marvellous things or blasphemies against These are the leading features of the the God of gods, and that it should pros- last days, of the last times-these are the per until the time of the indignation de- characteristics of these days and of these termined should be accomplished. And times; we therefore are living in the last have we not seen an atheistical monster days of the last times, and may consearising out of a putrid, corrupted mass quently expect the speedy appearance of of matter in these latter days; pushed and the Son of man in the glory of his kinggoaded on by infernal ferociousness-dom. "When the Son of man comes, breaking down the thrones, and overturn- (says the Lord,) shall he find faith on ing the altars, of pagan superstition-earth?" Such an interrogation, from lips stalking among the nations with portent- so sacred, on a subject the most awful ous strides hovering around every thing that could drop from human lips, certainly sacred and divine, shaking their founda- implies the strongest negation. It is as tions-crucifying the Son of God as an though he had said, "When the Son of impostor-speaking marvellous things man comes in his glory, the faith of God's against the God of gods, blaspheming his elect will scarcely be found amongst name, denouncing his excellencies, and men.' The apostle of the Gentiles, rolling pestilence and death through when speaking of the breaking off of the Europe and the world? Then the reign Gentiles, or the unnatural branches, from of the last enemy, I mean the last politi- the true olive for their unbelief, and the cal enemy, of God and man, is come; nor re-ingrafting of the Jews, the natural was the restoration of the Bourbons-the branches, into their own olive tree, of temporary re-establishment of popery which the Abrahamic covenant is the the late expulsion of Charles the tenth-root, tells us that "God, who hath conany interruption to its reign. In the pre- cluded the Jews in unbelief, hath also sent government of France he is imbodied concluded the Gentiles in unbelief; and in full power, and ere long will discover afterwards that he will have mercy upon his impious and his singular character. | both, and that there shall be a re-ingraftUnder his reign we are now living, but blessed be God it is but of short duration. The apostles Paul, Peter, and Jude, foretell that in the last day, in the last times, perilous times shall come; atheistical mockers shall arise and ask, "where is the promise of his coming!" deriding the The state of things is now rapidly adsecond advent of the Lord Jesus, willingly vancing towards this awful state of unbeignorant of the deluge; boasters, proud, lief, which made the great Bossuet—who blasphemers, high minded, traitors, in- was a man endowed with powers of the continent, despisers of those that are good, highest order, though a Roman Catholic; fierce, presumptuous, self-willed, de- in his modest, admonitory, and most asspisers of government, speaking evil of tonishing exposition of the eleventh chapdignities, overbearing, boasting of "the ter of this epistle to the Romans-and the march of intellect and scientific discove-only rational exposition which has ever ries"-but never able to come to the yet been offered-say "Let the Catholic knowledge of the truth-resisters of the truth, reprobate concerning the faith, men of corrupt minds, promising the world liberty while they themselves are the slaves of corruption-in short, infidels and atheists, denying the Father and the Son-the only Lord God, who made the heavens and the earth, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent to be the Saviour of the world. ing both of the Jews and the Gentiles, when the Redeemer shall come to Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and that the receiving of the Jews shall be as life from the dead to the Gentile world." church, let all Christian churches, let the heretics of every name (by which he means Protestants) read this chapter, and tremble for the calamities that are coming upon them. For my own part, I never read it, but I tremble to the centre of my being." 4th. The propagation of the gospel in heathen lands beyond the limits of the papal [empire, to prepare a way for the church of God, before the kingdoms of the empire are place among that wonderful people, and broken to pieces and annihilated, is another sign that indicates that the day of God is at hand. the eager expectation which they cherish at this moment of the coming of the Messiah, is another sign that he will speedily make his appearance. A small remnant of the seed of Abraham, "according to the election of grace," has been of late years converted to the Christian faith, like the gleaning of the vine after the vintage, only here and there a berry on the uppermost bough. Christian churches, expressly of converted Jews, have been formed and are still forming in this country, on the continent of Europe, and in the heathen world. The Jews in Poland, where they exist in great numbers, are formed into armies, and, it is said, are the finest soldiers in Europe, are commanded by officers, generally, of their own nation; and they frequently assemble in their synagogues for fasting and humiliation, and united sup The gospel of the kingdom (says our Lord) must be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations-not, you will observe, for the conversion of all nations, this glorious and vast accession to the kingdom of our Redeemer is an achievement in reserve for the millennial agebut as a witness to all nations; and, when this witness has made the circuit round the world, then the end of the age, or of the present state of things, shall come. My brethren, fix your attention upon the operation of Bible and Missionary Societies, their union and co-operation. Observe their progress, mark their success from kingdom to kingdom, from region to region, and see in them the symbolical angel of the apocalyptic vision flying in the midst of heaven, shaking eternal bless-plications to the God of their fathers with ings from his wing, and having the ever- their faces turned towards Jerusalem-the lasting gospel to preach to all that dwell ruins of the temple-according to the imupon the face of the earth. This remarka-port of Solomon's prayer, under the very ble sign