IvIBRARY 
 
 OF THK 
 
 University of California, 
 
 Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. 
 
 Received October, 18^4. 
 Accessions No.^^Q ^^ . Class No. 
 
THE 
 
 COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/comingcrisisofwoOOreadrich 
 
THE 
 
 COMim CRISIS OF THE ¥ORLD 
 
 OB, 
 
 THE GREAT BATTLE AND THE GOLDEN AGE. 
 
 THE SIGNS OP THE TIMES INDICATING THE APPROACH 
 OF THE GREAT CRISIS, AND 
 
 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 EEV. HOLLIS READ, 
 
 AUTHOR OP "god IX BISTORT," "INDIA AND ITS PEOPLE," " PALACE OP THE GREAT 
 KING," ETC. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE, 
 
 BY REV. S. H. TTNG, D.D. 
 
 COLUMBUS: 
 
 FOLLETT, FOSTER AND COMPANY, 
 
 MDCCCLXI. 
 
BT&7S 
 
 f*JOh% 
 
PREFACE 
 
 We arrogate nothing when we say we are living in a very re- 
 markable period of the world's history. A very general impres- 
 sion obtains in all reflecting minds, that we are on the confines of 
 another of those signal crises which mark the history of our race, 
 and indicate human advancement. The signs of the times are 
 strangely significant. Events in Italy, in Turkey, in China, and 
 especially at the present moment in the United States of America, 
 all indicate the coming of a crisis of surpassing interest. In the 
 Papal, in the Pagan, and in the Mohammedan world, we see signs 
 of coming catastrophes which shall shake terribly the earth, and 
 which presage the no distant approach of the great Battle and 
 the golden age of the Church. 
 
 The rebellion in China is becoming more and more formidable. 
 At the moment when England and France from without are 
 bringing their thunders to bear on that mighty Empire, fearful 
 rumblings of the earthquake are heard within. The " Rebels " 
 are making fearful strides, and creating ominous forebodings in 
 the minds of the Celestials that the days of the Imperial Dy- 
 nasty draw near their end. In the downfall of this Dynasty we 
 behold the dying struggle of the last great Pagan power. 
 
 (V) 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 In like manner the waning of the Crescent — the decay and 
 the dying out of the Moslem power in Turkey, is a sure presage 
 of the no distant extinction of the dominion of Mecca. And the 
 stirring events of the present moment in Italy, and the civil com- 
 motions — the volcanoes over which every Catholic nation in 
 Europe trembles, give no doubtful tokens that great Babylon is 
 toppling to her fall. But in the yet more stirring and startling 
 events now transpiring in our land, we seem at the present moment 
 to lose sight of the commotions that agitate the other nations of 
 the earth, and the mighty elements that are, whether above or 
 beneath the surface, there working out the final destiny of man. 
 It is now in America that the great battle rages. It is the battle 
 for human freedom — for self-government — for universal emanci- 
 pation. The Enemy to be assailed and vanquished is generally 
 the same. In India and China it finds its embodiment in a Pagan 
 Priestcraft. In Europe it is despotism of Rome. In America 
 it is met in the system of African Slavery. Now in turn has this 
 monster form of sin come up in remembrance before Heaven and 
 awaits its final doom. A fearful crisis approaches. Light has 
 broken upon this dark domain of sin. The grim monster writhes 
 in anguish and rouses all his ire for the last conflict. It is our 
 division of the great and final battle, which shall soon caluminate 
 in the universal triumph of civil and social freedom, and of a pure 
 Religion. 
 
 It is not the design of the following chapters to advocate any 
 theory on the subject of the Millennium, but to present some of 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 the features, and the signs of the coming of a generally looked 
 for, and a much desired event. It does not so much concern us 
 when the Millennium shall commence — whether before or after the 
 judgment, or how long it shall continue — whether literally a 
 thousand years, or for an indefinitely long period, as it does to know 
 what shall be the signs of its coming ; what its character ; what 
 is doing as a providential agency, and what the Church has to do, 
 as a matter of human agency, to bring about this happy period ? 
 It is designed to take that kind of practical view of the subject 
 in which it is believed the great majority of evangelical Christians 
 harmonize. 
 
 It seems to the writer much to be deplored that that happy age, 
 — that " golden age " of Christianity, on which prophets have 
 loved to dwell, and sacred poets to sing, and the great teach- 
 ers in Israel to expatiate ; and of which saints of all ages have 
 delighted to talk and write, to hope and pray, should, in some 
 quarters, be so treated as to prejudice the minds of pious, sober 
 men against the discussion of it. Because it has been made the 
 theme of strange speculations and wild vagaries, it is not the 
 less a theme suited to raise the hopes, and wing the faith, and fill 
 with holy joy the hearts of all God's people. Discard the idea 
 of a yet to come golden age of the Church, and how can we vin- 
 dicate the ways of God in the dispensations of his grace among 
 men ? Only the scanty first fruits shall be gathered in during 
 the present dispensation. During " these times of the Gentiles," 
 the gospel is to be preached to all nations as a " witness ; " and a 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 Gentile Church shall be gathered in — a great company of believ- 
 ers shall be taken out of all nations, who, during this dispensation, 
 shall stand as the representative of the Church of God, more con- 
 spicuous, more glorious than the Church had ever been before, but 
 of no glory compared with that which shall follow. The great 
 harvest age of the Church is yet to come ; and shall we not conr 
 template it as one of the great facts of our blessed Religion ? 
 It is eminently fitted to fire the zeal and quicken the diligence of 
 the people of God. 
 
 The writer's object will be gained if he shall contribute some 
 humble share to guide the minds of his readers to a serious con- 
 templation of these great events which seem to be hastening on 
 apace, and prepare them to meet a consummation so devoutly 
 to be wished. 
 
 The world is, at the present moment, in a singularly expectant 
 posture — waiting the next grand climacteric in human affairs. 
 Again, the great heart of the world yearns for a Deliverer, The 
 whole creation groaneth beneath burdens too burdensome to be 
 borne. There is a feeling in the human breast that despotism, 
 bloodshed, fraud, oppression and unbridled lust, have, in defiance 
 of heaven, rioted long enough, and that a righteous God will soon 
 rise in his wrath and make a short work. This prophetic yearn- 
 ing for deliverance — ^this instinctive prophecy of the human heart, 
 is not peculiar to the Christian. The Hindoo, the Mohammedan, 
 the Papist feels it. The world waits the coming change. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 The sheets of this work have been submitted to my perusal, 
 by the great kindness of its author. He has with equal friend- 
 ship and humility asked the expression of my opinion concerning 
 it. I hardly feel it becoming in me to assume a compliance with 
 such a request. I certainly have no power to add any value to 
 the author's well-earned and established reputation given hun by 
 his previous works. The world of readers have expressed their 
 continued and unqualified admiration of the knowledge of facts, 
 and the wisdom of the conclusions, which these books have dis- 
 played. The present publication will certainly increase this ex- 
 tended confidence and respect, and gain for its author even a 
 higher reputation than he has before possessed. 
 
 In the midst of overwhelming duties, I have read it with great 
 
 delight. I should not hold myself responsible for an agreement 
 
 in all its details of opinion. I should feel compelled to carry 
 
 some of its conclusions much farther. I should adopt as neces- 
 
 (ix) 
 
X INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 sary deductions, or even as indispensable elements of argument 
 and expectation, some great facts from which the author relucts 
 in doubt. But it is impossible not to admire the whole line of 
 argument and conclusion which is here laid out, — nor will it be 
 easy, with reason, to reject the general results which are deduced. 
 The interest of the argument and arrangement is maintained 
 without flagging ; and the inteUigent Christian reader will find 
 himself unwilling to lay down the book until he has completed 
 its perusal. 
 
 The closing chapters upon the destiny of the earth are vastly 
 important. They involve a truth, rarely mentioned, perhaps not 
 often considered, and yet I am persuaded, the very revelation 
 of the Holy Scriptures upon the subject. A restored earth, 
 the future everlasting dwelling-place of the redeemed of God, 
 has long been to my mind, the clear promise and testimo- 
 ny of the word of God upon this subject. "We, according 
 to his promise, are looking for a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
 righteousness." The author of this volume brings out this tri- 
 umphant prospect, succinctly but clearly. He might have en- 
 larged it with multiplied details, and fortified it with many divine 
 authorities. What he has done, he has done wisely and well. 
 I cannot doubt his book will be the means of awakening far 
 more general attention to this great subject, and extending an 
 inquiry and study which cannot but result in the conviction of 
 increasing numbers of Christians of the truth and justice of his 
 conclusions. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. XI 
 
 With proper diffidence of my right to the position implied in 
 a commendation of this work, — but with very great sincerity of 
 pleasure in my own perusal of it, I very cheerfully accept the 
 honor offered me in the author's request for this approving intro- 
 ductory note. S. H. T. 
 
