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kingdom to another. The students of sense of continued imperfections. But prophecy seem desirous of consigning what says the faithful and true witness? their opponents to perdition, and their "Thou knowest not that thou art opponents charge the students of prophecy wretched, and miserable, and poor, and with madness; while the monster infi-blind, and naked; and because thou art delity is looking on with a Satanic grin. lukewarm, in the midst of all thy ostenThe convulsions of the church, in fact, tation and splendour, I will cast thee out exactly correspond with the convulsions as an abomination." The bare supposiof nations. All things indicate that we tion that this may possibly be the case are on the eve of some fearful crisis. The should make us tremble. love of the world in the church has nearly extinguished the love of God, and the visible line of separation between the church and the world is withdrawn. All the features of "the last times," delineated by the spirit of prophecy, are visible and prominent in the midst of us. Even the balance of the state is sustained by impurity of motive. What a want of integrity, of principle, does the gazette prove, and even common honesty!

If, then, we deeply ponder and seriously reflect upon our daring carelessness of human life-our infidel indifference as to the worth of immortal souls-upon the guilt of our colonial system, like a mighty Colossus bestriding the whole world; our participation in the abominations of Indian idolatry-upon the diffusion of infidelity through all orders of the community, and the general rejection of the gospel by the nation-upon the sin of our national administration, and the awful state of things, whether in the world or in the church, oh, what a weight of guilt from national transgression stands against us! "Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ?” We fear and tremble. We hope, but it is against hope; for can we hope to escape? It is an observation that cannot be too often repeated, or too deeply impressed upon the mind, that the worst feature of our case is the great ignorance of our real character, which generally prevails, and the torpid indifference which is manifested to our state of danger. There seems to be a fearful anxiety on the part of some men who ought to know better, and perhaps do know better, to

But the worst feature of our day is the want of a due sense of the evil, or of proper feelings with respect to the declension. We boast of our Bible Societies, and Missionary Societies, and, certainly, they are the brightest ornament of the day. In this light I have regarded them ever since they were established; and God forbid that I should say a word to damp their glorious ardour, or check their generous flow of benevolence! But is there not in these departments too great a prevalence of the spirit of pharisaism? Do we not sound a trumpet through the land, and spread our phylacteries, too wide, if not in the synagogue, at least on the platform? And do not these things remind us of the awful charge alleged by the faithful and true witness, whose eye is as a flame of fire, against the degene-conceal both from the nation and the rate church at Laodicea, which some of church the prediction of those calamities our best expositors have considered as a which will certainly precede the millentype of the last state of the church uni- nium. But how will such men escape versal immediately before he appears in the charge of blood-guiltiness at the great judgment: "Thou sayest thou art rich, day of the Lord? Will this ward off a and thou hast need of nothing?" Is not single blow, lengthen out our tranquillity this the language of our annual reports, for a single day, or lighten the weight of our platform exhibitions, and even our God's indignation? Whether men will fire-side conversations? The benevolence hear or whether they will forbear, the of the age, the spirit of the age, the spi- vengeance of God is denounced against rituality of the times, are common topics; these lands, and will assuredly be exebut we forget that genuine piety is modest, cuted! Great Britain is one of the ten retiring, contrite, and humble, under a kingdoms symbolized by the ten toes of

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the great and terrible image that must be population, of righteous men in Judea broken to pieces together, and with the only a few years before Jerusalem was ten horns of the fourth beast which shall destroyed? You have not surely forgotbe destroyed and committed to the flames, ten that three thousand were converted to unless unless a degree of reformation, the obedience of the faith in one day, five of which there is not the remotest expec- thousand the next day, multitudes, both tation or probability, can be effected. of men and women, whose numbers are not mentioned; that a great company of priests were also converted; and that God still continued to add to the church-not as we add to the church now, ten, twenty, or thirty at most, at our church meetings, and which is considered a surprising number—but multitudes, daily, of such as should be saved; and that, besides all this, the word of the Lord was mighty, and prevailed through Judea, Samaria, and all the regions beyond Jordan. And how holy and dignified was the character of these first Christians under the Pentecostal effusion of the Holy Ghost? How superior to the most eminent Christians of the present day! They continued with one accord in the apostle's doctrine, and in breaking of bread, and holy sacrifice, and in praising God. They had one heart, one soul, one common property; and even the heathen were constrained to say, "See how these Christians love one another!" And did their prayers or their persons prove the security of their beloved city and nation?

