[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Religion See other Religion Articles Title: The United States of America Foretold in Holy Scriptures - The Battle of Armageddon The United States Of America Foretold In The Holy Scriptures and The Battle Of Armageddon by Rev. F. E. Pitts A DEFENSE OF ARMAGEDDON or Our Great Country Foretold In The Holy Scriptures By F. E. PITTS In two discourses delivered in the capitol of the United States, at the request of several members of Congress, on the anniversary of Washington's birthday in 1857. (Reprinted from) ELEVENTH EDITION Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by F. E. PITTS in the office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. "Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." Psalm138:2 Doomed by an edict written in the sky, The monarchies of earth shall be no more: Heaven's sealed wonders open to the eye In rising glories on the western shore. Baltimore [EXCERPT] A glimpse of this sublime reality inspired the good Bishop Berkeley, more than a hundred years ago, to declare what even now seems a wonderful consummation: "Westward the star of empire makes its way; The United States of America is symbolized by the man-child of the winged woman of the wilderness. "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads'. · . . And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. "And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God, and to his throne ... And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place ... And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, "etc. It is almost universally admitted that the true Church of God is represented by the woman in this symbol. And, without pausing to examine the many opinions which divines have entertained as to the true meaning of the man-child -- some supposing it refers to Christ, and others to Constantine -- we will demonstrate that the symbolic meaning of the man-child is that of a great nationality that was to arise under the superintending providence of Almighty God in the latter times; and that that great nationality is the United States of America. To this man-child a rod was given to rule -- always the ensign of political power; so that, while the mother represents a pure, enlightened religion, her offspring, "a man-child," who is invested with political authority, must represent an enlightened nationality. This exposition we claim with great confidence to be legitimate. We shall now show that such is the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. Isaiah declares, "Before she travailed, she brought forth,' before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. Who hath heard such things? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth." In this passage, the term "Zion" meaning the Church of God, settles, beyond all doubt, the symbolic meaning of the "woman clothed with the sun;" and as the "man-child" in the one case is put in apposition with "a nation born at once," he must be understood in the other instance to be the symbol of a nation also. We cannot deny the explanation without denying the interpretation the Holy Scriptures give of their own symbols. But is this nationality, arising from a true and enlightened religion, the United States of America? We shall see. In the first place, the man-child was the offspring of a true and enlightened religion. 2. Its destruction was determined upon, in its infancy, b~ a great red dragon. 3. It received "a rod" in its infancy, to rule, or to maintain political jurisdiction. 4. He and his mother were favored by the "earth." 5. "The child was caught up to the throne Of God." Now, how remarkably does our great nation answer to this description? Our nationality arose from and was the legitimate offspring of an enlightened liberal religion. Our honored ancestry, having fled from the storms of persecution in the old world, sought to find in the new, freedom to worship God; the founders and framers of our political fabric being, in the main, worshipers of the true God, and believers in his Son Jesus Christ. Our infancy was warily watched by the demon of despotism, and fearful were the efforts made by the dragon of autocracy to crush us in the cradle. But "the earth helped the woman. "The seat of the old Roman empire is termed, in the symbolic language of the Apocalypse, "the earth." And did not several of the European powers come to our assistance in that dreadful conflict? Russia declared neutrality; Spain, and especially Holland, waged war against England, while the fleets of France came to our rescue in our Revolutionary struggle. "The earth helped the woman," and the man-child was rescued. But we were specially protected and defended by the providence of Almighty God, which we understand the expression, "caught up to the throne of God," to imply. How wonderful the eventful history of our new-born nation! Who can trace the special interventions of a Divine hand through all the stages of our infant existence, from our natal hour, without acknowledging that the God of Washington was on our side? The coincidences are so numerous, and the agreement of our great nationality with the symbolic description of the man-child so wonderfully accurate, that the conclusion is demonstration. For if perfect coincidence be perfect fulfillment, then the United States of America is symbolized by the man-child of the winged woman in the wilderness. The United States of America is the nationality that is promised in the prophetic Scriptures to arise in the latter times as Israel Restored. It has long been a favorite theory, both with Jewish and Christian writers, that the nationality to be gathered together in the latter days, was understood to mean the returned or restoration of the scattered sons of Abraham to the land of Palestine. We are not surprised at the confidence with which this opinion has been entertained from age to age, because it is a legitimate a priori interpretation, seeing this nationality is called "Israel" by the prophets. In a conversation had with a venerable Bishop of the Episcopal Church, he inquired of us: "Sir, by what construction of language do you make the great nationality, promised to arise in the latter times, to mean the United States? That the Bible authorizes us to expect such a nationality there can be no doubt; but how do you make out that nationality to be the United States of America, as it was promised to be Israel?" To which we replied: "Beloved Bishop, the predictions of the prophets are put up in Hebrew dress; the regalia is Mosaic, the custom is Israelitish. They did not say, friends of civil and religious liberty, Americans, or even Christians; but they used the best terms they had on hand: they said 'Israel.'" Only doff the subject of its Jewish robes, and the symmetrical proportions and sublimity of Christian republicanism are as perfectly delineated as a Grecian pillar. But we will now show that what is reasonable and legitimate is a true principle of interpretation, being authorized by the great Teacher from heaven. Said the disciples to our Lord, "Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?" for it is written, "Behold, I will send Elijah the prophet, before that great and notable day of the Lord." Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist." Now, suppose the difficulty of the pious Bishop were proposed to our Lord: "Master, by what construction of language do you make out that John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, is indeed Elias the prophet, which was to come, seeing he is in reality another man altogether?" Does not the same difficulty exist in both cases; and has not our Lord, by answering the objection in one case, removed it in the other? John was "the Elias which was for to come;" not because that was the name by which he was called in his generation among men, but because he came "in the spirit and power of Elias," thereby answering the moral portrait that was drawn by the pencil of inspiration, and was, consequently, declared by the Savior to be indeed the Elias. If, therefore, a great nationality is promised to arise in the latter days, and the United States of America exhibits the character of such nationality, as delineated by the pen of prophecy, arising "in the spirit and power" of Israel to come, and no other nation under heaven ever has or ever can answer the description, then, perfect coincidence being perfect fulfillment, our glorious republic is the nationality which was to be gathered together in the latter times under the prophetic name of Israel. Let it be remembered, that the term Israel was a cognomen of honor, and not the natural right of a Jew. God gave the appellation to Jacob, because "as a prince he prevailed with God. "While the children of Jacob maintained their integrity, they enjoyed this high distinction; but St. Paul defends the application of the term to Gentiles who may possess the proper claims to this honor. But perhaps the most plausible bill of exceptions taken to our theory is presented here. It is suggested, with much apparent reason, that we are too wicked and unworthy a people to bear the honored title of Israel. Alas for us, my countrymen! Heaven knows full well that we are wicked enough; for when we consider the special providence of Almighty God, marvelously exercised over us from the very infancy of our organization, through every change of fortune -- what prosperity has crowned our cause -- how we have been guided and guarded by a Divine supervision, as virtually present as the holy Shekinah, "in a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night" -- and then look at the abominations that pollute our national escutcheon, it is humiliating in the extreme. Look at the blasphemy that outrages the highest obligation of created beings, marring the purest language on earth, in desecrating the name of the holiest Being in the universe. Look at the violation of even heathen honest, discrediting character in almost all gradations of society. See the frenzy of political parties, disrupting the very bonds of brotherhood; while blood and debauchery infect the air and pollute the earth, bribery, homicide, and murder transpire in the very halls of our nation's councils. But bad as we are, fellow-citizens, we are the very best people upon the face of the earth. The great heart of our magnanimous country beats responsive to the sighs and sorrows of all nations. Our peaceful land is the hospitable home for the oppressed of all countries. Our laws are the transcript of eternal justice. True, we have neither titled dukes nor hereditary lords, but the emoluments of profit and honor are offered to the deserving of all classes, and our loftiest promotions are accessible to the humblest poor. Though denounced abroad by all aristocracy that dooms its own pauper millions to proscription, beggary, and starvation, yet our institutions, which they fain would pity, are the pulsations of health, compared with the plague-spots of pestilential Europe. Already have three hundred thousand of our African population become the Christianized children of God -- a greater number of true Christian converts, heathens as their fathers were who first came amongst us, than are to be found in all the missions of all denominations upon the earth. We have colonized a happy republic also, upon the benighted shores of their fatherland. Our ministers of mercy have gone to every heathen shore, and preached glad tidings to almost every island that dots the bosom of the ocean. Beams of light, radiating from this central home of civil and religious liberty, already break upon the distant millions that weep in the shadow of death. When the noble Greek is crushed by the hoof of Turkish despotism, the halls of our Senate are eloquent with a sympathy that responds in the bosom of a whole people. When Poland, Hungary, and Italy struggle and fall, the hope of the American people struggles and falls with them. When the cry of starvation is heard from ill-fated Ireland, American transports are freighted with the numificent offering of a generous people. And, moved by a magnanimity which knows no parallel, our swift ships are dispatched to recover England's lost navigators in the regions of eternal snow. We have the one living and true God, one Savior, and one religion -- one Constitution, one Confederacy, one Republic, one nationality; therefore, a true religion and a true civil government is the Israel that was to come, the "nation born at once" -- born on the 4th of July, 1776. But let us not be misled by the consecrated name of Israel. For "all are not Israel who are called Israel. "A nation possessing the true religion, and enjoying an enlightened and liberal civil government, may have many unbelieving and rebellious people in its midst; and, doubtless, millennial glory, and the day of judgment also, will find both the righteous and the wicked, the just and the unjust, the wise and the foolish virgins, for the wheat and tares will grow together until the general harvest, "which is the end of the world." Even Israel restored to nationality will not be the Eden of bliss. It