waning. The Janissaries, its powerful police, are extinct; the head of the empire is adopting European customs; laws that were peculiar distinctions of Mahometanism are repealed, and, in the language of Chateaubriand, "Turkey is dying for want of Turks." And, in the course of a very few years more, the last streams in the channels of the Euphrates will be exhausted, and Turkey, the great oppressor of the Church in the days that are past, will be no longer a reality among the nations. Then the drying up of the river was to make preparation for the return of the kings of the east. The kings of the east, I showed you, are the Jewish people, and that, contemporaneous with the wasting of the Turkish power, there should be the rise of an interest in the Jewish race; and when the Turkish power is utterly exhausted, the Jews should be illuminated with a Divine light, march in columns to the land of their fathers, and, in the midst of Jerusalem, praise with hosannas Him whom their fathers crucified. And such an interest is actually taken in their destiny at the present day: Sweden is agitated about the position of the Jews in that country: the King of Prussia is in difficulty about the same thing. That despised, persecuted, money-loving race, is about to occupy a new and more prominent position in the affairs of Europe. In our own country, is it not one of the great topics of the day? I pronounce not here whether it be politically right or politically wrong, but when I read the speeches of Lord John Russell and Lord Ashley in the House of Commons, the former in support of the measure, and the latter in opposition to it, I was struck by the deep and solemn sense of responsibility that seemed to be felt by both those statesmen, and the impression rushed upon my mind, Prime Ministers and Members of Parliament may, as they conscientiously desire, pursue their own plans, and seek the accomplishment of their own ends, but they are but instruments in the hands of God, working out his glorious will-his predicted purpose.

I noticed, also, the three unclean spirits that go out,

under this vial, to deceive the nations of the earth. I showed that the first was Infidelity: and, remember, I am now only stating results, not giving you the data: I showed that the first is Infidelity, consisting in the absence of religion; and next, in antagonism to religion. I showed that the second unclean spirit from the mouth of the beast, was Popery: I need not here recapitulate the evidence of its remarkable presence among us. Some fifty years ago there were only fifteen or twenty Roman Catholic chapels in England; now there are about 700. In the course of six years they have built 60 churches, several of which are cathedrals, all are as large, some larger, than the largest parish churches in this country; they have between 800 and 900 priests labouring throughout the country; nay, more, there is not a place of any importance in which there is not some Jesuit labouring with untiring energy-unwearied zeal-and unequalled cunning for the supremacy of his Church. Then I showed you that the third unclean spirit is Tractarianism, as distinguished from Popery; in other words, Popery without a Pope; all the venom of the original without its consistency and fulness of development. I have seen much of this system in recent instances, and it has made me feel more than ever that the priestly power is the main element that we have to dread. The Dissenter says, whether truly or not I need not now pronounce, that the Church ought to be totally separate from the State, and to be in no degree within the reach of Cæsar's touch. The Churchman says, rightly or wrongly I do not now determine, but most consistently, that the Church and State should be united to one another, and live in good friendship and happy brotherhood: but the Puseyite does not adopt the sentiments of either; he says that the State must obey the Church; the priest must be the ruler, the prince must be the subject. I say the priestly power is the element we have to dread-the element which makes gigantic progress, and aims at unmitigated supremacy.

We came, last Sunday evening, to the opening of the seventh vial, which is the grand consummation of those

