fixed upon for their date, is the year 606, a year marked by so singular a combination of circumstances, that I know not how any other can with equal propriety be selected. If, then, I be right in my opinion, we are now but removed a little more than sixty years from the commencement of the time of the end, and of the vintage of God's wrath. Be this, however, as it may, we are undoubtedly living in the last days of blasphemous infidelity, in that awful period which is the peculiar reign of Antichrist. The signs of the times all concur to teach us that we are fast approaching towards the catastrophe of the great drama. We have seen the unexpected union of infidelity and popery; an union, no doubt, preparatory to the predicted final league of the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the papal earth. We have seen measures taken, as it were, towards making the atheistical king the last head of the beast. We have seen Palestine, the predicted stage on which Antichrist and his congregated vassals are doomed to perish, brought forward in a remarkable manner to public notice, and becoming at once a subject of political discussion and an object of hostile invasion. We have seen the kings devouring the flesh of the great whore, and making her naked and desolate, though her spiritual empire over the minds of men still continues. We have seen, and we may now see the waters of the mystic Euphrates rapidly drying up previous to their final complete exhaustion under the sixth vial. And we have seen of late years, what I cannot but consider at least as one of the minor signs of the times, an unusual and humble attention paid in this Protestant country to the predictions of the ancient prophets. Although the book be sealed, and will not be fully understood till the time of the end, yet as the time is now approaching, many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased. Of the wicked indeed, of those who are either members of the great apostacy, or have been tainted with the blasphemous impieties

of Antichrist, none shall understand but the spiritually wise children of the symbolical manna, they who profess the same evangelical principles as those who perished at the era of the Reformation, who were tried in purging, and in making white their apostate brethren, these shall understand.

§ 6. "As yet we have not beheld any signs of the restoration of Judah, nor, to all appearances, shall we behold any, till the three times and a half draw very near to their termination.

"But when that famous period shall have expired, then will commence the wars of Antichrist with the kings of the south and the north, and the restoration of the unconverted Jews through his instrumentality. Then will the Lord call unto the land spreading wide the shadow of its wings, which are beyond the river Cush, accustomed to send messengers by sea, even in quick-sailing vessels, upon the surface of the waters. Then shall the swift messengers go unto a nation dragged away and plucked, unto a people wonderful from the beginning hitherto a nation expecting, expecting, and trampled under foot, whose land rivers have spoiled. Then shall all the inhabitants of the world, and the dwellers upon earth see the lifting up, as it were, of a hammer upon the mountains, and shall hear the sounding, as it were, of a trumpet. In spite of the opposition of the atheistico-papal confederacy, the great maritime power of the day shall take the lead in the restoration of the converted of Judah, while the enemies of the Lord, notwithstanding their invasion of Palestine, and notwithstanding their temporary success against Jerusalem, bent only upon the accomplishment of their own schemes, and unconsciously subject to the influence of Satanical delusion, shall madly rush on to their destruction in the valley of Megiddo, in the region between the two seas, the region whose limits extend sixteen hundred furlongs." VOL. II. 12

§ 7. It might probably be expected that I should now state the sentiments of our own brethren on the subject of the coming of the Messiah; but you know, my dear Benjamin, that having so often been disappointed in their expectation, they have at last pronounced a curse on every one who should attempt to calculate the time or the end. Tal. Sanhedrim, c. 11.

There have, however, been many (some of which have been referred to before) who have from time to time fixed the time of his coming, but have all failed. A full account of these calculations may be seen in Wagenseil's Tela Ignea Lat. p. 614-629. In Sephor Avcoth Rochel there are ten signs laid down by which Messiah's advent may be known. The seventh sign is the rise of one whom they call Armillus; but Christians, they say, call him Antichrist, who shall lead multitudes to worship him as God; and the Jews refusing to do so, will lead to a great battle, in which Armillus will lose about twenty thousand of his army: his wrath being now kindled more than ever, he will gather the forces of all the nations of the world into the valley of Decision. Joel, 3: 14.

At that period, all the nations of the world will expel all the Israelites out of their provinces, and not suffer them to dwell among them any more; and they will say, Behold the despised and abject people, who have rebelled against us and appointed themselves a king. And Israel shall experience distress, such as had never been known from the beginning of the world even to that time: then Michael shall stand up to purge out the impious from Israel, as it is said, "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as there never was since there was a nation." Dan. 11: 1. Immediately all the Israelites will flee away into desert places; and all who are hesitating and doubtful in their hearts will return

to the Gentiles, and will say, Is this the redemption which we expected, that the Messiah himself has been slain? Of that redemption, therefore, will all be ashamed, who shall disregard it, and cleave to the Gentiles. Thus will God prove all Israel, and purge them like gold and silver; as it is written, "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried." Zech. 13: 9. Again : "And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me." Ezek. 20: 38. Again: "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly." Dan. 13: 10. All the rest of Israel shall be holy and pure in the desert of Judah-for fortyfive days grazing and eating nettles, and plucking the leaves of herbs and shrubs. In them shall be fulfilled this prophecy: "Therefore will I allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." Hosea, 2 13. That this time will be a period of forty-five days, is evident from what is written: "And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination which maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." The words immediately following are: "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." Dan. 12: 11, 12. From the end of the former period to the end of the latter are forty-five days: in the interval all the impious Israelites, who are not worthy to see the redemption, will die: Armillus will come, and conquer, and take possession of Egypt; for it is said, "And the land of Egypt shall not escape." Dan. 11: 42. Then he shall turn his face towards Jerusalem, to lay it waste a second time; for it is said, "And he shall plant the tabernacle of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.". Dan. 11 45. page 51-54.

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Eighth sign. Michael shall arise and blow a trumpet three times, as it is said: In that day the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish." Isa. 27: 13. It is also written: "The Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with the whirlwinds of the south." Zech. 9: 14. At the first blast shall be revealed Messiah Ben David and Elijah the prophet; at whose sign the just and the pure Israelites, who had fled into the desert of Judah, at the end of the forty-five days shall recover their spirits, their hands which hung down shall be strengthened, and their feeble knees confirmed; and on hearing the sound of the trumpet, all the rest of the Israelites throughout the world will know that God has visited his people, and granted perfect deliverance. They will, therefore, gather together and come, as it is said, “And they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt." Isa. 27: 13. But that blast shall cause fear and trembling in the Gentiles, and they shall be seized with the most grievous diseases. In the meantime the Israelites shall prepare themselves to go forth; and Messiah Ben David and Elijah the prophet shall come, with the just who shall return from the desert of Judah, and with all the assembled Israelites, and will enter into Jerusalem; and the Son of David going up into the deserted palace, will there fix his residence. But when Armillus shall have heard that there has arisen a King in Israel, he will say, How long shall that most vile and abject nation cause trouble! and collecting the forces of all the nations of the world, he will come to fight with God's Messiah, whom God will not send into the war, but will only say to him, "Sit thou at my right hand." Psa. 110: 1. And he will say to Israel, "Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you to-day." Exod. 14: 13. Immediately God himself will fight with their enemies, as it is said, "Then