Spirit of God who indited the Sacred Books. But the aid of that Spirit is promised to all that ask him; and no man shall be wanting of that evidence, who is not wanting to himself by neglecting to seek it at the hand of God." If and any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, upbraideth not." "He that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

If I seem to have laid the foundations in some minds that needed not to have them laid again, it will surely be no harm to you to be well assured of their solidity, and no mean inducement to build more firmly on them. But the unsettled state of many persons' minds, their hesitancy to begin to be religious, or their tendency to begin in an improper way, without going to the foundation of things-and the bold and reckless sentiments put forth by other men-seem to render it a duty of the ministers of religion at the present day to advert to this topic. If what has been said shall serve to strengthen those that believe, and to further them in their attempts to awaken and to convince others, it will be no labour lost. It is my growing conviction, that the platform is about to be laid for the universal establishment of the Sacred Scriptures. Every attempt, therefore, to extend and to increase the conviction of their divine origin, by an appeal to first principles, is to fall in with the designs of God in his present movements on earth. Idolatry, superstition, and scepticism, together with all other refuges of lies, must be swept away; perhaps, by the storm and the hail of the divine judgments. The more necessary, then, it is to induce men, by arguments addressed to reason and conscience, to embrace the Sacred Scriptures, lest, at their universal establishment, they should demand the destruction of them as their opponents.

Look into your own souls for a confirmation of what has been said. Read the Scriptures, praying to the Great Founder of the universe that he would lead you into all the truth; saying, with John Ryland-" O God, if there be a God, let me know thee, and let me know thy Word." And let the people, who do know their God, be strong and do exploits. Daring insinuations against the Scriptures, confidently put forth and frequently repeated, do produce an impression. For you know the weakness of human nature. Scandal against any thing, however contrary it be to all your well-examined former convictions, will nevertheless make an impression, and produce a kind of coolness. So it is with scandal against the Bible. Inuendoes against the Scriptures, daringly put forth and frequently repeated; arguments, that have been refuted and answered a thousand times, put forth with effrontery as if for the first time, and frequently sounded in the ear, make an impression on the mind through the weakness of human

nature.

Then let the friends of Divine revelation be equally industrious, and a thousand times more confident. Let the zeal of the emissaries of infidelity and superstition provoke the zeal of the friends of Divine Revelation. You have staked your eternal all upon the truth of the Sacred Scriptures: then show that, for the sake of that truth, you can bear all things, can endure all things, can rejoice in all things. The more the truth is known by her advocates, the more those advocates will rise up in her defence; and the more the advocates of truth defend her, the more shall she dignify and honour them here; and the more shall the God of love cover them with happiness and honour for ever.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST,

REV. T. BINNEY,

POULTRY CHAPEL, MONDAY EVENING, DEC. 2, 1833.

Daniel ii. 31 to 45.

THE prophecy in this chapter, and the prophecy in the seventh are identical, or parallel; they relate to the same thing. The prophecy in the seventh chapter, in which four different beasts are successively presented, and then afterwards a man introduced as "the ancient of days," has been set up to answer to the four different metals in the image, and to the stone cut out of the mountain, smiting the image, and then filling the whole earth. It shall be my object this evening, to occupy your time by a few observations on the latter idea in the passage; that this stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, after smiting the images in its increase, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth; the interpretation, that this applies to the kingdom that the God of heaven is to set up; and the assertion of the prophet, that the dream was certain and the interpretation sure.

The stone being cut out of the mountain without hands, is a phrase used in Scripture, to convey to us the idea of spirituality: as, for instance, our present body represented as "the earthly house of this tabernacle," it is material; but the house in the heavens is "a house not made with hands," that is spiritual. We have the phrase two or three times in the Scriptures, and it is used for the term spiritual. The cutting out of the stone without hands marks, I apprehend, the spirituality of the kingdom. The material is very unpromising, when compared with the reality. Though the stone is represented here as possessing mighty power, it does not possess that from any inherent property which it possesses, but from the vigour of the arm by which it is employed. The material, too, is utterly contemptible when compared with the others; it is indeed contemptible in the eyes of those who are dazzled with the gold, the silver, the brass, and iron. It is intended by the idea coming under the figure of a stone to be contemptible and despicable; yet to be possessed of such a power as to break the image in pieces, and scattering it all as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, and, at length, becoming a mountain, and ultimately filling the whole earth.

