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mous beast, who was and is not, even he who is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition (Rev. xvii. 8—11).

The way for the spirit of Infidelity is prepared by the spirit of Fear, in all who are weak or irresolute but the spirit of Infidelity takes a larger range and a deeper hold than that of Fear; working upon many of the strong and the resolute, and scarcely to be cured where it has once infused its poison. It would seem from Scripture, that all but the servants of God will be taken in the toils of one or other of these two spirits of evil, and be all engulfed in the pit of infidelity. But some of them, in endeavouring to escape from the bottomless pit of Infidelity, shall be caught in the snare of Superstition, which is the third form of spiritual temptation, and winds up the present dispensation: "He that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel too and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients, gloriously." (Isai. xxiv.)

The last and worst form of evil is that superstition which follows infidelity, and especially that which grows out of scientific scepticism; the grossest of those superstitions which have followed ignorance and credulity, are, compared with it, tolerable and hopeful. The public mind, the mind of a whole community, will not long remain without a creed; and when the belief in Revealed Truth has been destroyed, and every thing doubted which cannot be demonstrated to sense, a spurious faith arises out of man's instinctive cravings for something higher than himself, which in its folly demonstrates the necessity and the truth of Revelation. To this craving, astrology, magic, and fortunetelling are continually ready to minister, when men have cast off a reverence for the revealed purpose of God, which is the true food to satisfy the craving soul. And the belief in destiny and fortune, which formed so large an ingredient in the character of Bonaparte, shall be yet more fully developed in his successor of the last days, and in the people that follow in his train. For this we see a working already begun, in the Fortune-telling and Prophetic Almanacks, which keep pace with the publications

"for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," both in London and Paris. This subject would lead us far beyond our purpose, and might fill a volume; let it suffice for the present to have adverted to so notorious a fact; while we now only point to the Scriptures which declare Superstition based upon infidel Science-the woman riding upon the beast-to be the last form of Apostasy, and that which the Lord shall come in person to destroy.

The overthrow of lawful authority inevitably leads to despotism; the rejection of true religion necessarily introduces superstition and the levelling and infidel principles of these last days will end in a combination of despotism and superstition, such as the world has not yet seen, and such as God will not long tolerate. The tyranny and superstition of the Papacy were very fearful, and Mahomet's instant alternative of the Koran or the sword was dreadful; but the horrors of the Inquisition and the scimitar combined do not make up the aggregate of woe which shall be brought upon Christendom by the last Assyrian; by the man who shall make the earth to tremble; who shall shake the kingdoms; who shall make the world as a wilderness, and destroy the cities thereof; who shall smite the people in wrath with a continual stroke, and shall rule the nations in anger; and who will also exalt his throne above the stars of God, and aspire to ascend above the heights of the clouds, and to become like the Most High. (Isai. xiv.) And this king shall do according to his will; and shall exalt himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper, till the indignation be accomplished: which indignation shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation to that same time and at that time the people of God shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book of life. (Dan. xi. 36; xii.) At that time all the mighty who have caused their terror in the land of the living shall bear their shame with them that go down to the pit; for the Lord God will cause his terror in the land of the living. (Ezek. xxxii.) And though now we call the proud happy, and though they that work wickedness are set up, and they that tempt God are even delivered; yet it shall not be so when that time cometh; for then shall we "return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth Him not. For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings." (Mal. iv.)

The apostasy, or departure from the true faith, out of which this champion of despotism and superstition shall arise, is pre

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dicted in many parts of Scripture for our warning. And we are told that such as refuse to be led by the Holy Spirit, and will cast the fear of God away from them, shall be abandoned to the seductions of evil spirits, and be brought by fear, both of visible and invisible power, into slavish subjection to that man of sin, to whom Satan shall give his own seat and authority on the earth. "The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils" (1 Tim. iv.) "And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders" (2 Thess. ii.) "But chiefly them that walk after the flesh..and despise government: presumptous are they, self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. These as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption (2 Pet. ii. 10-12). "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise o his coming?" (2 Pet. iii. 3.) "These are raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever... These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.. the mockers of the last time ..these be they who separate themselves..sensual, not having the Spirit" (Jude 13—19).