 New York, January 23, 1861. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 The hope of a Golden Age— John's vision— The three Tabernacles— 
 The Temple, the New Jerusalem, or the Perfect Temple, types of 
 the Church, Millitant, Triumphant or Millennial, and the Church 
 Perfect and Glorified— Our plan— Nature and character of the Mil- 
 lennium, 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Duration of the Millennium — How it is to be brought about — The 
 means and instrumentalities — The mode of the Divine operation, . 16 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Signs of the approach of the Millennium — Premonitions — Prepara- 
 tions— Judgments — Civil Revolutions — Increase of Knowledge — 
 Apostasies— Persecutions — Sealing of the Servants of God, . . 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Signs — Destruction of the Papacy : of Islamism— The Greek Church- 
 Severance of Church and State — Restoration of the Jews— The slay- 
 ing the Witnesses, . .41 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 These Signs verified in our age — Its characteristics : judgments — Civil 
 commotions— Wars— Spread of the Gospel— Apostasies — The Man 
 
 of Sin, 53 
 
 ( xiii ) 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. PAGE 
 
 Characteristics of our Age— Modern Infidelity as the Man of Sin, . 70 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 More Signs — Paganism — Popery — The Hierarchy of England and of 
 Scotland — Increase of religious knowledge— Stupidity and listless- 
 ness of the wicked — Extensive revivals of Religion, . . .88 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 Mohammedanism : giving no doubtful signs of coming change— The 
 character, mission and destiny of Moslemism — The late war and its 
 results— Eleventh sign, . . 107 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Movements in the camp of Israel, indicating the approach of the latter- 
 day glory — The present condition of the Jews, a (12th) sign of the 
 times, 125 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 More signs of the times — Want of reverence, of loyalty— Signs in the 
 Church — Abounding wickedness, .137 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Great Battle— The slaying of the Witnesses— Their restoration 
 and ascension to Heaven, . . . 155 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 The year 1858 — The financial crisis and the Great Awakening, . . 170 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 The year 1858 — The Sepoy Mutiny and the renovation of India — Peace 
 with China and what of it — Opening of Japan — The Treaty — The 
 Embassy — Africa and her Interior — The Ocean Telegraph — The 
 Great Eastern— A new era, 196 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The great American Crisis ; or the Conflict of 1861— Its causes, char- 
 acter and results— The hand of God in it 221 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XV. PAGB 
 
 The Scripture view ; or several Scripture representations of the Great 
 Conflict, 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Day of Vengeance and the Year of the Redeemed, . . .256 
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 Zechariah, 14th chapter, and its utterances, 272 
 
 CHAPTER XVm. 
 
 The argument from analogy— How is God wont to deal with his People ; 
 and how with the Wicked ? 289 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The duty of Christians in reference to the near approach of the Mil- 
 lennium, 303 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Our Age — Troublous times— Safe to trust in God— The end of the 
 wicked — The people of God urged to renewed activity, . . . 314 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Earth the future and final residence of the Saints — The Scripture 
 proof— Heaven a place — and what place more suitable or more 
 probable ?— good enough, pleasant enough, and large enough, . 326 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Objection : that this earth is not large enough for the future residence 
 of all earth's redeemed — Spiritual bodies ; their locomotive powers — 
 The employments of heaven — Sin the great evil, .... 336 
 
HlY 
 
 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The hope of a Golden Age — John's vision — The three Tabernacles — The 
 Temple, the New Jerusalem, or the Perfect Temple, types of the Church, 
 Militant, Triumphant or Millennial, and the Church Perfect and Glorified 
 — Our Plan — Nature and character of the Millennium. 
 
 Hope has ever pictured to the human mind the idea of some 
 future golden age. Poets have sung the good time coming. 
 Philosophers have portrayed their Utopias ; in which all the 
 social and domiestic relations of man shall be blessed — laws 
 and civil institutions shall realize all their beneficent designs 
 — in which man in all his relations and positions shall expand 
 into a perfect manhood ; in which his mental and moral capabili- 
 ties shall meet their full development, and he flourish in all his 
 primeval glory — in which renovated nature, disenthralled from 
 the curse of six thousand years, shall glow again in all her pris- 
 tine loveliness and beauty : " beautiful meadows alternated with 
 pleasant groves ; a serene and cloudless sky spread over them, 
 and a soft, celestial light sheds a magical brilliancy over every 
 object. The heroes there renew their favorite sports" — Orpheus 
 
35 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 discourses enchanting music. Perpetual spring reigns : the earth 
 teems with bounty thrice a year ; and all cares, pains and infirm- 
 ities are banished from those happy abodes. 
 
 But the longing desire and the cherished expectation of a 
 return to earth of the beauty and glory of Paradise, is by no 
 means a notion but dimly and doubtfully traced through heathen 
 Mythologies or systems of ancient Philosophy ; or faintly im- 
 aged forth in early dispensations of the true Faith. We ever 
 and anon meet in these systems and dispensations, as might 
 be expected, reflections — scattered rays, of these animating 
 truths, more or less vivid and just ; yet the idea of earth's eman- 
 cipation from the curse, and the inauguration of the reign of peace 
 and righteousness among men, lives with the best religious in- 
 stincts of the human heart, and is associated with the most ecstatic 
 hopes of the people of God in all ages of the world. 
 
 Weary and heavy laden, strugghng against life's burdens, and 
 but too often overcome by its temptations and sins, the hopeful, 
 waiting children of the promise are reaching forward to the 
 halcyon days when the beauties and glories of Eden shall 
 again return, and the voice of God shall again walk among the 
 trees of the garden. Angels shall mingle with men, and heaven 
 and earth enjoy sweet communion. Seers of old have pre- 
 dicted such a period; ancient bards have sung it — patriarchs, 
 and saints in every age of the Church, have prayed for, hoped and 
 waited for these golden days — when all shall be righteous, when 
 the New Jerusalem shall be came down from heaven — when the 
 glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all eyes shall see it — 
 when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of 
 our Lord, and his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven ; 
 when sickness and sorrrow shall no more intrude ; when all tears 
 shall be wiped away : 
 
THE THREE TABERNACLES, 3 
 
 " Disease was none ; the voice of war forgot , 
 The sword, a share ; a pruning-hook, the spear: 
 Men grew and multiplied upon the earth, 
 And filled the city and the waste ; and Death 
 Stood waiting for the lapse of tardy age, 
 That mocked him long." 
 
 This was the beatific vision which the beloved disciple saw on 
 the Isle of Patmos. A vista was opened to him through the 
 clouds that should darken the pathway of the Church in her 
 onward career through the world, and he saw, as if painted on 
 canvas, the future glories of the Millennial day. 
 
 " And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying. Behold, the 
 tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and 
 they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, 
 and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from 
 their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor 
 crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former 
 things are passed away." This is the glorious consummation of 
 all so devoutly wished for, prayed for and waited for, by all 
 whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. They are 
 the Temple of the living God — living stones in the true Taber- 
 nacle, the New Jerusalem, descended out of heaven from God. 
 
 Mention is made of three tabernacles erected by the children 
 of Israel, and used as their great central places of worship before 
 the building of the Temple by Solomon. The first was erected 
 by Moses in the early period of the journey through the desert; the 
 second was the one of which we have a veiy particular account 
 in the last half of the book of Exodus ; which is by distinction 
 called, the tabernacle; the third was the tabernacle built by 
 David on the reception of the ark from the house of Obed-edom. 
 It is the second, the one known as the tabernacle, the one made 
 after the " pattern shown in the mount," which I shall take occa- 
 
4 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 sion to use to illustrate an important idea in the history of the 
 Christian Church. 
 
 This Tabernacle was designed to be a stiking type of the true 
 Church. The apostle Paul speaks of the gospel Church as the 
 true tabernacle, which God hath pitched and not man. And 
 again he speaks of the Tabernacle and the things pertaining 
 thereto as the patterns of things in the heavens. He calls the 
 tabernacle the "holy things made with hands, but which are fig- 
 ures of the true ; " or the spiritual tabernacle made without hands 
 — the kingdom that cometh without observation — that is not of 
 this world. It is called a " worldly sanctuary," in distinction 
 from the heavenly, or that which is signified by the typical one. 
 The Church is called a Temple — a living Temple. The Tab- 
 ernacle was a type — a sort of miniature representation of the 
 Church — a " figure of the true tabernacle." 
 
 The design of the Tabernacle is further suggested by the man- 
 ner in which it was built. First, it was made after a heavenly 
 model. God charged Moses that he should see to it that he made 
 all things " after the pattern shown him in the mount." The 
 various materials of which every several part should be made ; 
 its form, dimensions, curtains, coverings ; every tenon, socket, loop 
 and tache ; every minute particular was specified. No less than 
 fifteen chapters are taken up in the details of the directions how 
 the tabernacle should be constructed, together with its furniture, 
 the officiating priests, their vestments and duties. 
 
 The Tabernacle, too, was built by the voluntary contrihitions 
 of the people. They brought their silver and their gold, their 
 jewels, their precious stones, fine linen, wood, brass, and skins — a 
 great variety of materials of the richest kind. Judging from 
 the immense amount of wealth which appears to have been ex- 
 pended in the construction of the Tabernacle, in connection with 
 the fact that the Israelites were at this time sojourners, or wan- 
 
COST OF THE TABERNACLE. 5 
 
 derers in the wilderness, we may believe that it was a selection, 
 if not an accumulation of most of the precious things of the 
 nation. 
 