moving with speed and majesty, in the spirit of universal charity, indicating the coming of the Lord, is visible to all nations; for, if you will look into the book of Revelations, you will find that this symbolical angel takes wing just before the day of the Lord, and, it is a remarkable fact that these noble instances of Christian benevolence originated in Great Britain at the momentous crisis when the papal kingdom began to shake under the visitations of divine wrath. Within the last twenty or thirty years Yes, it was amidst the raging madness of scarcely two hundred Jews were to be atheism, and the horrors of anarchy and found in Judea, but at this day there are revolution, that these societies arose with upwards of twenty thousand, and their placid dignity, combining, as they grew, number is increasing every year; indeed, the talent, the wealth, the influence, the the whole nation, especially in the east, energy, of countless myriads of various seems to be at this instant, while I am nations and all denominations of Chris- speaking to you, on the move towards tians, in one single effort to rescue the Palestine. All these things speak aloud, heathen world from the bondage of cor- as if the voice of God were telling us that ruption. Brethren, the finger of God that prophecy is now going to be fulhas here marked this sign of the com- filled which says that, after the children ing of the Lord; for "it is the Lord's of Israel have been for many days (and doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." many days they have been) without a 5th. The deep interest that has of late king, without a sacrifice, without a priest, years been awakened to the Jewish nation, without an ephod, without teraphim-afthe extraordinary movements now taking | terward shall they seek the Lord their God general persuasion that the days of their tedious captivity are hastening to a close, and that their God will very speedily turn again the captivity of his people. In Germany, in Poland, in Russia, and in various kingdoms in the eastern world, an earnest expectation of the speedy coming of the Messiah is as intense as that which preceded his first advent, when he came to his own people, and his own people received him not. and David their king, and shall fear the Lord in his goodness in the latter days. The throne of David, be it remembered, was the throne of the Messiah; the everlasting, absolute dominion promised to David was the dominion of the Messiah. Such is the great subject of all the prophecies, and especially of our text. The present state, therefore, of that extraordinary people is another indication that the restitution of all things, and the second advent of the Messiah, is at hand. Once more. The infidel insensibility of the world, and the torpid indifference of the church, to the signs of the times, forms also a distinct subject of prophecy. With regard to the world we know that the day of the Lord shall come upon it as a thief breaking into the house at midnight; so that while they cry peace, peace, sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape. As in the day when Noah entered into the ark they ate, they drank, they builded, and planted, and knew not, until the flood came and swallowed them up, so also shall it be in the day wherein the Son of man cometh. As in the day that Lot departed out of Sodom they ate, they drank, they builded, and planted, and knew not till the Lord rained down fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all, so shall it be in the day wherein the Son of man shall be revealed. He was not revealed at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the word revelation is the very same word that is employed when it is said, "He shall be revealed from heaven with flaming fire." Thus it was with the infidels before the flood-thus it was with the infidels in Sodom-thus it was with the infidels in Jerusalem when Jerusalem was destroyed -and thus it will be with the infidels in these latter times. Reckless of the future, they are victims dancing round the altar on which they are just going to be immolated; for that day shall come as a snare upon the whole earth. these the state of the church herself, as to the expectation of the return of her Lord, is accurately described: "Then-that is at the time of his coming-then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps." Mark what follows,"While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." The whole visible church, hypocrites and real Christians alike, are represented as sinking into a death-like slumber, from which they are only aroused by the sudden outcry and annunciation of the coming of the Judge. How exactly is this descriptive of the present state of the Christian church! And she will slumber on, though a thousand righteous Noahs should ring the alarm in her ears-she will still slumber on; for the word of God cannot be broken. "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he comes shall find watching." But many professing Christians, alas! have assumed a very different attitude, and have actually joined with atheists and scoffers in asking, "Where is the promise of his coming?-for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were.” How clearly does the omniscient Jesus foresee this, and how distinctly does he foretell this awful state of the church! But I must now hasten to conclude. Upon the whole, we learn that the signs of the times shed their light upon the mysterious dates of prophecy, and the mysteri ous date of chronological prophecies shed their light upon the signs of the times. The concussions of the nations-the simultaneous shaking of the Ottoman and papal empires the propagation of the gospel beyond the limits of the western Roman But let us look for the last sign within the sacred enclosure of the church of God. | empire-the state of feeling and exciteThis, also, it is very remarkable, is the subject of prophecy. Our Lord communicated several parables to his disciples concerning his second advent. In one of ment in the Jewish nation-the infidel insensibility of the world—and the deathlike slumbers of the church-the midnight cry which has recently been raised, and is now ringing in the ears of the infi- | matter of the utmost ease for them, for del world and the