Star.
London, England, 1808-04-05 00:00:00

.t.4•A•te.• •. •

ON THE PROPHECIES.

THE FIRST SEAL.

No. IV.

" When the Lamb had opened one of the seals" says
John ( ReV. vi. 1.) " I saw and khold a white horse ;
and he that sat on Aim had a bow ; and a crown was given
unto him, and he cventforth conquering and to conquer."
That a crowned warr:or is here spoken of—a mighty
king, who overcomes all his enemies, is obvious ; nor
will there be much difficulty in determining which of
fle personages mentioned in the sealed book (Daniel)
is alluded to, if we keep in our view the general scope
of the prophecies which it records. The grand and
leading fact proclaimed in the book referred to is this
(ii. 44) : " The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed : and the kingdom shall
not be left to other people : it shall break in pieces
and consume all these Cother] kingdoms, and it shall
stand for ever." We are told afterwards (vii. 13,14.)

that this kingdom is to be given to " one like the son of
man," and (v. 27) be possessed by 44 the people of the
saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an ever-
lasting kingdom ;" and that " all dominions shall
serve and obey him." The " one like the son of man,"
here called the Mod High, being the chief or highest
,of all the princes or rulers mentioned in Daniel, is,
according to the Hebrew method of marking the su-
perlative, stiled in another place, (viii. 25.) " the
Prince of Princes," and where other Kings are com-
pared to " the host of Heaven" (viii. 10.) he is called;
(v. 11.) " the Prince of the host," which means exactly
the same as the former expression. He is God's
anointed King over that kingdom which is never to be
destroyed ; and is therefore (ix. 25.) emphatically
called 14)) MVO 44 the MCI. t Prince," that
is, the ANOINTED Prince. Other Kings are men-
tioned in Daniel. None of these, however, can be

the rider alluded to in this first seal ; for their domi-
Aim -let,* taken away, (vii. 12.) and though one of
them was to lave the audacity to set himself over the.
rest (xi. 37.) yet we are-told (vii. 26.) "the judg-
ment shall sit, and they shall take away hi: dominion,
to consume and to destroy it unto the end ;" but to
the personage here spoken of is given, not only a
CrJ1101; but victory over all his energies. He goes forth
conquering and to conquer !
That such a king was to come, had been SQ plainly
predicted, in the writings of the Prophets, that it is
'mot *suiprising that there should have been a general
exjsctation of his appearance at the very time that
•
ilims was borp.?. Daniel, in particular, had not only
mentioned the fact,. but (as shall be shewn hereafter)

had pointed out time for his coming. Accordingly
when Jbhn carne proclaiming the baptism of repen-
'tante, saying, 'in the words of Isaiah, " Prepare ye
the way of the LORD," the people-were at no loss to
understand that he spoke of this promised king ; the
point they wished to know was " whether he [John]
was the Messiah or not" (Luke iii. 15. John i, 19-
25.) " When John was put in prison, JESUS went
into Galilee, proclaiming the good tidings of the reign of
GOD.* The time, said he, is accomplished ; the!
.rein of GoD is at hand ; repent and believe the good
tidings." (Mark i. 14, 15.) How remarkable the
expression ? The good news of the reign of GOD ! Those
who heard him, however ignorant they might be of
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