him survey Idolatry as exhibited in the licentious orgies of the Pacific, the blood-stained triumphs of Brahmah, the ferocious superstitions of Australia: let him see false religion blasting every intellectual struggle, under the lurid influence of the Crescent; severing every social tie on the plains of Hindoostan; and, through the wide extent of its domain, teaching but one absorbing selfishness; separating man from man by the repulsive influence of rivalry, and concentrating in the narrow circuit of self-enjoyment all the energies and feelings that should expand themselves in general advantage:-let him see this, and say, if the prophet's representation be not reflected by the face of society, if its products be not bitterness and disappointment, if its life be not a living death: for, Dear Friends, gloomy as is the prospect, considered with reference to this life, how shall we dare to contemplate it in connection with the next? how shall we raise the veil that Omnipotence has extended over its purposes; and ask, if those who have here passed a period of mingled cruelty and lust, slaves to the most debasing and degrading superstitions, if THEY can be meet for the inheritance of the saints in light?-if those who have changed the truth of God into a lie, outraged His image, and trampled upon His laws, impressed, though faintly impressed, upon their hearts, if THEY can see God? The understanding and the feelings equally recoil from an inquiry, where so much is doubt, and so little is explanation: and, in trusting these hapless beings, who live without hope and without God in the world, to

the faithfulness of Him who doeth all things wisely and all things mercifully, they still receive the very beckonings of the darkness that invests their destiny, as an intimation of the paramount duty of those whose Goshen has been illuminated by the light of Divine Truth.

II. But the prophet beheld a GREAT AND SALUTARY CHANGE: the desert, on which he looked, became clothed with verdure, and the sea became animated with life.

It is this which is the pervading and cheering promise of the Gospel; this which gives strength to the exertion, and reality to the hopes, of the Believer: he looks forth upon the world, and sees it to be a desert: he recognises in it a moral ruin: he perceives the baleful influence of him who claims to be its King: to his ear, all creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain, looking for the restoration of dominion to its rightful Lord: and human nature evidences, by its own forgetfulness of God, the extent of its moral degradation. To look for a change from human agency, the believing Christian knows would be vain; and yet he trusts, that it will be accomplished: he knows that it has been said, in the joyous anticipation of Prophecy, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ: and though he now sees them serving another master, living under other laws, and forging for themselves the heavy chains of sin, he remembers who hath said, I beheld Satan like lightning fall from

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heaven. He bethinketh him, that with the Eternal One, a thousand years are but as one day; and, in the full assurance of faith, he walks through this moral wilderness, knowing that it will, at no distant period, blossom like the garden of the Lord; and he rejoices in the approaching triumph of righteousness and peace. He can anticipate the time, more glorious than the dawn of Creation, when the morning-stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy-the time, when the Lord shall reign in righteousness, and His Anointed One in glory-the time, when peace being universal on earth, and good-will being manifested in Salvation, Glory to God in the highest will be the mingled song of the Angels and the Redeemed of God. What a prospect and how full of blessedness to the Believer-that the period is coming, when sin, in its awful and demoralizing effects, shall cease! when the Saviour, who is precious to him, shall receive due honour in the universe; and the God, who is his own God, and his portion for ever, shall manifest, in extended holiness, His presence and His kingdom! It is this expectation that soothes him in his troubles, strengthens him. in his contests, and rewards him in victory: it is this persuasion that enables him to see the arm of the Lord visibly displayed; that animates him to seek to add soldiers to Messiah's army, subjects to the Redeemer's kingdom; and cheers him by the conviction, that, among those who are now despised and contemned, those who are now in ignorance and sin, there may be many, who,

influenced by His Spirit, and impressed by His image, may be heirs of His glory, and sharers of His throne.

III. When the mind contemplates this great work, and feels its own weakness, it may well ask, WHO, or WHAT, IS SUFFICIENT FOR THESE THINGS? And we are not left in uncertainty.

That which man cannot do is possible with God; and the prophet has symbolically described the instrument by which He ordinarily works, in the regeneration of a fallen world. The Scriptures of God, and the preaching of the Gospel which they contain, have ever been found competent to the spiritual conquest of the human heart-to the bringing down of every imagination to the obedience of the Lord Jesus. It is this, which suits itself to the condition of every individual, reflecting from its page the image and character of every reader; this, which pierces through the folds of human pride, till it detects and unmasks human weakness; this, which is the rod of God's strength going forth from Zion, and by whose influence He rules even in the midst of His enemies. Is the desert barren? the sacred stream from the Tabernacle conveys fertility and richness. Is the sea polluted? its intermingling waters carry health and life: and this it effects by turning the heart and feelings of the Believer away from time, awakening him from the slumber induced by forgetfulness, and arousing his attention to his real and permanent interests, by dissipating the halo in which this world invests

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its objects, and thus enabling man to see them in their real form and proportion: this it does, by sobering down the feelings which urge man to sacrifice all for time, and, by removing the fictitious value from the prize, depriving rivalry of all its animosity: this it does, by implanting a principle of sacred love, derived from the knowledge of God's love to man; which unites those as brethren whom human distinctions had made foes; and confers on social duties the chastening influence of religion, the sacred privilege of holiness. Oh! there is more true philosophy, as well as a more heart-exciting motive, in that one appeal, If God so loved us, we ought to love one another, than in all the schemes and devices of sages and politicians and it has been so experienced under its influence, the savage learns the lesson of mercy, and the idolater casts his idols to the moles and to the bats: through it, the Hottentot has risen to his social rank and dignity; and the enthralling fetters of Caste have fallen from the Hindoo's mind. It was to this, that the Imperial power of Rome bowed down: and it is by this, that the Mediatorial Throne will be erected over the willing nations of the earth. There is a power, a soul-stirring, and a soul-converting, and a soul-sanctifying power in the simple Gospel, that can effect the greatest conquest ever planned or executed-the conquest over man's enmity to his Maker, his love of the world, his selfishness, and his sinfulness.

IV. A most interesting feature in the vision remains to be considered.-The EFFICACY of the