was in the brightest days of the Hebrew nation when the tribes of Jacob were led out to the solitudes of the desert to behold the glory of God revealed upon the sacred mountain. Clouds of awful grandeur encircled its brow. Lightnings rent the mantle of the sky, and deep-toned thunders rocked Mount Sinai from its glowing summit to its granite base. Then, where was Israel -- God's own Israel? Behold him at the foot of the hill making a golden calf! By the term of Israel, therefore, we mean to be understood, a providential nation, possessing the only true religion, and a divinely sanctioned form of civil government. Such, with all its sunshine and shadows, was ancient Israel, and such is the United States of America, and the United States of America alone. As to the scattered Jews -- who have long since lost all genealogical proof of their respective tribes -- forming such great nationality any where, that is supremely ridiculous. That they may return to Jewry, we think highly probable; because every thing formerly connected with that nation was typical. Their fiftieth, or Jubal year, was a time when the scattered Jews returned to their respective homes, and were put in possession or seized of their patrimonial estates. This custom may anticipate the jubilee of the world; that is, when republicanism shall become world-wide. Then the Jews, in masses, may return to Canaan; for the Almighty by deed of gift made Abraham and his posterity proprietors of that land. They may return and form a little Christian republic in Palestine. But to become the great national headship of the world, restore temple worship and priestly offerings, with all the gorgeous paraphernalia of its ancient sacerctotal splendor, is but the pious dream of fanaticism. This simplicity and spirituality of the religion of the Son of God forbids the idea; while the burdensome rites of the Jewish ritual have long since been discarded by the unostentatious loveliness and grace of a Christianity that claims to worship the Father "in spirit and in truth." But even the supposition that they will return and form a literal government in their ancient home may be a mistake. For those prophecies that seem to refer to their literal restoration are interpreted by many worthy divines to foretell their conversion to their long-rejected Savior. This is indeed plausible. "In foreign climes they'll cease to roam' And so must it be. But if the Almighty designed to honor a people by raising them to become a great nationality, of whom is it probable such nationality would be composed? Let this question be settled by a plain principle of Divine revelation. Who are the Jews? A persecuted and disbanded people. Why are they persecuted? For rejecting the claims of the Son of God. From his very birth to this day they have, as a nation, derided and discarded him. They sealed the dreadful imprecation at his crucifixion: "His blood be upon us, and on our children." But there is another persecuted people -- the friends of civil and religious liberty. They have been hunted down in every land, like the hart of the mountains. They have been proscribed and execrated, outraged and banished, in every age; and, for conscience' sake, have been martyred by the million. Why were they persecuted, "scattered, and peeled?" For accepting and acknowledging Jesus Christ. Here, then, is the difference. Now, apply an infallible principle which must test this question. Said the adorable Savior, "If any man serve me, him will my Father honor." Is it, then, at all probable that God would honor a people by the promised glorious nationality, who have, as a nation, spurned the mercy of the Prince of peace, and obstinately persisted, before the eyes of all nations, in rejecting the clearest evidence of his Messiahship, during the long, long night of their wanderings; and yet, at the same time, pass by a people who, through every change of fortune, propitious and adverse, have firmly maintained their faith in Christ, and invincibly breasted the storms of persecuting vengeance for his glorious name's sake? Will heaven honor a people who dishonor his Son, and overlook a people who were ready to live and labor and suffer and die in his blessed cause? The case being self-evident, and the rule to determine our judgment infallible, the decision must be inevitable. Christianity mourns the ill-fated children of a divinely chosen and illustrious ancestry, and ardently prays for their conversion to Christ. But even this glorious consummation our faith beholds far in the distance. That the Jews will ultimately embrace Christianity, we entertain no doubt; but they will be the last nation on the face of the earth that will be converted. For "the blindness that has happened to Israel" will remain "until the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in." That is, the Gentile world will be converted to God before the blindness of infidelity will be removed from Israel. To suppose the conversion of the Jewish nation to be the means of converting the Gentile world, is, consequently, directly opposed by the words of the apostle. In their case we behold the verification of another gospel maxim: "the first shall be last, and the last first." They were the first to hear the blessed tidings of man's redemption from the lips of its glorious Author, "but they received him not." And the Apostle Paul, in his valedictory to his own countrymen, declares, "seeing that ye judge yourselves un worthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." So, also, the melting strains that mingled with the tears of the Son of God over their devoted city announced the same calamity. "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing, and ye would not . . . If thou hadst known, even thou, the things which belong unto thy peace, at least in this thy day, but now are they hid from thine eyes... Henceforth is your house left unto you desolate; for I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." That is, Ye shall see me no more until you will be rejoiced to hail me as your Messiah. This is, doubtless, its true meaning. There are very many passages of Scripture which are universally admitted by the learned and judicious to foretell the rise of a great nationality in the latter times. These predictions cannot, by any reasonable construction, be applied to the rise of such nationality in the land of Judea; but are most wonderfully descriptive of the United States of America, and of no other country under heaven. We shall now select a few out of the many marked descriptions and coincidences only realized