of a brilliant discovery. Are there no difficulties in science, in law, in medicine, in business? We expect them, and grapple with them, and overcome them. Did Dr Livingstone cease to explore the Zambesi because huge difficulties met him at every stage? Did Grant and Speke cease to follow the Nile to its parent source because difficulties grew in bulk and number as they ascended? Difficulties are stimulants to exertion, and every victory we gain is not only intenser delight, but increase of strength.

Our opponents should bear in mind that all who accept the Bible as the inspired word of God agree entirely with us in the belief that the events foretold in it will one day come to pass. We do not invent these prophecies; we merely try to interpret and apply them. God records them; man studies them. All Christians believe that the Redeemer will return to earth "in like manner as the apostles saw Him ascend," that is, personally and bodily; that He will come "in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;" that He will "be revealed in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel;" that He will separate the tares from the wheat, destroy them that destroy the earth, and reward His own according to the riches of His grace; that the earth will undergo its last and searching baptism; that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ; that hoary Babylon will perish amid overwhelming judgments; that the New Jerusalem will

G

appear as a "bride adorned for the bridegroom; that a second Eden will light upon the earth with its eternal sunshine; and that "to them that look for Him He will appear the second time without sin unto salvation." These are not sentimental and airy expectations, but sure words of prophecy; not the forecasts of enthusiastic or fallible men, but the announcements of the Eternal. There are likewise many reasons for inferring that the accomplishment of these prophecies cannot be far off. The confessed coincidences between the phases and events and complications of the years now running, and the prophecies that so graphically delineate the features of the eve of the great day, are so many and so vivid that the most sceptic spirits own to misgivings, and the more thoughtful patiently wait and anxiously look for those things that are coming on the earth. Babylon sinking in ruins-the Moslem drying up and wasting off the earth-the wars that hurtle in the air of Europe—the daring words of Rationalism -the deepening struggles of Romanism and its allies the abounding of iniquity-love waxing cold, and faith failing in many places-the exhaustion of the great eras of prophetic chronology-the growing study of prophecy-the increasing expectation of the advent in thoughtful minds, are all impressive premonitions of the end-Baptist-like voices crying aloud, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord"-evidences that recent interpreters of prophecy are neither rash nor greatly in error in their expectations of the

proximate nearness of those vast changes which they see looming over the world. "We have not followed cunningly-devised fables when we made known the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when its branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves ye know that summer is nigh, so likewise so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that the kingdom of God is near, even at the doors."

If great revolutions are gathering like thunderclouds on every point of the European horizon; if subversion of empires, thrones, and dynasties be the expectations of those great intellects who preside over and inspire the energies of that wonderful creation of modern times, the newspaper press; if in their most solemn moments they sometimes write as if the prophet's mantle had fallen on the occupant of the editorial chair; does it become those who see in prophecy what they anticipate in history to be silent? Does not the desire the benevolent heart feels to mitigate the fears and inspire the hopes of humanity demand that we should proclaim what inspiration teaches, that these tempestuous waters shall one day subside in a quiet bay which no storm shall ruffle any more? Anxiety, that resembles and approaches fear as mist resembles rain, is the feeling, the deepening feeling, of many thoughtful and wellbalanced minds, irrespective of any attention to prophecy on their part, or any expectation of its approaching fulfilment. So our Lord predicts it

shall be. Consolation and peace and hope are the blessed feelings which their enlightenment in the knowledge of the truth as revealed in prophecy will surely generate: "When these things begin to come to pass, lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh."

We want to prevent the incidence on all we can reach of the awful words of our Lord, "As a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the earth." We would try to prevent all these words can reach from being taken by surprise. Thousands will be found, when the Lord comes, as were thousands in the days of Noah, "eating, and drinking, and marrying, and giving in marriage,' wholly indifferent to grave responsibilities and eternal interests. Thousands will be found scoffing; thousands incredulous; thousands immersed in sensuality and avarice and vice. We would lift up the voice like a trumpet in their ears, whether they will hear or forbear, "Prepare to meet thy God." We would try to melt their hard hearts, and bow their stubborn wills, and rouse their immortal spirits from their apathy, and induce them, by God's grace, to think and pray. "What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call on thy God."

Milton justly observes, "The first peculiar sign of the second coming of the Lord is an extreme recklessness, impiety, and almost universal apostasy."

The certainty of the things coming on the earth may, peradventure, by the blessing of Him who has

foretold them, waken up men's minds to a sense of danger, as well as kindle desires that will issue in prayer, that they "may be counted worthy to escape.' Their present rest is but the sleeping storm-their feeling of security is merely their ignorance of danger. Enlightenment and instruction are their great wants.

It does seem undeniable that those last days, called by the apostle perilous times, are come upon the earth. The activity of Satan, who knows he has but a little time; the development in rank and portentous growth of those immoralities that creep over the world towards its close, like dark evening twilight, deepening as it falls; the morbid condition of society; the intense pursuit of wealth, as if its attainment were the chief end of man on earth; and the thirst for all that gratifies the sensuous in our nature,—are all exhibited over a breadth of area without precedent.

If we turn to 1866 alone, it seems to have a prominence truly solemn. In its twelve months were accumulated and crowded events, tragedies, complications, losses, and troubles that appear the exact commentary on the prediction of Haggai: "I will shake all nations." In every department of life; in every sphere of interest and action; in every relation of man; on the sea and on the land; in the camp and in the church; in parliament; in congress; in cabinet and divan, change trod on the heels of change, and event thundered on event, till men began to ask what next. The event of yesterday was superseded