Thoughts on the Books of Daniel and the Revelation.
By Uriah Smith
By Uriah Smith,
PROFESSOR OF BIBLE EXEGESIS IN BATTLE CREEK COLLEGE.
AN INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE BOOK, WHICH SCIENTISTS, HISTORIANS, SCRIPTURISTS, AND ALL LOVERS OF GOOD LITERATURE EVERYWHERE, CAN READ WITH INTEREST AND PROFIT.
It is generally conceded that the books of Daniel and the Revelation are the most wonderful books in the Bible. What reader of the Scriptures, as he has scanned the marvelous landscape of those prophetic fields, has not felt an intense desire to understand the striking images that appear, and find the key that unlocks the meaning of the mazy movements of the different agents in the panorama, as their long evolutions unfold, and kingdoms arise and disappear, and the thunderbolts of God's indignation at length smite from his path all the organized host of his incorrigible enemies.
THE TRUE PRINCIPLE OF INTERPRETATION.
The author gives us in this work the mature conclusions of nearly thirty years of study. Speculations and fanciful theories are not indulged in; but by means of these principles of interpretation by which such men as Tyndale, Luther, Melancthon, Zwingli, and their co-laborers, brought out the truth which they gave to the world, a flood of light is thrown upon these books unequaled by that of any other work, ancient or modern. This is believed to be the only attempt to explain these books, or at least the Revelation, according to those rational principles of exegesis which have been the basis of all the reforms of the past five hundred years, and the result is indeed marvelous.
A SAFEGUARD AGAINST SKEPTICISM.
We recommend this work as one of the most effectual antidotes for infidelity. Whenever a writing is found to have predicted events to occur from five to forty centuries from the time it was written, and those events have been fulfilled to the very letter, such facts place upon that writing a stamp of divinity which it is hard for prejudice to ignore or sophistry to efface. And such is the case with the prophetic portions of the Holy Scriptures. Hundreds have been rescued from skepticism by these lines of argument. The prophetic Scriptures are too little studied. It is these which especially constitute the Bible a lamp to our feet and light to our path. Ps. 119:105; 2 Pet. 1:19.
HISTORICAL VALUE.
Historically, the book is of great value. The main currents of history are explored, and the leading events of the greatest national developments of the earth are so grouped together, and presented in such a light, as to make a deep impression upon the mind, and take a lasting hold upon the memory. Abundance of testimony is drawn from historical works, both ancient and modern, and the most reliable authorities, making clear the meaning of these important books of the Bible, and conveying an amount of information not to be found elsewhere in so concise a form.
THE GREAT CHAIN OF HISTORY.
The rise and fall of the four leading kingdoms of the past are uniquely presented at one view by Daniel's great image of gold, silver, brass, and iron. But we are taken from the days of the old Chaldean Empire, down through Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The introduction, development, and final triumph of the gospel of Christ is shown. The divisions of Rome, from which have sprung the modern nations of Europe, are clearly set forth. We are then taken down through the Dark Ages, during which the Romish Church and the false religion of Mohammed divided the civilized world between them. The terrible French Revolution of 1793 to 1798, in which, for the purpose of teaching mankind a lasting lesson, the principles of infidelity and merely human philosophy were suffered to come to maturity and bear their baleful fruits, is not passed by. This is followed by a wonderful age of knowledge, in which such advancement is made in the arts and sciences as was never before dreamed of, and the discovery of new elements in chemistry, new principles of philosophy, and marvelous inventions, continually astonish the world.
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