Midnight Cry - Volume 01, Number 14

              THE MIDNIGHT CRY!
VOLUME I. NEW- YORK, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1842. NlTMBEE 14*
visiflp, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision i* yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie
though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."
if JOSHUA T. HIMIS. DAILY- NO- 36 PARK- ROW. PRICE TWO CUTS.
" PROPHETIC EXPOSITIONS."
BY J. LITCH.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
There is no subject in the whole circle of
Christian literature which is more important in
its bearings on the right understanding of the
Bible, than the meaning of the term *' THE KING
DOM OF GOD." This term is sometimes used,
perhaps, in reference to God's universal king
dom or government over all worlds ana beings ;
but generally, as used in the Scriptures, it re
fers to a dispnsation of God among men, on
earth. In this work it will be my object fully to
present and discuss this subject.
I. ADlM AND HIS KACE, MNGS THIS EARTH THEIR
KINGDOM.
That God made this eaith for man, and man
for the earth, is very clear from the account
given of the creation, in the first chapter of Gen
esis. After the creation of all things, God saw
that there was not a man to till the ground. " And
God said let us make man in our image, after
our likeness ; tnd let THEM have dominion over
the fish of the sea^ and over the fowls of the
air, and over the cattle, and over ALL THE EARTH,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth." Gen. L 26.
The evidence is here distinct, taken in con
nection with Gen. ii. 5 8, that the world was
jnade for man, and man for the world. The do-niilioni
given to them constituted ikpm kings.
Tht-.- torriiOfM dojpinioii qf" Adam and his--; pro
geny, was " ejJI the earth,* 1 aiid « ! I thmt was in
earth, air and sea- All was subject to him
while he was subject | o Go$; but when he re
belled against God, the whole animate creation
rebelled agiinst man ; and even the elements
tf nature themselves, have become his enemy.
Man lost the kingdom, and the devil obtained it.
Two causes concurred to deprive mati of the
dominion of the world. 1. The
revolt of all creatures from his authority when
s| iili6ii tod i. His own mortality. For,
Ml fie' inferior creation remained in perfect
obedience, he could not continue in authority
because of death. But death was not in the ori
ginal plan. !"- Dfcft& y entered the world by sin.
' "
was lost, and Jesus Christ has purchased and
will redeem it. Adam's race were dead in law ;
Jesus Christ has tasted death for them, that he
might bring them forth into second life from the
grave : " they that have c^ ne good, to the re.
surrection of life ; they dBt have done evil, to
the resurrection of damnation." The one class
will come forth to " everlasting life, 1' the other
to " shame and everlasting contempt.''* Then the
dominion of Christ shall be from sea to sea, and
from the river to the ends of the earth.
III. THE GENTILES NOW HAVE THE DOMINION OF
THE WHOLE WORLD.
In the third year of Jehoiakim, kins: of Judah,
and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, ( Jer. xxv.) began the famous 70 years'
captivity of the Jews in Babylon. In the sec
ond year of Nebuchadnezzar, he had a dream,
( Dan. ii.,) which none of his wise men could
either tell or interpret... But Daniel, being di
vinely instructed, did both. He said, * Thou, O
king, sawest, and behoM a great image. This
great image, whose brightness was excellent,
stood before thee, and the form thereof was
terrible. This image's head was of fine gold,
his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and
his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet
part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till
that a stone was cut out without hands, which
smote the image upon his feet that were of iron
and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then was
the iron, tjie clay, the brass, the silver, and the
gold, broken to pieces together, and became like
the chaff of the summer threshing- floors ; and
the wind carried them away, that no plac « wa
found for them : and the stone that smote the
image became a great mountain and filled the
whole earth.
shall arise another kingdom ( the breast
arms of silver) inferior to thee;" ( Medo P « it-<
sian ;) " and another third kingdom of brass,
that shall bear rule over ALL THE EARTH." This
was the Macedonian kingdom, under Alexander
the Great and his successors. Here is the
same universality again declared as in th «
Chaldean kingdom.
