ANTI-CHRISTIAN HOSTS IN THE BATTLE-Field. 289 government, and challenge him or it, or whatever the author of that book may chance to be, we challenge to meet this host in the valley of decision, and we are ready for the encounter. We fear no superior! we fear no hosts! we fear no numbers! no skill! no bravery! no consequences!! but set them all at defiance. That any formal challenge like the foregoing will be made at the onset of the great battle, we pretend not to know. But that the great battle-day is predicted, and will come to pass; that the attack will be made by the combined anti-Christian powers abovenamed and described, for the virtual reasons assigned, and in the spirit of the above-described formal challenge; we have reason to believe, from the predicted preparations which would be made for the battle, and the preparations which we see and know that are making, in fulfilment of divine prophecy. The day will come, when Gog and all his predicted bands will be gathered in an array at Armageddon, and the language of Infidelity improved, will doubtless then be, By Bible laws, we will not be governed. The Bible and its religion we detest. The author, or God of the Bible, if any such being exists, we abhor; and challenge him, with his thunderbolts, to meet us on this battle-field, and maintain his Bible claims, if he has power to do it!" Such is Infidelity now, and doubtless such it then will be, IMPROVED. 66 But perhaps, after all this mighty array of invaders, no army on the defence yet appears!! And peradventure, the noble chieftain Gog, the Infidel Generalissimo of the world in arms ready for battle, begins to feel confident that praiseworthy chance has decreed that there is no God; no armies of heaven to vindicate a claim on this planet earth; and that the Bible sure enough, with all its laws, and doctrines, and ordi 290 THE ONSET COMMENCES ON THE WITNESSES. nances, and forms of religion are, in fact, and always have been, nothing but priestcraft. And as no other opponents appear but Bible religionists, a total dispatch of them by legislative assassination, will be all that will be necessary to secure the dominion of earth free from the shackles, and fooleries, and burdens, and restraints of bibleism and priestcraft. In such a state of suspense, what else can be done?!!! We are all here on the battle-ground, pitched in the valley-field ready for action. No opposing power, worthy even of the show of our arms, appears! And if any such power exists, none dare to face our ranks except these little, insignificant, Bible tormentors, called evangelical or orthodox Christians !! Now let this be done. Let us commence a legislative ONSET on our Bible tormentors, who are styled in Bible language, God's "Two Witnesses," although there are thousands and millions of them preaching and praying enough to destroy all the comforts of life. Let the decree go forth at once, that shall either bring them into our ranks, or set them down as nuisances and ciphers in the world. Let laws forthwith be enacted, on penalty of death, that they shall neither preach nor pray in public, nor in private, nor keep a Bible in their house, nor any other books of Bible religion, nor teach, nor allow them to be taught to their children. That they shall not speak, nor act, nor write, nor read, nor print a word, nor letter, in favor of the Bible, nor of Bible religion. That they and their children shall be compelled by law, to read such novels and tracts, comic newspapers, comic almanacs, and romances, as our printers publish; and attend with their households to such amusements on their Sabbaths and all other times, both day and night, as we and our children are accustomed to attend, such as dancing, gambling, horse A PROCLAMATION OF DEFIANCE. 291 racing, duelling, travel, or labor. That they shall be forbidden by law to marry among themselves, or intermarry with others of our party; and compelled by law to comply with the usages of indiscriminate human intercourse, subject to no appeal to any law for claimed redress, for any alleged abuse whatever. And that the penalty of all the above laws shall be death by torture. And if our laws are kept, the professed witnesses will be dead as door-nails, and thus let them lie as putrid carcasses in the streets of our great city of the world, for the amusement of our rabbles. Now, let us proceed forthwith, for this method will determine the whole matter. If there be any God of heaven, and he knows what we are doing when we make such an attack upon his witnesses, he will come, and pitch battle, and fight for them. But if no God, nor army, from heaven, appears to save them from the destiny which we award to them, this will be our evidence, that there is no God, nor heaven, nor hell, nor existence after death; and then we can eat, and drink, and be merry to-day, if "to-morrow we die!" To this counsel, it may be supposed, there will not be a dissenting voice. Hence, the decree goes forth. Banners are unfurled. Colors fly. The trumpet sounds to arms, to arms, to battle, to battle, with all the priest-ridden hosts of Bible tormentors; accompanied by a PROCLAMATION, that if there be any power above man, that dare to enter the field of engagement, the powers and hosts of Antichrist are ready for the encounter, and bid DEFIANCE to all the powers and hosts of Heaven, (if any Heaven there be,) to meet the array in the battle-field of Armageddon, and decide who shall have dominion of this earth. In this tremendous onset, no helper appears to deliver the true and faithful witnesses of God from the power 292 GOD'S TWO WITNESSES KILLED. of their enemies! The carnal weapons of their overpowering foes bear down upon them. They petition, they pray, they struggle for the privileges of spiritual life; but they are overcome and slain!!! As witnesses for God they are killed, dead! They can neither speak nor act for God. Their eyes are closed, that they cannot see a religious privilege; their tongues, their hands, their feet, are bound with cords of legal death, that they can neither walk, nor work, nor speak for God; and thus their inoperative dead bodies are ignominiously thrown into the street of the great city of the world. Over their dead carcasses, the victors triumph; send presents one to another as tokens of rejoicing over the final downfall, and extermination from earth of the vital influence of their Bible tormentors; and doubtless are confirmed in their belief that there is no God in heaven to save or to destroy!! And thus the conquerors are permitted to remain revelling in the field of conquest, in quiet and triumphant possession of the earth for their spoil, free from the tormentors of Bibleism, during the space of three and an half years. [See Rev. xi. 8-10.] Dreadful will be that day, when Gog, and bands, Now vengeful foes stamp it beneath their feet. Full three years and an half such victory Is shouted, while dead saints unburied, lie. But, THE VICTOR'S TRIUMPH IS SHORT. 293 IV. Let us consider predictions relating to the fearful interruption of the feast of triumph, by the appalling sight of an approaching host of cavalry, of formidable and terrible appearance; and, also, the shocking spectacle of the resurrection of the dead witnesses to life, who, at the word of command, joined the approaching tremendous army in sight of their horror-smitten enemies. Alas, for Antichrist, and all their triumphant powers and hosts! An alarm is sounded. Signs of an awful reverse appear, and the revelling victors are filled with terror. Suddenly, an army of cavalry is discovered of wonderful and frightful appearance, approaching the battle-ground. This is the Host of the Lord, which had been repeatedly and blasphemously derided, defied, and ridiculed as the mere bugbear of priestcraft, which had no existence but in the alleged imagination of the credulous, fearful, and weak-minded classes of mankind. But the first sight of this army, filled all the hosts of Antichrist with terror, from which they saw no way to flee! A description of the appearance of this approaching army, will now be referred to the record of one who saw it in prophetic vision, and whose veracity has been abundantly proved, by the fulfilment of many of his predictions. Thus John the Revelator affirms (Revelation xix. 11-17):-" And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies |