not his mouth."

18. The manner and circumstances of his death. Psalm xxii. 13—18, "They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out as water and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet; I may tell all my bones; they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." This Psalm was indited more than 1000 years before Christ's crucifixion, and yet every word had an exact and literal accomplishment in that transaction, and the Jews saw it.

19. His resurrection.

Psalm xvi. 10, " For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."

20. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of pentecost. Joel ii. 28, " And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." The apostle told them that this scripture was fulfilled at the day of pentecost, and this transaction was well known to the Jews.

21. The fulfilment of the seventy weeks spoken of by Daniel, ix. 24-27, which I have shown in a former lec ture, was accomplished to a day. And the Jews well understood it; for Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to the Jews, "Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year he prophesied (or taught the prophecy in Daniel) that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation

only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." John xi. 49-52.

This evidence was well understood among the rulers of the Jews; yet notwithstanding all this scripture was fulfilled before their faces, and all these signs were actually accomplished in the short space of thirty-five years, and a cloud of witnesses testifying to all these facts, and they themselves had to consent that notable miracles had been done, they believed not. Well may you say, dear hearer, that they deserved wrath, and God was just in destroying their nation and place. But how is it with us? Do we believe in that word which we blame them for rejecting? Are we clear of the sin of unbelief? The Jews were looking for a temporal king and kingdom. And are not we looking for a temporal millenniumin which the Christians will have the rule of the world? Let us see to it that we do not stumble at the same stumbling-stone; possibly we may have carnal notions as well as they. Therefore, let us inquire,

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II. What signs are now fulfilling, which are given us by Christ, the prophets, or apostles, of his second coming and glorious reign? And,

1. Christ tells us, Matt. xxiv. 14, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness, and then shall the end come." Is not this sign already accomplished? Bible translated into more than 200 different languages; missionaries sent among all the nations known to us on the globe, and reformation succeeding reformation in every town, nook or corner in this land. The gospel has now spread over the four quarters of the globe. It began in Asia. In the apostles' days, that quarter was full of light. From thence it went into Africa; and, for a number of centuries, Africa stretched out her hands unto God. Europe, too, has had a long visitation of gospel blessings; and now America, the last quarter of the globe, is reaping a harvest of souls for the last day. The gospel, like the sun, arose in the east, and will set in the west.

2. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and last reign of grace. Daniel tells us, after Bonaparte should come

upon the waters of the river, clothed in linen, Daniel xii. 6; also the same angel that John saw, Rev. x. 1-6, standing, his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth, and in his hand a little book open. This angel told John that he must "prophesy again before many people, and nations, and tongues, and kings;" meaning that the gospel must again be published, as it had been in the apostolic days. And then would this angel lift his hand to heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever and ever, that time should be no longer. Again, James says, v. 7, 8, " Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." And now, can any man, who has any knowledge of the present times, deny that God has poured out his spirit, in a remarkable manner, for twenty years past? Has not the gospel been spread in as rapid and extensive a manner, as in the apostolic day? Has not opposition and persecution of the kings of the earth, of the woman that sitteth on many waters, the sea, been in a great measure kept in check and powerless, by some invisible power, some mighty arm, until the servants of God should be sealed, the latter rain of grace descend, and God's purposes completed concerning this latter day? Here, then, we have a clear and visible sign, that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

3. "Many running to and fro." This is another important and evident sign of the end. Daniel xii. 4, " But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro.” Whether the prophet means to be understood, "many shall run to and fro" in a religious sense, or in a civil or temporal sense, or whether he means in both, is perfectly immaterial for my purpose. All must acknowledge, that this text is remarkably fulfilled in this day, in either

point of view. If it means missionaries of the cross, no man can dispute the fulfilment. See the heralds of sal

vation crossing and re-crossing on every part of the habitable globe. If it means common travellers, or the rapid means of travel, still our text holds good, and the fulfilment obvious. No man, unless he is wilfully ignorant, can deny that this sign is not actually and literally fulfilled.

4. The great increase of knowledge given in the same text as above. "Even to the time of the end many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." View this in any point you please, whether theological or scientifical, it is literally true; in this day of invention and improvement, knowledge increases. What of the fifty different moral societies, which have become general in the Christian world? Is there no increase of knowledge in our Bible societies, Sabbath schools, tract societies, temperance societies, and a catalogue of others for moral reform? What can we say of all the inventions in the arts? What of all the improvements in science? In all this, is it not very evident that this sign is now fulfilling to the very letter?

5. The great increase of riches, and desire for laying up worldly treasures, as described by James v. 1-3, "Go to, now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you; your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten; your gold and your silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." When, since the writer of this epistle was on our earth, has there been such an increase of gold and silver, and treasures of this life, as at this day? Our rich men are laying up their gold, silver, and treasures in abundance. But, as though this individual exertion for riches would not completely fulfil our text, they have entered into all manner of companies and monopolies, to "heap treasure together." When, in the history of the world, can there be shown so many banking institutions as now? When so much insurance capital as is heaped together at this day? Are not our rich men per

And mo

fectly infatuated with stocks of all kinds? nopoly is the order of the day; to grind down the poor, and heap treasure together for the last days. Can any man, who has any knowledge of these things, deny that this sign of the last days is not evidently accomplished? Go to, ye rich men, weep and howl, for your miseries are come upon you.

6. The unwillingness of men to hear sound doctrine, taught us by Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 1-4, "I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. For the time will come, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." My brethren, need I say one word on this passage? There is none of you so blind, but you see that this passage does actually describe the most fashionable preaching at the present day. How many thousand do run after that kind of preaching which is only relating fables, and that doctrine which gives all power to man?

7. Scoffers, saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?" as Peter informs us in his 2 Epistle, iii. 3, 4, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For, since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." A right understanding of this text would show us, at once, that many of us, who fancy we are in the highway to heaven, are belonging to this class of scoffers. First, they walk after their own lusts, that is, after their own carnal notions concerning the coming of Christ. They say all things will continue as they were from the creation; they must have a temporal millennium; man must be married and given in marriage; the world will not be burnt, and, My Lord delayeth his coming, some say a thousand years, and some say 365,000 years, and all the moral change that takes place on our earth, will be performed by the agency of man. Therefore, many scoff and ridicule the idea, that Scrip