66

97, "29, for full point, read :

99,

❝ 100,

66

16, for omnipotence, read omnipresence. 66 7, after beloved, read gone. 66 4, after stood, read "fast." 102, "10, for hand, read friend. " 106, 66

66

66

66

102,

106, 107,

"173,

66 180,

4, for extensive, read co-extensive. 66 22, after blue, read arch.

66 11, for wisdom, read power.

17, for too, read to.

"10, for places, read place.

CHAPTER I.

The Present World.

ARISE YE, AND DEPART; FOR THIS IS NOT YOUR REST.-Mich. ii. 10.

SCRIPTURE and reason, experience and observation, unite to convince us that the present world is not our rest. And if we seriously reflect on the imperfect good and the numerous evils of this sublunary state, we shall find no cause to regret, but, on the contrary, abundant reason to rejoice, that we have no continuing city here: that we are but strangers and sojourners on earth as all our fathers were. The object of the writer of these pages is to convince the reader, that he will seek in vain for happiness on earth, unless he seek it in the way to heaven; to show him that it is not desirable that he should be a permanent settler here; and to induce him to emigrate at once, from Spiritual Egypt, to the Celestial Canaan. Now, supposing that it could be proved, that such as are leaving the kingdom of Satan for the kingdom of Christ, were leaving a good country, their conduct would be perfectly justifiable, providing they were going to a better; and if it can be fairly maintained

that they are leaving one of the very worst, and are emigrating to the very best, then the religious principles by which they are influenced commend themselves to

every man's reason and conscience in the sight of God. It is a fact that the country from whence emigrants to heaven have come out, is radically bad, and that the land whither they go is pre-eminently good : it is a better country, and the best in the universe of God. "We are journeying to the place of which the Lord hath said I will give it you." "We are travelling home to heaven above, will you go?" "Come thou with us and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." Though the infidel may sneer at our choice, it is wise; though the sceptic may laugh at our object, it is worthy; and although the worldling may call us fools and madmen, for confessing that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth; we can afford to bear a great deal of this kind of persecution, if we can only read our title clear to mansions in the skies. In order, if possible, to induce you to desire a better country, if you have not set out for it, we will endeavour to show you the danger of continuing in the empire of Satan; and if you have already left Egypt, and are on your journey to Canaan, we hope to convince you that there is nothing to go back to but guilt and misery; nothing but spiritual beggary, slavery, and everlasting destruction. You will perceive that, for the present, we shall speak of the spiritual empire of Satan, of his dominion in the world of spiritual wickedness, and, with this understanding, let us carefully observe

1. The general features of the country.

"The waste howling wilderness."--Deut. xxxii. 10.

The country where every sinner has his spiritual residence is properly designated "a waste howling wilderness," because of its moral sterility. Nevertheless, it is better in its origin, than in its history, and is of very great antiquity. According to the most authentic history, it was originally a very delightsome land. In the beginning, its valleys teemed with verdure, and its hills were mantled with every variety of beauty. Every tree that was pleasant to the eyes and good for food grew in its fertile soil, the tree of life also and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil waved their luxuriant branches in the midst of the garden, for then it was a garden, a lovely Eden, a blooming Paradise. And to all its delicious fruits and blooming flowers its happy population had full and free access. You might have sought it from Dan to Beer-Sheba for a groan, or a pain, or a tear, and found nothing but smiles, and ease, and happiness; and from the rivers even to the ends of the earth, for guilt, or misery, or sin, and found nothing but peace, and innocence, and heaven. Man was holy, and hence the world was happy. The wolf could dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid; the calf, and the fatling, and the young lion, could have been governed by a little child, and the cow and the bear could feed together. The lion and the ox had no antipathies, and the vulture and the dove could roost together on the same branch. If the asp dwelt in holes at all in those days of primeval peace, the sucking child might have pursued its infant gambols with perfect impunity there. And if the cockatrice had its den, then the weaned child could have placed its hand there in confidence and certain