 The cost and elegance of the Tabernacle is a matter which 
 deserves a passing notice. We have data from which we may cal- 
 culate at least a part of the expense of this structure. Simply 
 the gold and the silver, used in the construction, amounted to more 
 than $800,000 ($810,600) ; and if we add to this the brass and 
 copper, and shittim wood ; the rich embroidered curtains and cano- 
 pies ; the jewels set in the High Priest's ephod and breastplate ; 
 the furniture of the Tabernacle, and the skillful workmanship 
 of the whole, the value must .be immense. A million of our 
 money would not cover it. This sum was raised partly by vol- 
 untary contributions and presents, and partly by a poll-tax of half 
 a shekel a head for every male Isi*aelite above 20 years old. 
 The sum raised by this tax was 100 talents, and 1775 shekels, that 
 is, £35,354 75. 6d., or $157,000. The beauty, elegance, expen- 
 siveness, and the peculiar construction of the Tabernacle, indicate a 
 design in its construction, much beyond the mere convenience of 
 affording the wandering Israelites a place of worship. It was 
 a figure of things to come — a type of the true gospel Church. 
 
 But we have another representation of the Church — or a met- 
 aphorical description of the true Tabernacle, or heaven. After the 
 vision of the general judgment, " John saw the holy city, new 
 Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned 
 for her husband. And 1 heard a great voice out of heaven say- 
 ing, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will 
 dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself 
 shall be with them, and be their God." And in this condition 
 of things it is added, there shall be no "tears" — no "death" 
 — ^nor " sorrow nor crying," nor " pain," — "/or the former things 
 are passed away^ This is of course the perfect, consummated, 
 
6 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 the glorified state of the Church — not only an advanced condition 
 of the Church, but the final and perfect condition. This is the 
 true Tabernacle itself, for which every former building has been 
 preparing the way, and for which each has been preparing stones 
 with which to build. 
 
 The tabernacle well represented the Church in the wilderness 
 — the Church migratory — the Church altogether militant. Dur- 
 ing this condition, the Church has no rest — no habitation — she is 
 the camp of the great Captain — the host of the Lord dwelling in 
 a tent. The final and glorified state of the Church shall be a 
 state of rest and habitation — unchangeable — and is very appro- 
 priately represented by a city — a city that hath " foundations," 
 not to be undermined or in any way subject to the decay of time — 
 a city of " habitation ; " those who dwHl in it shall be at rest, shall 
 fear no change — whose streets are oi'ffold — whose walls are of pre- 
 cious stones — whose gates are of pearl — and whose light is the 
 Temple of the Lord ; and whose gates, on every side, are open 
 night and day. 
 
 This we may call the New Jerusalem state of the Church, or 
 the Church triumphant. But between the Tabernacle state of 
 the Church and the New Jerusalem state, there appears to be 
 an intermediate dispensation, which we may, with propriety, call 
 the Temple state of the Church. After the migratory state of God's 
 people was ended and they changed their tents for the substantial 
 dwellings of Palestine, they finally exchanged the Tabernacle, 
 which was the symbol of their wilderness state, for the yet more 
 substantial, permanent, beautiful, and costly Temple. This we 
 may take to represent an advanced state of the Church and a 
 state intermediate, between the Tabernacle of the wilderness and 
 the New Jerusalem from heaven. The Temple was more than 
 the Tabernacle, yet much less than a city, the New Jerusalem 
 from heaven. The Tabernacle was built after the pattern shown 
 
THE NEW JERUSALEM THE CHURCH. 7 
 
 in the Mount ; the Temple was built after the similitude of the 
 Tabernacle, yet a higher order of structure ; and the New Jeru- 
 salem is the true Spiritual Tabernacle itself. They are all of 
 the same pattern, and are symbols, or representations, of the same 
 reality, each, however, an advanced step on the preceding. 
 
 If, then, we may take the Tabernacle as a type of the true 
 gospel Church in her wilderness state, and the New Jerusalem, 
 of her glorified state, may we not take the Temple as a symbol 
 of her Millennial state ? — a state of greater glory than ever be- 
 fore, and yet not of perfect glory ; a state of more rest, peace and 
 purity than ever before, and yet not of perfect rest, peace or 
 purity. 
 
 An illustration of this kind indicates perhaps better than 
 we could otherwise do, the comparative perfection of the dif- 
 ferent dispensations of grace through which the Church of 
 God has from age to age been conducted. The Church is a 
 growth — from the weakest, rudest infancy to a beautiful, perfect 
 manhood. Or it is a structure, from an altar of unhewn stone, 
 to the "golden altar" that stands before the throne of God 
 above. It is the concentration and the summation of the Divine 
 Wisdom, Goodness and Mercy. It is in the moral Universe — the 
 Palace of the Great King — the Temple of the living God, where 
 we behold, in all the perfection of beauty, the moral workman- 
 ship of our God. 
 
 Allowing these preliminary remarks to contribute what they 
 may to the better understanding of what shall follow, I propose 
 in the present volume to pursue the following inquiries : 
 
 I. What are we to expect as the Millennial state of the 
 Church? 
 
 II. How is such a state to be brought about? Means — ^instru- 
 ments — divine mode of operation ? 
 
 in. The signs of the approach of such a period. 
 
o THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 iV. Are there indications already — do we find these signs so 
 verified in our own age as to betoken its near approach ? 
 
 V. May we expect this reign of peace and righteousness in 
 our world without a great conflict ? And what shall this conflict 
 be? 
 
 VI. "What is the duty of the Christian Church in reference 
 to the approach of the Millennium ? 
 
 There is a very general expectation among pious people that the 
 Church is yet to enjoy a Millennium, or a thousand years of high 
 spiritual prosperity — that this long desired and happy period 
 shall be preceded and indeed induced by wars, commotions and 
 divine judgments, as well as by an extensive prevalence of the 
 gospel ; and that it shall be followed by an unusually bold and 
 virulent outburst of iniquity — the long suppressed energies of 
 sin and the restrained violence and hatred of Satan being let loose 
 — which shall seem for a time to be about to overwhelm and 
 crush the Cimrch, but which shall after a little while and in a 
 most remarkable way, be overruled to the complete discomfiture 
 of the Enemy and to the final dismay of all the foes of the Church. 
 
 I. Our first inquiry relates to the nature and character of the 
 Millennium. 
 
 But we meet at the very threshold an objection against the views 
 held concerning the Millennium, by the Church at large. A class, 
 and perhaps a growing class of Christians, do not believe in any 
 intermediate state between the present confused, unbelieving condi- 
 tion of the Church, and the glorified and perfect condition. They 
 believe in the speedy coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to set up 
 his personal reign on the earth — in the resurrection and judg- 
 ment hefore the Millennium, and in the eternal and universal reign 
 of Christ on this earth. Their views of the Millennium are, that it 
 is a perfect and glorified state — that probation shall have closed — 
 sin be completely eradicated from the earth, and unalloyed holiness 
 
THE MILLENNIUM MOSAIC DISPENSATION. 9 
 
 have exclusive possession. The view I take of the Millennium is 
 this : It is in the progress of Redemption the next signal dispen- 
 sation of God^s grace to man. It is the third and the last dispensa- 
 tion under the Abrahamic covenant. I say under the Abrahamic 
 covenant, for we seem, only from the call of Abraham, to be able 
 to make out, historically, a regular and onward progress of the 
 work of grace. Before Abraham, the Sun of Righteousness, 
 which rose so bright on Eden and shone for a little season, cast 
 only a confused light over this dark world — shining only ever 
 and anon through the bright example of some Patriarch or 
 Prophet, some Job or Melchisedech. But after this interesting 
 epoch, the confused light became more and more concentrated, 
 and from this period we are able to trace the regular gradation 
 of human salvation. The first grand step of advancement, we 
 call the Mosaic Dispensation, a dispensation limited in its range, 
 confined to the people of one small nation, and none the less lim- 
 ited in its developments of spiritual light and life. It was a car- 
 nal dispensation — little more than a Religion of form — at most a 
 Religion of ordinances. It did not address itself strongly to the 
 moral sentiments of our natures, but stood rather in meats and 
 drinks, and diverse washings. The washing of regeneration, the 
 doctrine of atonement, the spiritual life of the soul, the duties of uni- 
 versal Benevolence, and the retributions of futurity, were but dimly 
 shadowed forth. This was the legal Dispensation — the Dispen- 
 sation in which God vindicated his unity and propagated his 
 law. But the light of this dispensation was soon extinguished — 
 or rather its light was swallowed up in the transcendently greater 
 light of the gospel Dispensation. It was as the extinguishing of 
 a twinkling star-light by the rising of the full-orbed sun. The 
 narrow boundaries of Jerusalem were broken down — the whole 
 world now became an arena for the full development of God's 
 grace to man through the gospel — the gospel should now be 
 
10 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 preached to all nations — the invitation to life and immortality 
 should be extended to every son and daughter of Adam. 
 