prophecies that bud every hour into performance. Under it, I believe, Christ comes. Now, I do believe that Christ's advent is not post-millennial, but pre-millennial. I believe there will not be a Millennium till Christ come; I believe that when He comes there will take place two resurrections, the one only of the just, the other only of the wicked. Need I remind you of what St. Paul says, "if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection" Ek Twν VEкpwv, "from among the dead." And our Lord speaks of the resurrection of the just in particular: and St. Paul speaks plainly, "the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the air." My dear friends, when Christ comes, what a startling spectacle will the world present! Every grave that contains a dead saint shall rend, while every grave that contains the ashes of the lost remains unagitated. In every churchyard one grave will open, and its dead, quickened by an impulse from on high, will rise and meet the Lord in the air; but the grave that is next to it shall remain still unchanged as it was before, and unmoved by what has taken place beside it. So in a family, one person shall be snatched away, it may be at midnight, and rise to meet the Lord in his resurrection-body, and another shall be left. The mother shall remain, the child shall rise; or the son shall remain, and the mother shall be taken away. And then, when all Christ's dead saints are quickened and risen, and all Christ's living saints have joined them, this globe, as I explained to you from 1 Pet. iii. 10, this earth which is stored with fire-for it is very remarkable that the last geological discoveries prove the earth upon which we tread to be a mere crust, the interior of which is full of liquid fire, and for every one hundred feet that you go down into the earth the thermometer rises one degree-will split into a thousand crevices, from which those flames will burst, and the atmosphere which surrounds it, and is composed of gasses that are igneous, will ignite and wrap it in a shroud of flame, and the earth, thus purified, will

be the holy and the happy spot on which the saints shall dwell and praise and magnify the Lord.

The seventh vial, we are told, will be poured out upon the air: I showed you, last Sunday evening, the proofs and evidences of its action; and I also stated that, whilst there was its moral meaning in this, there was also a literal fulfilment of it. And what do we see taking place all around us? Look at the potato blight which took place two years ago; after all that has been written upon the subject, it has not yet been explained: look at the rapid progress of the influenza; all admit that it is not contagious, yet it breaks out in one family and goes on to another family: and see the cholera next threatens us with its ravages; it is proved that it is not contagious, yet it breaks out in city after city, and country after country; sanitary improvements, however right and however necessary, cannot absolutely prevent it. What is the explanation of all this? Look at our commercial difficulties our perplexed merchants-our political dislocations and chartist excitements-all admit that they are puzzled for the explanation of these things. I can explain it to you. The angel is pouring out his vial upon the air-the sprinklings are on the pen, the plough, the shuttle, on continent and island and sea. Our commerce, and our agriculture, and our manufactures, and all in which we glory-feel its blighting dews, and give token of feeling it more severely and that speedily. "Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments," for, "behold, I come as a thief."

If time would only have allowed me, I would have deduced several lessons from all that I have now been stating, which I think of great practical value: but I have really drawn so much upon your patience already that I must close, and I only regret that the time for my continuing these Lectures has passed away: the historical illustrations I will not pursue further, but the

The earthquake of the seventh vial began in February, 1848, at Paris, the centre of Europe.-Watch and wait; we are now plainly under the seventh vial.

beautiful and spiritual passages contained in the rest of the Apocalypse, I shall explain to my own people in my own church on successive Sunday evenings.*

We live in years into each of which is crowded the work of centuries. A day brings forth now more than a century brought forth in former times. Time rushes more rapidly as it nears its final fall. The future approaches us like a rising tide, and destinies solemn as the soul, heaven, and hell stretch out before us. Are we not called on to ascertain clearly our relative position? What matters it that a Millennium comes if we shall have no share in it? What avails it that its music shall be so sweet, its air so holy, and its people so happy, and its translucency with glory so bright, if we shall have no part in it?-There remaineth indeed a rest-but it is for the people of God. Is this our class? Do we belong to that consecrated family? Are we Christ's? This is the question of questions. Our whole interest is com

pressed in this.

O leave it not unsolved and unsettled. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." "Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved." "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." "Lord Jesus, to whom can we go but unto thee; thou hast the words of everlasting life."

Let me ask, therefore, when Christ shall come upon the lightning's wing or upon the eddying air, at midnight or at midday, if you feel that you are prepared to meet him? to welcome him? to reign with him? He may come next year, or in five, or in ten, or in twenty years, I cannot say. It will be at an hour when ye think not. Near, however, his advent is-all chronology, and prophecy, and history prove it—it is time, therefore, that we should set our house in order, and have our loins

The second series of Apocalyptic Sketches has been published. These contain the Apocalyptic sketches of Millennial blessedness, and I trust will prove as interesting to the people of God as these, which were so much appreciated, and more appreciated than they deserved, in Exeter Hall.