Is, then, the case of Great Britain certainly hopeless? Is there no avenue by which she may escape? Are we really to believe that this vast empire, upon whose dominions the sun never sets in his diurnal or annual courses; and whose influence is still more extensive, reaching, as from a common centre, to all nations, whether barbarous or civilized, must inevitably perish? Is not the invoking prayer of the righteous man availing with God? Does it not move the hand that moves the universe? Doubtless! But, however fanatical such a sentiment as the following may appear to the purblind eye of infidelity, it is unquestionably warranted by the Holy Scriptures, that, when a guilty people have filled up the measure of their iniquity, prophets and righteous men are forbidden by the God of nations to intercede for them, and he has plainly told them that he will not hear them. Thus he said to Jeremiah, Thou shalt not pray to this people, neither cry to me for them; for I will not hear thee. But when Abraham was pleading on behalf of the cities of the plain, did not the Judge of all the earth wait till his servant gave the signal for destruction, and assure Abraham that if only ten righteous men could be found in Sodom, the whole city should be spared for their sakes? May not, then, the number of righteous men which our country nourishes in her bosom prove her security? I bless God that there are not only ten, twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty, but a large number of righteous men this day in Britain, who, instead of boasting of the spirituality and the religion of our land, actually sigh and cry for the abominations that are done in it; and who are weeping between the porch and the altar, saying, “O Lord,spare the remnant of thy people, and give not thine heritage to reproach." But was there not an equal or rather a much larger number, especially in proportion to the VOL. I.-35

But will the Judge of all the earth destroy the righteous with the wicked? That be far from me, saith the Lord." An ark was built for Noah and his family before the windows of heaven were opened, and the fountains of the great deep were broken up. Zoar was prepared for Lot before the Lord rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. A place of safety in the mountains of Judea was prepared for the devoted followers of Jesus before Jerusalem was laid in ruins by the Roman emperor, to which they fled, in obedience to the Lord's command, and escaped the fate of their unfortunate countrymen. And, in like manner, some ark of salvation-some Zoar at a safe distance from the outpouring of wrath-some shelter upon the mountains-some refuge

some asylum shall be prepared for the pure and the regenerate, to which they shall flee and be safe.

church of God in the Roman empire, so before the vials of wrath are emptied upon the fragment, or the whole kingdoms of the empire, a safety-place must be prepared for the church beyond its limits. And is not this the great work which the Bible Society and our Missionary Societies are now executing under the protection of a special providence; and when this purpose is executed, may not Britain be destroyed, as the Babylonian, the Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman empires were destroyed, when the end for which God had raised them up was accomplished? When the machine has done its work, may it not be broken or laid aside ?

