mence. The stone which cut without hands, smote the image, and became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, shall fall, and tyranny and misrule, rapine and murder, oppression and iniquity, sin and misery, take their flight from earth.

"Seven times " will have passed over the inhabitants of the earth, and they will have been driven into the fields to eat grass as oxen; but now the remnant "bless the most High and praise and honour him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation.'

Let us now endeavour to learn a lesson from these declarations of prophecy. It is not that the Mystery of Iniquity will be in the exercise of unlimited power that he will be destroyed. It is not that he will have had the resources of science at his command-that knowledge will open her treasures to him, and science lay her stores at his feet. It is not even that he will have wielded the physical powers of the universe and have controlled the laws of nature, that he will be cut off.

The reason of the judgments which will be poured upon him is that he will not give God the glory either of his power, his possessions, or his advantages. From the will and permission of the Eternal do all power and knowledge emanate, but Antichrist will not acknowledge this godly doctrine. He will seek to magnify himself, to magnify Satan, to exalt spirit, to elevate matter, anything but God. He will strive to make it appear that by the strength of his own arm, and the energy of his own abilities, he hath acquired and exercised uncontrolled subjugation of the nations; therefore he will be cut off.

Let us then, even though placed at an almost

infinite distance, not pursue this course. Is power committed into our hands? let us acknowledge the source whence it is derived. Have our researches in science resulted in the discovery of important truths? let us give the credit to Him to whom credit is due. Is our mind stored with all knowledge? let us think of Him who hath conferred on us and still confers the capacity to acquire it. Hath our progress in the world obtained us the honour and attention of our fellow men? let us give God the glory. There is no power but is "ordained" of Him;-no treasures of science, nature, or art, which are not borrowed from His stores;-no good thing which we may possess which abides with us longer than He wills. Let us, therefore, not magnify ourselves on any occasion; let us not think "more highly of ourselves than we ought to think;" let us not be proud where we should be humble, presumptive when dressed in brief authority; otherwise we are but Antichrists on a small scale, and will assuredly, like the "Mystery of Iniquity," be destroyed.

APPENDIX.

BRIEF REMARKS ON EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENA AND EVIL INFLUENCES.

THE tendency of the human mind is to run into extremes, and seldom does it escape one error without for a time verging towards its opposite. From beholding each illfavored person as the vehicle of some evil spirit, there is a disposition to declare that evil spirits are but the creatures of imaginative tales, or at least that they are never permitted to influence the evil actions of individuals. Men of learning and ingenuity have even ventured to explain away the demoniacal possessions recorded in the Gospels of the Evangelists. It is not my purpose, supposing it were in my power to accomplish the task with credit, to combat this irreligious, and, consequently, pernicious error. Let demoniacal possessions stand or fall by the Word of God.

I would, however, venture briefly to deal with an error akin to the description first referred to, and which has from time to time arisen in the world, and is not wholly absent at the present day; I mean the regarding extraordinary phenomena in nature as the manifestations of that spirit of iniquity which rules the evil destinies of the world.

There are three kinds of phenomena in nature, and only three-ordinary,-extraordinary, and miraculous. Ordinary, as the rising and setting of the sun; extraordinary, as somnambulic and cataleptic cases, gift of

intuition,* curious appearances in nature and science, &c. ; and miraculous, as the conversion of water into wine, the bringing down fire from heaven.

Differing as these phenomena do in name and frequency of occurrence, they do not differ in nature. All proceed from the power of God, all are effected by the power of God, all are brought to pass according to the laws of God. We are not even authorized in declaring that miracles are always effected without the intervention of means, for although the means be not visible they may yet be in operation.

A miracle,' says Mr. Horne in his compendious Introduction to the Study of the Bible, “is an effect or event contrary to the established constitution or course of things, or a sensible suspension or controlment of or deviation from the known laws of nature, wrought either by the immediate act, or by the assistance or permission of God; and accompanied with a previous notice or declaration that it is performed according to the purpose and power of God, for the proof or evidence of some particular doctrine, or in attestation of the authority or divine mission of some particular person.”†

The terms of this definition appear very general, yet its effect is to exclude from the class of miracles every extraordinary occurrence in nature which hath not been brought to pass "for the proof or evidence of some particular doctrine, or in attestation of the authority or divine mission of some particular person." It would exclude miracles of simple judgment or judicial miracles.

It would also exclude such a miracle as that inferred in the following texts of Scripture. ‡

"If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

"And the sign or wonder come to pass, whereof he

* See case of Dr. Zschokke, Ch. E. I. Sep. 1846.

Mr. Eden in his Theological Dictionary gives the following definition of a miracle:-"A miracle is a perceptible change in the order of the visible and material universe, and is therefore an appropriate indication that some corresponding spiritual or moral change has taken place."

See also Mat. xxiv. 24 and Rev. xiii. 14.

spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them ;

your

"Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul." Deut. xiii. 1, 2, 3.

It is therefore not a complete definition.

I apprehend it cannot be successfully contested that a miracle is not here meant, for if it were an ordinary occurrence in nature it would be readily detected; if an extraordinary, the warning in the text would not be applicable as was intended in all time. It would not be applicable at the last days, when extraordinary phenomena alone will not attract men's attention.

An evil agent may endeavour to palm off an extraordinary phenomenon as a miracle, but this would not militate against his permissive power on particular occasions to perform a miracle.

We find the following remarks in Mr. Kitto's Encyclopædia of Biblical Literature, article Miracles.

"But if, in conducting the affairs of his great empire, God sees in any particular case as good a reason for deviation from this uniform order of nature as there is generally for uniformity, that is, if the glory of his attributes and the good of his creatures require it—and no one can say that such a case may not occur-then unquestionably the unchangeable God will cause such a deviation, in other words, will work miracles-miracles being effects which are produced (and to this remark we would draw attention) or events which take place in a manner not conformed to the common laws of nature, and which cannot be accounted for according to those laws."

This definition, including the case represented in Deuteronomy, is more complete than Mr. Horne's. As, however, it would also include extraordinary phenomena in the class of miracles it is still imperfect.

In the absence of a satisfactory definition I would venture to define a miracle to be a variation in the ordinary course of nature, effected by the immediate agency or permission of God; with or without the inter