obtestation. He lifts up his hand to heaven, and swears by HIMSELF, that amongst the wretched crowd beneath Him, Satan and his angels excepted, there exists not a being for whom He died not; not one, who, but for his own wilful obstinacy, might not at that moment have been found amongst the ranks of His redeemed. Blind,' says He, as ye all were by fallen nature, and incapable of any good thing, was I not to every one of you the light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world? Free as ye were by sinful nature to do nought but evil, was I not to every one of you the grace which What if I What if I gave

would have made ye free indeed?

more to some than others? Did I not require more from such? even unshaken faith in me, public profession of that faith, and correspondent holiness of life? And would I have demanded from him to whom I was not revealed, the faith which he could not have an obedience to the law which he could not know? I tell you, nay. Have I refused my reward to him who having received little has made increase of it; to him who, being called at the eleventh hour, has wrought but little? Was there any other predestination exhibited in my government of the sons of men, than a predetermination that each should have my salvation offered to him without money and without price; and that each should be dealt with for good or for evil, as he should accept or refuse this gracious offer? What, if foreseeing from all eternity, as I do foresee, the actions of created beings, I did consequently from all eternity predestinate each man to death or to life? What of that? Was the freedom of choice,

vouchsafed my creatures through grace, controlled by the exercise of this the inscrutable attribute of my nature? Nay; I tell you, nay.--I could force all my creatures to do good against the will; but would they be my free creatures any longer? Would they be better than sun, and light, and heat, which do good unto all men, yet know it not? And did I content myself with exhibiting to you my salvation, and coldly leave ye to take or reject it as ye chose? Did I not come repeatedly unto every one of you; knocking at the door of each of your hearts, and intreating to be let in? And did ye not every one of you refuse to receive me? Did ye not thrust me forth into the streets? And if ye would reply, that ye never saw me in the flesh ; what of that? it is my spiritual presence in the heart whereof I speak. And if ye never saw me hungry, and gave me no food; thirsty, and brought me no drink; sick, and in prison, and visited me not; did ye yield obedience to my Spirit which commanded these things? Did ye do these things unto your fellow-men from motives like unto those wherefore I do good-love, and good-will to man? I tell you, nay. Were not the motives of what ye called your good works, pride, interest, selfishness, ostentation ? I tell you, yea.' All flesh is

dumb before God. -The Lord is revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon his enemies: earth, and all that are therein, men, and devils, fall beneath the fury of his wrath: they fall under one sheet of inextinguishable fire, whereof that rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah was but the type. From the ruins of the former world

rises a new earth-fit habitation for the glorified saints who are to dwell in it for ever. At the same instant the like change pervades all the systems of worlds comprised in the material universe; and in like manner the bodies of their unsinning inhabitants become spiritualized. The new heavens and the new earth are complete : all things are made anew and the Lord returns, with the holy angels, unto the seat of his government in highest heaven, amidst the acclamations of his creatures: Hallelujah! salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:' and again they say, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.'

To apply the prophecy, in its secondary meanings, to the destruction of Jerusalem and the events attendant thereupon.-It is unnecessary to advert to a great part of the prediction, considered as applicable in these secondary meanings to the state of the Roman and Christian world, and to the nation of the Jews, in the times immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. It was abundantly accomplished.

THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION:-The Roman armies,* intent upon the slaughter of their kind, which is abomination in the sight of God-about to lay waste a city, which, but for the wickedness of its inhabitants, God would have treated as holy, or preserved sacred from such intrusions; and to effect which, he would, if necessary, have repeated the miracle performed upon the armies of Senna

* Luke xxi. 20.

vouchsafed my creatures through grace, controlled by the exercise of this the inscrutable attribute of my nature? Nay; I tell you, nay.—I could force all my creatures to do good against the will; but would they be my free creatures any longer? Would they be better than sun, and light, and heat, which do good unto all men, yet know it not? And did I content myself with exhibiting to you my salvation, and coldly leave ye to take or reject it as ye chose? Did I not come repeatedly unto every one of you; knocking at the door of each of your hearts, and intreating to be let in? And did ye not every one of you refuse to receive me? Did ye not thrust me forth into the streets? And if would reply, that ye never saw me in the flesh; what of that? it is my spiritual presence in the heart whereof I speak. And if ye never saw me hungry, and gave me no food; thirsty, and brought me no drink; sick, and in prison, and visited me not; did ye yield obedience to my Spirit which commanded these things? Did ye do these things unto your fellow-men from motives like unto those wherefore I do good-love, and good-will to man? I tell you, nay. Were not the motives of what ye called your good works, pride, interest, selfishness, ostentation ? I tell you, yea.' All flesh is

ye

dumb before God.The Lord is revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon his enemies: earth, and all that are therein, men, and devils, fall beneath the fury of his wrath: they fall under one sheet of inextinguishable fire, whereof that rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah was but the type. From the ruins of the former world

rises a new earth-fit habitation for the glorified saints who are to dwell in it for ever. At the same instant the like change pervades all the systems of worlds comprised in the material universe; and in like manner the bodies of their unsinning inhabitants become spiritualized. The new heavens and the new earth are complete : all things are made anew: and the Lord returns, with the holy angels, unto the seat of his government in highest heaven, amidst the acclamations of his creatures: Hallelujah! salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God :' and again they say, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.'

To apply the prophecy, in its secondary meanings, to the destruction of Jerusalem and the events attendant thereupon.-It is unnecessary to advert to a great part of the prediction, considered as applicable in these secondary meanings to the state of the Roman and Christian world, and to the nation of the Jews, in the times immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. It was abundantly accomplished.

THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION :-The Roman armies,* intent upon the slaughter of their kind, which is abomination in the sight of God-about to lay waste a city, which, but for the wickedness of its inhabitants, God would have treated as holy, or preserved sacred from such intrusions; and to effect which, he would, if necessary, have repeated the miracle performed upon the armies of Senna

* Luke xxi. 20.