 " The plan of God, in revealing his will to man, is in accord- 
 ance with the great law of his providence : — first, the blade ; then 
 the ear ; then the full corn in the ear : — first, the blushing dawn ; 
 then the rising sun ; then its meridian effulgence. In the revela- 
 tion of his will, it was, first, the promise as to the seed of the 
 woman ; then the typical economy of Moses ; then came proph- 
 ets who gradually unfolded the coming of a brighter day, when 
 the Lord would make a * new covenant with the house of Israel, 
 and with the house of Judah.' And, then, at the point of time 
 where the lines of history and prophesy met and blended, called 
 ' the fulness of time,' ' the Word was made flesh.' And in the 
 person of Christ we see again the law of development ; he was 
 first the babe of Bethlehem ; soon we see him confounding the 
 doctors in the temple ; thence onward, to his baptism by John 
 and by the Holy Ghost, he grew in favor with God and with 
 man. And having taught the way of life as it was never taught 
 before, and having given the most convincing proofs of the divin- 
 ity of his mission, by the most astonishing manifestation of mi- 
 raculous power, having finished the work which was given to him 
 to do, having revealed the great principles, and laid the founda- 
 tion of the new covenant, he went up to enter upon the glory 
 which he had with the Father before the world was. And before 
 he ascended on high he gave a ministry to the Church, some to 
 be prophets, some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors and 
 teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the 
 body of Christ." * 
 
 Christianity was an advance on the former Dispensation, so 
 extraordinary that even the apostles formed no adequate concep- 
 
 * Kirwan, in N. Y. Observer. 
 
THE GOSPEL TO BE PREACHED. 11 
 
 tion of it. Nothing short of a miracle could convince Peter, and 
 through him, the other apostles, that they might go and preach to 
 the Gentiles — and that the Gentiles should be gathered into the 
 same fold and under the same shepherd with the Jews. This 
 was the " mystery hidden from the foundation of the world," but 
 now made known to the apostles. The gospel should be preached 
 to all, and a selection — or election should be made out of all na- 
 tions. But this dispensation gives signs of coming to a close with- 
 out having accomplished what were announced should be the final 
 consummations of the gospel. We expect that such promises as 
 these will be fulfilled : " In thee shall all the families of the earth 
 be blessed." " The meek shall inherit the earth, and delight them- 
 selves in the abundance of peace." " All the ends of the earth 
 shall fear him." " He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and 
 from the rivers to the ends of the earth." " All kings shall fall 
 down before him; all nations shall call him blessed." "The 
 whole earth shall be filled with his glory." 
 
 Such promises have not yet been fulfilled; and indeed, we 
 have no reason to expect their fulfilment under the present order 
 of things. We look therefore for the opening of new scenes — 
 for the ushering in of a new order of things, which shall be at 
 least as signal an advance on the present gospel dispensation, as 
 that is on the Mosaic. The kingdom of Christ shall yet be uni- 
 versal on this earth — righteousness shall prevail — sin shall be in 
 subjection — Rulers, people — Kings and nations shall acknowledge 
 the Messiah as a Prince and Saviour. 
 
 We think therefore that we may affirm the following things of 
 the Millennium: 
 
 1. It will not be a sinless state. It is not the final, perfect, 
 glorified state of the Church. Man will still be on probation. 
 Temptations to sin will still exist. All this is very evident from 
 the fact that at the close of the thousand years, there shall bo found 
 
12 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 still on earth such a multitude who shall raise the standard of 
 revolt and make war against the saints. Yet, though it shall 
 not be a sinless state, it shall be a state in which sin shall not 
 reign. During the present dispensation Satan still remains the 
 " god of this world." At the commencement of it, he was van- 
 quished, but not dispossessed. During the whole of this period 
 sin has reigned unto death. During the happy period looked for, 
 righteousness shall reign unto eternal life. Righteousness shall 
 be in the ascendant — shall be all-prevalent. Sin shall be a re- 
 proach and a byword. It shall be the reign of peace — of pu- 
 rity — of holiness. It shall be a period as remarkable at least for 
 the preponderance of righteousness, as the past eighteen hundred 
 years has been for the preponderance of sin — as remarkable for 
 the reign of Christ in the hearts of men, as the past period has 
 been for the reign of Satan. 
 
 2. We may take the following as some of the characteristics of 
 that blessed period : God will be glorified on earth. Atheism, infi- 
 delity, irreligion will be unknown, except as they exist in cringing 
 subordination to the righteous. Talent, time, wealth will be made 
 to honor and beautify the sanctuary of the Lord. The kings of 
 the earth, the great, the rich, the wise, the exalted, will bring their 
 honor and riches into the house of the Lord. They will consecrate 
 them to the service of God. It will be a time, too, when the great 
 multitude of the earth's inhabitants shall be saved. It will be 
 especially a time of the reign of the Spirit. " I will pour my 
 spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy offspring." " All 
 thy children shall be taught of God." " This is my covenant 
 in those days, saith the Lord ; my spirit which is upon thee, 
 and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart 
 out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the 
 mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for- 
 ever." There shall be a succession of pious families from gen- 
 
UNIVERSAL PEACE. 13 
 
 eration to generation. Piety shall descend from father to son, 
 not by natural generation, but by a promised effusion of the Holy- 
 Spirit, and as a blessing on pious, parental instruction and believ- 
 ing prayer. 
 
 Another characteristic of that period shall be, that the Devil, 
 who now goes up and down in the earth like a roaring lion, seek- 
 ing whom we may devour, shall he bound. Men shall then be 
 delivered from his wiles and temptations. The invisible powers 
 of darkness shall no more assail them — spiritual wickedness in 
 high places no more harm them. What a deliverance to be shield- 
 ed from the fiery darts of the wicked one ! 
 
 Again, it will be a time of universal peace. War is confess- 
 edly one of the greatest curses humanity is heir to — the vilest 
 progeny of sin. The war-spirit, rioting in blood and carnage 
 which is incidental to a wholesale human butchery, may claim a 
 nearer kindred to the spirit of the pit than any thing to be found 
 on earth. But this shall be no more : " He maketh wars to cease 
 unto the ends of the earth ; he breaketh the bow ; he cutteth the 
 spear in sunder ; he burneth the chariot in fire" " They shall 
 beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning- 
 hooks." The occasions of war shall be removed. The rights of 
 man being no longer invaded, each doing as he would that another 
 should do to him, all shall be peace. What a contrast from the 
 present clashing, contending, belligerent state of the world ! 
 
 Health and long life, again, will bless the race of man. How 
 much of life at the present time is but mere endurance! Life 
 now is not lived and enjoyed, but groaned out in anguish and 
 woe ! How many meet the " evil days," in which they say, " I 
 have no pleasure in them ! " How many walk in bitterness all 
 their life, languishing under weakness and pain ! How many are 
 cut off in the very morning of life, and see their hopes blasted ere 
 they were realized ! But in that day it shall not be so. « The 
 
14 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 inhabitants shall no more say, / am sick." " As the days of a 
 tree, shall be the days of my people, and my elect shall long en- 
 joy the work of their hands." They shall build houses and in- 
 habit them — plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. Death 
 is the wages of sin — and no small share of the sicknesses and 
 diseases to which we are subject, is but the legitimate fruit of our 
 own transgressions. 
 
 The virtuous habits which will then prevail, will vastly prolong 
 the term of human life, and of consequence greatly increase the 
 population of the globe ; and the blessing of the Lord on the 
 ground and the increased industry and skill of man, will fill the 
 earth with an overflowing abundance. Long life, and health and 
 plenty shall then be the heritage of man. 
 
 Another feature of that age relates to the happy change which 
 shall characterize civil governments in their relation to the Church. 
 If not openly hostile, they have been generally and really opposed 
 to the free growth and prosperity of the Church. It shall not be 
 so in the day of Zion's prosperity. " Kings shall be thy nursing 
 fathers." " I will make all thine officers peace, and thine exac- 
 tors righteousness." " Thou shalt suck the breasts of kings." 
 The righteous being in authority, the people shall rejoice. " Kings 
 shall minister unto thee." '' They shall bring their riches and 
 glory unto thee." 
 
 It will be, too, a time of extraordinary knowledge. Health, 
 leisure, piety, and superabounding plenty will make study easy 
 and successful. The high state of civilization and refinement 
 which shall obtain in those days ; the increased opportunities for 
 gaining knowledge ; the protracted term of human existence ; the 
 increased aspirations of the pious mind after all true knowledge, 
 all imply that knowledge will be pursued with a zeal and success 
 not now known. 
 
 But of all the characteristics which shall distinjruish that 
 
A GOOD DAY TO ZION. 15 
 
 blessed period, holiness shall be the most prominent. " All the 
 ■people sliall be righteous." Abounding righteousness shall 
 distinguish that period. All shall now be " righteousness and 
 peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." That is, the prevailing 
 feeling of the world shall be holy. Sin shall be kept in sub- 
 jection — wicked men shall be held in merited reprobation and 
 contempt — good men alone shall be exalted — and true worth, 
 genuine goodness, unostentatious, sincere piety be honored among 
 men. 
 