You will look in the first place, at the circumstances of the increase which is here predicted. The stone came from the mountain-either impelled through the air by an invisible hand, or rolling along the plain-smiting the feet of the image, and destroying it; and then the stone gradually increased. Now, I think, the idea here is, gradual advancement. It did not suddenly start up and fill the whole earth, and as it were darken the heavens; but I apprehend there

is the idea of gradual increase. I do not know that in the dream that increase was represented as always advancing with the same rapidity. I do not know whether it was or was not, very likely it was not; and ere it filled the whole earth its increase might be sometimes gradual, and sometimes more rapid. But the idea presented to our attention is, the ultimate effect of the extent of that increase. We cannot lose sight of the thought that there is something very mysterious about the bare idea of a stone increasing and growing, we cannot tell how. There is something, I think, intended to be conveyed by that, of the mysteriousness of the power and of the agency by which this material, apparently so contemptible and unpromising, increases and continues to increase.

Then there is its ultimate extent. It increased and increased until it filled the whole earth. I do not know how that was represented in the dream, but certainly the impression was conveyed to the mind of the man, to whom God, by this figure, was setting forth what was to come to pass in the latter days. The ultimate extent of the kingdom was exhibited by the stone becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth, all other kingdoms and nations being destroyed and superseded, as it were, by it. Not, I apprehend, that nations and kingdoms are to cease, or that there shall be any thing like such a reign. I do not admit that there is to be such an alteration in the character and form of these kingdoms, (God's kingdom is in the heart alone) as that there shall be no such things as nations and particular forms of government, or secular societies and confederacies; but, I apprehend, they will be very different sorts of nations to those represented by these metals. Men confederate together generally for the purpose of conquest, or tyranny, or selfishness; for their patriotism is selfishness, and the very professions of liberty among the ancients was the liberty of the few over the many, the liberty of the masters over the slaves. I apprehend, therefore, that though nations will exist to the end of time, yet this spiritual kingdom of God will, co-exist along with them; and it will be the unlimited spiritual reign of truth and piety conveyed to all hearts, operating upon all characters, regulating all movements, private domestic, social, and public; and thus, while the confederacies of human beings will remain, this will be the grand universal reign of truth, godliness, and peace throughout the whole earth.

Then the last idea is its perpetuity. It is to be continued for ever and ever. It is not to be left as these other nations successively were, to other people and other forms of government, or to other secular societies and confederacies; but is to continue for ever and ever, never to be superseded. Now, I think, we should take this idea along with us; this kingdom that is to continue for ever and ever, is to be co-extensive with the present system of things, and will continue also throughout eternity. But we have only here to do with the present world. The phrase "for ever and ever" occurs in many parts of Scripture, meaning co-extensive and co-eval with the present system of things, extending all along the line of the present system. This kingdom which is to last for ever and ever, is that very same kingdom which begins in the stone; the kingdom of the mountain is the kingdom of the stone.

What do we learn from that? We learn that this dispensation of ours, the Gospel dispensation, and the Gospel church, as it now exists, is an ultimate dispensation. It is not a preparatory dispensation; it is not to be superseded; it is not introductory to any thing else. It is this very kingdom of the stone,

that is to last for ever and ever. I make no distinction between the kingdom of the mountain and kingdom of the stone; they are the very same thing; the stone is the mountain, and the mountain is the stone. The mountain is the stone with its elements and properties extended and extended for ages. And so I say, the nature of this dispensation which is set up is, that it is to be co-extensive with the present system of things, not to be superseded by any other dispensation, and not introductory to any other.

Two or three observations will suffice on the circumstance of its certainty. The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. It refers to the kingdom of Messiah; it refers to Gospel times: and you see that very distinctly by looking to the parallel prophecy in the seventh chapter. The kingdom is given to the Son of Man. Let us keep in view this fact, that this dream, and the interpretation given by the prophet, is sure and certain; that the kingdom of God set up by Messiah (for even the Jews interpret the stone of Messiah) is sure and certain. Therefore we feel a delight in the contemplation of the fact, that there is an adaptation in our holy religion for the great purpose which is here marked out, an adaptation to the general and essential purposes of the great principles of human nature. Wherever you find man's heart and man's nature, you find something which Christianity is just adapted to meet; adapted to meet its wants, its capacities, and its aspirings, and to satisfy, direct, and cultivate them aright. There is an adaptation to the mind of every individual, and there is an adaptation to their external affairs, an adaptation to men existing under any particular form of government that may be set up in the world, to any particular form of secular administration. There is, therefore, a propriety in our indulging the delightful thought that the interpretation of the dream is sure, and that the Gospel shall go on conquering and to conquer, increasing and increasing until it shall fill the whole earth.

