"people, and nations, and languages." The division of tongues was part of the curse; but the reversal of that curse will not be the reduction of languages into one, but the perpetuation of all languages, each nation understanding what the other speaks. The miracle at Pentecost was not that all the apostles spoke one language, and all that believed spoke the same language; but that each man spoke in his own tongue, and each understood what his neighbour spoke. So shall it be in the millennial day. There shall be many tongues, but one sentiment; many languages by many tongues, but each understanding perfectly the other: the many languages, like the cleffs in music, shall only constitute the more glorious harmony; there shall not be uniformity of speech, but unity of sentiment. There will not be the monotony of a single language, but the component harmony of many languages, praising one God and the Lamb for ever and

ever.

Then the unity of character of all people and languages, and nations, and tongues is, that they shall all "serve and obey him." All the nations of the globe shall perpetually behold and praise the Lamb. Every language shall be burdened with this one song; every heart shall overflow with this all-encompassing and adoring love; every voice shall give utterance to an unceasing anthem; all serve and obey him in that blessed abode where they "rest not day nor night, saying, Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us, out of every language and people and tongue, kings and priests unto our God, to him be glory and dominion for ever."

We now gather from the whole of this statement, then, that truth shall eventually triumph; there is no reason to doubt that the right and the true and the holy shall have the victory. All dominions that are hostile to Christ must give way. All kingdoms incompatible with his must be dissolved. The kingdoms of this world have their symbols in the lion, the bear, the leopard, and the fourth dreadful and terrible beast; and by a law universally proved, their passions and discord shall precipitate their own destruction; but Christ's kingdom has nothing anarchical, because it has nothing sinful in it. It has not one element of decay, because into it nothing that defileth can enter.

Suns shall grow pale, stars shall become dim; the crescent shall wane, the crucifix shall fall from the hands of him that holds it: Judaism shall be cast away an exhausted formula: the philosophy of Socrates and Plato, the Academy and the Stoa, shall be forgotten, and their discussions cease. All other names shall be shaded or utterly disappear; and Christ's name shall be all, and Christ's kingdom shall extend over all the earth, and all shall bless him and be blessed in him. We see already tokens of that day. I take a bright view of the coming days. I do not believe that the man of sin shall reassert his ancient political supremacy in this land, or that he shall be able any more to wield the destinies of the nations of the earth, or to persecute the saints of God, at least on a gigantic scale. I believe, too, that there shall be given before the time of the end auguries and instalments of the coming glory, partly the fulfilment of Joel ii. 28. What progress do knowledge, science, education, Christianity, the Bible, make everywhere throughout the world at this moment! Do we not see the whole human family drawing nearer to each other? Do we not see the two great nations, America and England, speaking a tongue that promises more and more every day to become the tongue of the whole world? Do we not see all languages, however diversified, becoming reducible to two, three, or four at the very most,-Christians becoming less earthly and Christianity less alloyed? What are these but the tokens of the approaching glory-voices in the wilderness preparing the way of the Lord-messengers sent before to announce that the bridegroom cometh? I see flowers of paradise begin to bloom in many a desert; and afar, many a temple spire emerging into the light of rising and setting suns where pagodas were before. I can see the first rays of the Sun of righteousness beginning to penetrate the Mosque and the Alhambra, and to surprise the superstitious devotee in the midst of his devotions. The Indian begins to burn his Shaster, the Arab his Koran, and the Chinaman his gods. Fewer are found in Pekin to cast their infants in the streets to perish; fewer still in India to light the flames that are to consume the widow; fewer still to drag the wheels of the chariot of Juggernaut over the bodies of his prostrate devotees. I see upon all sides the