 Tliat shall be a good day to Zion — it shall be the triumph of 
 Christianity in our world — the righteous shall see and be glad. 
 
 But how shall this good time, so long waited for by patriarchs 
 and prophets, and prayed for by all saints, be brought about ? 
 What means, what instruments, what divine interpositions and 
 agencies shall be employed to realize the many and precious prom- 
 ises of its coming ? We reserve these considerations for the next 
 chapter. 
 
 In the mean time let us reflect, 1st, what motives we have to the 
 cultivation of holiness. The kingdom of heaven is within us. 
 The Millennium is simply an increase of personal holiness. 
 
 2d. The Millennium is the triumph of Christianity. The Church 
 is now in her wilderness state. She shall come forth in all her 
 beauty and majesty, put on her strength and appear in her glory. 
 She shall take possession of the earth. As we trace this rising 
 kingdom from the humiliation of the cross to its triumph in the 
 conquest of the world, we shall have occasion to rejoice in the 
 strength of the Lord our Saviour. 
 
 >^ Of T 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Duration of the Millennium — How it is to be brought about — The means 
 and instrumentalities — The mode of the Divine operation. 
 
 " And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house 
 Bhall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; 
 and all nations shall flow into it." — Isa. ii. 2. 
 
 Isaiah is the far-seeing, the evangelical prophet. No one 
 speaks more freely of the defections and sins of the Church. No 
 one rebukes more severely, yet opens so freely, unfailing sources 
 of encouragement. As in the motto to this chapter, he often re- 
 fers to the future glory of the Church — to that more exalted and 
 advanced state of Zion which we call the Millennium, or the 
 highest earthly condition of the Church ; and also to her jfinal 
 and glorified state. 
 
 " The mountain of the Lord's house" is a term which the Jews 
 were accustomed to apply to the Temple, or rather to the hill on 
 which the Temple stood. The meaning of the prediction is that 
 Zion, the true Church — the living Tabernacle — that which is rep- 
 resented by the term Zion, or the true Temple of the Lord, is des- 
 tined to hold a positioji yet on this earth which she has never yet 
 held. She is to be exalted above all the principalities and powers 
 of this world — she is to be " established" in honor and riches and 
 
THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE CHURCH. 17 
 
 moral power far above all the towering hills of human pretension 
 — far above the loftiest mountains of earthly power and magnifi- 
 cence. 
 
 II. In the prosecution of the theme announced, I proceed to a 
 consideration of our second inquiry : How is the state of things 
 alluded to to be brought about ? 
 
 I have not deemed it necessfiry to consume time to establish 
 i\iQfact that the Church is yet to enjoy her golden age on this 
 earth. No fact seems to be more clearly and abundantly estab- 
 lished in the word of God, and none more fully responded to by 
 reason. . Strange, indeed, if this earth, so admirably fitted up for 
 a habitation of man, should be given up to waste and spoiling — 
 to the dominion of Satan, the god of this world. How soon was 
 the beauty of Eden faded ! How soon the peace and purity of 
 the primeval morning changed into the violence and corruption of 
 a disastrous day ! Sin changed Eden into a wilderness. The earth 
 has since been full of violence. Carnage and bloodshed and moral 
 corruption have principally made up its history. But shall il always 
 be so ? Shall not the bloom and beauty of Eden again return ? 
 Shall not the tree of life again scatter its leaves for the healing of 
 the nations ? Shall not the tree of knowledge again flourish in 
 the midst of the garden ? Shall not earth's primeval beauty and 
 fragrance return ? Shall not peace and purity, and long life, and 
 plenty and health, like the plentiful and perennial streams from 
 some exhaustless fountain, bless the now smitten, sufiering race of 
 -man ? We look for such a period. Reason, as well as the sure 
 word of prophecy, allows us to look for such a period. 
 
 Precisely how long a period this shall be, we may not find it 
 easy to determine. Satan shall be bound a thousand years. 
 Literally, a thousand years shall we suppose ? This seems not to 
 preserve the proportion of things, and therefore militates against 
 reason — nor does it better accord with the Scripture representa- 
 
18 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 tions of this period. Six thousand years are allowed to 'prepare 
 for this period — two thousand in preparations so incipient and 
 indefinite as to leave it doubtful from any historical records which 
 we have, whether the work of redemption were really advancing 
 or retrograding. From Adam to Abraham it was doubtless a 
 period of effective preparation ; but it was that kind of prepara- 
 tion which goes on in the forest — hewing the wood and quarrying 
 the marble. The next two thousand years passed away princi- 
 pally in the collection of the materials for, and in the laying of 
 the foundation of, the living Temple. During this period (from 
 Abraham to Christ) the superstructure began to be raised, but 
 so incomplete that a general outline of the finished Temple could 
 scarcely be discerned. Now Christ came, and from that time the 
 ostensible progress of the work has been much hastened, yet 
 nothing is brought to its completion. The Church has only 
 been preparing to take possession of the earth — the Temple has 
 been being made ready to be reared. There has been no such 
 acknowledged possession, no such Temple fully erected. Is it 
 reasonable that the preparation should occupy six thousand years, 
 and the actual realization and enjoyment of the complete build- 
 ing but a thousand years ? 
 
 The Scriptures, I think, represent the Millennium to be an in- 
 definitely long period — ^I do not know how long. The number, a 
 thousand, in Scripture, as also in conversation, is often put for an 
 indefinitely great number, without intending to define how great. 
 We find the Millennium spoken of in such terms as these : " Yet 
 a little while and the wicked shall not be ; but the meek shall in- 
 herit the earthy and shall delight themselves in the abundance of 
 peace." The reign of the wicked, which was at least six thousand 
 years, is spoken of as a little while. The reign of the righteous 
 on the earth is spoken of as a permanent habitation. " Blessed 
 are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." "In his days shall 
 
TO BE AN EXALTED CONDITION. 19 
 
 the Tighteons Jiourish." Abundant are the expressions which 
 speak of the earthly kingdom as a long period — long in reality, 
 and long in comparison with the period when sin has had domin- 
 ion. 
 
 But our position at this time is, that the expected Millennium 
 of the Church shall be an exalted condition — a civil, social, do- 
 mestic, individual, and especially, a moral or religious exaltation. 
 The human apostasy was a signal and melancholy depression of 
 humanity — a debasement. The newly-created man was a noble 
 creature — godlike, heavenly ; and the newly-created earth was a 
 beautiful globe, redolent with the Divine goodness, and radiant 
 with the Divine glory. The holy, happy, beautiful pair of Eden 
 found as beautiful a counterpart in that ever-blooming, smiling, 
 fertile earth. But sin came as a poison to mar the face of man, 
 to send disease and pain into his bones and death into his soul — 
 as the thunder-bolt, the earthquake and the deluge, to mar the 
 beauty of the earth ; and as the demon of war, the famine and 
 pestilence, to send terror and desolation into the habitations of 
 man. 
 
 Man's condition has heretofore been a suffering and degraded 
 condition. Despotism, Infidelity, Barbarism, have been so many 
 harpies preying on the vitals of man's well-being on earth. The 
 better condition of which we speak, is to be a deliverance from 
 these manifold evils. The physical condition of the earth shall 
 be changed. Barrenness shall give place to fertility — deformity 
 10 beauty. The improved moral character of man — the vastly 
 mcreased industry, enterprise and public spirit — an improvement 
 of taste, knowledge and skill, will do wonders to overcome the 
 physical ruins of the fall, and to renovate, beautify and fertilize 
 the whole face of the earth. Civil governments will then exist 
 in their perfection. The oppressions, abuses and unwarrantable 
 usurpations of despotism will be unknown. Wars shall cease. 
 
20 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Even the weapons of war shall be converted into the implements 
 of husbandry — and none shall ham war any more. The social 
 condition of man too shall then be as remarkably changed and 
 elevated. The causes of all social, domestic and individual strifes, 
 animosities and evils will be removed, and of consequence man 
 in all these relations become happy. Nor need I say how effect- 
 ually the removal of such evils will tend to the further progress 
 of the race. In nothing will the Millennium be more remarkable 
 than in rapid progress in all that is good and really worthy of 
 human pursuit — in holiness and true goodness ; in the pursuits of 
 knowledge ; in progress in all useful and ornamental arts ; in the 
 sciences ; in all the peaceful avocations of life ; and in all improve- 
 ments, inventions, and discoveries ; and in whatever can contrib- 
 ute to the true elevation, dignity, enjoyment and usefulness of 
 man. 
 
 As the basis and substratum of all this, lies man's moral im- 
 provement. This is the great distinctive characteristic of the 
 Millennium. The cause that has brought man into his present con- 
 fused and suffering condition, is not, as some suppose, simply that his 
 civil and social relations are disordered, and consequently all that 
 is needed is the reorganization of society. The cause is a moral 
 one. It is because man is a sinner. When therefore, as in the 
 Millennium, men shall " all be righteous " — shall all be " taught 
 of God " — " shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace," 
 all these natural evils shall be removed. 
 
 In the prevalence of holiness, therefore, we shall meet all the 
 varied prosperity so abundantly foretold of the latter-day glory 
 of Zion. 
 