sleeping church-all such as you, to enter on the happiness of the religious life. Some little obstruction surmounted, one light spring made, and you regain the walks of Eden! Did you believe it? If you did, what unaccountable caprice, what pure wantonness of perversity, could it be that withheld you? Or, if you were induced to make some short attempt in the way of experiment, did you not wonder how it should happen, by a peculiar untowardness in But I must conclude. It would be idle your case, that these youthful qualities, -I could not acquit myself to my own so congenial with piety, and so easy to conscience, to you, or to the bar of God be resolved into it, did nevertheless prove —were I to lead you in speculating into obstinately repugnant to the union? Did prophecy without having a view to prac-you not think, Why, then, this aversion tical purposes. It is trifling with the sacred Scriptures unless we bring a part of them to bear upon the conscience and upon the conduct. Whenever the tide of death shall arrest us, there will be an end of the world, and all the kingdoms thereof, as far as we are personally interested in them. Our own salvation is the great concern of each individual, and, in connexion with this, the interests of our beloved country. May God grant to us his blessing! Amen. MAN BY NATURE AVERSE FROM RELIGION. to read the Bible, or to retire for serious meditation and devotional exercise, or to any act of duty to be done simply in obedience to God? But the declamation which you had heard was idle rhetoric, or wretched ignorance.-Foster. LET YOUR SUBJECT, NOT YOURSELF, be pro- I NEVER heard a man who succeeded so well in averting the attention of his hearers from himself to the subject. Like the priest under the Jewish hierarchy, he disappeared in the cloud of incense RELIGION, it is acknowledged, brings that himself sent up. His positions, its pains; just because it comes from though strong and important, were clothheaven to maintain a deadly conflict in ed in language whose peculiar and provithe soul, with principles and dispositions dential felicity it is, that it is universal which are rebellious against heaven, and language; the language which genius destructive to the soul itself. Nothing reverences and ignorance understands;can be more thoughtless or unknowing the language of the poet and of the phithan the strain in which some have in-losopher, of divinity and of the heart, the dulged in the recommendation of it, as if language of the Scriptures. He spake it were all facility and enjoyment. You as a father to a wayward child, as a judge have possibly heard or read graceful to a criminal to confess and be forgiven, periods of descant on the subject, repre- as a guide to a wanderer to return and to senting to young people especially, that rest. After he had descended from the their unsophisticated principles, their pulpit, though the thunder of his elolively perception of the good and the quence was hushed, his countenance fair, their generous sentiments, their un-spoke still, and his visage retained the contaminated affections, are so much in brightness of that light and holy elevaunison with the spirit of piety, that it is a tion.-Eclectic Review. SERMON XXX. ON THE BEING AND PERFECTIONS OF GOD. PREACHED BY THE REV. DR. STYLES. "This God is our God for ever and ever.”—Psal. xlviii. 14. My brethren, the mechanics of this | standing, and in which you are likely to great metropolis, it is my province to commence a course of lectures, especially designed for your instruction in the highest branches of practical knowledge which can possibly engage your thoughts, and which has, therefore, the most urgent claims upon your serious and devout consideration. The character of the times in which you live is highly favourable to your mental culture. It has raised you to a state of intellectual eminence, hitherto unknown to the classes of the community to which you belong, and this, as is perfectly natural, has inspired you with the ardent hope of improving your social condition. Already you begin to feel that knowledge is power; but this just axiom of philosophy you are in great danger of employing against yourselves, of misapplying to purposes subversive of your own happiness and injurious to the best interests of society. As yet, the knowledge you have acquired has merely awakened the thinking faculty, and raised you from the slumbers of ignorance. Your minds are partially illuminated with science, but you have scarcely attained to the grandeur of its higher principles, or to a rigid adherence to that course which would secure to you all the benefits of its practical results. The things which you best understand you know but imperfectly-you are but learning their rudiments, and from these your attention is diverted to other subjects, which you have not the means of underVOL. I.-36 be misled by persons more pretending, but not less ignorant than yourselves; or who, if they are better informed, aim only at some selfish or sinister object of their own, which they hope to realize by making you their dupes and victims. They attempt to dazzle your imagination by wild theories, rather than to inform your reason by sound principles. Their grand design is not to reform but to revolutionize, and to try the most visionary experiments, which cannot be attempted without subverting every government upon the face of the earth, and destroying the whole system of social order, not only in its frame, but in its principles. A chaos is a necessary preliminary to their new creation. Whatever is, must give place to an edifice of society which is to be built in perfect contempt of the former architecture, on the principles of a demoralizing necessity from which the oratory and the altar are to be excluded, whose materials are to consist, not of immortal men, but of mere machines operated upon by uncontrollable circumstances; these circumstances to be first created by the redoubtable projector of the sublime absurdity. You will, my brethren, in a moment perceive that I here refer to the new scheme of society, which among your own class especially has obtained so many supporters. Of its author I know nothing. Were it not for the atheism and the consequent materialism which disgrace the entire system, and which he 2A2 281 |