" The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron;
forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and sub-dueth
all these, shall it break in pieces anl
bruise." This fourth kingdoncj is the Roman
empire, and was to succeed to the same great
government of the world which its predeces
sors had enjoyed. And to gain that empire, if
was to breat in pieces and bruise all the former
kingdoms. The latter part of the kingdom,
shadowed forth by the feet and toes which were
to be oftpron and jclay, was to be of a divided
character partly strong and partly broken.
But even in this divided and weakened state, if
was to be the great leading government still.
In its last extremity, while its feet were in
existence, a stone, cut out without hands from
the mountain, was to smite the image on his
feet, that wenrof iron arid clay, and grind them
to powder; iron, clay, brass, silver arid gofdl -
gether, like the small dust of the summer
threshing- floors, and the wind carry them awity
and no place be found for them.
The image is to be annihilated before the
stone and mud; for that which has no place
cannot exist. To exist, a thing must tiif «
place. Hence that which has no place cannot
exist. The governments of this globe, all of
ihem being included in and shadowed forth by
the image, will be annihilated by the fall of the
stone, and leave the earth vacant or destitute
. . 1 of government, unless some other is provided to
;< This is the dream ; and we will tell the in- j fin its pi ace . The reign of these four monar.
terpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O j c hies is called by the Saviour, ( Luke xxi. 24,1
king, art a king of kings : for^ the God of hea- j » « the times of the Gentiles;" and by Paul, ( R*.
ven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and
strength, and glory. And wheresoever the
children of men dwell, the beasts of the field,
and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into
thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them
all." Dan. ii. 3l 38.
The universality of a kingdom could be no
men.
Ift IlSim CHRIST IS'TO'- VILL THE PLACE OF THE
FIRST ' Alt AI|.
" The first man, Adam, was made a living
iottl; the last Adam, a quickening spirit."
f* T% e first man of the earth, earthy ; the sec-is
the Lord from heaven." 1 Cor. xv.
45** 4f, The first Adam having lost the earth n
WWh his life, the second Adam came
to fitifcWiii and restore both the one and the
other. Thai the apostle in Eph. i. 1 3, 14 : " In
whom also, after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that holy spirit of promise, which
it the earnest of our inheritance until the re-jftption
of the PTOCHASED POSSESSION." Hea-nt
the heaven of heavens, was never under
of any other but the God of hea-
I Should be purchased. But this earth
mans xi. 25,) " until the fulness of the Gentiles
be come in."
This image is to be destroyed, it should be
observed, not by the rolling of the stone until'it
grinds it to powder, increasing its own size as
the image decreases or in other words, rolling
up Anti- Christ the image, into Chrbt, the stone,
more strongly asserted in human language thann untji it becomes a great mountain mad fills the
is this dominion of the king of Babylon. No whole earth ; but by dashing in pieces the ia-spot
on the round globe, where an animate be- agei sweeping it all away and then, by a. siriU
ing dwells, that is not included in his ample den expansion, filling the earth. This process
dominion. The Jews had previously enjoyed of demolishing the image and enlarging tti «
an independent government from the world ; stOne, is thus explained in the 44th verse^-* 1 !*
but then the Jewish and all other governments - - - - -
were merged in this one government. What
ever historians may say to the contrary, it is
certain that, according to inspiration, God
looked on that monarchy as being the head and
representative of all governments on the globe.
The church has never, from that hour to this,
either in her Jewish or Christian form, enjoyed
an independent government, free from depend
ence on, or tribute to the Gentiles. Nebuchad
nezzar was only the beginning of a of just
such universal monarchies,
« * Thou art - this head of "
the days of these kings shall the God
set up a kingdom which shall never be de
stroyed; it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever/*
But if it dashes them in pieces and annihilates
the Gentile kingdoms, and fills the earth whjeii
they now fill, then the two cannot be contem
poraneous, but must succeed each other the
last of them to endure eternally. -....
To be continued*.
The just live for and evef.