in our favored land and nation. First. The land of the promised nationality was to be located between two seas -- the eastern sea and the great western sea: "From the border unto the east sea, this is the east side .... The west side also shall be the great sea; from the border, this is the west side. "Ezekiel 47.'18, 20. These broad boundaries of our great country are perfect; the west side being the "great sea, "is most remarkable. Judea is not bounded on the east side by a sea at all. This passage, which is taken from the prophet's geographical description of the land of restored Israel, cannot possibly apply to Palestine, if Ezekiel has given its true boundaries. All commentators understand this chapter as an inspired account that maps the country of the promised nationality; but it is absolutely impossible to locate this land in Palestine, for the want of an eastern border. No sea bounds old Canaan on the east. Learned men have generally supposed that Palestine is the country referred to, but let learned men show us that eastern boundary. This defect is fatal, and must for ever vitiate the claim of Judea to this high distinction. Second. This land is described as being hitherto uncultivated and unimproved -- a land "that has always been waste. "Ezekiel 38. Of course Palestine cannot be referred to here, for it cannot be said in truth that Judea has always been waste. But our own country fully answers the description. Our primeval prairies and grand old woods presented, on the arrival of our ancestors, the same unbroken wilderness they had remained for ages, as though Heaven had specially preserved them for the glory of their future destiny. Let it not be said that the footprints of the aborigines of this country are an objection to this account; for that land is waste where tillage has never harvested its blessings for man. But such is the desert description of the country to be possessed by the nationality to come, and such was tile new continent of America. The song of the eloquent Isaiah can remind you of no other country; "the wilderness and tile solitary place shall be glad for them: and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, even with joy and singing.' Hu' glory of' Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God ... For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and stream in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds arm rushes." Third. That wonderful country was to be inhabited by a people "gathered out of the nations. "Ezekiel 38. Not of one nation collected together that had been scattered amongst other nations, but, what is obviously the sense of the passage, composed of people of different nations. This is so prominent a character of the glorious nationality to come, that the prophets seem to dwell upon it with rapture and inspired eloquence. "Lift up thine eyes round about, and see,' all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters be nursed by thy side. Then thou shall see, and flow together and thy heart shall fear, and be enlarged; for the abundance of the sea shall be converted (turned) unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee ... Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?" The prophet enriches his sublime description by images drawn both from the animal and the vegetable kingdom: "The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee .... The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together. "Isaiah 40. As if the holy seer had said, Emigration shall come from the land where the dromedaries roam; they shall come from the land where the fir tree blooms. "Therefore thy gates shall be open continualy: they shall not be shut day nor night." Did ever such a tide of emigration set into any country since the creation of the world as continually swarms to our hospitable shores'?. Indeed, the citizens of these States, or their fathers, have come from every country under heaven. But the prophet enters into detail. "Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers ... And the sons of strangers shall build your walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee." Now, the walls of a country's defense are its public improvements; and it is notorious that the sons of strangers build most of our public works. " The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at thy feet." The sons of the very soldierly that invaded your coasts, murdered your people, and burnt your towns and villages, should come to make your country their home; and those who sneered at your experiment of popular freedom, attempted to crush it in the cradle, predicted the downfall of American Independence, and that liberty would die with Washington, and with his dust receive the same rites of sepulture - yes, even they should come and seek a refuse and a home in your happy land. How imposing the picture drawn by the pencil of inspiration here; and how wonderfully true in its fulfillment. Fourth. In the promised nationality, unlike the political economy of ancient Israel, foreigners were to be allowed a place to dwell, enjoy their homes and the pursuits of happiness in common with the citizens of the country; but it seems from the prophet, the rights of suffrage and eligibility of office were only to be enjoyed by those strangers who had lived long enough in the land to raise their native-born children: "And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. Ezekiel 47:22,23 There could be no propriety in characterizing the class of foreigners who should be blessed with children born in the land, from the stranger who is only a sojourner, whose residence is but recent and transient, unless peculiar privileges were understood to belong to the fathers of native-born children. As we lay no claims to the politician, we will be allowed strongly to approve of this interesting feature in the economy of restored Israel. Our land should always be the welcome home of foreigners; but, at the same time, they should remain long enough to appreciate our blessings, learn our laws, and the genius of our wonderful constitution, before they aspire to dictate or to govern. Fifth. The principle of extension, in enlarging the boundaries of their primary possessions should specially characterize the prosperity of the promised nationality. "Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee ... For thy waste and desolate places shall even now be too narrow, by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up (the autocracy of the Old World) shall be far away, (beyond the sea.) The children which thou