But you still deny it; and you insist | Jerusalem, tell us that the gospel had that the Christian benevolence which come into all the world (the Roman Britain has originated and still so ably world) and had been preached to every supports-her Bible Societies and her creature under heaven (under the politiMissionary Societies, and the benefits cal jurisdiction of the Roman empire)? which, by their agency, she has conferred, Once more. Will the benefits, inand is still conferring upon the heathen valuable and immortal as they are, which world, prove her security. I candidly we are conferring upon the heathen naconfess that I was once of this opinion, tions, admit, for a moment, with the comand I called these excellent societies not parison of the gift of a Saviour-the gift, only the brightest ornament, but the I say of a Saviour-which Jerusalem constrongest safeguard of our country; and ferred upon the world? And yet the holy they are still dear to my heart, and com- city was laid in ashes, and her children mand any service I can render them, sent forth into a long and terrible caphowever feeble it may be, to the utmost tivity. As before Jerusalem was deextent of my ability. But can they ad-stroyed, a way was prepared for the mit of a comparison with the apostolic church at Jerusalem, and their godlike institutions, of which it is said, "that the multitudes of them that believed were of one heart and one soul; neither said any man that aught of the things that he possessed was his own;" and if they were possessors of lands, or of houses, they sold them and brought the price thereof, and threw it into one common treasury for the relief of the brethren, and for the furtherance of the gospel? How contracted is the benevolence that characterizes the church at the present day, however excellent in itself, and however creditable, when compared with that of the mother of all the churches, walking under the influence of the Spirit of holy love poured down upon her without measure? Will the labours of our Missionary Societies, however creditable, bear a comparison with those of the apostles and their fellow-labourers planting the gospel-where ?-not only in Judea, in Galilee, in Samaria, and in all the re-affirmative, and as I make no pretensions gions beyond Jordan-not only in lesser Asia, Greece, Italy, the then great theatres in the world; but northward as far as Cesarea; southward, as far as Ethiopia; eastward, as far as Parthia and India; and westward, as far as Spain and Great Britain, according to the united testimony of all contemporary historians, both civil and ecclesiastic, whose testimony is further confirmed by that of the apostle to the Gentiles, who, in his Epistle to the Colossians, wrote only a few years about seven-before the destruction of

But how long will it be to the end of these wonders? Is the great and terrible day of the Lord near at hand? Is this the crisis of the nations, and of Britain's destinies? A miraculous degree of inspiration is necessary to enable any man to answer these questions positively in the

to such inspiration, it behooves me to guard against such a presumption. "The Father holdeth the times and seasons in his own power." "Secret things belong to the Lord our God; and the things that are revealed belong to us and our children." But as he has been pleased to lay before us several chronological prophecies, doubtless with some wise and gracious design, it is our duty to examine them, and see whether, by comparing them among themselves, and with the general train or system of prophecy, and

with the signs of the times, something his precursor, John the Baptist; and the may not be discovered to put us on our third, which, though its existence is inguard, and to encourage the faithful ser- comparably the most important, includes vants of God to bear up with patience the closing scene of his life and death. under the trial of their faith, which we They have, moreover, proved that the are told is much more precious than gold, spirit of prophecy foretold the year, the though it be tried in the fire, and shall be month, the week, the day when the Mesfound to praise, and glory, and honour, siah should be cut off, not for himself, at the appearing of our Lord Jesus but for the transgression of the people; Christ! when he should finish transgression, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in an everlasting righteousness, abolish the Jewish sacrifices, and confirm the covenant of redemption.

The spirit of prophecy informed Daniel, that at the time of the end, the very crisis which we have supposed to be near at hand, many shall be purified and made white, but that the world shall go on to Three prophetic years and a half, or do worldly. He further observes, and 1260 years, are frequently mentioned by the passage is very remarkable, that Daniel and St. John, as the period that "none of the wicked shall understand should intervene from the full dominancy these events when they come to pass, but of papacy, until the second coming of the that the wise shall understand them, for Messiah to destroy the man of sin, to the secret of the Lord is with them that break in pieces the papal kingdom, and fear him." Seventy prophetical weeks, to establish his millennial kingdom in its or 490 years, according to the chronologi- meridian brightness. As the object of cal prophecies of Daniel, were to intervene these lectures is not a learned or critical from the going forth of the commandment analysis of chronological prophecies, but to restore and to build Jerusalem to the is rather of a practical nature, as will be first advent of the Messiah, and the pro- seen from the last lecture, I shall not prephecy was well understood by the Jewish | sume to say with a confident tone of innation. At the time of his appearance fallibility when the mysterious 1260 years every eye was awakened, and every ear commenced; whether in the reign of the was attentive, both in the land of Judea, tyrant Phocias-according to the opinion and in all the nations where the Jews re- of Faber and other writers of high ausided, to mark the signs that immediately thority; or in the reign of Justinian, as indicated his coming. And not only so, mentioned by Freer, and Irving, and other but this prophecy had been translated respectable writers; or not until the papal into the Greek language, which at that throne was seen in its full growth and time was universally read and universally full development, when the Roman ponunderstood. A general expectation of his tiff was made a secular as well as a spiappearance prevailed through the whole ritual sovereign in the reign of Charleworld. Here, then, is a numerical pro- magne, according to the opinion of Bishop phecy-one of the most mysterious pro- Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, and other phecies in the whole book of God, but writers of very great authority. It would yet it was plainly understood before the seem, from many prophetical intimations, event predicted came to pass for the that when the 1260 years have run out whole world was in expectation of its ful- their course, or very soon after it, the man filment. The learned Mede and Prideaux of sin must be destroyed, the kingdom of have clearly proved that Daniel, or rather the papacy broken to pieces, the Ottoman the interpreting angel of the remarkable empire overthrown, and the sacred seed prophecy, not only foretold the precise of Abraham be restored to the land of time of the Saviour's advent, but that he their fathers. But the man of sin is not divided the history of his life into three yet destroyed, the papal kingdoms are distinct periods; the first of which he not yet broken in pieces, the Ottoman spent in obscurity; the second compre-empire is still standing, the seed of Abrahends his personal ministry, and that of ham are still scattered among the nations;