 But it is time that I proceed more directly to our Second In- 
 quiry, viz. : 
 
 How the Millennium shall be brought about ? or the mode of its 
 introduction and of what, as a result, it shall consist ? First, 
 
HOW THE MILLENNIUM TO BE BROUGHT ABOUT. 21 
 
 we may pursue the inquiry in relation to the materials of which 
 it is composed ; and secondly, as to the means and instruments. 
 In pursuing the inquiry, I shall use the emblem of a Temple as a 
 convenient representation of the Millennial Church. 
 
 1. How shall this Temple be constructed as to its materials ? 
 The Tabernacle, the figure of the Church in its first type, was 
 built of a great variety of choice materials brought by the people 
 as their free-will offerings — their jewels and most valued treas- 
 ures. And the Temple, a structure not differing essentially 
 from the Tabernacle, except as a magnificent durable edifice dif- 
 fers from a frail tent, was built of materials prepared with great 
 care and expense in ^previous reign. David prepared the mate- 
 rials, and of these Solomon built the Temple. I mean that the 
 Millennium shall be a natural, and, under God's hand, a neces- 
 sary result, drawn from all that is good and godlike in all the 
 past ages of the Church. The Millennium shall be a concentra- 
 tion, an accumulation of the good and right of all past ages. It 
 shall be a resurrection (as it is called) of all that is approved of 
 God in the past history of the Church. The past may be regard- 
 ed in the light of a series of experiments. Under all possible cir- 
 cumstances — under all the gone-by forms of government — by the 
 aid of all sorts of institutions, systems, associations, and by a 
 great variety of forms under which the Church has existed, God 
 has been developing the good and right. Under all possible cir- 
 cumstances the 7iet has been cast, gathering the good and the bad ; 
 the bad has been rejected and the good carefully gathered up and 
 preserved. Truth, justice, right — all that is godlike — approved 
 of God, is eternal. It is perhaps not too much to believe that 
 every truth which has been practically illustrated in the past his- 
 tory of our world is immortal, whether it be in the form of a 
 political principle or precept, or a religious maxim or truth, or a 
 tjocial, domestic or personal virtue. Though it shall seem to share 
 
22 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 the fate of mortals, yet it shall rise again. It shall have part in 
 the first resurrection, and shall reign with Christ a thousand years. 
 Here God will garner the wheat, while the chaff he will burn 
 with unquenchable fire. 
 
 Perhaps there has never been a form of government^ in which, 
 with all the rubbish of despotism and wrong, which has often 
 burnt like an oven and often burnt itself to annihilation, there 
 has not been gathered up some sound maxims of political econ- 
 omy — the pure gold of political truth. Republics, Monarch- 
 ies, Despotisms, have each contributed (though by no means 
 equally) to form the perfect Temple of political wisdom which 
 the nations in the days of the Messiah shall enjoy. Under no 
 existing form is the 'patriarchal form of government so beauti- 
 fully illustrated as in the present Chinese Government. Nor do 
 I know that any other makes merit so exclusively and essentially 
 the only qualification for an office of state. 
 
 Other forms of government are incidentally and, as by mistake, 
 furnishing other fragments of the right and true, which the great 
 Architect is carefully guarding, and which will finally go to 
 make up the sum total of a perfect system. The political econ- 
 omy of the Millennium shall be constructed of pre-existing 
 materials — shall be a summation of the results of all former ex- 
 periences. No existing form will answer the demands of that 
 period. 
 
 And so I may say, perhaps with equal truth, there has never 
 been a form of Religion — a Church organization, which has not 
 contributed some living stone to the true Temple. As I suppose 
 no existing form of civil government shall be the prevailing form 
 in the Millennium, so I suppose that no present form of the Chris- 
 tian Church is the Millennial form. Yet no form of the Church 
 has been so deformed — no condition been so corrupt, as not to illus- 
 trate some of the true beauties and excellencies of the Church — 
 
PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF THE ROMISH CHURCH. 23 
 
 though the worst forms of Christianity illustrate the truth rather 
 by way of contrast and perversion. We may take the Romish 
 Church for an example. As an organization, this Church is not 
 a system of absolute error, but of perverted Truth. It is a fright- 
 ful skeleton of the true Body, every bone and joint hung and sat- 
 urated with corruption. Its soul is gone, and its flesh and sin- 
 ews are decayed — its strength and beauty departed. The virgin 
 daughter of Zion has become an harlot She has a soul, but it 
 is the soul of a devil. Yet no other professed body of Christ 
 has retained so much of the framework of the true Church. A 
 counterfeit coin may have more of the proper form of a dollar 
 than a poor, bruised, deformed coin of the genuine metal. So 
 with the Romish Church. It has retained the best skeleton of the 
 true Body ; but, oh ! what a filling up — what distorted muscles ! 
 What a life heaves its lungs ! what a soul animates its frame ! 
 The leading features of the Romish Church are, the Suprem- 
 acy of the Pope, or Headship in her chief Bishop ; Infallibility 
 of the Church ; Unity of the Church ; Consecration of the whole 
 man to the good of the Church; Absolution by the priest, and Indul- 
 gences. These are all, in their relation to Christ and his Church, 
 great Truths — though by the Romanizers, shamefully perverted. 
 Not one is an absolute falsehood. The chief Bishop is the Su- 
 preme Head of the Church. Christ is this Bishop, and not the 
 Pope. No Church communion has more distinctly held up 
 before the world the idea of Headship in the Church than the 
 Romish. Again, the Romish Church (like no other) has kept 
 before the world the idea of the Infallibility of the true Church 
 — absolute infallibility in her Head, and relative infallibility in 
 herself. Rome attributes Infallibility to a corrupt Church. A 
 pure, holy, godlike Church is, in the same proportion as she is god- 
 like, infallible. " Ye shall judge the world." " Ye shall judge 
 angels." The Church of the living God is the pillar and ground 
 
24 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 of the truth. As founded on the truth, as a practical illustra- 
 tion of the truth, the judgments of the Church must so far be 
 according to the truth. And of course all the decisions of a per- 
 fect Church would be infallible. 
 
 Nor is the unity of the Roman Church a false boast. To say 
 nothing of the false bonds which have kept Rome together, or of 
 the base purposes of her union, the two hundred millions of Ro- 
 manists which are scattered over the earth, are held together as 
 no other organization has been in our world. And there has, too, 
 been a consecration of its members to this communion which has 
 been known in no other. Nothing more accords with truth than the 
 entire consecration of its members to the true Church. And so also 
 the offensive doctrine of Absolution by the priest, contains a truth 
 (of which it is the perversion) of great value. Christ does al- 
 low his people to use his name, to proclaim pardon through his 
 blood — to propound the terms of forgiveness and the means of 
 sanctifi cation — and through faith and prayer to make effectual 
 these means. A pure, holy Church is a repository of vast 
 powers for the renovation of the world. The ministry of the 
 Church are the authoritatively constituted dispensers of these 
 powers. And I have no doubt, if the Church were that high, 
 holy, Christ-like body she should be, and in the day of her glory 
 wiU be, that such will be her identity with Christ, such her power 
 o{ faith and prayer, and intimate communion with Christ, that the 
 distorted Romish doctrine referred to will more nearly represent 
 the relation of the Church to the forgiveness of sin than the 
 present groveling, crippled state of the Reformed Church now 
 does. 
 
 Even then, from the abominations that make desolate, from the 
 ruins of Rome, the great King may select important materials 
 with which to construct the framework of the new Building. 
 And in like manner it might be shown how the Divine Hand, by 
 
MEANS AND INSTRUMENTS OF THE MILLENNIUM. 25 
 
 a similar mode of selection, may make every system, organiza- 
 tion and institution that has been, contribute its choicest materials 
 — contribute all that is of any value to exalt the mountain of the 
 Lord's house above the tops of the mountains. They shall bring 
 all their glory and honor into it. The present advanced condition 
 of the world is made up of the results of past experiences. That 
 yet higher condition of which I speak, shall be the result of a yet 
 longer train of experiences. Every new invention, discovery and 
 improvement — every advancement in knowledge, freedom, civili- 
 zation and science — every new conquest over some new element, 
 power or substance in nature — every new facility for increased in- 
 tercourse and communication with other parts of the world, and, 
 more especially, every increase of Divine knowledge and of holy 
 principle and of pious living, are not only hastening on, but furnish- 
 ing the materials of which the JVIillennium is made up. 
 
 2. Our second inquiry under the present head, relates to the 
 means and instruments by which the Millennium shall be brought 
 in. The most essential means is the bringing the mind of the 
 world under the tuition and influence of Divine Truth, This shall 
 be done by preaching a pure gospel, circulating the Bible, promot- 
 ing rehgious education, and increasing and extending the power 
 of the religious Press. Before this day shall come, and as con- 
 tributing to its realization, "many shall go to and fro, and knowl- 
 edge shall increase." By these means man is made a nobler being 
 and a fitter material for such a state of things, and a fitter instru- 
 ment to advance it. 
 
