord of hosts; 21. When kings, and captains, tyrants, mighty men, 22. Are the great supper for the fowls of heaven; 23. And kingdoms, thrones, and powers, dominions riven, 24. Like chaff before the angry whirlwind driven. 25. The dragon, papal beast, and great arch foe, 26. Shall sink in endless night, eternal woe; 27. The orb of day, his face be hid in gloom, 28. And the old reeling earth in Nature's tomb. "Then you hear you say. believe in annihilation?" methinks I No, sir; I believe 29. That this dark orb shall from its ashes rise, 39. And there, as priests to God, with Christ to dwell, |