verse, we find a further light thrown upon the subject. Then follows, in the twelfth chapter of Daniel's prophecy, a fuller statement, to which, for brevity, I refer. And if the reader will mark the prominent parts in this close of Daniel's prophecy, particularly the third, fourth, eighth, ninth, and tenth verses of the twelfth chapter, and compare them with modern events, he will discover a marvellous coincidence. That the prediction had a further aspect than to the siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian, though that might also be included, which is no uncommon thing in Scripture, is evident from several of the leading points. Christ, the great Prince, standing up for His people, could not be so suitably applied to that season of his humiliation. Neither the delivery of the people, whose names are said to be found written in the book. But waiving these considerations, the siege of Jerusalem could not be meant in the fourth verse, where it is said, "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Neither could a reference be suited, at that time, of the tenth verse, of "none of the wicked understanding, but the wise understanding." Take the prophecy of Daniel in your hand, and compare it with the present day. Behold how many are running to and fro, and knowledge increasing; and connect with this the decision of the Lord: "None but the people that shall be found written in the book shall understand;" and then let the reader for I refer the subject to his own decision and that under the Lord's teaching-judge for himself. And to suppress all irreverent curiosity, let him recollect that the highly-favoured servant of the Lord was not gratified, who, when he heard these things, but under

stood them not, said, "O, my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" and He said, "Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed, till the time of the end."*

It is evident great events are pending, and marvellous are to be the forerunners, as taught us in the Scriptures, by which will be ushered in the latter day. But amidst all convulsions with which the Lord will shake the earth, the Church is impregnable; and through all this voice may be heard by every child of God, Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him." Keeping in remembrance the Eternal, inherent, essential, and underived perfections of Christ, which are His own, and which He possesseth in common with the Father and the Holy Ghost, nothing of this time-state, arising from the temptations of men or devils, can stagger for a moment my faith, while upheld by the Lord. In Him I behold a Sovereignty competent to all the purposes of His Church. The Infinite greatness of His Person stamps Infinity upon all He wrought in His human nature; every act, every word, every thought, was the act, the word, and thought of God in the man Christ Jesus. Through grace I never suffer myself to lose sight of His Oneness, in all that constitutes Godhead with Jehovah in His Trinity of Persons. And in all my approaches to the Mercy Seat, I approach to the One undivided Jehovah, through the mediation of Christ, as Christ—that is, God and man in One Person-which is as necessary to approach the Divine Nature of the Son, as it is to approach that of the Father or of the Holy Ghost. This may be con

*Dan. xii. 8, 9.

sidered a solecism in the world's vocabulary; but the word loseth its meaning when applied to the glorious truths of God. There are no solecisms in Scripture. The Lord enables His Spiritual Church to receive the Lord's manifestations spiritually. And then, while carrying about with us the charter of grace, the precious question of our Lord, put by Himself, and opened by Himself in all its beauty and fulness, will be like an anchor to the soul in the darkest night of heresy, silencing all the blasts of a Christ-despising generation.

If then it be allowed, as it must be allowed, that the foretelling future events can only be the prerogative of God, and we see things thus predicted by the Prophet Isaiah concerning Christ, so fulfilled in His Person and Offices, who but the most determined infidel would venture to call in question those Divine oracles of God in the Bible, where those records both of prophecy and fact are faithfully contained. But then what the Prophets foretold, and the Evangelists proved, is but a part, and that a small part, of what the Apostles predicted should take place in the latter days. Here the Lord manifested His glory in declaring events to come the most improbable, but which we have lived to see fulfilled, and fulfilling daily in the earth. The Prophet Isaiah lived, as hath been already said, more than seven hundred years before the coming of Christ, and now eighteen centuries have since run out. Let any man look at the world as it now is, and, with the Bible in his hand, mark well the corresponding features. Had the Apostle Paul, to mention no other, lived but yesterday, and written his epistle to Timothy this day, it were impossible he could have

drawn the characters more faithful.

What we now see,

and what he then wrote, are perfect counterparts of each other. "This know," said he, "that in the last days, perilous times shall come: for men shall be lovers of their own selves; covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." Were these Scriptures indeed written so many ages since, and purposely to mark the present era? And do we now behold their accomplishment daily in our streets; so that any man, and every man with the smallest discernment, must say these are the several characters virtually before us. And can there be a more decisive proof both of the authority of the Bible, under whose inspiration it was written. And, reader, do observe this one thing: though it be painful to witness the blasphemy of some, and the atheism of others, and the general profligacy; and though all feeling minds cannot but be tremblingly alive for what must be the eventual consequences to these awful characters, if living and dying under such delusions; yet we find much cause to bless God for such a testimony to his truth. Without it we should lose one great degree of evidence of our holy faith. They are for witnesses also; and from age to age as they arose, the Lord speaks to them as to the same characters of old-" Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which shall in nowise believe, though a man declare it unto you."†

ye

CHAPTER XX.

The Writer's Views of his own Dissolution-Distinct View of Death-Delightful Thoughts thereon-The Sting taken away, and Death's total Destruction.

I would now solicit the reader who has accompanied me thus far in the consideration of these glorious achievements we have been considering of our Lord and Saviour, to meditate on one of His glorious and mighty deeds, namely, in abolishing death, and "bringing life and immortality to light through the Gospel." drawing to a conclusion, let us dwell a on this solemn and interesting subject.

say

And here, in little copiously

For who shall

in the revolution of time, what a month, or a week, or even a day or an hour, may bring forth? And with many of the Lord's ancient ones, and peradventure the writer, who is now entered into his seventy-third year, before the sun shall have finished once again its annual circuit, shall hear that attractive voice saying, "Come up hither." Then that blessed Scripture will be realised in the fullest comprehension of it. The "year of my redeemed is come." The reflection re-animates my tottering frame, when I shall bid a cheerful and everlasting farewell to a body of sin and death, to be ever with the Lord-enjoy a perpetual day that will never end-an eternal sunshine without a cloud, in the presence of the Lamb that was slain.

I would observe as I proceed, that, as an old man