shalt have, (in this land,) after thou hast lost the other, (ancient Israel,) shall say again in thy ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell." Isaiah 49:18, 20. Extension seems to be the genius of our free institutions. From thirteen States, we have already multiplied into thirty-one, besides nine territories that soon will be ready to enter into the Union. We need give ourselves no uneasiness about Mexico, Cuba, and Central America. Monarchy and anarchy must melt away in the immediate proximity of a glorious republic: while the natural interests of those countries will impel them to seek annexation, that they may also enjoy in common with us the benign blessings of our happy confederacy, Indeed, the words of prophecy, legitimately interpreted, warrant that the domain of this nationality will embrace the entire continent of North and South America. For its "dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. "We know this passage is usually applied to Christ, to which we make no objection. But will you restrict it to him? If so, you greatly diminish the universal triumphs of his reign. We are taught that his sway shall be illimitable, and every knee shall bow and pay homage to him. But the passage before us is a clear territorial grant, issued by Divine authority, and must mark the boundaries of Israel that was to come. The geographical description can be found applicable to no other country but ours. Here the grant finds all of its metes and bounds. "From sea to sea;" from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. '!And from the river:" the Mississippi, the father of waters, with its sixty thousand miles of tributary navigation, and the incalculable tonnage of its transports. "Unto the ends of the earth.'" to the most remote promontories in the North, and to Terra del Fuego and Cape Horn in the South. We must be excused from dwelling further on the emigration that was to come to this land. These predictions are very numerous and wonderfully accurate -- inspired predictions, that never have been realized, and never can be, unless they are fulfilled in the New World. We will, however, notice one other. Behold, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the North and from the West; and these from the land of Sinim." Isaiah 49:12. Now, all commentators agree that "Sinim" is China. The fact is, it was its true ancient name: Thinim, Thina, or China. It is so put down in the ancient maps. And China lies "north" and "west," or north-west of us. In the message of Ex-Governor Bigler, of California, some two years ago, it is there published that there were then some sixty thousand Chinese in that State. Now, no commentator questions that this passage describes emigration coming to the land of restored Israel, for the whole continent comfirms it. But how are the Chinese to come from China to Palestine and come from the north-west? It is impossible. Here is a promise made of emigration from a distant country, whose inhabitants have never been known to mingle with other nations; here their true ancient name is given; here is the very direction which they were to come; and here is a fulfillment upon a most magnificent scale. Perfect coincidence being perfect fulfillment, our position is demonstration. Sixth. The land of restored Israel is described as a country restored from its desolations, by the peculiar construction of its towns and villages, and the prosperity and quietude of its inhabitants. In the invasion of this land, at the last great battle, by Russia and the autocracy of the Old World, the prophet thus addresses the power that leads that invasion: "After many days thou shalt be visited: thou shalt come into tile land that is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste; but it is brought out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them ... Thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of un walled villages,' I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates. To take a spoil, and to take a prey;' to turn thy hand upon the desolate place that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations; which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. "Ezekiel 38.'8, 11, 12. Here, my countrymen, is almost a daguerreotype portraiture of your own land. We very much question whether Ezekiel, the prophet ever saw an "unwalled" city in his life. Surely, if old Palestine is to be brought back again to her more than ancient splendor, "unwalled" cities and villages will not be found there. This passage, therefore, can never be applied to Judea; for all her cities were walled, from Jericho to Jerusalem. This remarkable description of the numerous villages and cities, and the possessions, prosperity, and security of the people, is a grand and graphic delineation of the United States of America, and of no other country on earth. Seventh. The infancy of that country should receive the attention of royal patronage: "Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers." How very remarkably this has been realized will occur to the mind at once. The term "nursing" applies to infancy. And it was in the early history of our people that the supervision of royalty was exercised over us. The names of several of the old thirteen States, besides many counties and towns, still perpetuate the recollection of royalty: Georgia and Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas, as well as King and Queen and King William counties, Prince George, Prince Edward, and prince we don't know what else -- names that will for ever perpetuate the fulfillment of prophecy in what might otherwise seem to be only accidental. Eighth. A country remarkable for the number of its majestic rivers. "But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.; Isaiah 35:21. This passage from the prophet is admitted to refer to the land of restored Israel. But if that land be Palestine, how are we to see the force of its meaning? Can the river Jordan and the rivulet Kedron answer the grandeur of this description? Certainly not. But the many mighty and majestic rivers in our own country fill up the prophetic map upon a sublime and magnificent scale. By the expression "there the glorious Lord will be unto us a Place of;" etc., we understand that he will guarantee that description of country to the nation he would raise up. "Wherein shall go no galley with oars," is very singular. The Hebrew word translated "galley," literally signifies a government clipper, sent out by a superior kingdom to exact port-duties from a dependent people. The loss