corruption of the doctrines and precepts of the gospel darkened the glory of Christianity. Nor does any thing more afflict the mind of the sincere Christian, or open a wider door to the objections of the unbeliever, than the perversions of the doctrine of the Christian church. Under the pressure of such considerations, it is an extraordinary relief to turn to the word of prophecy, and see the predictions of these very apostacies, delivered many centuries before they took place.

I dwell not on the features of the eastern antichrist, as painted in the book of Daniel, and the kindred language of St. John, because I hasten to notice what more immediately presents itself before our eyes, the great western apostacy. Let us first see how it is delineated by the prophetic pencil of Daniel. We there find it set forth as a seducing power, that was to arise after the conversion, downfall, and division into ten sovereignties of the fourth, or Roman empire -little, in comparison of these others as to secular authority, but claiming and obtaining an universal spiritual authority over the body of the western kingdom,-acquiring and maintaining this through policy and craft, procuring a voluntary surrender of power from really superior sovereigns, and using it to become a leader to others in apostacy, persecution, and various kinds of opposition to the truth.15

With these criteria, I compare St. Paul's description in the New Testament of the apostacy, or falling away, when "the man of sin should be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God; whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteous

15 Daniel vii. 19-25.

ness in them that perish-God sending them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. The mystery of iniquity," adds the apostle," doth already work; only, he who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way." In this delineation, I find the same distinctive features as in the description of the prophet, with the additional marks of blasphemous usurpation of the place and authority of God-a mystery of iniquity, which was already insinuating itself when the apostle wrote, but which was let or hindered, by the jealous authority of the Roman empire, united then under one potent government; but which would be revealed when the downfall and dismemberment of that empire should remove the obstacle to its development.

The same great apostle resumes the subject in his first epistle to Timothy, and foretels that in "the latter time, some shou.d depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats"-particulars all falling under the same heads as those before enumerated.

We next come to the closing visions of prophecy in the Revelation of St. John, and, lo, a delineation of the same corruption as in the prophet, the same times assigned to it, the same geographical and chronological position in the map of prophecy-all leading to the confirmation of our previous notices, and adding many other decisive indications. The apostacy is here described as a power having a mouth speaking great things, and even blasphemies: it makes war with the saints; it has horns like a lamb, but speaks as a dragon; it doth great wonders, and deceiveth those that dwell on the earth. It is called " Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth." It is further depicted as a

sorceress, "decked in purple, and scarlet, and gold, and precious stones, and pearls; drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus"---working by other governments, who " agree to give unto her their strength and power"---and thus becoming the fountain head of corruption; and inducing the " kings of the earth to commit fornication with her." Moreover, the place is now absolutely fixed, "the city of the seven mountains; the great city, that reigneth over the kings of the earth”---the head of the fourth empire. The time also is more expressly limited to the period when the dismembered kingdoms of the Roman empire agree to give their power into her hands. The duration also, is defined to be twelve hundred and sixty prophetical days, or years-a period already assigned in the book of Daniel, and confirmed in the Revelation, by six or seven declarations.

What spiritual power it was, that arose in the city of Rome after the fall of the empire, uniting in itself all these marks and indications, I need not tell you. Let the corruptions of doctrine and precept, the usurpation of the rights of conscience, the prohibition of the free use of the scriptures, the establishment of a spiritual idolatry, the principle of working by craft, meretricious splendour, and religious delusion-- “THE ENERGY OF ERROR," as the apostle terms it 16. together with the persecutions which characterized for so many centuries the church and bishop of Rome, expound the divine prophecies.

Such a combination of tokens, verified before our eyes in an APOSTACY, which has existed unchanged in all its characters for nearly twelve centuries, is a proof of prophetic inspiration of the most illustrious kind; at the same time that it explains and develops the mystery of the divine Providence, which the actual state 16 2 Thess. ii. 11.

of Christendom exhibits---nay, it turns a most painful and oppressive view of the declension of the church, into a stronger confirmation of the Christian's faith.

But, I pause for surely the combined force of these branches of the fulfilment of prophecy, overwhelms the mind. Each division strengthens the rest: they embrace not matters of curiosity, but subjects in which the highest interests of revelation are concerned. Under the first head, the prophecies of the Messiah, we see the Christian dispensation established. Under the second, the predictions concerning the Jewish and Christian churches, we see, so far as we have hitherto gone, the designs of God, as to the progress of redemption, developed. We behold the Jewish people cast into exile---the cities and nations of the world exhibited in their connexion with the church, and the providence of God displayed in all the revolutions of empire---and the Christian church desolated by spiritual judgments for its unfaithfulness to its privileges and advantages. But we must not stop here: let us add a reflection, as we proposed, on the

IVth and last branch of this second head, the prophecies OF THE FUTURE CONVERSION OF THE

WORLD, AND THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF HOLINESS AND TRUTH.

For such is the consummation to which we are encouraged to look forward. "The earth is to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." The vail is to be removed from the heart of the Jew. The antichristian apostacies are to cease. The heathens are to be brought home to the fold of God. Jerusalem is not always to be trodden down of the Gentiles. Satan is to be "cast into the lake of fire, and to be chained, and deceive the nations no more." Christ our Lord is to reign over all the nations of the earth; a long and glorious period of

majesty, his omnipotence, his wisdom, his foreknowledge, his supreme providence and grace.

But I must hasten towards THE CONCLUSION of this branch of our subject. What mind of any candour and sincerity can hesitate on yielding to the prodigious force of this argument from prophecy? The arguments deduced from the necessities of mankind, from the authenticity and credibility of the books, and from the miracles, were in different ways most satisfactory. They were just what might be expected in the case of a revelation from the Almighty God. The argument from miracles, especially, was most conclusive. We saw and acknowledged the finger of God. But I ask any unprejudiced person, whether the prophetical argument be not still more convincing, from the accumulated riches of the divine glory apparent in it? I ask whether, if you contemplate the character and scheme of it, in its extent, the union of all its parts in the divine person and glory of our Lord, the infinite wisdom and contrivance of those parts, the characters of the prophets themselves, and the high and important moral ends to which it was and is subservient, it do not bear the impress of the prescience and power of God? I ask again, whether the divine faithfulness and truth, apparent in its accomplishment-the events of nations and empires bowing to its designs-the annals of six thousand years proclaiming the hand of Providence engaged in its inspiration and its fulfilment-I ask any unprejudiced person, whether such an exhibition of infinite foresight and omnipotent power, which is now going on and accumulating its effects in every age, do not prove the truth of that religion of which it is a prominent part? I ask, whether the correspondence which has been shown between the scheme of prophecy detailed in the last lecture, and the fulfilment of its several parts, as we have been considering it now, do not put a seal, as it were, to the divine origin of both?