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reconcile them with the present moral and religious state of this country, nor with the emphatical declaration of God to the children of Israel, contained in the prophecies of Jeremiah, "I am with thee, "saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full "end of all the nations whither I have scattered "thee, yet will I not make an end of thee: but "I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave "thee altogether unpunished."

If indeed we saw any appearances of that deep humiliation and repentance which are the genuine and blessed fruits of national affliction when duly improved, we might gladly listen to the tale of peace, and even amidst the appalling prospects which surround us, we might take down our harps from the willows, and tune them to one of the songs of our Zion. But until such fruits are discernible, it is a rash and dangerous perversion of the Scriptures to take to ourselves promises, to which our national character does not correspond.

I would here call the attention of the reader, to the close analogy which is observable between the past dispensations of God to the church and the world, and the conclusions at which I have arrived, respecting the actual prospects of the nations of Christendom. In every new development of his plan of mercy and salvation to the human race, it has hitherto pleased God that mercy and judgment should as it were go hand in hand. The calling of Abraham and the birth of Isaac, were nearly coeval with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven. The exodus from Egypt was asso

* Jer. xxx. 10, 11.

ciated with the desolation of that kingdom by the ten plagues, and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea. The establishment of Israel in the land of Canaan, was effected by the extirpation of a great part of the aboriginal inhabitants. The settlement of the crown of Israel in the person and family of David was accompanied with dreadful wars, whereby the remainder of the Canaanitish nations were brought into subjection or destroyed. The return of Judah from the Babylonish captivity, was preceded by the fall of the empire of Assyria. That dispensation whereby the Gentiles were received into the church in the room of the Jews, was followed by the destruction of Jerusalem with circumstances of so awful a nature as made it a fit type and emblem of the judgments of the last days. In concluding, therefore, that the glorious inauguration of our Lord in his millennial kingdom, which is to be ushered in by his second advent with the clouds of heaven, shall likewise be signalized by the most terrific displays of the Divine wrath against an unbelieving world, we not only are guided by the unerring testimony of prophecy, but we might even, a priori, without any express assurances to that effect, have been led to form similar expectations, from an attentive study of the dispensations of providence in past ages.

It remains for me to observe, that the second causes, by which the approaching desolations are probably in a great measure to be effected, have long been in active operation. They consist of those dreadful principles of political, moral, and religious insubordination and disorganization, which burst

forth at the French revolution, and have ever since been working, sometimes openly and at others more covertly, in the body politic. These principles are the natural and necessary fruit of the general diffusion of unsanctified knowledge among all classes of society. As the fall of our species in the persons of our first parents, proceeded from the desire of forbidden knowledge, so the last great crisis of the world will probably arise from the actual dissemination of carnal worldly knowledge, or that false science which will not submit itself to the revealed will of God, but rises in rebellion against all divine and human government and authority.* From this source proceed all those crude schemes of regeneration, whereby our modern political fanatics promise to correct the moral disorders of the world, and to bring in the millennium of philosophy, but which, if their execution be seriously attempted, as it possibly may be at the last great catastrophe, shall be found to have introduced the most awful disorder, and shall deluge the world with blood.

Bishop Horsley in his notes on Psalm xlvi. ob

* Let no one here misrepresent my meaning, as if I were the enemy of the diffusion of true knowledge. False knowledge, or, as Mr. Southey well calls it, half knowledge, is a moral poison. True knowledge is wholesome food. If we warn a man against poison, does it follow that we mean to starve him? Half knowledge leads men away from God, and doubtless it will be one part of the awful punishment of the celebrated writers of the infidel school, who have perverted their faculties to the ruin of thousands, to be dragged forth before an assembled universe, and exposed to shame and confusion of face, as mere drivellers in all sound reasoning. True knowledge, on the other hand, is the inseparable associate of religion, it leads to God and to the cross of Christ, in which centre the full radiance of his moral perfections.

serves, that the restoration of the Jews will be one of the first things at the season of the second advent. He supposes that the river and its streams which make glad the city of God, may symbolize the regular government then established amongst the Jews,* and that the removing of the earth, and the casting the mountains into the sea, denotes the breaking in pieces civil government and the dissolution of monarchies in democracy, so that at the very same period when the Jews enjoy the blessings of a settled state, the rest of the world shall be plunged in frightful anarchy, The reader will see a striking analogy between these views of that eminently learned divine, and what I have advanced on the subject.

How near the last scene of desolation, and the great day of the Lord may be, it is impossible to say. Notwithstanding the present pause in the operation of some of the vials, there are many indications which to observing minds, unite in testifying that the last times are rapidly hastening on, "The "fourth kingdom is perishing as monarchy never "before perished. By disorganization, religious,

political, and social, that empire seems ready to "explode and vanish for ever." And though I have endeavoured to show, that the restoration of the Jews must precede the great day of Armageddon, yet I may be entirely mistaken in my inferences about the order in which the different events shall

* I conceive that this river rather denotes the abundant influences of the Spirit which shall then be enjoyed by the church. But I completely agree with Bishop Horsley in applying the Psalm itself tothe events of the last time.

+ Butt on the Seventy Weeks, Appendix, p. 29.

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happen. Our Lord himself has emphatically assured us, "Behold I come as a thief, blessed is he that "watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk "naked and they see his shame;" and from these words we may certainly conclude, that he will come at a time, when few even of his own people expect it. In the mean while it becomes us to "gird up the loins " of our minds,"* and to prepare for that " time of "trouble such as there never was since there was "a nation," which shall usher in the redemption of the church, and be introductory to those scenes of peace, and glory, and righteousness, for which the servants of God have prayed, and laboured, and fainted in every age. No human power or wisdom can avert the terrific events which are approaching. But if, through faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we wash our robes, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, then we shall individually be numbered with that great multitude, who shall come out of the great tribulation, and with palmsin their hands shall stand before the throne, crying with a loud voice, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb.‡"

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* 1 Peter i. 13.

+ Dan. xii. 1.

Rev. vii. 9-17.

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