of the tea cargo in Boston harbor fully illustrates this subject; while the very genius of our independence, in the days of Andrew Jackson, was stamped upon a medal: "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." Ninth. The land of restored Israel is described to be literally more elevated than any portion of the world. "The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established upon the tops of the mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it. "The willful king of the North says in his proclamation of war against us: "I will go up to the land of unwalled villages." Lieutenant Maury has shown, in one of his late learned works, that the United States of America is the highest part of the visible earth, and that it is down stream from the ports of our country to every other continent and island of the globe. But if this elevation must be morally and intellectually understood, and not literally, still, the realization being as perfect in the one case as in the other, our argument remains conclusive. Tenth. The peaceful character of the inhabitants, and the intelligibility and uniformity of their language, should designate that people. "Thou shalt not see a fierce people, of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand." Isaiah 33. Polite manners and gentle deportment every where characterize the American people: this is a world-wide acknowledgment, so that the solitary exceptions are gloated over by the detracting prints of roving authors as morsels too precious to be erased from their journals. But the uniformity and intelligibility of our language is indeed most extraordinary. Although teeming thousands are constantly pouring into our communities from the Germanic States, France, and other countries, our pure vernacular Anglo-Saxon will conduct you safely through any portion of our vast domain. And it is now contended, by those competent to judge, that the English is more correctly spoken in the wilds of America than at the court of St. James -- more accurately pronounced in our primary schools than in the British Parliament. We do not question their intelligence nor their energy, but Americans speak the English language better than the English themselves. Should the pride of an Albion tempt him to deny it, just put him upon his trial with any word where the consonant "h" is to be supplied or omitted - the monosyllable hell, for instance - and if he be not satisfied with an attempt to spell and pronounce it, you may give him up as incorrigible. Eleventh. The rapid advancement of intelligence and divine instruction should mark the rising progress of that people. Daniel 12:4 " What nation present, such a spectacle al this very moment as the United States'? Our literary institutions are scattered all over the land, so that the humblest poor may be enriched with the treasures of science; while millions of sheets in the republic of letters pour floods of light upon the human mind. Here the press is free, that mighty enginery of thought, guarding the majesty of law and the inviolable sanctity of the Constitution, Here the pulpit, unawed by the terrors of the throne or the thunders of the Vatican, in tones of power and tongues of flame, proclaims "the acceptable year of the Lord," and preaches glad tidings to the poor. Here the word of God is an unchained book: and, like the sun in mid-heaven, rifts the clouds that mantle the world, shedding a strong and steady light upon the shadowy mansions of the dead, inspiring the living with the ecstatic hope that our loved and our lost shall awake from their dusty beds in the last glorious morning. Twelfth. The country inhabited by the people "gathered out of the nations" should be settled in thirteen distinct States, like as it was with Israel: only "Joseph should have two portions." "Ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. "Ezekiel 47:13. It is a remarkable fact that although the Jews had but twelve tribes, the portion falling to Ephraim and Manasseh, children of Joseph, being divided, made them a confederacy of thirteen states or tribes. It is also just as remarkable, that in the beginning we had but twelve States; and William Penn held the charter of Pennsylvania for twenty years before he obtained that of Delaware, and then we had thirteen States also. But the coincidence in the boundaries of the thirteen states of restored Israel with those of the old thirteen United States, is still more remarkable. The prophet gives the eastern border of each tribe to the eastern sea, and the western border of each tribe to be the great western sea. (See Ezekiel 47.) Wilson, and perhaps Bancroft, affirm, that the original charters of the thirteen United States called for the Atlantic or eastern ocean for their eastern boundary, and the Pacific or the great western ocean for their western boundary, in almost so many words. It is not a little amusing to see the perplexity of the great and good Dr. Clarke, in attempting to map the land of restored Israel. He lays his plot, of course, in the territory of old Palestine. He bounds his thirteen lots by the Mediterranean or western ocean, but, for the life of the learned Doctor, he can find no eastern sea for his eastern border. The little Dead Sea lies across three of the tribes but does not bound any one of them! Examine his map, at the close of his commentary on Ezekiel, and you will find, for want of an eastern sea, ancient Judea can never be the country of Israel restored. Thirteenth. Our country is the land described by the prophet Isaiah lying westward from Judea. "Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, that sendeth messengers by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes, saving, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled." Isaiah 18:1,2. The word "woe" is not a malediction here, being hoi erets in Hebrew, a particle of hailing; and authorized us to read, "All hail, thou land shadowing with wings. "But where is that land? From Judea, the standpoint of the prophet, it is "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," Where are the rivers of Ethiopia? The Nile and its tributaries. What country and what people do we find beyond the Nile from Judea? The land is a barren desert, and the wandering Bedouins the only human beings that pass through it. Then we must look for another country and another people, but in the same direction, for that is specific. You will find no other land or people on that line of latitude until you strike the United States of America about the coasts of Carolina. Should it be contended