truly astonished at the unbelief and blindness of professed Christians at the present day. The same unbelief which was manifested at Christ's first coming, is as much if not more visible in professors now than then.

Take heed; if God spared not the natural branches, how will he spare those who live in the gospel day?

Thus, then, has this little horn of Daniel come and strutted out its short space of time, times, and a half; but his dominion is taken away. And Paul's "man of sin," who was then in the future, has been revealed; he has wickedly exalted himself above all that is called God; he has set in the temple of God; has been showing himself that he was God; but his proud looks have been humbled, his high titles have come down, he is no more a god, and the hectic fever has bleached his cheek, and his consumptive voice shows him on his decline. How can

we help believing?

But we have another mystery to explore, of the same time as the former; it is that, which by Paul is called the "mystery of iniquity," which did already work. It is what Daniel calls the "daily sacrifice," meaning the "daily abomination:" this, too, is to continue a time, times, and a half. See

Daniel xii. 6, 7: "And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished."

This power, which is to scatter the power of the holy people, is a different one, quite, from the one we have been attending to. This scatters; that wears out. This treads under foot; that makes war against the saints. This carries us to the end of all wonders; that only to the end of the power of mystical Babylon, over the kings of the earth. This alludes to literal Babylon and the kings of the earth; that to mystical Babylon and the power of the popes of

Rome.

This is

Again; in Revelation xi. 2: "But the court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." the same twelve hundred and sixty years, as in the time, times, and an half; and alludes to the time the Gentile kings would scatter the holy people and rule over them. This

draw a sword out after you; and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste! Deuteronomy iv. 27: "And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you." Many places might be brought to prove the scattering of the Jews, and now I will prove the scattering of the Christians. Matthew xxvi. 31: "Smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." The high priest said, (John xi. 51, 52,) "that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." This proves the fact of the scattering of the holy people, who will be gathered when the Lord Jesus shall come in the clouds of heaven, and send out his angels and gather together his elect from the four winds of heaven. And then comes the question, How long to the end of these wonders? The answer was, "for a time, times, and a half:" or fortytwo months; three years and a half prophetic, which is twelve hundred and sixty years common time. We now wish to know when the scattering of the holy people began? Isaiah prophesied, in the year B. C. 742, that within sixty-five years Ephraim

should be broken, and be not a people. Isaiah vii. 8. Sixty-five years from that time, in the year B. C. 677, the ten tribes, including the tribe of Ephraim, were carried away, and were never afterwards known as a nation. The same year Manasseh, king of Judah, was carried in fetters to Babylon, and the power of Judah and Benjamin was broken, and the Gentiles exercised their authority over them, and the kings of Judah only reigned by sufferance, paying tribute to Babylon, or the kings of the earth, afterwards. See Lamentations ii. 9: "Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more: her prophets find no vision from the Lord." We see, by this, that the power of the holy people was already scattered among the Gentiles when Jeremiah wrote his lamentations. But the same prophet has told us plainly when this scattering of the holy people began. Jeremiah xv. 4: "I will cause them (my people, verse 7,) to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem." Here, then, the power of the holy people began to be scattered in the days of Manasseh.

Now if we can find a fulfilment of these things in the history of Manasseh, we cannot err. 2 Chronicles xxxiii. 9-11: "So Ma

nasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hear him; wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon." This captivity took place in the year before Christ, 677. (See chronology over this passage.)

If this is the time when the kings of the earth began to rule over Zion, and to scatter the power of the holy people for a time, times, and an half, or twelve hundred and sixty years, when will it end? I answer,when all these things shall be finished. First, the kings exercised their authority 677 years before Christ, and 538 years after Christ; which 677 added to 538 makes up 1215 years only, which did not accomplish the scattering of the holy people, nor the treading under foot of the court forty-two months; or the twelve hundred and sixty years; and this is the reason why John was not to measure, because it would not be fulfilled until mystical Babylon should wear out the saints, and change times and laws, a time, times, and an half; for God hath put it into the hearts of these kings to fulfil his will, and to agree and give their kingdom