sigh.

Another era begins. The (Romish) Church and State (of Roman Catholic kingdoms) are separated.' "2

The above testimony of an ardent Roman Catholic is an instructive comment on the seventeenth chapter of Revelation, as showing how it has been literally fulfilled in the treatment of the Papacy by the kings of the earth.

4. The wasting away of the Turkish empire, which has been so visibly taking place during the present century, and which is figuratively expressed in the Apocalypse as "the drying up of the waters of the great river Euphrates."

5. Conjointly with the decay of the Turkish power, prophecy specially mentions the outcome of "three unclean spirits like frogs from the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet." Believing that this refers to the varied forms of infidelity and superstition which are now so vigorous in the present day, I have entered upon the consideration of this subject at much length in the present work; mindful of the apostolic warnings

"If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But

2 Hora Apocalyptica, by the Rev. E. B. Elliott, fifth edition, vol. i., Preface, pp. xxx. xxxi. I have given at length the evidence on which the Church of England in a threefold form, by her Homilies, by her Convocation, and in the Preface to the Authorized Version of the Bible, has authoritatively applied the menacing prophecies of Daniel, St. Paul, and St. John to the Church of Rome. The teaching of the Church of Scotland in her Confession of Faith, and of the Church of Ireland by the Dublin Articles of 1615, is of similar character.

refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness."'s

And again—

"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called which some professing have erred concerning the faith." "4

Mindful of these apostolic exhortations, I have endeavoured to give a long and careful consideration, not only to the subjects of the apostasy from the truth on the part of multitudes who profess the Christian religion, and which may be regarded as the great evil within the professing Church, and likewise of the varied forms of infidelity, an equally grievous sore, though external to the same Church of God. For it is a painful but undeniable fact, that the tendencies of many of those who boast themselves as the teachers of science in the present day, though a great deal of what passes under that much-abused name might be more correctly termed in the language of St. Paul "science falsely so called," can only be described as more or less infidel, and in some instances atheistic, to an extreme degree.

In order to show the feeling which exists in the present day on the part of the Rationalistic school against Christianity in general, and the evidence of prophecy in particular, it is a melancholy fact that a clergyman, who has been expelled from the ministry of the Church of England on account of his daring unbelief, commends the Jews for rejecting Christ's religion, and extols their faith as being far superior to ours, notwithstanding that the voice of prophecy

speaks in language of unmistakable clearness as to their sufferings during the last eighteen centuries in every part of the world, on account of their rejection of the religion of the Gospel, which is so much despised by scornful infidels and apostate Christians. Pronouncing Christianity, in defiance of all history as well as of common sense, to be "a bridge from Paganism to Judaism," and the worship of Christ as a system of "half-pagan mysticism and meretricious idolatry," this degraded cleric throws down this defiant challenge

"To the Church of Christ we cry, 'First convert the Jews, and then only may you boast of your success as miraculous.''

While blinding his eyes to that marvellous fulfilment of prophecy alluded to above, this poor wretched specimen of unbelief, who virtually represents the character which the inspired Psalmist drew three thousand years ago, when he wrote "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God," has the effrontery to prophecy that the Jews will never be persuaded to accept Christianity, which he asserts "has had its day, and is dying out" !!!

Such is the expectation of Rationalistic infidelity at the present time. Doubtless in this instance the wish is the father of the thought; but it betrays lamentable ignorance both of history in the past, as well as of history anticipated in the future, i.e., "the more sure word of prophecy," which tells us that if at the rejection of the seed of Israel when three thousand souls won to Christ were the results of a single sermon preached by a converted Jew, far greater will be the amount of spiritual blessing to both Jew and Gentile on their restoration to the Divine favour. "If the fall

of them," says St. Paul, "be the riches of the world, how much more their fulness...... If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (Rom. xi. 12, 15.)

Rationalistic objectors have not the faintest conception of the amount of spiritual work done amongst the Jewish people during the last half century, which is greater in proportion as regards outward success, than that which is being so zealously done by the many excellent Missionary Societies at work in the vineyard of the Gentile world. Between one and two hundred converted Jews have become ordained clergymen of the Church of England, of a very different stamp from that poor fallen minister whose expulsion we have noticed above. A modern writer observes with much

force

"How many of the 10,000,000 Jews scattered about the world are Christians we may not exactly know, but we have certain knowledge that more than 100,000 have been converted since the commencement of the London Society for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews," i.e., about sixty-five years ago.5

B. W. S.

P.S. I regret much, when writing the chapters on Rationalism in the 19th Century, and The Progress of Infidelity, I had not then read the admirable papers by Professor Lionel Beale on the Dictatorial Scientific Utterances and the Decline of Modern Thought, and On the New Materialism; which are to be seen in vol. xvi. of Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, pp. 201-248. The first contains a very just exposure

5 Jewish Intelligence, March 1882, p. 56.

of the fallacious theories and untenable assumptions of Professor Huxley, and is deserving the most attentive study of every one who has been misled by the daring propositions of that materialistic teacher. The second is a brief explanation of the differences between "the new Materialism" of Huxley and others, and the theories propounded by the Rationalists, Materialists, and Agnostics, as hitherto understood. This new Materialism appears to be very similar to the theories put forth by the Positivists of New York; which are noticed at p. 272 of this work.

B. W. S.

SHILLINGFORD RECTORY,

October 23, 1882.