sea of barbarism and superstition begin to ebb, and many a dove to take wing and fly over the length and breadth of the world's chaotic flood, giving tokens that the Prince of peace is on his way, warning us that the sound of his approach already breaks upon the ear. Let us hail the twilight: let us urge on, as far as we can, the coming day; and let us rest assured, whatever the prospects be, because God has said it, that Christ will have a kingdom and a dominion which shall not pass away—a kingdom that shall not be destroyed; and that the power and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting dominion, and all nations shall serve and obey him. Are you members of his church now, that you may be members of his church then? Are you the saints of God by grace, or the sinners of the world still by nature? Have you been translated from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son? Is the prospect which Daniel saw a bright one for you? When this trumpet shall sound, will it startle you with terror, or cheer your soul with joy? What the gospel is to you now, the sound of that trumpet will be to you then. The interest that you have in the gospel now will determine the event of which that sound will be the precursor then. My dear friends, let me ask you, in the prospect of that day, to resolve that you will be found in the number of the saints of God-that you will be, if it be possible, the sons of the Most High-that no persecutions that are possible, no scorn that may assail, no bribes that may seduce you, no sins that may tempt you, shall prevent you from arising, and going to your Father, and saying, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight;" and he will rise and meet you; and he will say, "Bring forth the fairest robe, and put it on him, and let there be joy; for this my son was dead and is alive, was lost and is found."

252

LECTURE XVIII.

THE MOSLEM.

Daniel viii.

You will easily perceive that it is necessary to read the whole of this chapter as the basis of a consecutive exposition. It is an historico-prophetical narrative, and must be studied as a whole. Because it is not doctrinal theology, it is not on that account to be passed over as uninstructive. God directed it to be written for our learning; at the same time it embosoms instructive lessons, which we shall not fail to gather as we proceed.

The signs by which great truths are set forth in this chapter are in perfect accordance with what is contained and set forth in previous portions of this book. All ancient writers have set forth truth hieroglyphically, with greater or less propriety. Symbols remain when languages change, and thus become the most permanent representatives of great truths. Especially does it seem appropriate to set forth what shall take place in the latter days, still future, under some of these hieroglyphic symbols. If the future had been so plainly revealed that all could read future as they see present things, men's responsibility would have been destroyed. If, on the other hand, it had been so dimly disclosed that nobody could understand it at all, there would have been little use in disclosing it at all. If some would say these prophecies are meant to be understood after they have been revealed, we ask them, why were they previously given? Do you say that it is to convince man that God's Word is truth? But the fulfilment of many stretches into the millennial glory, and we shall need then no additional conviction that God's Word is true, for all skepticism will have passed away; and we shall see and know God, whom there

will be none to deny. It is, rather, more dutiful in us reverently to study, and humbly to explain as we discover truth, and where we cannot see clearly, patiently to wait, aware that what we know not now we shall know hereafter.

The bear in the former vision is plainly the ram in the present, as I explained to you in the course of a previous lecture. The two horns that start up on the head of the ram are, as I explained, the Medes and the Persians, constituting one great kingdom. The ram's head of gold was, as every historian will tell you, the diadem of the Persian king, this alone identifying that symbol with the personage to whom it refers; and "pushing westward," denotes that empire subduing Lydia and Babylon by Cyrus, and Egypt by Cambyses. The he-goat is plainly explained in the chapter to be the Macedonian power; his "pushing" (as it is stated in verse 4) "westward, northward, and southward, so that no beast might stand before him," denotes his conquests, his advancing and irresistible might. The notable horn that starts up between the ears of the goat might shortly be shown to be, what it may be indisputably proved, Alexander the Great, by whom the Persian ram was destroyed, and by whose destruction immense addition was made to his own empire. This victorious progress of Alexander is matter of history; it is not matter of conjecture from prophecy, but matter of historical fact. The great horn, which typified Alexander, as we read in this passage, was broken, not gradually wasted away, not desolated inch by inch until it disappeared, but snapped asunder, to indicate that his sovereignty, with his life, was suddenly cut short. Everybody who knows his biography is aware that Alexander was seized with fever in the very midst of his victories, and died. History teaches us what the prophecy indicates by four notable horns toward the four winds of heaven, as is stated in ver. 8; it tells us that when Alexander fell, his empire was divided among his four generals: Cassander had Greece; Thrace, with its provinces, was given to Lysimachus; Egypt to Ptolemy; and the remainder of Asia was given to Seleucus. We have thus the biography of Alexander sketched by Daniel long before Alexander was born. There is no other monarch in the world to whom the description here given would apply; there is no other people in the world's history with