Having slain millions of their fellow-men, they too fell
amidst the execrations of widows and orphans, and the
praises of a few babblers who have handed them down to
posterity as "heroes!" The truth is, no mere man
is fit for the office of universal ruler over this great
world, and the desire which ambition has nursed to
obtain it has been but a delicious dream; yet it is
evident that man's supremacy over the earth is intended,
and we wish to show from die light of Revelation how
this divine intention will be realised.
Pour great empires have successively risen upon the
earth— the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian,
and the Roman — in strict accordance with ancient pro-
phecy. The last of them is now drawing to its end in
its divided state of kingdoms. But a fifth is predicted,
which is to be in extent and duration far greater than
either of the preceding four, and in its laws and cha-
racteristics essentially different from, and infinitely
superior to, them all. It is to be ruled over by One in
our nature, but possessing none of our infirmities, and
liable to none of our mistakes. In the days of His
dominion the righteous are to flourish ; war, cruelty, and
oppression are to be unknown ; and peace, brotherhood,
liberty, justice, and joy, are to prosper in the earth.
Wisdom and knowledge are to be the stability of His
times. Intellect will then rise to a height she never
reached before, without being bewildered by profitless
speculations,, or blinded by an irrational and ungodly
infidelity ; and men will be at last possessors of a dignity
and power, a nobility and virtue, a godliness and truth,.
184 UTTERANCES OF SCRIPTURE ON THE SUBJECT.