Then there is another thought which lies on the surface of Scripture, which meets us perpetually, and is of great practical advantage, that although we admit, most unequivocally, the work to be God's, we also admit, unequivocally, the mysteriousness of the movement, under, as it were, the omnipotence of God, by which the stone is increased. We admit most unequivocally, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." We admit that God set up the kingdom, that God will carry it on, and that God will complete it; and we delight in thus referring every thing to God. But we must never forget that God in his sovereignty, his condescension, and his benevolence, has determined that this shall be accomplished by human instrumentality. God could very easily do without us, he could convert the world without preachers; he could convert the world without Bibles; he could edify the church without the recurrence of Sabbaths and ordinances. God does not need to have his omnipotence aided, (the very term is absurd) by your instrumentality. But God has chosen-and there is sovereignty, and condescension, and privilege, and kindness towards us in the very choice-to effect and fulfil his purposes by the instrumentality of His church. It shall be the stone expanding and enlarging; it shall not be other masses of stone cut out without hands, brought and applied to the original mass; it is not by God thus miraculously and marvellously interposing to fulfil and to accomplish; it is not that there shall come one after another in the same miraculous manner, pieces of rock to fill the earth, that it shall be seen enlarging and increasing. Oh, never let us forget, brethren, it is by the energy, the influence, the might, the

zeal of the church, that is expanding like the leaven that shall leaven the whole lump, and diffuse itself throughout the world.

God is present, positively and personally present, in every scene of idolatry. God is positively present in every heathen temple; he is present at every idolatrous festival; he is actually present in the very midst of the worshippers of all man's absurd and ridiculous superstitions. Aye, he is in the presence of his whole church; he is observing them, and his eye is upon them all; he is listening to their insults, observing their blasphemies, their fanaticism, their absurdity, and yet he does not put forth directly his power to enlighten, to convert, to sanctify, and to make them all that he could delight in. But he could do that, and why does he not do it? God in his benevolence and love to mankind, is personally present in the midst of them all; why, then, is it they are not brought to him and taught to love him? Why, because the instrument is not there, the record is not there, the preaching and interpreting of the record is not there; the instrumentality that he has determined to employ is not there, and therefore God cannot work; it may be said with perfect propriety, God cannot work, because he determines to do it by instruments; as he is necessary to us, we are, in some measure, necessary to him; it is from the necessity of things that God is necessary to us, but it is of his own sovereign pleasure that we are necessary to him. Let us remember always, that human instrumentality is necessary in order that the little stone may become a mountain, and fill the whole earth.

Now, why has not the stone grown larger? Why is it not by this time a mountain? Why does it not fill the whole earth? A great many reasons may be found, some of which we have to refer to the divine sovereignty, to the secret things that belong to God. But there are other things that belong to us, and causes to which we ought to give the most earnest heed. For my part, I have no hesitation at all about saying, that I think the connexion, alliance, and confederacy, unnatural and improper friendship of the church with the world, has been a great obstacle in the past ages of Christianity, and in the present, to the going forth of God's chariot in all its freedom and in all its power. Men have taken God's chariot, have decorated it, and emblazoned it, and have put upon it their splendid furniture: thus, impeding its wheels and preventing it from going on in all its freedom, conquering and to conquer. I am afraid they have done more; they have frequently put another chariot in the place of God's chariot, and then more injury was done than good. Just the same impiety and absurdity that would have been committed, if, when Jericho was to fall they had substituted gold or silver trumpets for the rude ram's-horns they were directed to employ; or if they had decorated their rams'-horns with all the little bits of finery and all the splendour they could exhibit, for the purpose of giving dignity and patronage to Almighty God. Oh, no, brethren, the stone was cut out without hands. The Christian church, before it was encumbered with wealth, went on with God in the midst of her, and the shout of a king accompanied her; and it will do so again! We exult in the thought-we feel

confident in it.

This great and delightful object has been impeded by the oblivion of the church. The church forgot both the duty and the privilege of the work: she soon forgot when she fell into luxury and ease, the solemn obligation resting upon her from Christ, that so long as there was a corner of the earth in which there was not a preacher, the command remained to be fulfilled-" Go into all