themselves unworthy of eternal life, preferring their own powerless forms and doctrines, to the science of revelation, miracles, visions, and prophecy, which had ever illuminated the pathway of their more ancient fathers, the Apostles turned from them, by the commandment of the Lord, and translated this science, with its keys and legitimate powers, to the Gentiles.

The nation had rejected and slain the Messiah, stoned the Prophets, and imprisoned and even murdered many of the Apostles and Elders; and Jesus had already, in tears of anguish, announced their doom—

"O 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 wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is 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."

Again, on another occasion, the Messiah uttered his voice, saying—"There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

Again he spake, concerning the Temple, saying—"There shall net be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

All these things, foretold by the science of Theology, were fulfilled in that generation. And Jerusalem has been destroyed, trodden down by the Gentiles, and the Jews have remained in captivity among the nations until now.

Our readers will readily discern the entire loss of the science and powers of Theology among this nation; the time, circumstances, and reasons of its decline; and the time or circumstances which will restore it unto them.

They lost it when, by the hand of the Apostles, it was taken from them and given to the Gentiles.

The result was, the destruction of their city and temple, and of their national existence.

Their temple, priesthood, and offerings were no longer attended by divine power. Its outward forms were, therefore, of no possible use.

From that very time to the present—One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one of the Christian era, the voice of a Prophet has not been heard among the Jews.

Angels have not ministered unto them.

There has been no vision from the Lord.

No dream or interpretation.

No answer by Urim or Thummim.

No Prophet.

No voice.

No sound.

No reproof.

No comforting whisper.

All is silence—stillness—solemn blackness of despair.

All is as the similitude and shadow of death.

Oh the weariness, the painful suspense, the watchings, the wanderings, the anxieties, the pains and sorrows of eighteen centuries! Oh the mist of ages which has shrouded a nation as it were in the gloom of an endless night!

When—O when, will their day dawn, and the day star of their ancient science appear above the horizon, disperse the cloud, and usher in the morning of a brighter day?

When the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

When they shall welcome a messenger in the name of the Lord.

CHAPTER III.

PROGRESS, DECLINE, AND FINAL LOSS OF THE SCIENCE OF THEOLOGY AMONG THE GENTILES—FORESHADOWINGS OF ITS RESTORATION FOR THE USHERING IN OF THE MILLENNIUM.

    Oh Mystic Babel, long has been thy reign!
    What direful evils follow in thy train!
    The veil is rent—thy mystery revealed,
    Angels cry wo! and God thy doom has sealed.
    The nations, from thy long and dreary night,
    Are waking now to everlasting light.

Returning to the Gentile Church, we find the science of Theology, with all its miraculous powers of visions, dreams, angels, revelations, prophecy, healings, &c., everywhere enjoyed. It had abated none of its powers, in its transition from Jew to Gentile. The wild branches, being engrafted into the good old stock, immediately partook of the root and fatness of the tame olive tree, and thus was produced the natural fruit.

But Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, in his writings to the Romans, cautioned them to beware lest they should fall away after the same example as the Jews had done before them.

Said he—"If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee."

John the Apostle also predicted the rise and universal sway of a certain mystical power, a Babel of spiritual or religious confusion, in short—"Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth."

This power should bear rule among all nations. The kings and rulers of the earth should be drunken with the wine of her fornication. The merchants of the earth should become rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

This power should, according to the Prophet Daniel and the Apostle John, "wear out the Saints of the Most High;" "change times and laws;" "be drunken with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus;" "destroy the mighty and the holy people;" "make war with the Saints, and overcome them" until a set time.

All these predictions, and many others, foretell the doom of the Gentile Church—its destruction from the earth, and the consequent decline and cessation of the science of Theology, and of its powers and blessings in the Gentile world.

Connected with these predictions, we have the most positive prophetic declarations of Holy Writ concerning the overthrow and entire destruction of this same mystical power, which had made war with the Saints.

Its judgments are set forth as far more terrible than those which befell Jerusalem. Plague, pestilence, sword, earthquake, and the flame of devouring fire will cause her to cease to be.

Then will usher in the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ. Then will the Saints of the Most High take the kingdom, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven.

Thus are to be revived the ancient powers and blessings, the knowledge and wisdom, of the science of Theology.

In the fulfilment of the foregoing predictions, the science of Theology declined, and passed away from among the Gentiles, just in proportion as the Church, or the Saints of the Most High, were warred against and overcome.

For years, centuries, ages, there has been no voice from heaven among the Gentiles, any more than among the Jews. They have fallen "after the same example of unbelief," notwithstanding the caution of their great Apostle.

No Gentile Prophet has arisen and uttered his voice.

No kind angel has ministered to them.

No vision from the Lord.

No answer.

No inspired dream.

No voice.

No sound from the heavens.

No revelation has burst upon the silence of midnight darkness which has brooded over the nations.

Or, if such voice, such vision, such Prophet has occasionally burst forth with the testimony of Jesus, the spirit of prophecy, his testimony has been unheeded by the mass of the people called