But oh! It is indeed terribly solemn to trace the bitter and incurable hatred of the heart of fallen human nature, and that especially toward God who always stands in direct contrast by requiting always good for evil; this the natural man cannot bear. No! "a thousand years," experience of Christ's righteous, holy, blessed, and glorious rule, in goodness, truth and love, will not suffice to change the nature of man. Oh, no! for no sooner is Satan loosed from his imprisonment of absolute restraint, than the nations rebel; but only to be destroyed with devouring fire from heaven (Rev. xx. 7-10). For this is the very last of the many terrible outbreaks of human wickedness. Yes, thanks be to God; this indeed brings the world's history of iniquity to its solemnly glorious close. The earth is burnt up, the elements melt with fervent heat and no place is found for them. Then the dead, who had no part in the first resurrection, are raised, and judged, according to their works, and are cast into the lake of fire. Observe they are raised before judged: so it is in resurrection life they are cast into the lake of fire; and as they were judged solely on the ground of their works, not one escaped the lake of fire. So Satan, Death and Hades are all similarly committed to perpetual destruction from the presence of the Lord.

What then? The last enemy has been destroyed-totally vanquished at length by righteous judgments executed-and that according to the glorious work of reconciliation founded on the blood of His cross, and God's answer is complete: for we get new heavens and a new earth as a consequence; in which righteousness not only reigns-as during the "thousand years"-but permanently dwells. That is, Christ having ruled in truth, and by righteous judgments till He hath put all enemies under His feet. Then as a matter of fact we shall see all things under Him: still Himself subject as the very Man in all this glory--as the Mighty conqueror wholly for God delivers up the kingdom to God, and that manifestedly in the beauty of love and holiness. "God is all and in all." No more estrangements by reason of human guilt and failure; no longer a matter of faith, for God makes His tabernacle with man, and love abides for ever.

Now, as such are the blessed and solemnly glorious facts concerning this poor perishing world-as traced out for us in the word of the living God-and as this is the sure and certain prospect before the world, we would ask with all solemnity, "Are these the very things even Christians are looking for?" Amidst all the tall talk of modern progress, all the straining after improvements, education and culture, and all the boast of the bright future in store

for this very world which God has declared to be irreparably sunken in iniquity, and only ripening for these great and sore judgments we have been looking at, and to which the world is fast hastening. But alas! christians in general have totally failed to grasp the solemn truth-that God's judgments are indeed looming over the whole scene--and, sad to say, christendom as a whole stand more or less affected in the intoxication of this world's banquet. So much so that they do not heed the fingers of the hand tracing on the wall the fateful words, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHAŘSIN-more blind than Belshazzar to all the solemn warnings God has given. Yea, are they not ever fostering the false hopes of the world, in those very things against which they should be protesting? But instead of which they themselves are eagerly floating along these pleasurable streams of modern progress in blissful ignorance that it is certainly sweeping them down its fatal rapids to the crush and roar of impending judgments. Ah! soon, we know not how soon; but certainly not before "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess. iv. 16-17). Oh, bless the Lord, we shall be with Him in person as well as in Spirit, heart and affection. But then, what will become of modern progress, and all these things of which man so vainly boasts? What will then be the fruit of all their organisations and associations for the making of a something out of that nature which scripture declares to be wholly and only "enmity against God?" Or to bring something good out of the very world which has rejected and crucified its rightful Lord, only because He was entirely good and holy? But we have seen the end of all. These boasted ecclesiastical organisations when bereft of believers will have nothing Godward-will indeed be nothing more nor less but a putrid corpse, so hateful to the nations, that they will burn it to ashes. So alas, the noisy and scheming party of progress, though turning in utter disgust from this ghastly mimicry of Christianity to the latest novelty of the day, will be given up to "strong delusions that they should believe a lie," &c., &c., 2 Thes. ii. 7-17.

Oh! Beloved in the Lord! Have we, as believers, in truth and in love, God's thoughts about what is passing before us? What are we looking for, and hastening unto in the goodness and grace of God? Are we taking heed unto His way, or are we minding earthly things?" As others "whose end is destruction, &c., lightly esteeming, if not despising, these solemn warnings of these sacred scriptures, and so burying ourselves in the van

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pursuit of seeking to improve that which God has pronounced to be so utterly bad as to be beyond remedy? Or, have we given up the First man-the old Adam-entirely? And, as it is our privilege, do we "reckon ourselves dead indeed" in order that we may be practically "alive unto God;" in truth and in love One with Him Whom the world has rejected: "Whom the heavens must receive:" to Whom God has given a place at His own right hand-"for us." Oh! "Blessed hope!" Now, we are privileged to be waiting with Him, as well as for Him-though the day and hour remains a secret in the bosom of God. "Behold, I come quickly," &c., is the watchword for us. Because for sure He must first come for us and we be with Him in the glory, in our "glorious body like unto His glorious body:" and righteous judgments executed on this sinpolluted world. Then, and not until then, shall the world's real improvement be brought about to perfection, and that by the Lord Himself, in His own sacred Person-the Second Man; the Last Adam; the only One Who can, and will carry out God's purposed blessing for the earth, as well as heavenly bliss; and also establish God's rule of righteousness and true holiness. Amen. Hereford.

HENRY LAWFORD.

DR. HAWKER ON "ELECTION."