that Western Africa was not the ancient Ethiopia, but the country inhabited by the Cushites or the children of Cush, very well; they extended eastwardly until the Ganges, the Indus, and the Burrampooter were their rivers; and beyond these from Judea you come direct to the North American continent across the Pacific. So that, in either case, "the land beyond the rivers" of modern or ancient Ethiopia from Judea is America. Its description -- "a land shadowing with wings" -- might refer to the geographical conformation of the new continent, for a large map of North and South America very much resembles the expanded wings of a great eagle; or it may be suggestive of the fact that it was the country shadowed or concealed from the cupidity of the nations till God was ready for its discovery. Or was it not designed as a description of a country, the national aegis of whose people should be an eagle, whose pinions should spread from shore to shore? The "swift ships" and "vessels of bulrushes" are peculiarly descriptive of our fleets of commerce, as light water-crafts of this material were anciently used upon the Nile. This land was originally possessed by "a people hitherto terrible from the beginning. "Such is a true description of the fierce and warlike aborigines who were found in this new world. "A people scattered and peeled.'" broken up into numerous tribes, dispersed without order over the whole country, and wasted by continual wars, were fast waning and melting away. "Meted out and trodden down:" driven from one part of the country to another, first located in one defined territory and then in another; oppressed, maltreated, and murdered. "Whose land the rivers have spoiled:" they being the original claimants and proprietors of a country extensive in its domain and rich in its alluvial lands, through which majestic rivers are ever changing their mighty channels. This prophetic delineation of our country can have no other meaning or application. And learned commentators, never having dreamed that America was the subject of prophecy, acknowledge as does Dr. Adam Clarke, especially, "that this is the most obscure passage in the whole book of Isaiah." Our interpretation is certainly legitimate; while the facts and the fulfillment should awaken our attention and enkindle our admiration. Fourteenth. But the promised nationality was to be a republic. "Their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them. "Jeremiah 30.'21. The people should be "gathered together, and appoint unto themselves one head. "Hosea 1:11. "I will restore thy judges as at the first, and the counselors as at the beginning. "Isaiah 1:26. Observe "one head" -- a chief magistrate appointed by the people -- governors, judges, and counselors, taken from the masses of the people, are particularly promised, but no king. The political economy of ancient Israel being a theocratic republic, the promise in the passages is that the officers necessary to constitute a republican form of government would be restored, and the elective franchise would be free, and the people would possess the sovereign right of choosing their own rulers and judges. Surely the doctrine of the Divine right of kings find no authority here; for the power invested in the people is entirely inconsistent with any grade of monarchy, limited or absolute. The truth is, the fifth great commonwealth that the God of heaven was to "set up" was so utterly repugnant to monarchy, in all its forms and phases, that it should destroy it from the face of the earth. And we have every assurance that if the Almighty designed to bless a people by conferring upon them a particular form of political government, such form could not possibly be a monarchy. A most memorable instance of Divine disapprobation of the establishment of an earthly king among men is recorded at the coronation of the first monarch of Israel. Said Almighty God to Samuel the prophet, "Protest solemnly, unto them, and show unto them the manner of the king that shah reign over them. He will take your sons, and appoint them for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he win take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give them to his officers, and to his servants. "And he win take your men-servants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to work. He will take the tenth of your sheep; and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king, and the Lord will not hear you in that day" I Samuel 8:9-18. Such is the solemn protestation of the God of heaven against an earthly monarchy; and faithfully has the history of earthly kings confirmed the truth of the Divine prediction. Then it is absolutely certain that a political government, selected and "set up" for the sons of men by Jehovah, would not be a monarchy. But this very fifth government was to be "set up" by the God of heaven; therefore the fifth government, not being in any possible case a monarchy in any grade, must be a republic. Fifteenth, and finally. The waiting isles of Isaiah are a sublime announcement of our great country, and its early occupation by European emigrants. "Surely, the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring my sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord the God, and to the Holy One of Israel." Diodorus Siculus, a most reliable historian of the Augustine age, says that "the term 'isles' in his time, primarily meant undiscovered lands supposed to exist in the Atlantic Ocean." The word "Tarshish," according to Strabo, refers to Tartesus, formerly a seaport city of that name, situated on the site where Cadiz now stands, in Old Spain, near the pillars of Hercules. And Mr. Benson, perhaps the most accurate commentator on the ancient geography of the Scriptures, says that "this opinion is now generally adopted by the learned." With this explanation of terms, let us read the passage: "Surely, the undiscovered lands in the western sea shall wait for me, and the ships of Old Spain shall be first to bring my sons from far, their silver and their gold with them," etc. Here we have the fact announced, that the country spoken of had hitherto been an undiscovered country, and the reason assigned why it should have remained concealed so long -- "shall wait for me" -- unknown and unexplored, until God, in his supervision of the nations, was ready for its occupation. "Wait for" God, until the Reformation in Europe had neutralized the friends of civil and religious liberty: until the great principle of self-government should move the masses of the people to seek a new theater to