part, can credit him for the twentieth. He who can see a train of events so plainly as to picture the outlines of twenty-three centuries, can, with the same assistance, see a century farther. The Lord will reign; let the earth rejoice. Who will not clap their hands?

Second application.—If men did not love darkness rather than light, no one would ever have supposed, that for many long centuries, prediction and subsequent facts happened to fit each other. We may safely say to these worshippers of chance,-" Immortal friend! according to the same kind of casualty which you have been naming, God will happen to burn up the world, and it will chance that you will be called before his judgment throne, and there examined severely concerning your present conduct toward a bleeding Saviour.

Postscript.-In the chapter we have just reviewed, it is not stated how long the ten horns were to last. The continuance of the ten kingdoms is not stated in this part of Daniel's visions, except that they were not to continue long, if at all, after the entire overthrow of the little horn, whose look was so stout, and whose words were so blasphemous. But there are other portions of the holy Book, where the ten kingdoms, and the power which was to wear out the saints, are placed in full view before us. In some of these chapters, it seems to be taught that ten horns would be in Europe, and, finally, be found to hate and to destroy the triple crowned horn. Some have asked how it could be said that ten kingdoms have existed to represent ten horns, in a part of the earth once under the dominion of Rome, when so many chang. es have been constantly going on in Europe, and when so many of them have been at times, as it were, conso. lidated into one. We may reply at any time to such an

inquiry very fairly, that the ten horns have been there: that making a kingdom tributary, does not take away its existence. If there should have been at times, eleven, twelve, or more horns there for half a century or longer, this does not make it untrue that ten were there. Such inquiries as have been made, and such objections as have been urged, seem to many as unworthy of an answer; but if a puerile cavil should appear weighty and important in the view of the unthinking, or the uninformed, for his sake, it needs an answer. Let us then pass briefly through an illustration which may aid us in understanding each other.

Suppose some feeble people should be suffering from the almost constant invasions of numerous and ferocious enemies. Suppose a powerful and benevolent prince sends them word that he will, for a number of years, (say thirty,) maintain for their safety, along their frontier, ten garrisons, each to contain one hundred well armed men. Or suppose he is actuated by different designs and moved by other motives, no matter how this is, so that his word is out for the support of a given number of (ten) fortifications containing a thousand soldiers. Suppose the forts are built and remain a few years, when two of them are burned to the ground, and rebuilt without delay, has there been any violation of the sovereign's word? No, there was no material interruption in the continuance of the walls of strength; furthermore, the troops, (the most important part of the safe-guard,) are still there. Again, suppose the monarch sends and has two posts of strength demolished, but adjoining the spot where these stood, and immediately he has other two buildings erected more capacious and more desirable, does the promise still stand good? We answer

in the affirmative, and we believe no one would differ with us. Finally, suppose in addition to the ten garrisons, it could be shown that for several months during the thirty years, one more had been maintained there; that for one or two years out of the thirty, there had been there eleven instead of ten fortifications, shall we call it a defect or a failure in the original undertaking? Or shall any seeming interruption, such as has been stated, destroy the propriety of our calling these the ten garrisons of the frontier? The answer is No, without dispute.

So it is, and so it has been, respecting the ten horns, which were to represent ten kingdoms of Europe, once under the Roman sceptre. They have been there for twelve hundred and sixty (days) years. If several have had their names changed according to the caprice of him who conquered, this change of name did not destroy existence. If others have had their territorial limits changed, the nation was still there. If others have fallen whilst successors were forming in their room, the ten horns were still there. If during a few years out of a thousand, there were more than ten; if some temporary power reared its head, seeming to claim a place with the rest, and soon disappeared, it has not caused the beast to have less than ten horns.

CHAPTER LXVII.

IGNORANCE OF THE BIBLE.

In prosecuting the all-important inquiry, "Is this

Book from heaven?" I was at last compelled to confess that I had been ignorant of the contents of the Bible. I had read it and heard it all my life, excepting the five or six years of my established infidelity, but of its contents I was darkly ignorant, and I discovered that my unbelieving companions were equally unacquainted with the holy page, and with the literature connected with its contents. I discovered that men had read history recorded after it had been acted, that they had read the same history in the Bible, recorded beforehand, that one was as plain as the other; whilst the reader noticed it not, observed it not. Instances like this properly enumerated and explained, would swell volumes: but I shall have space for one example only. Or rather a single case at present must suffice us, for if one specimen will not persuade the reader to look into the Bible others will fail to win his attention.

Instances of reading and not understanding that which is as plain as simple words ever are.

I had read the history of Egypt and of Syria, whilst the Grecian monarchs sat on those thrones. I knew that Syria was north of Egypt, and of course that a Syrian would call Egypt the kingdom of the south. I had read that Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, had contracted his daughter in marriage to the king of Syria. Her name was Berenice; she was poisoned in the kingdom of the north, (in Syria,) and her father died shortly after her. I had read that one from the same root with herself, (her brother,) had marched an army into Syria, and had prevailed, and had avenged his sister's death. Now when I read in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, 7th verse, "But out of the branch of her root shall one stand up in her estate, which shall

come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them and shall prevail !"—I never noticed what the prophet was saying! I passed it by as though there was no meaning, or as though the meaning of a book said to come from heaven, was unimportant. One history of Egypt and Syria, was as plain as the other. Daniel's is brief. It is an epitome. It was written two hundred and fifty years before Berenice lived; but it is as plain as any thing Russell or Rollin ever wrote of ancient history. (At the conclusion of these extracts I will state why I have commenced as far down as the seventh e.) I had read that this brother of Berenice, was called Euergetes, (or benefactor,) by the Egyptians, for when he returned, he carried with him thousands of idols and captives, images and nobles of Syria, also much of gold which the son of Cyrus had long before taken away from Egypt. He out-lived the king of Syria, with whom he had been fighting, several years. What must I have thought when I read in the 8th verse; "He shall also carry captives into Egypt; their gods with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north."

verse.

"9. So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land."

When I read this, I thought nothing or almost nothing of the passage, (a passage where accurate and important history yet to come, was written in few but plain words.) I had partly forgotten, or remembered but dimly the items mentioned so strangely on the wonderful page; and furthermore, we observe, and we understand, and we recollect any thing else with thrice the speed and ap