as the wilful king, Dan. xi. 36, revolutionary France. That infidel government, so far as it could be done, made war on, and put to death, both the Bible and the God of the Bible. The one they declared, by a formal enactment, a lie, and prohibited its use; and the other they declared a nonentity, a being which did not exist. They not only declared the Bible a lie and prohibited its use, but gathered it in heaps and burned it. At other times it was dragged through the streets with every circumstance of contempt. "And their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom, and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. "Streets of the great city." Paris. "Spiritually is called Sodom." The crying sin of Sodom was its licentiousness. But probably in no part of the world, since the ruin of Sodom, has this sin ever been carried so far as in France during the reign of terror. On the 6th of June, 1794, a formal enactment was passed in the city of Paris, to establish fornication by law. A parallel cannot be found. It is also spiritually called "Egypt." The crying sin of Egypt was her atheism. "Who is the Lord, that I should let the people go? 1 know not the Lord, neither will I let the people go," was the language of Pharaoh. So also was it in France. One infidel, after the existence of God had been denied, declared that he and his fellows "detested God." 66 'Where also our Lord was crucified." The motto and watch-word of the infidel crew was “Crush the wretch," meaning Christ. Nor was it an empty cry. All who bore the name of Christ were either banished from France or seized and put to death. It might be also in reference to the murder of the 30,000 Christians, members of Christ's body, on St. Bartholomew's eve, that it is said to be the great city "where our Lord was crucified." "And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves." The nations of the earth saw and heard of the dangers of the French revolutionists in regard to the Bible, but did not suffer it to be buried out of sight. It still stood out prominently in Great Britain. "Three days and a half." The decree condemning the Bible and establishing atheism was passed Aug. 26, 1792. And that decree continued in force until March, 1796, a period of about three and a half years. During those three and a half years they lay dead in Paris in sight of the nations. "And after three days (years) and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them." The decree by which they were condemned was repealed, and the Bible was again permitted to be read. "And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them." The great voice from heaven is the great demand which the world has made for the Bible since that time. The 1260 years of the prophesying in sackcloth of the two witnesses ended with the fall of Popery, 1798. In 1801 the British and Foreign Bible Society was formed, which, by the aid of the American Bible Society, has translated and printed the Bible, either in whole or in part, into more than 150 different languages. And missionary societies have been multiplying beyond even the most sanguine expectations of the warmest friend of the heathen world forty years ago, and the work is still going forward with unparalleled rapidity. The gospel will continue thus to spread until it has reached the last heathen nation as Christ's witness; "then," according to his declaration, "shall the end come." And the same fact is presented Rev. xi. 14, 15: "The second wo is past, and behold the third wo cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever." If the calculation on the periods of the 9th chapter are correct, we are upon the very verge of the time when this text will begin to be accomplished. For as soon as the second woe passes, the third will come QUICKLY. How soon, it is impossible to tell. The only safety any one can have, will be in securing an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. The third wo will come as a thief in the night. It will come when the world are crying peace and safety. Of the day and the hour, no man knoweth. But rest assured, reader, when you see the Turkish empire fall, that it is nigh, even at the door. And by * It has now fallen. the close of 1843 we may expect that all these things will be finished, and the righteous glorified. Now, I ask those who contend for a temporal millennium, to show me where it is to find a place between the sounding of the seventh angel, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he begins his everlasting reign, "and the time of the dead, (verse 18,) that they should be judged, and that God should give reward unto his servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear his name, small and great; and destroys them that destroy the earth?" Where, again I ask, is the place for the millennium to be found? Let Then "let Zion's watchmen all awake." them cry aloud and spare not, until a slumbering world is awake to its danger, and flies to Christ for refuge. For now it is especially true, that "He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ you all. Amen." Revelation xxii. 20, 21. be with |