time is short!" "Short," not only in comparison with the eternity to which it leads us. It is always so. But "short" in itself; absolutely short. The things, that are written, are hastening to an end. The sands of "the times of the Gentiles" are well nigh run out. On the chart of prophecy, we may see all its lines, tending directly to one point; i. e., the nearness of the close of this dispensation.

Some of you may say, I do not like to hear this question discussed. Suppose you do not? Does that affect its truth? Does that steal away its power? Does that change the relation in which you stand to it? Does that arrest the progress of the times, which herald the second coming of Christ?

You do not like the subject? And must it therefore be suppressed. Must the minister of Christ speak only those truths which the people like to hear? Must he shut his lips and stand mute at his post; until popular sentiment gives him leave to speak? Never!

Is

There is a previous question for him to answer. it a truth, plainly and clearly taught in the word of God? If so, he must, on his allegiance, proclaim it. It is at his peril to withhold it. If any man relish it not; to him I say, Go, tell your complaints to Him who revealed it. It is a question between God and your own soul. You must answer it to Him.

Meanwhile, brethren, there is no truth, whose practical bearings are so various and direct, as those which flow from this. In the earliest records of the word of God it meets us. Was "Enoch, the seventh from Adam," to be prepared for his translation? God

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SHORTNESS OF THE TIME.

revealed to him the glorious truth, "Behold, the Lord cometh, with ten thousands of His saints; to execute judgment upon all," etc. Jude, 14. We might have thought, it was a truth of small importance for him to know. But, when God would fit His servant to be "translated, that he should not see death;" it was by filling his soul with the elevating and purifying hopes that cluster round the "glorious appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ." This single fact, I submit to you, speaks volumes in behalf of the influence of this truth. And, in every age of the Church, it has been a motive of mighty power in developing the strength and efficiency of Christian character. It meets us at every turn. It enforces every duty. It gives urgency to every appeal. It sustains under every trial. It blesses every lot.

"The time is short!" Why, then, how holy we should be! Every day and every hour we are setting on ourselves an impress for eterity. O! let that impress be one which shall fit us for a higher place in the everlasting kingdom.

"The time is short!" How active we should be! Every passing moment pleads with winning eloquence, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."

We

"The time is short!" How cheerful we should be! The period of our wanderings will soon be over. shall soon gain our Father's house: soon enter, to go out no more. In the light of this truth, what trouble can greatly distress? What burden greatly weary? "The time is short!" Why, then, how our light should shine! How clearly should men trace in us

the proofs of what the grace of God can accomplish! It is a mighty work we have to do. Everlasting issues hang upon it. There are lofty heights to which we may attain in the kingdom of Heaven. There is a crown of fadeless glory which we may wear. Let others tread those heights with us. Let that crown be bright with the jewelry of souls, whom we have been the means of turning to righteousness.

Not at our Saviour's feet would we lay down
Talents that yield us no stars for our crown.
He gave His life; that we, sinners, might live:
What can life yield us that we would not give?
Take us, dear Saviour; we are not our own;
Help us to live for Thy glory alone.

Thine we are now; and for ever would be ;-
Help us, O help us, to labour for Thee!

"The time is short!" How like a trumpet-call this truth speaks to us to-day! Are we ready? Our lamps are they trimmed and burning? Some-our Lord himself forewarns us-will be found to have gone out. Let us be very sure that ours are not of that number. Many will deride. The unbelieving cry will be heard, "Where is the promise of His coming?" Men will put away this truth from them. They will say, "Peace and safety"-forgetting that it is written: "Then, sudden destruction shall come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child: and they shall not escape!"

LECTURE VII.

But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end."-Dan. vii. 26.

THE theme, which these words bring before us, is the judgment of the little horn. And that we may have the subject distinctly before us, it is important for us to remember that it was to continue, as a persecuting power, twelve hundred and sixty years; i. e. for that period the saints were to be given into its hands. At the end of these twelve hundred and sixty years, the judgment is to sit upon it, "to consume and destroy it unto the end."

But this judgment is not its final destruction. We must, distinctly, remember this. It is a period of wasting away, before its final overthrow. After this wasting, and before this overthrow, it is to arise again, in a form worse than any it has yet assumed. It is to arise "out of the bottomless pit:" i. e., it shall come forth, after its temporary overthrow, armed with all the power and malice which Satan can devise and bestow. It shall again breathe forth slaughter against the saints of the Most High; more terrible than any it has yet occasioned. And men shall wonder at it; i. e., those "whose names were not written in the book

LAST FORM OF THE BEAST.

God concerning it. and its overthrow. perfect and entire.

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of life." Rev. xvii. 8. It will be to them a marvel. They had not received the testimony of the word of They had witnessed its wasting They had supposed that this was They were not, therefore, prepared to see it come forth again; with increased powers of destruction. And so, they "shall wonder," when they behold it. And well they might. They have no principles on which to account for it. The progress of liberal ideas, they had thought, broke its sceptre; and pulled down its throne; and dug its grave. They had not counted the part which the word of God assigned it. And so, when it re-appears, in its eighth form, under the sway of a single king or imperial chief: "full of names of blasphemy"-i. e., preeminently wicked in its claims and acts; "scarlet-coloured”—i. e., steeped and dyed in blood: men shall wonder at it with great wonder. In the midst of the persecution and bloodshed, which it will then occasion, its destruction will be complete. The Stone out of the mountain will smite the image; in connection with which it will be working. Christ will appear. For His own hand the stroke of judgment is reserved. The power that had assumed to sit in His place; and worn His loftiest titles; and blasphemed His name; and persecuted His saints; is fitly reserved for the destruction which He, alone, can visit upon it.

Of this, the proof is plain. Of this power-this Man of Sin-it is expressly written: "Whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming;" with the epiphany, or manifestation of His pre

i.