 But there are other means of bringing about this period of a 
 more extraordinary character, which we may speak of either as 
 means or as signs, for they are both. I shall therefore do little 
 more than to mention them here. They more properly belong to 
 another part of the general subject, viz., the signs of the coming 
 of the Millennium. I refer to the wars and great commotions, to 
 
26 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 the judgments^ famines and pestilences which shall precede the 
 peaceful reign of righteousness. God is known by ihe judgments 
 he executes. In no way does God more clearly and dreadfully 
 vindicate his claims to sovereignty than by his judgments. Men 
 must not only be prepared with right hearts and right charac- 
 ters for the Millennium, but there are formidable obstacles to be 
 removed out of the way. Satan's empire is to be broken up 
 — mighty dynasties to be dissolved — systems as old as^ the world 
 — institutions as old as sin — manners, customs, maxims and prac- 
 tices interwoven with every fibre of life, and cherished by the 
 strongest feelings of a perverted heart, and fed by the worst pas- 
 sions humanity is heir to, are all to be annihilated. Mighty revo- 
 lutions are to be effected before the empire of peace and righteous- 
 ness can be established on this earth. Something may be done 
 by gradual, peaceful means — by instruction in righteousness- 
 preaching, teaching, moral suasion. Other obstacles can only 
 be broken to pieces by the sledge-hammer of War, or be starved 
 out by gaunt Famine, or be burnt out by the devouring flame, 
 or perish under the withering blast of the Pestilence. As the 
 King of kings goeth forth conquering and to conquer, preparing 
 the way to set up his kingdom on the earth, the Pestilence goeth he- 
 fore him — a sword proceedeth out of his mouth, and he is red as 
 one that treadeth the wine-press. Whatever opposeth is taken 
 out of the way ; valleys are exalted, mountains made low, rough 
 places smooth, and the way of the Lord prepared before him. 
 But without pursuing the subject further at present, we are 
 brought again to the conclusion that God worketh all things after 
 the counsel of his own will. He worketh by one set of means 
 and then by another — by all sorts of instruments, by all sorts of 
 systems and institutions, by all sorts of men and measures, educ- 
 ing good from all and rejecting the evil — and then preserving all 
 these fragments of good and erecting them at last into one beau- 
 
THE CHURCH TO BE GLORIFIED ON EARTH. 27 
 
 tiful, perfect Temple — the perfect from the imperfect, good ex- 
 tracted from evil, order and beauty and perfection brought together, 
 and the Temple constructed out of the most confused medley of 
 deformity and confusion. What an idea does this give us of the 
 wisdom, power and goodness of God I All events, all systems, 
 all things are at his command. It is his purpose to glorify his 
 Church on this earth — to establish the mountain of the Lord's 
 house in the top of the mountains, and to exalt it above the hills. 
 He will overturn, and overturn, and overturn, till all that hinder- 
 eth shall be taken out of the way, and on the ruins of Satan's 
 empire shall arise the beautiful Temple of Christ's Millennial 
 glory on earth. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Signs of the approach of the Millennium— Premonitions — Preparations — 
 Judgments — Civil Revolutions — Increase of Knowledge — Apostasies — 
 Persecutions— Sealing of the Servants of God. 
 
 •* Tell US, when shall these things be ? and wha* shall be the sign of thy coming, 
 and of the end of the world ? "—Ma«f. xxiy. 3. 
 
 Here are three distinct questions : 1st. When shall these things 
 be ? 2d. What shall be the sign of thy coming ? and 3d. What 
 shall be the signs of the end of the world ? There was a pro- 
 priety in blending these questions, as there also was in our Sav- 
 iour's blending the answers he gave to them. The particular 
 " coming " of Christ here spoken of, is his coming at the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem. But the destruction of Jerusalem is used as 
 a type of the destruction of the world and the ushering in of the 
 last Judgment. The premonitions, preparations and signs of 
 the one are essentially the same as those of the other. And it 
 was to bcexpected that Christ would speak of the two in sim- 
 ilar terms — so much so that we should not always be able to de- 
 termine which he is speaking of. The one seems to be used as 
 the type of the other. Or the one is the primary and the lesser 
 fulfilment, and the other the great and the ultimate fulfilment. 
 
 (.28) 
 
SCRIPTURE PROPHECY — GOG AND MAGOG. 29 
 
 And it will not be out of place to remark, that it is a peculiarity 
 of Scripture prophecy that the same prediction may have more 
 fulfilments than one. It may be applicable to one or more 
 events, and has a succession and gradation in its fulfilments. 
 The 7 2d Psalm is primarily a prediction of the glory of Solomon's 
 reign, but ultimately, and in a higher sense, applicable to the glories 
 of the kingdom of the Messiah. So, in like manner, the predic- 
 tion of the coming of the Son of Man finds its fulfilment in his 
 coming to be avenged on his crucifiers — to destroy Jerusalem, and 
 to put out of the way an old and useless dispensation and to bring 
 in a new one ; and then, in his coming, to set up his earthly king- 
 dom and to begin his Millennial reign ; and finally, in his coming, 
 to judge the world, to take vengeance on his enemies, and to be 
 glorified in his saints. Each preceding event is not only a type 
 of, but is preparatory to the following. All are parts of the same 
 great scheme — an ascending series, reaching onward to the final 
 end. 
 
 Analogous to this, we find any great confederated enemies of 
 God's people designated as Gog and Magog, and the gi'eat battle- 
 field on which they confront the followers of the Lamb, is called 
 Armageddon. Such prophecies have, in the subordinate sense, 
 been already more than once fulfilled. Yet we find that a still 
 more formidable Gog and Magog than have ever yet appeared 
 are to meet in dreadful combat, the representatives of Christ's 
 people, and to contend for the dominion of the earth, when Christ 
 shall be about to begin his reign of a thousand years — and a yet 
 more dreadful encounter shall await the Church of Christ from 
 the Gog and Magog that shall appear at the close of Christ's 
 reign of a thousand years on earth. The last shall be the fulfilment, 
 of which the preceding were but emblematical and preparatory, 
 all forwarding t^e same great scheme, and the last consummat- 
 ing it. 
 
30 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Understanding the coming of Christ, spoken of in the passage 
 at the head of this chapter, as referring to Christ's coming to close 
 the present order of things, and, amidst the commotions incident 
 to such a change, to open a new dispensation of his grace under 
 the Millennial Empire, we will make the second inquiry of our 
 motto the subject of our present discussion, viz. : 
 
 "What shall be the sign of thy coming?" 
 
 III. I therefore propose to point out some of the events that 
 shall precede or accompany the ushering in of the Millennium. 
 Many of these are mentioned or alluded to in this same 24th 
 chapter of Matthew, and in the parallel passage in Luke. 
 
 1. The Millennium shall be preceded by terrible Judgments — 
 wars and rumors of wars — famines, pestilences, earthquakes. 
 The " year of the redeemed " has always been a " day of ven- 
 geance" to the wicked. Great changes have usually been brought 
 about by great commotions. An old order of things — old sys- 
 tems are not broken up and made to give place to others except 
 through the storms of revolution. And the great moral changes 
 by which God has from time to time advanced the work of re- 
 demption, have not been achieved except by convulsions which 
 have shaken terribly the earth. The deliverance of the right- 
 eous has been the signal for the inflicting of judgments on the 
 wicked. It was so when God visited his people in Egypt. Pha- 
 raoh's kingdom was desolated by ten plagues, and Pharaoh and 
 his host were overwhelmed in the Red Sea. The settlement of 
 Israel in the land of Canaan was accompanied by the extermina- 
 tion, by various signal judgments, of the original inhabitants of 
 Canaan. The return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity 
 was preceded by the fall of the Assyrian Empire. The bringing 
 of the Gentiles into the Christian Church, in the place of the Jews 
 who were rejected, was connected with the destruction of Jerusa- 
 lem under circumstances so awful as to make it a fit emblem of 
 
CHANGES TRIBULATION REVOLUTIONS. 31 
 
 the judgments of the last days. If these preHminaiy changes 
 and advances in the kingdom of Christ have been accompanied 
 hj the signal judgments of heaven, much more may we expect 
 the yet greater change — the breaking up of the present order of 
 things and the introduction of a new order, shall be brought about 
 amidst yet greater commotions, and yet severer judgments. It 
 shall be a day of great tribulation such as was not since the he- 
 ginning of the world to this time ; no, nor ever shall he. The 
 dreadful wars, pestilences, famines, earthquakes, internal dissen- 
 sions, massacres, and carnage that came on the Jews at the 
 siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, stand as a 
 mere figure, type or representative of those awful and far more 
 extensive tribulations which shall fall on the enemies of God 
 when Christ shall come to set up his earthly kingdom. 
 
 When, in the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ came to take 
 out of the way the Jewish State and Church that he might bring 
 in a more perfect dispensation, his way was heralded by judg- 
 ments. Nation rose against nation — there were wars and rumors 
 of wars — famines, pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. 
 The ushering in of a new system has always been by thunderings 
 and lightnings — hail and fire mingled with blood — on earth dis- 
 tress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, 
 and men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those 
 things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of the 
 heavens shall be shaken. 
 