we may therefore, I think, conclude that the mysterious period is not yet fulfilled, and that a great work yet remains to be done on the theatre of the world. Recent events, however, especially the late revolution in France, the concussion of the continental nations, and the sudden and almost instantaneous change of public opinion, both in this country and through all Europe, prove that the Supreme Ruler of the nations may accomplish, and very probably will accomplish, a great work in a short time.

In correspondence with the chronological prophecy, several signs or prognostics are given us as harbingers announcing the speedy coming of the Son of man. "Learn (says our Lord) a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand." Although the Father keepeth the times and seasons in his own power-although no man knoweth the day or the hour wherein the Son of man cometh-although it was not given in commission to the Son himself, to make it known in his public ministry, yet by comparing the signs of the times with the numerical prophecies, we may know with certainty when the day of the Lord is advancing rapidly upon us. The great and broad outlines of prophecy are open to the man who is exercised in the study of the prophetic writings, even long before the events are fulfilled; but the smaller lines, which refer to the times, the places, and the circumstances of their accomplishment, are faint, are less distinctly defined; and the Saviour of the world has been pleased that a considerable obscurity should rest upon the prophetic dates, until the consummation is drawing near. Thus the interpreting angel informed Daniel that the prophecy should be closed up and sealed till the time of the end, when the book was to be opened, the seals were to be removed, the prophetic dates to be developed, many were to run to and fro, and prophetical knowledge was to be increased. The period here foretold is that very period in which we are now living: for never since the time of the reformation

has there been such a deep and intense attention paid to sacred prophecy, as within the last thirty or forty years. Yes! the seals are being removed; the signs of the times are throwing light upon the prophetical dates-the prophetical dates are reflecting their light upon the signs of the times; the general or descriptive prophecies lend their radiance also to the stock of general information; and all together form a concentrated body of light, which is quite conspicuous to all except those who are wilfully blind.

Among these signs or various precursors of the appearance of the Son of man coming in his kingdom, witness,

1st. The present concussion of the nations.

We have entered upon a new era in the history of the world; revolution has begun its march; the great wheel of human affairs has turned round, nearly so at least, in our own time; and He who hath said, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, until he shall come whose right it is," hath plainly told us where all these mighty revolutions shall terminate-in the destruction of the man of sin, the breaking in pieces of the papal kingdom, the overthrow of the Ottoman power, the conversion of the heathen nations in their national capacity, and finally-O transporting thought!—in the triumphant establishment of the millennial kingdom of our beloved Redeemer.

2d. The smallness of all the provinces of the Ottoman empire, with the convulsions of the papal kingdoms, is another sign of the nearness of that great day.

Popery and Mohammedanism - the eastern and the western scourges of the church of God-rose about the same time; and about the same time, according to prophetic intimation, they will fall in one common ruin.

3d. The fearful progress of infidelity is also mentioned as one of the signs of the nearness of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

Daniel foretold that, when the ruin of the papacy was hastening to its close, an atheistical power should rise and do according to its will, exalting and magnifying itself above every God, speaking

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