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This apostate band fall under the three characteristic titles of "the fearful, the unbelieving, and the abominable" (Rev. xxi. 8): and it includes all ranks and classes of men, kings, captains, horse and rider, all men free and bond, both great and small (Rev. xix. 18). The beast at the head of these kings of the earth, and their armies, is taken; and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both are cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone; and the remnant are slain by the sword of the Lord. Thus perish together the last of those forms of evil which the rebellions and provocations of man have brought upon the earth; the monstrous combination which astonished the Prophet Daniel; the beast ridden by a woman drunken with the blood of saints, which the last of the Apostles saw in vision, and wondered with great admiration. And all hate the monster, yet yield to its sway; and hate the woman which reigneth over the kings of the earth; but God hath put it into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree and give the kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. (Rev. xvii.)

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This time of tribulation, these days of inexpressible anguish, the Lord hath promised to shorten, for the elect's sake; and we pray continually "that it would please Him, of his gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of his elect, and to hasten his kingdom; that we, together with all those who have departed in the true faith of His Holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in His eternal and everlasting glory."

And what tongue may tell of that glory, what heart can yet receive its fulness? If the anguish which precedes it be unutterable, much more is the glory which shall follow : for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God" (1 Cor. ii. 9). Encouraged by this assurance, those who are spiritual may and ought to contemplate the coming glory they may expatiate upon it with joy and profit; loosening their attachment to the things of this world, and strengthening their longings after the world to come, by the glorious hope set before us in the Gospel of the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; whose kingdom shall then come, and his will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

The natural man has no taste for the heavenly manna. Though angels' food, the seed of incorruptible life, it is generally rejected by man, and their soul loatheth this light bread (Num. xxi. 5), and turneth back to the flesh-pots of Egypt. But let those who are spiritual now, like the faithful of all preceding generations, look not at the things which are seen and temporal, but at the things which are unseen as yet, and eternal; at that heavenly city which shall be revealed in the last times; whose far-distant prospect filled the heart of Abraham with gladness, and whose near approach may well make us exceedingly to rejoice, and leap for joy.

The kingdom of heaven, now at hand; the glory of God, about to be revealed in the land of the living; are set forth in Scripture by imagery taken from all those parts of creation in which the glory of God has been hitherto displayed, and in which the renewed man can find delight. None of the works of God are excluded, none of the faculties which He has given to man are debarred their exercise; sin only is excluded, which is the work of Satan, and has polluted, not destroyed, the works of God. The goodly work of creation cannot be destroyed but by the Creator, or one mightier than He-a thought which we should hold it blasphemous to utter, were it not that it is the very conclusion to which the ultra-Calvinists of our day must come, if they would consistently follow out their own tenets.

Satan cannot create either material or spiritual things: Satan cannot give new properties to matter, or new faculties to man. These properties and faculties all come from God, and were given by him at creation, and all then harmoniously arranged; each property of matter ministering to the happiness of man, each faculty of man contributing to shew forth the image and likeness of God.

By the Fall, this harmony was changed to discord; man passed under the power of Satan, creation passed under the bondage of corruption; and all have continued groaning and travailing in pain together until now. But no new act of creation took place at the Fall, nor was God so baffled by Satan as to have given him power to mar His goodly creation beyond the possibility of recovery. Satan took the elements which he found in nature, and the faculties which he found in man, and turned them to discord. The healthful breeze, set at jar, flashed forth thunderbolts and storms, or swept along in whirlwinds, and siroccoes loaded with fever, pestilence, and ague. Fruits, which were designed for wholesome variety, Satan perverted into stimulants to excess. As blood, when the life is gone, becomes the deadliest poison, the faculties of man, misdirected, become his greatest torment. Think of the anguish occasioned by misdirected love, hope, fear, zeal; and think how many of the evil passions are perversions of something good; as ambition, pride, jealousy, obstinacy, and many more. These perversions are the work of Satan; and this is the power he has exercised since the Fall; and so successfully exercised it, that, till the time of conversion, of all mankind it is true that every imagination of the thoughts of their heart is only evil continually. Conversion begins the recovery from the Fall, by giving a right direction to all the faculties and affections, pointing them from things on earth to things in heaven.

And what conversion is to the soul of man, the regeneration is to the whole creation; it is the restitution of all things, the times of refreshing from the presence of God; when the second Adam shall be revealed from heaven as Lord of all, with all his seed renewed after the Creator's image, who as sons of God shall inherit all things. And man, thus reconstituted the image of God, can be no more; for there is nothing higher than being like God but this image the saints never lose again, being one with Christ, one with the Father, by the one Holy Spirit who dwelleth in every child of God. And henceforth it is proclaimed, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them; and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

Glory to God in the highest is shewn forth by Christ and the church his bride: and through them peace on earth is maintain

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