about Jerusalem the eagles, symbolic of the wild and ravenous dispositions of those who were destitute of the fear and love of God, and who adopt as their ensigns the image of the wildest and most ravenous of the brute creation, as symbolic of the state of their own natural condition, that is, ever ready to destroy, when any opposition is made to their will. The Romans adopted the eagle as their ensign-those ensigns whose paths were marked with desolations, and strewed with human carcases, (which the Scriptures very justly designate as the abomination of desolations,) and which were then to fulfil the abomination of desolations spoken of by Daniel the prophet; and Christ, foreseeing the awful calamity that was to happen to the Jews, solicited his followers to pray that their flight from such a tribulation might not be in the winter, nor on the Sabbath day.

Those wicked Jews who disregarded Christ's commands to abstain from fighting, and who by their acting contrary to his will, brought utter destruction on themselves, spoke the language of Christ in derision, concerning his coming, and applied it to those missiles or darts that were thrown on them for their destruction; their watchword, on observing these darts coming was, "The Son cometh." See Josephus.

By worldly-minded men Christ is not beheld, neither is his presence felt; the God of this world hath blinded their eyes; they neither see nor acknowledge the presence of Christ in any of the affairs of this life; they know Him not, because He is spiritually discerned. "The onwing overspreading of abomi

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nation" on the nations of the earth, during the long prophetic night of darkness, has for many ages spread its gloomy and deadening effects over the moral and spiritual condition of mankind in this world; and the time during which so a great a spiritual darkness should prevail, was prefigured in prophetic language by the madness of Nebuchadnezzar-the head of the symbolical image-whose madness continued seven times, or years, which seven years are symbolical of 2520 years, during which time the mad tyrannical power of the Beast was to continue. The number of the Beast will not be finished till about A. D. 1956, at which time, the glorious kingdom of God, which Christ planted like a little seed, and which he likewise compared to a little leaven, will prevail, and the commands of Christ, the Glorious Eternal King, will be more generally obeyed.

The power of the Beast continues still with but little abatement to maintain its ascendancy over the minds of the great majority of the human race, who may still be said to lie dead in a spiritual sense in their earthy graves; they cannot discern Christ, neither can they hear Him, though by His holy spirit He knocketh at the door of their hearts. Christ himself is the resurrection and the life. He has only to say, let the dead live, and they shall immediately hear his voice, and shall rise to a newness of life, and be admitted into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. According to the promise of God, and by examining the prophetic numbers, I believe that before this generation shall have passed away, or about

40* years hence, Christ's appearance on earth will be more generally realized, and the following prediction of the prophet receive a more signal accomplishment: "The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."

That the surrounding nations of the earth, as well as our own highly favoured land, do still, to a most alarming extent, acknowledge the power and submit themselves to the authority of the Beast, is a fact requiring but little illustration. Let us only take a transient survey of the religious and political state of the different countries and empires of the world, and what do they present? One dreary map, on whose surface is to be found delineated only such appearances in general, as are in direct opposition to the kingdom of God, which consists of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And those things that are in opposition to the kingdom of God, are intemperance, oppressions, cruelties, systematic slavery, ambition, political intrigue, unjust jealousy between the nations which lead them to wage war with one another, ignorance of the true God, sensuality, deep-rooted superstition, idolatry, and general spiritual darkness: this, alas! must be acknowledged to be too just a representation of the present state of mankind. On witnessing such abominations as these, the Saints, who were slain

Those who are now alive, and who have either acted a part in, or have given their sanction to, the abomination, war; the same language that was addressed to David, may with propriety be addressed to them: "Ye have been men of blood, ye cannot build an house to God;" or, to speak in language more suitable to the Christian dispensation, Ye cannot be temples of the Holy Spirit, on account of such abominations without sincere repentance."

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for the Word of God, and for the testimony they held, Rev. vi. 10, "Cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” The expression, "them that dwell on the earth," cannot, I think, be justly supposed to refer to the generations of men who are ever passing away in rapid succession from off the face of the earth; therefore, I am disposed to think, that it must be the Dragon, with his legions of angels who deceive the nations of the earth, that are here spoken of, and this opinion is warranted by reading in Rev. xii., and Rev. xx.

The prophecies of the Old, as well as the declarations of the New Testament, conspire to assure us that there are periods when more copious pourings down of the Spirit of Truth from on high, into the benighted hearts of men shall take place, whereby they shall be turned from darkness to light-from the power of Satan to serve God-which will induce mankind to beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn the art of war any more; therefore, to all who either in this, or in a future generation, shall be made partakers of this divine unction, and be renewed in the spirit of their mind, to them has Christ appeared the second time, without a sin offering unto salvation.

Christ has said, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." I. Cor. vi. 19: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" II. Cor. vi. 16: "Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them

and walk in them," Col. i. 27: "Christ in you the hope of glory." Luke xvii. 20: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there; for behold, the kingdom of God is within you." II. Cor. xiii. 5: "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves; know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates ?"

I cannot help observing, that it would certainly be attended with more real spiritual and temporal advantage to mankind to press upon their minds the paramount importance of receiving and seeing Christ enthroned in their hearts, rather than holding out the hope, that they shall, generally, behold him with their natural eyes, during either this or any future year. The promulgation of such doctrines and opinions may prove to many weak Christians a stumbling block, and to others -who may not understand concerning the spiritual appearance of Christ in their own hearts, convincing them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment—may appear as foolishness, because some have miscalculated the time of Christ's kingdom on earth appearing with greater power, and not only so, but have mistaken Christ's outward bodily appearance on earth for his general spiritual appearance in the hearts of mankind. To direct mankind to the serious study and contemplation of such passages of Scripture as above quoted, that directly lead to Christ, that they may try their spiritual condition, and so prove themselves whether they be in the faith, and Christ in them, the power of God, and the wisdom of God; or if they find themselves without Christ, they must class themselves with the repro