the infirmity of nature and the imperfection of faith; yet here there can be but one opinion, and the same conviction in all that are taught of God. Through all the departments in the Divine administration, from the falling of a sparrow, to the rising or overthrowing of states and empires-every minute or greater event is wholly directed and made subservient to the accomplishment of this one glorious design, as the final issue of all; namely, to make "known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."* I cannot therefore hesitate to make this datum of all the Lord's proceedings in the earth. The glory of God is, and must necessarily be, the first and ultimate cause of all things, and the happiness of His people the sure effect. The Lord's own decision is to this amount: "This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." And amidst all the various occupations and pursuits of men, and in the seeming contrarieties of human actions some apparently opposing the Divine will, others indifferent about it—some blaspheming the Lord, others persecuting the Lord's people; yet all under the Divine control, and like the vast machine the Prophet saw in vision, wheel within wheel, and to his view, the whole complicated and entangled-yet each accomplishing the various purposes the Lord appointed. Howbeit, as Scripture sublimely states it, "He meaneth not so; neither does His heart think so." Hence, therefore, the whole of what is going on in the circumstances of mankind, however humiliating it may be to the pride

* Ephes. iii. 10, 11.

Isa. xliii. 21.

of human life, all are what they are, and by the overruling power of God made to administer to His Church; and, when the carnal world shall have accomplished this purpose, like the scaffolding to a building, no longer useful when the building itself is completed, will be taken down and destroyed, and the Church of Christ will be brought forth, with the head-stone thereof, and with shoutings, crying, "Grace, grace unto it."

CHAPTER XVI.

All events administer to the welfare of the Lord's people.-The predictions of Prophecy not yet fulfilled.-A Veil cast over.

Assuming the preceding statement for a principle perfectly just and incontrovertible, and arising from thence, as from a well-secured bottom, on which to rear up a superstructure, I go on to observe, that, as all the events of the present time-state, both of men and things, administer to the Everlasting welfare of the Lord's people; so the Holy Scriptures, in all their revelations and records, have reference to the Church, and to the Church only. From the first dawn of Prophecy to the meridian of the Gospel, every prediction given-every ordinance instituted-every sacrifice offered—had respect but to the Church, as she had her being and well-being in Christ. His glorious Person became the one great object for the whole scope of prophecies, types, and ordinances, to delineate by shadowy representations; and the Infinite

fulness, all-sufficiency, and suitableness of His mighty salvation for his people, the one great subject of our hope, to seal up the vision of Prophecy: and, Anointed as the Most Holy, according to the language of the Prophet Daniel,—then it was, by one offering of Himself, once offered, that he "perfected for ever them that are sanctified," then it was, that "He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself;" and from the cross, as from the high altar of His own Divine nature, by the Infinite dignity of His Person, and the Infinite merits of His blood, He washed away all the iniquities of His people; so that, by the efficacy of both, in this mid-day of time, the Son of God finished redemption, reaching back to the first morning of the Church in time, and extending to the latest period of the world before the opening of Eternity. And all the remaining prophecies of Scripture, from the death of Christ to the consummation of all things, which since have been fulfilled, are now fulfilling, and hereafter to be fulfilled in the earth, have an eye to Christ and His people, and to Him only. Under the similitude of seals opened, trumpets blown, and vials poured out, the several ages of the Church, and the events. in them, are spoken of in the Book of the Revelation, with which is closed the canon of Holy Scripture; and for the joy and comfort of the Church, the last of the wonderful events, and by which it will be known that all the enemies of the Church are subdued, and herself triumphant in Christ, is when the seventh trumpet shall sound: for thus it is expressed-"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the king

doms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."*

Advancing cautiously, and with great reverence, upon a subject so profoundly deep and mysterious-not presuming to make one step but within the sacred enclosure of Holy Scripture-I proceed to observe, that it hath been the uniform practice of the Church, with the saints of God in all ages, and especially among such as are appointed of the Lord to minister in holy things, to watch the Lord in His dispensations, both of providence and of grace, towards his Church; and notice, from time to time, with particular regard, the fulfilment of His prophecies, as they have been in ages past, and as they are now opened and unfolded by the Lord to His people. We hereby discover, through Divine teaching, how the Lord has rendered the ministering of the fathers profitable to the children, and thus becoming helpful towards the generations yet to come. Thus the Apostle Peter speaks of the Old Testament saints, from the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, ministering to the New Testament believers;—and thus, while the Scriptures of the Prophets were blessed to the Apostles, the same Almighty God who blessed both, now renders the prophecies of the Apostles blessful to us, by his own Divine interpretation of them. The same Spirit of Christ which was in the saints of the old dispensation, was no less in the new; and it is from the same Almighty Lord, the Holy Ghost, that any spiritual apprehension of His Scriptures can be discovered. Among the many sacred predictions of the Lord with which the Inspired

writings of the Apostles abound, we are constrained to notice, with the most marked attention, what is said of the last days, and the perilous times. I stay not to make quotations this would make my subject too diffuse; neither do I think it needful. That man can be but little conversant with his Bible, neither with that which is daily passing everywhere around him, not to see the striking coincidence between the things foretold and the things now accomplishing. Had the Apostles, Paul or Peter, John or Jude, delivered their predictions but yesterday, nothing could have been more accurately designated than the portrait penciled by the Apostles, to the features which were to mark the original. In those Scriptures, great events are recorded, which were delivered by the Apostles under the Spirit of Prophecy, and have since, in many instances, been fulfilled. Greater still is contained in them, which remain to be accomplished. Not to mention more than one-namely, the slaughter of the two witnesses. And whenever that event shall take place, marvellous consequences, we are informed, will soon follow. It hath pleased the Lord to throw a veil over the subject; so that, to this hour, none who are supernaturally taught of God (and those not so taught can know nothing of it), have been led to discover who those witnesses are, neither of the time when they are to be slain. Some of the wisest and the best of men, since the Apostles' days, were of opinion, that the time when the witnesses would be killed would be before the close of the seventeenth century; but we of the present time have lived to see the end of the eighteenth century, yea, and a fourth part of the nineteenth is now finished