"the dynasties of Spain, Naples, Savoy, and Sweden, "and the celebrated States of Venice, Tuscany, "Genoa, and Holland; has dissolved the Germanic

Confederacy, has planted new tributary kingdoms "in the view of Christendom, and has at last ren"dered himself master and sovereign of the CHIEF CITY " and principal territories of the FOURTH and LAST 66 EMPIRE. And are not these signs in the sun, and "in the moon, and in the stars?"*

The description of these celestial signs in Saint Matthew's Gospel is somewhat more particular than in Luke. It is said by the former evangelist, "The "sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall withdraw "her light." The eclipse of the sun and moon, in the language of symbols, denotes the overthrow of the supreme or imperial powers in the empire which is the subject of the prophecy. "In an empire split "into many kingdoms, like the Roman empire, the "sun is the government of that state, which, from

its superiority of power, resembles the bright orb "of day in the midst of the stars, or independent "kings, of the imperial firmament." We have accordingly witnessed the extinction of the imperial dignity of the German or Holy Roman Empire, the representative of the Cæsars. We have also seen

* A Christian's Survey of all the Primary Events and Periods of the World, from the Commencement of History to the Conclusion of Prophecy. Much of this reasoning may be thought inapplicable to the present state of things. This is indeed true, if the actual condition of Europe shall prove to be a permanent settlement. But should it be seen afterwards to have been only a pause in the last earthquake, as I have endeavoured to show, then the whole of these remarks retain their original force. March, 1817.

+ Faber's Dissert. vol. i. p. 90.

the ancient dynasty of France, which took the sun for its device, with the motto, " Nec pluribus impar," chased from its throne and kingdom, and the reigning monarch and his consort perish on a scaffold. Thus have the sun and moon been darkened. The next particular mentioned by St. Matthew is, that "the "stars shall fall from heaven." This signifies the humiliation of the regal powers within the limits of the Roman empire; and in the quotation given above, there is an enumeration of particulars, wherein this prophecy has been fulfilled. Our own highly favoured country has, through the mercy of God, been exempted from the dreadful evils of foreign conquest and revolution; yet the mysterious visitation of the Almighty upon the faculties of our venerable and excellent sovereign, has caused the regal star of our political heaven to fall from heaven.*

To all the events above mentioned, must now be added, more recent changes of a no less unexpected and stupendous nature, which are to be regarded as a new step, in the fulfilment of the signs in the symbolical heavens. A few years ago, the colossal

How striking and affecting is this dispensation, when we reflect upon the personal virtues of our sovereign, which had so deservedly given him a firm hold on the affections of his subjects during a reign of half a century !—O what a lesson this of the vanity and instability of human greatness!-How fervently ought Christians now to pray for the Prince Regent and his counsellors, that they may be endued with grace and wisdom from above, to guide the weighty and complex machine of government in these awful times! May they be inclined and enabled fervently to supplicate these heavenly gifts for themselves! and may they know and serve Him, by whom in all times, but especially in these times, kings reign and princes decree justice! May they have grace to "kiss the Son, lest he be angry!" for who shall “ stand in the day of his wrath!”

empire of Napoleon Bonaparte, resting one foot on the Vistula and the other upon the Tagus, held in its iron grasp the treasures and resources of the European continent, and wielded its military force with uncontrolled and wanton energy, for purposes which threatened the world with new and unknown evils. But this empire has in its turn vanished from the earth its sun is now darkened, and the Bourbons have been restored. But their monarchy does not now rest as formerly on the basis of prescription and public opinion. It may be described as hastily ingrafted on the stock of the Revolution, by the diplomatic arrangements of the allied powers, and supported by their armies. A short time may probably discover whether this edifice is likely to possess greater stability than that which preceded it. Should it again fall, it will once more plunge Europe in all the horrors of a revolutionary warfare.

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St. Luke tells us that these signs in the sun and the moon and the stars shall be attended " with distress "of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, and " for looking after those things which are coming on "the earth; for the powers of the heavens shall be "shaken." That distress of nations, in its acutest and most complicated forms, characterizes the present period will be disputed by no one for we are all in a measure participators of those severe sufferings, which now overspread the whole of Europe. The roaring of the sea and waves signifies, in the language of symbols, popular clamours and tumults, and a general spirit of insubordination, loosening

the bands of civil and political society. The shaking of the powers of the heavens, means the shaking of the governments and reigning powers. It is sufficiently obvious to all attentive observers, that these are the precise characters which mark the present awful period of universal and portentous disorder. No era in the history of mankind has been so remarkable as the present one, for a spirit of disorder and insubordination, and impatience of the restraints of law, among the lower orders of society; and it is but too manifest that all existing institutions are in danger of being overthrown by the prevalence of this spirit. It may be said, that the hearts of most considerate persons, who contemplate these things, with the exception of that small and happy number, who put their trust in God, are actually failing them for fear, and for looking after the things that are coming on the earth. No rational person can pretend to conjecture what is to be the end of the present state of things, or can look before him without emotions of fear and alarm.

Thus minutely has our Lord's prophecy been accomplished by awful signs in the symbolical heavens, exactly corresponding therewith; and by the present fearful condition of the nations which occupy the principal territories of the fourth monarchy, a condition altogether without example in the history of the world.

We further learn, from the sequel of our Lord's discourse, that the signs predicted by him are to continue till his advent with the clouds of heaven. This advent, it is evident, is the same with that

mentioned by Daniel, as taking place on the destruction of the fourth monarchy.* The disciples are warned by our Lord himself, when they see the predicted signs, to consider them as the certain and immediate forerunners of his advent in glory, and the redemption of his church, and the establishment of the kingdom of God, no less so than the sprouting of the fig-tree, and all the trees, is a prognostic of the approach of summer. Thus he answers the third question, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, "and of the end of the age?"

We now come to the concluding division of our Lord's discourse, Matt. xxiv. 34. Verily, I say "unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all "these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall

pass away, but my words shall not pass away. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not "the angels of heaven, but my Father only."--Luke xxi, 34. "Take heed to yourselves, lest at "any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting “ and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare

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"shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of "the whole earth. Watch ye, therefore, and pray "always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape "all these things, which shall come to pass, and to "stand before the Son of Man."

Every one must see that there is apparently a great inconsistency between what is said in the first part of the above passage of Matthew, and the interpretation of the prophecy which I have offered, since our Lord here appears to affirm that the whole * Dan. vii. 18, 14.