holy alliance between Christ and Belial,-between the church and the world? 1 Brethren, God is my record, I judge no man. Nor, as a Christian minister would I enjoin upon any of you either the moroseness of the misanthrope, or the monkish austerities of the recluse. Still, the love of mammon the spirit of worldliness of conformity to the world in its maxims and fashions, indicate, to a most fearful and appalling extent, the prevalence of this unholy alliance! Yes, the almost universal rage for the mere "pomp and outward circumstance" of religion, while it proves that we have its "form," it also proves that we are destitute of its "power;"2 and verifies to the letter, the truth of our Lord's words, that in the last times, "the love of many should wax cold."3 Professor of religion, what think ye of this "Sign?" Is it shadowed forth in your conduct toward your now absent Lord and Master? 3. Another "Sign" which is to herald the pre-millenial advent of Christ is, an unprecedented prevalence of iniquity. Says our Saviour, “ Iniquity shall abound." 4 We now speak of that MORAL turpitude, intellectual and practical, which, according to the above prediction, is to characterize this age. And, in both these respects, we fearlessly challenge the historian to designate the period when, the world over, the vain imaginations of man approximated nearer to a DEIFICATION of human intellect; or, when the flood 1. Rom. xiv. 13. 2. 2 Tim. iii. 5. gates of iniquity poured from its exhaustless reservoir, such streams of licentiousness. With what unprecedented and heaven-daring effrontery are the Scriptures now rejected, to give place to the giant strides of human intellect in this age, signalized as "the march of mind," "human progress," &c. "With what impunity are the doctrines of the Cross trampled under foot ? How is the name of God blasphemed, by the liberalism, false philosophy, and infidelity of the age!" ! Nor would I shock your sensibilites by raising the curtain, and exhibiting to your view even a moiety of the iniquitous practices with which all the larger cities of every nation and country abound! It must now suffice that we refer you to the dark catalogue of crimes, under the heads of perfidy, and fraud, and ra pine, and murder, and sedition, and universal misrule, which darken the columns of every secular print throughout our own and every other land. Yes, to these faithful chroniclers of crime can I refer you, ás infallible, though undesigned expositors of the truth of this prophetic sign. Nor, as comprehended under this sign of the prevalence of iniquity can we confine our remarks to the more overt acts of the ungodly. Would that it were so! But, alas, we are compelled, as well from a regard to truth as to a sense of duty, to bring to view, and apply, with all plainness of speech, those features of apostacy of these last times, which were to characterise christianity both doctrinal and practical, as 8. Dis. on the present crisis, p. 10, brought to view in the following passage of the Apostle Paul. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their ownselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." I How similar this, to a previous description given by the same pen, of the Pagan world! But, that the Apostle in the above passage is speaking of others that by prophetic discernment, he pointed to those corrupting and disorganizing influences which were to characterize the Christianity and the Church of the "last days," is we think evident from the fact that the above signs of Apostacy are coupled with "a form of godliness." And, how humiliating, how painful the reflection, that the two portraits of moral corruption and Christian degeneracy as above depicted by St. Paul, should bear so strong a resemblance! Our limits, however, will not admit of an extended application of these characteristics; in regard to which, as it respects individuals, we are happy to say, there are yet many noble exceptions. No. We 1, 2 Tim, iii., 1 — 5, 2. Rom. i., 29-31. speak now in the more enlarged sense, as comprehending the aggregate of those communities, the various grades of which form the great mass of society, and in the midst of which those are to be found, to whom the above characteristics apply. Of these, the Apostle predicts that in the last days they shou d be, 1. "Lovers of their ownselves:" i. e., that they should be selfish, a principle directly opposed to that exalted grace of charity, so largely treated of in 1 Cor. xiii., and which seeks to dispense its benignant smiles and extend its open hand to the oppressed and the perishing, wherever found: a principle, every element of which, as a late writer has justly remarked, is ANTI-SOCIAL. "Charity," it is said, seeketh not her own." Now, apply this principle to the great mass of those who have "a form of godliness," in their practical operations as connected with the commercial, mercantile, manufacturing, mechanical, and even the lower departments of life. Carry it into the ranks of the opulent-among the different professions -among landlords and tenants. Now, is it not true, and true more especially of these "last days," that in commerce, the large consumer or purchaser grinds the manufacturer, who seeks in turn to reimburse himself by reducing the wages of the mechanic, &c., &c., while all the various grades are -made to writhe under the undeviating extortion of the landlord, till, by the accumulated weight of oppression of the higher upon the lower classes, redress is sought in incendiarism or political revolution? But, the Apostle adds, that men should be, 2. "Covetous." "qilagyupo," literally, lovers of money. Hence its affinity with the preceding. Yes, selfishness begets covetousness. The cupidity of man, the love of eas luxury, pleasure, power, creates an inordinate thirst for gain. Time was, when covetousness wore the mask of "sober industry and prudence:" not so now. The rage of speculation, induced by a spirit of." discontent at ordinary prosperity," has resulted in a "making haste to get rich," so characteristic of the present day. Please turn to and read 1 Tim. vi., 9, 10. Are professors of religion wholly exempt from this spirit? Are there none who, even at the holy altar, seek to make "gain of godliness?" Men should also be, 3. "Boasters. Selfishness and covetousness combined, lead to indulgence in self-complacency, self-adulation; and these generate a spirit of "boasting," the opposite of charity, which "vaunteth not itself." Nationally, the "vor Dei" is brought down to an equality with, if not indeed made subordinate to, the "vox Populi." Do any doubt this? What then the meaning of the following and similar phrases that meet the eye at every turn, and which are common alike to the politics, science, and theology of the age? "We, the sovereign people" "march of mind" "human progress," &c., all of which indicate a for 1. Tim. vi., 5, |