HE mystery of election, which now excites so much bitterness in the breast of the carnal, while it calls forth the unceasing wonder of all the redeemed, will cease to be a mystery and surprise when the children of the kingdom and the children of the wicked one shall be found arranged under their respective heads, and Christ is beheld encircled with His family, and the devil with his. The whole congregated world will at once and intuitively discover that the election of grace included the whole of Christ's kingdom, and that the rejection of the rest (as they are called in Rom. xi. 7), referred only to the kingdom of Satan, Matt. xii. 6. And here the mystery ends.

This great truth, indeed, was preached to the church, and by the Lord Himself immediately on the Fall. For when the Lord God pronounced sentence on the old serpent, the devil, (so called, Rev. xii. 9.) these are His words, " "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed," Gen. iii. 15. Mark the expression, thy seed; that is, the seed of the serpent; and her seed, that is of the woman; most decidedly showing that the serpent has a seed as well as the woman. And these are not angels, for there is no propagation of angels by seed; neither in scripture are they ever so described. But the seed of the serpent are men, as are the seed of the woman-or of Christ, Who

is meant by the seed of the woman. And hence we find the different seeds uniformly marked through the whole Bible.

The apostle John declares Cain to have been of that wicked one, meaning the devil. John does not say he was tempted of that wicked one to slay his brother; but he was of him, that is, his seed, 1 John iii. 10-12. And the Lord Jesus thus marked the whole race. He called them serpents; a generation of vipers which could not escape the damnation of hell. Matt. xxiii. 33. And in the parable of the good seed and the tares, Jesus in so many words declared that, "the good seed were the children of the kingdom, and the tares the children of the wicked one. The enemy which sowed them is the devil." Matt. xiii. 24-40. And if possible, in yet stronger terms, Jesus said, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." John viii. 44. Observe, in all these descriptions the Lord does not say they were led away by the temptations of the devil, and acting as his servants and vassals; but that they were his children and with whom, therefore, what they did was as natural, having the same nature as it was their father to do so.

"As

On the other hand, the Holy Ghost has marked the features of the children of Christ, and shown the sure promises God hath given concerning them. They are said to be a people whom God hath formed for Himself, who shall show forth His praise. Isaiah xliii. 21. "A remnant in the midst of many people." Micah v. 8. "A chosen generation." 1 Peter ii. 9. And concerning whom the Lord the Father hath said to Christ, "I will pour My Spirit upon Thy seed and My blessing upon Thine offspring." Isaiah xliv. 3. for Me, this is My covenant with them saith the Lord; My Spirit that is upon Thee, and My words which I have put in Thy mouth, shall not depart out of Thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of Thy seed, nor out of the mouth of Thy seed's seed, from henceforth, and for ever." Isaiah lix. 21. What can more decidedly show the features of character of the seed which mark each ? And what can determine the doctrine more strongly in proof of the two kingdoms?

I have often thought, that had we the faculty of discerning spirits, (as Paul had when filled with the Holy Ghost, he declared Elymas, the sorcerer, to be a child of the devil, Acts xiii. 10), it would not only solve a thousand problems which now often perplex the Lord's people, but it would for ever put a stop to the presumptuous reasonings of weak and foolish men, who would fain have more mercy than the Lord, and are therefore very angry with Him respecting election.

Let me not, however, be mistaken. I speak not as though I thought it were desirable to possess such a faculty in the present

life. Far, very far from it: sure I am it would be productive of many evils, and therefore it is in great mercy withheld from us. But I merely say that, if we could discern spirits, it would so damage the pride of the human heart that none would be found any longer to arraign God's wisdom and God's justice in the exercise of election. For who would then find fault with God in withholding grace from the seed of the serpent? Every child of God would then see the impossibility of giving it. And in instances where, until that discernment was made, a man might lean in wishes towards another; yet when seen, he would no longer cherish such in his bosom, but do as Moses did when he saw his rod turned into a serpent, flee from before it. Exod. iv. 3.

But let it be remembered that though we do not possess such a faculty in the present life, and cannot therefore ofter distinguish the precious from the vile, yet our ignorance of the different seeds makes no difference in the seeds themselves. Christ's kingdom and Satan's kingdom; Christ's seed and the serpent's seed are in the world, and as distinct from each other as light and darkness, and as impossible to coalesce and become one as the clay and the iron which the monarch saw in his vision. Dan. ii. 43. The great day of the Lord will explain all, and then the justice and sovereignty of God will be unfolded, and the world shall see that God's election hath included the whole of Christ and His seed, and the reprobation extended to Satan and his seed. Not one of the little ones of Christ's kingdom will be found shut out. Not one of the brood of the serpent taken in. Each kingdom will be marshalled under their respective heads; and the whole plan of the Divine government being laid open to view, will call forth unceasing praise to God, and everlasting joy to His church in Christ Jesus.

But conceive what paleness, what horror, what anguish of soul will overwhelm those men at the discovery, who in this life, merely from their own presumptuous reasonings, and in direct opposition to holy scripture, have impeached the Divine justice in election, and dared to say and write such things of God as I tremble but to read, and consider too blasphemous even to copy off on paper. Is it not with an eye to such the apostle speaks, when in his description of the last day, he saith, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. Jude 14, 15. And while such men must be struck dumb in everlasting silence, the song of Moses and the Lamb will burst forth in unceasing acclamations of praise from the whole election of