is not the head healed, and is not the woman sitting on the scarlet-colored beast, then is the Roman Catholic church the only true church on earth; and this he must acknowledge, to be consistent with himself.

As it respects the author's Messianic or Millennium day of which he speaks, pages 130 -133, he has not pretended to bring a single proof from the Bible, neither can he bring any. He has blasphemously forbidden the Godhead, the dying love of Jesus, and the precious promises, to have anything but his millennium. He has told us that the close of this world will be a period of great prosperity and glory to the church, in plain contradiction to our Savior's own words, Matt. xiii. 40-42: "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matt. xxiv. 38, 39: "For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." How inconsistent it is to suppose, that, after Christ has taken possession of the whole earth, after he has thoroughly purged his floor, conquered death and him that has the power of death, dashed the kingdoms of this world to pieces, and carried them away, that no place is found for them, set up a king

dom under the whole heaven, which shall fill the earth, and that an everlasting kingdom, the subjects to be the same forever, never given to another people, and his tabernacle to be with men, his dwelling with them, and they made kings and priests to God and Christ, and reign on the earth with him—then, after all this, these temporal millennium advocates say that the world is to be burned up, consumed, and annihilated! This, to me, is both inconsistent and absurd, taught neither by Scripture nor reason. I believe the world must be cleansed, purged from the curse, from sin and sinners, before Christ will take possession and set up his glorified kingdom on the earth. I believe this will be done by fire. As the earth was once destroyed by water, so it is reserved to be destroyed by fire, and in like manner.

And this is to be when Christ shall descend from heaven in flaming fire; and then he will make all things new, a new heaven and new earth. Can it be supposed that God will annihilate all the material heavens and earth, and make an entirely new work? No, by no means; for if this was the case, then man must be annihilated too; for man must be made new, for he is one of the things that is to inherit the new heaven and earth. Then, before the kingdom of God can be set up on the earth, the same must be made new, as man must be made new before he can be admitted into the kingdom of God; for flesh and blood, in this imperfect state, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So must the earth be purified by fire; and every man's work must be tried, so as by fire. As the earth was once

baptized by water, so it is reserved to be immersed in fire; and then the glory of God will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

I am truly astonished at the ignorance of the word of God manifested by our great men. I find among our common citizens more common sense, intelligence, much more, than in the higher ranks of our learned men. Why is it so? I cannot tell, without the same cause exists now as did when Christ used the words of Isaiah. See Matt. xiii. 14, 15: "And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." See also Isa. vi. 9—11: “And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate." I have come to this conclusion, that in nine cases out of ten our learned men have made the wisdom of this world their god, and they forget their dependence on God and his word; they

TO PROFESSOR STUART.

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learn to criticise, and cavil, but not to believe and obey.

There is one evidence which they all give. In all their writings not a particle of truth do they admit is furnished by second advent writers. No credit whatever; they oppose every sentiment, however plain, like the judgment, and coming of the Son of man in the clouds, and the kingdom given to him, Daniel vii. 9-14; or the resurrection, in Daniel xii. 2, 13. This is a strong evidence that the God of this world has blinded their eyes. Many of them are denying the resurrection of the body and a judgment day. These things are strong evidences that there is some blindness on their part, at least among common-sense minds. The learned class, as they call themselves, may puff each other, but this only serves to sink them lower in the minds of all honest thinking people. If Professor S. had only given his rules of interpretation, and there left his cause, he would have done much good; but when he comes to put in practice his own rules, he has shown his object to be, not to get truth, but to darken it by a multiplicity of words without knowledge. Now let any man read his explanation of the little horn in Daniel vii. 8, 11, 21-25, and if this writer has got the truth, then I will, and must, acknowledge, that there is no rule binding in the Scriptures; for a greater departure, from the plain, simple meaning of words was never

seen.

Again, his explanation of Matt. xxiv. 15,also of the wounded head healed in Rev. xiii. 3-7,-all these passages, with many more

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MILLER'S REPLY TO STUART.

which might be shown, prove that the writer is hard pressed for arguments to support a theory of so feeble a texture that the illiterate and unlearned can demolish it at a blow.

Let the Professor beware, lest he puts into the hands of his enemies a weapon which will, if used against his orthodoxy, as he has used it against the figurative meaning of time, sweep his creed and church by the board. But in my mind, he has confirmed me more and more in the principle that God has, for wise purposes, revealed the end of the world by figures in a symbolical sense; and that for the very reason which Christ has given, Matt. xi. 25: "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." Therefore let us all be careful that we are ready, and no harm can befall us. WM. MILLER.