the confusion is still the same; the children of the world walk on still in darkness; the mystery and the gloom are as deep as ever; and while the Christian gazes thoughtfully on the scene, the inquiry of the prophet rises to his lips, “O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?"

But the word of prophecy is a bright and cheering lamp, amid the world's darkness. There, in those sacred pages, we behold a scheme of redemption, which is from everlasting to everlasting, but which is daily unfolding itself in the history of our fallen world. There we learn, that however the counsels of man may fail, though empires may perish, and generations may pass there is a counsel that shall stand for away, ever, and a kingdom that cannot be destroyed, -the counsel of God, and the kingdom of the Most High. The mist and darkness are rolled away from the landscape of Divine Providence, and we can trace, from age to age, the unveiling of God's infinite goodness, in the recovery of our guilty race to the presence of his holiness, and the enjoyment of his love. The dispensations of his grace present themselves in succession to our view, and still, as they advance, increase in their clearness and beauty, till at length the triumph of a Saviour's mercy is complete, and "the kingdoms of this world, become the kingdoms of our Lord."

Thus the word of prophecy, when received in simple faith, fulfils its appointed office as a beaconlight, and leads our thoughts onward, through all the changes of time, to that "rest which remaineth for the people of God."

Light, then, and not darkness, is the true character of all the inspired prophecies. But the description applies most fully to those which predict the past desolation and future glory of Israel. The visions of Daniel and St. John retain an air of mystery that accords well with their reference to the Gentile dispensation, that time which is called by emphasis, the mystery of God. But the prophecies which relate to the Jews are free from this symbolical veil. They are clothed in simple language; they stoop to our earthly estate; they are imbedded in the facts of history, and confirmed by visible earnests of their truth. To the spiritual and sanctifying power which they share with all the Divine promises, they add the intense reality of persons, and scenes, and places, which are within our reach, or even before our eyes. The stronghold of man's unbelief lies in the things which are seen and temporal. But these prophecies assail it even here. They reveal to us a counsel of God plainly fulfilling itself on the face of the earth. They show us a country marked off-a people separated, as the visible

witnesses, first of his just severity against sin, and then of his overflowing mercy and unchangeable goodness. The spell of Infidelity is thus broken, which would keep our earth separate from heaven; and the golden links are seen already in being, which will shortly bind them together into perfect union. With a variety and fulness of truth, which opens a boundless field for hope, meditation, and prayer, there is in these predictions a simplicity which the meanest Christian may understand. The promise of God tempers itself to our feeble vision, and by the view of the blessedness of the earthly Jerusalem, would prepare our souls for the higher and fuller glory of the Jerusalem above.

When we turn from this view of prophecy, a view taught us by the Spirit of God himself, to the actual state of the Church, how painful is the contrast! The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness receives it not. The lamp which God has vouchsafed to us for our guidance is neglected, or even scorned, by the great body of those who bear the name of Christians. The calculations of their own worldly prudence eclipse the messages of the Infinite Wisdom. They boldly reverse the commandment of the Holy Ghost. While he charges us to take heed to the word of prophecy, they brand attention to it as enthusiastic folly, or the dreams of madness. Nay, many, even

of the true followers of Christ, are entangled, though to a less degree, in the same grievous snare, and practically discourage that which the Spirit of God so earnestly commends. So that a part of the inspired oracles, nearly as large as the whole of the New Testament, comes to be entirely neglected; or furnishes, at most, only a few vague hopes and general lessons of warning; while its main purpose is overlooked, and the rich variety of Divine truth which it contains is uncared for and unexplored.

To what cause must we ascribe this neglect of Old Testament prophecy, which has been till of late, and we fear, still continues so marked a feature of the Gentile Church? In the great body of nominal Christians it arises, doubtless, from man's natural aversion to the Word of God, and his dislike to realize the presence of his Maker. Its source, in more spiritual Christians, is the selfishness which clings even to the regenerate soul, and which struggles mightily against the power of Divine grace. In the unbeliever, this selfishness reigns and triumphs; but where the work of faith is begun, the enemy puts on a spiritual garb, and tutors the soul to be selfish even in the things of God. Personal safety is then placed higher than the glory of the Saviour. The question becomes, how low a stage of grace will secure from danger, not how largely may Christ be honoured and served ;—

how little truth is sufficient and essential, not how much may we hope to receive, and how much is the God of all grace willing to bestow. And since the effect of the Jewish prophecies on personal edification is less self-evident than in some other parts of Scripture, we doubt the wisdom of God, who pronounces every part to be profitable for our instruction in righteousness; and we thus remain under the blight of a spiritual selfishness, that withers and deadens all the strength of the soul.

But there is a further cause of this general neglect, in the wide-spread feeling of uncertainty and doubt as to the true sense of the Scripture prophecies. Many things have concurred in this effect; the mysteriousness which must be admitted, in some few of the prophecies themselves, -the variations of numerous expositors,-the gross perversions of some, the vague, uncertain allegories of others, and the currency of the false maxim, that all predictions, when fulfilled, are clear, and when unfulfilled, obscure and inexplicable. These causes, and such as these, have changed the faith of the Church into bewildering uncertainty. The vision, according to God's own warning, has become as the words of a book that is sealed. Divines have maintained, in the face of the clearest examples, and the plainest warnings, that the inspired predictions were not meant to be