realize the blessings of popular freedom -- wait until the facilities of intellectual and moral improvement, the invention of printing, and the freedom of the pulpit, should arise as the powerful auxiliaries of an enlightened republican nation. "And the ships of Old Spain shall be first, to bring my sons from far." And were not the ships of Spain first in the discovery and opening up of emigration to the New World? After being repulsed from every court in Europe to which he appealed, was not Columbus sanctioned and sustained by Ferdinand and Isabella in his expedition? .... To bring my sons from far. "Now, remember this passage cannot apply to the spread of the gospel, for the tidings of salvation are sent out to heathen lands; but here the sons of God are represented as being transported from their original homes to a newly discovered country. It cannot refer to Judea, for that was not an undiscovered country, and the ships of Spain never have brought, and never can bring, its first emigration to people it. "Their silver and their gold with them:" that they might make that land their permanent home, bringing their treasure with them. But the great motive of their emigration deserves special attention. They were to come for the privilege of worshiping God "unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel." Our noble ancestry, driven by the storms of persecution from the Old World, sought a refuge in the New. When the minions of monarchy invaded the Southern hemisphere, it was for the sake of gold. The Portuguese in Brazil, Cortez in Mexico, and Pizarro in Peru, took possession of those countries in the names of the majesties of their respective governments. But when the Huguenots, the Quakers, and the Puritans came to America, they took possession of these lands in the name of Almighty God. "Not as the conquerors come, To review the history of our great nation is but to trace the wonderful providence of God. Look at the very men who directed and guarded the infancy of our republic; whether in the cabinet, or in the camp, whether in the national council or on foreign diplomacy, "their like we shall never see again." For this very end they seemed to have been born; and they evidently believed in their Divine destination. There was a time when darkness shrouded the breath of heaven; not one gleam of light nor a solitary star was seen struggling through the dim distance. Congress paused under the dreadful gloom, when it was agreed to submit their cause to the arbitration of Heaven. A day of solemn fasting and prayer was proposed; instantly the resolution passed with deep emotion. The council-chamber was closed; grave senators retired in silence, personally to engage in fervent prayer; holy ministers of God at the altar, and pious women, with their babes pressed to their bosoms, lifted their streaming eyes to heaven; while Washington was on his knees, when "a nation was born at once" -- born on the 4th day of July, 1776. Preserved as "an handful of corn scattered on the summit of the mountains, a little one has become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation." "It is the Lord's doings, and marvelous in our eyes;" for according to his promise, "the Lord has hastened it in his time." 0 happy America! O favored children of the free! when will the great heart of they mighty people fully know God and the salvation of his Son! "Then Gentiles and kings shall see thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken: neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee. "Then shall thy glory continue; for "Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended."
Poster Comment: 2. Its destruction was determined upon, in its infancy, b~ a great red dragon. the dragon is the symbol of Satan, and "The City" of London ["The Crown"][search "dragon city of london"]. SEE http://greatreddragon.com , the book, in the sidebar. This book [The Great Red Dragon] was written prior to the War of Northern Aggression, which was financed by the Rothschilds on both sides, which made us all slaves [via the 14th Amendment], and prior to things that have been revealed since then about the nature of the Beast that has ruled this country even before the CONstitution [ http://www.ismellarat.com / http://www.america-betrayed-1787.com ] took effect. ============ THE UNITED STATES IS STILL A BRITISH COLONY EXTORTING TAXES FOR "THE CROWN"! The Ultimate Delusion by Stephen Ames Genesis 15:13,14/Galatians 3:16,17...29. Zechariah 2:4/Ezekiel 38:11-12/Ezekiel 38-39/Revelation 20:9-10 Gog and Magog: http://www.lordmayorsshow.org/visitors/history/gogmagog / http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/13trindx.htm Psalm 2.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#0)
Brother Fitts lays it all out the best that I've ever seen. Thanks for this post.
you're welcome.
"...as long as there..remain active enemies of the Christian church, we may hope to become Master of the World...the future Jewish King will never reign in the world before Christianity is overthrown - B'nai B'rith speech http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/luther.htm / http://bible.cc/psalms/83-4.htm
the dragon is the symbol of Satan, and "The City" of London ["The Crown"][search "dragon city of london"]. Thanks for the post. Yes, the man-child must be humbled, for the purposes of the awakening but what then? Just because the Red Dragon has always desired this destruction of the "man-child", does not make it so! Even the principalities, the "wickedness in high places", all the way up the chain of command to the ruler of the world of Man are all merely bit players in the cosmic drama. The true author of the drama is only known by those who understand their *own* authority as sovereign inheritors of the gift promised by the Universal Being, those knowing that they are made in the image of Its unlimited creative power. Is it coincidence (no such thing! "randomness" being just another word for superficial information) that the first state to begin the push back to the Federalists/Globalists has a city named Phoenix as its capital or head? We will arise again from our ashes just as the mythological/symbolic bird! 8=>
deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "You've got to put right and wrong above legal and illegal. Because when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty; and it is not rebellion at all, it is submission to the higher law that our government is in rebellion to. We're not the rebels, they're the rebels."
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||