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different God governed then from what controls man's destiny now.

"Where is the promise of his coming?" The cry on both continents is, "Where is the promise of his coming?" And everywhere it is met with, "All things continue as they were when the fathers fell asleep."

And doth not nature herself indicate that mortal pangs are now in waiting for her? There are, doubtless, to be some signs of old age and a dying state. The sun is to shadow out sickness, and so the moon and stars. But if these indications are to be figurative, and apply to the church, they are all fulfilled. If they are to be literal, it will be the very last signal and coetaneous with Christ's appearance, and can occur in one moment, the whole of them. If we take a medium ground, the signs have already occurred-but in just such a way as might be expected, on the same general principles of God's providence as were manifested in the days of the fathers. But these signs are no less an admonition for that. Had Christ foretold an eclipse of a remarkable character that was to usher in the day; and had that eclipse been on natural principles, it would have been no less a sign. But has anything remarkable occurred recently in any way? I answer, yes. Fifteen hundred stars have recently faded from the vault of heaven. Some of them were observed in a state of conflagration. Just so it was when the fathers fell asleep,

only not so striking. But was ever such a grand phenomenon exhibited as in the shower of stars in 1833? That event I had the pleasure of witnessing. They fell on the same principles as when the fathers fell asleep. They only differed in number and glory. But their number who could tell? Turn the eye where you would, and at the same moment you would perceive millions of meteors falling all around you. This was

its appearance to the eye. Do not our northern lights also, and their grand drapery, as sometimes exhibited, appear like "pillars of fire" and blood? And is it not remarkable that, although we may account for them on the same principles as were in operation when the fathers fell, no record of them appears till quite recently? The sun, too, has been darkened in his going forth, within the memory of the present generation. But I might proceed almost indefinitely, if I would, in recording the fearful sights and portents that have been witnessed in the present generation. War, famine, earthquake, fearful sights-men's hearts failing them-have all been before us. War of principle, too, as though the great battle of God Almighty was either now fighting, or soon was to be fought: the church cut up into sects, warring about mere points in theology, and leaving the weightier matters of the law, as when Christ first came, is everywhere apparent. Men too are publicly scoffing at religion, and pro

posing, not the laws of God, but of corrupt man, to govern society. These are fearful portents. But let us not deceive ourselves by expecting too much. Whatever comes will come, like the preparations of the thief, scarcely observable, excepting by the most watchful eye. Hence the divine precept, "What I say unto you I say unto all" the church; "watch." Whatever comes, will come so as not to surprise the world, till the hour of destiny arrives. Men will be sporting, as usual, on that very night and day. The bride, on that evening, will be led forth with the glow of happiness before her, and the reaper's eye will be upon his fields with joy-but as quick as the lightning darts from east to west, so will the coming of the Son of man be. G. F. COX.

Portland, Feb., 1842.

[No. IX.]

REPLY TO D. D. WHEDON-OBJECTIONS TO HIS

VIEW.

BEFORE proceeding to review the scriptural quotations of your esteemed correspondent, Rev. D. D. WHEDON, who has conducted the "opposite view" with a spirit truly admirable, and an ability which all

will confess compasses the entire ground and strength of the argument on that side of the question, I wish to present a few leading objections to his theory. He adopts the ground of a terrene or time millennium, a thousand years of unknown prosperity to the church and world before Christ's coming: a millennium in which Satan shall "be bound, cast into the bottomless pit, shut up, and sealed;" and one that shall justify the sacred writers in the language and images in which they set forth this state.

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Such texts as follow must apply to this terrene millennium, if any such state is referred to in the Bible; viz., "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. What a depth of glory! What a depth of knowledge! What a state of joy, and freedom from evil! None to hurt, much less destroy, in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. And this glory and knowledge are to be on earth. My objections lie not against such a state, or such a millennium: but I think that such a state will not be enjoyed till Christ comes a second time; and not until the earth is new-made. Brother Whedon, on the contrary, thinks this state terrene, and limited to time. My objections to his view of the question follow.

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1. Such a state as brother Whedon supposes, during the period of probation, must inevitably change the conditions of salvation. This, it will be conceded, the attributes of God and the Bible forbid; the latter in express terms. "My ways are equal,' saith the Lord. God is not partial: "In every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him." God is the SAME throughout all ages, "yesterday, to-day, and forevermore." It was as easy for Abraham to believe as any one else— as easy for Sodom to be saved as for Jerusalem-no more so, no less so. If God gave much to a nation, or to an individual, he required more; if he gave little, he required less. This law holds good throughout all of God's dispensations--throughout the universe. God's ways are forever equal. But the state proposed is confessedly probationary; and yet free from "evil"-free from the devil, and free from danger of every sort. "Blessed and holy is he that hath a part in the first resurrection-on such the second death hath no power." 'Nothing shall hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain."

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The millennium presented in the Bible, it should be recollected, is one of REST. such a state is essentially totally irreconcilable with the circumstances under which all have believed and been saved, from the beginning of the present dispensation; nay, from the beginning of the world. The devil

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