 The great movements of Providence are not so much refor- 
 mations as revolutions — not a new vamping and repairing old sys- 
 tems, but a breaking up of the old material and a recasting it. 
 The hammer of Revolution — wars, pestilences and famines, are 
 the terrific agencies by which the things that have waxed old 
 and are ready to perish, are broken to pieces and cast into the 
 
dZ THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 great crucible of the Almighty hand and recast, as it shall better 
 please the great Architect. 
 
 Among the judgments that shall go before the Lord, as he 
 comes to revolutionize the world, to destroy the wicked and to set 
 up his Kingdom, is the Pestilence. The Bible account of the 
 Pestilence is, that it is a scourge inflicted by God on the rebellious 
 and disobedient — was inflicted on Israel when they worshipped 
 Baal Peor — when they despised the manna, and made the golden 
 calf; inflicted on the subjects of David when he numbered Israel ; 
 and on the Egyptians when they oppressed the people of God. 
 It was sudden — desolating — fatal — noisome — and especially fatal 
 in cities : a destroying angel stalking over the length and breadth 
 of the land; walking as the Pestilence by night, and as the De- 
 struction that wasteth by noonday. 
 
 2. As somewhat akin to what has been said, we find the Mil- 
 lennium shall be preceded by extraordinary civil revolutions and 
 the complete overthrow of Despotism. The very beginning of 
 troubles is the great commotions which shall arise among the 
 nations : " wars and rumors of wars" — " nation shall rise against 
 nation and kingdom against kingdom." Towards the close of the 
 remarkable vision which was revealed to John, a scene was pre- 
 sented to him " great and marvellous," he says : " seven angels 
 haying the seven last plagues," the seven last series of judgments 
 which should be inflicted on the nations ; " for in them," he says, 
 "is Jilled up" — completed or finished — "the wrath of God." 
 The " fifth of these vials of the wrath of Grod was poured out upon 
 the seat of the beast ; and his kingdom was full of darkness ; and 
 they gnawed their tongues for pain." This is the " scarlet Beast " 
 which we find in another place supporting the " woman arrayed 
 in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones 
 and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations 
 and filthiness of her fornication : and upon her forehead was a 
 
THE BEAST WITH TEN HORNS. 33 
 
 name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother 
 OF harlots and abominations of the earth." This " wo- 
 man " — this mystic Babylon — this Romish apostasy, is supported 
 by the Beast — the civil power of the Papal nations. And it 
 should be further remarked that these Papal nations, symbolized 
 by the Beast, are the ten kingdoms — the " ten toes " of the great 
 Roman Image which Daniel saw. These ten European king- 
 doms, into which the Western Roman Empire was broken up 
 (a Beast with " ten horns "), still support the great Harlot, the 
 mystic Babylon. The sure word of prophecy instructs us that 
 these kingdoms shall be thrown into hopeless confusion, and come 
 to utter ruin, before the Son of man comes to set up his kingdom. 
 Of these kingdoms it is said that they " have one mind and shall 
 give their power and strength unto the Beast ; " " for God hath 
 put into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree and give their 
 kingdoms unto the beast, until the words of God be fulfilled ; " 
 and then he will put into their hands the cup of trembling and 
 confusion and will bring them to an end. 
 
 We have in many passages of the ancient Prophets awful 
 descriptions of the civil commotions which shall shaka the earth 
 before the reign of the saints — be severely felt by the ten king- 
 doms, yet by no means confined to them. All antichristian powers 
 — all that oppose or have opposed the advancement and pros- 
 perity of the true Church, shall now come up in remembrance 
 before God and be made to drink of the cup of his wrath. We 
 may take as a specimen the 24th chapter of Isaiah : " Behold, the 
 Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth 
 it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. 
 The earth mourneth, and fadeth away ; the world languisheth, and 
 fadeth away ; the haughty people of the earth do languish. The 
 curse hath devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are 
 
 desolate : therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and 
 3 
 
34 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 few men left. The city is left desolate and the gate is smitten 
 with destruction. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, 
 O inhabitant of the earth. The earth is utterly broken down, 
 the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly ; " 
 and in like terms to the end of the chapter, there is described a 
 dreadful, most inevitable and complete overthrow of the enemies 
 of God. And all this at that identical time when the Lord shall 
 come to be glorified in his saints. For it is added here : " From 
 the uttermost parts of the earth we have heard songs, even glory 
 to the righteous." In the midst of all these commotions and 
 overturnings, " Lift up your heads, ye saints, and rejoice, for your 
 redemption draweth near." It is the Lord come to avenge him- 
 self on his foes and to be glorified in his saints. 
 
 And in confirmation of this idea we cannot but remark, that 
 in all these awful judgments on the nations, as described in this 
 chapter, there is a great multitude who so distinctly discern the 
 Hand of God in all these overturnings, and see in them so evi- 
 dent triumphs of the Redeemer's kingdom, that, as in the song of 
 Miriam, when God had triumphed at the Red Sea, " They lift 
 up their voice, they sing for the majesty of the Lord, they cry 
 aloud. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name 
 of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea." 
 
 The time when this dreadful commotion among the nations shall 
 be, is designated in the last verse : " Then the moon shall be con- 
 founded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign 
 in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients glori- 
 ously." Nothing is more common in prophetic language than to 
 represent any great civil catastrophe, as the overturning of king- 
 doms or cities, or the dethroning of kings and princes, by the 
 darkening of the sun and moon and the fall of the stars, or some 
 such terrible convulsion in the heavens. Hence, in the awful de- 
 scription we have of the events that are to herald the near ap- 
 
CALAMITIES THREATENED. 35 
 
 proach of the Millennium, it is said: "Immediately after the 
 tribulation of those days [that is, following on close upon the ter- 
 rible judgments which are to scorch the earth as with fire] shall 
 the sun be dai-kened," etc. ; " the powers of the heavens shall 
 be shaken." Or, in the words of another Evangelist, " There 
 should be distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the 
 waves roaring ; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking 
 after those things which are coming on the earth." All these are 
 figures denoting terrible calamities. Waters denote peoples. The 
 roaring of the sea and the dashing of waves, denote awful tu- 
 mults among the nations. 
 
 We have before us here not only a great tumult and distress 
 of nations, but the total wreck of governments — a complete over- 
 throw of the present order of things — a destruction of all tyranny 
 and despotism. 
 
 Two classes of nations are particularly designated as the sub- 
 jects of these civil commotions, and of final annihilation in their 
 present form. These are the ten Papal kingdoms — the ten that 
 give support to the scarlet Beast, and are thereby partakers in the 
 mysteries of iniquity and the abominations of the mystic Babylon ; 
 and all those nations that have persecuted the Jews: or, to in- 
 clude all in one class, we should say, all who have lifted their hand 
 against God's people, whether it be his ancient covenant people, 
 or the people and Church which he has chosen out from among 
 the Gentiles. It has never been well with a nation or people that 
 have evil-entreated the Church of God. Though this Church 
 be for the time in a lapsed condition, yet God charges the wicked 
 — even kings, to beware that they "touch not his anointed, and 
 do his prophets no harm." Hence, we need not be surprised to 
 hear God, while speaking comfortably to Israel and promising to 
 visit them in kindness and to restore them to their native land, 
 say, " Though I make a fuU end of all the nations whither I have 
 
S# THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee ; but I will 
 correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether un- 
 punished." Israel should be chastened and reformed ; the nations 
 that have afflicted him shall be utterly destroyed. 
 
 3. Another sign of the near approach of the Millennium is the 
 increase of knowledge, freedom and civilization — and especially the 
 universal spread of the Gospel. " Many shall go to and fro, and 
 knowledge shall be increased." " The gospel must first be pub- 
 lished among all nations." Many have supposed that because the 
 gospel should be preached to all nations, therefore all nations shall 
 be converted. This appears to be a mistake. Matthew states the 
 object of this universal publication of the gospel. It is not that 
 it shall secure the conversion of all men, but ^for a witness unto 
 all nations." When Christ came at the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 the gospel had been preached to all the known world as a witness 
 to them of God's grace and of their guilt. And yet but a small 
 number had savingly received the gospel. The same gospel shall 
 again be preached to all the nations of the earth before the com- 
 ing of Christ to set up his kingdom, yet it does not appear that 
 men shall generally have embraced the gospel. He is to come 
 in the midst of great abounding wickedness, of fatal apostasies. 
 When he shall come, shall " he find faith on the earth ? " The 
 question implies that there shall be a melancholy want of piety on 
 the earth at that period. Hence, I may name — 
 
 4. Apostasies and the revelation of the 3fan of Sin, the rise af 
 false teachers and fake prophets and false Christs,Sii the next sign 
 of the approaching Millennium. " That day shall not come ex- 
 cept there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be re- 
 vealed, the son of perdition." " Many false prophets shall rise 
 and shall deceive many." And so subtle shall these false teachers 
 be — so much like the real friends of Christ — such signs and 
 wonders shall they show, that, if it were possible, they would de- 
 
SIGNS OF THE MILLENNIUM. 37 
 
 ceive the very elect. The Son of man shall come as a thief in 
 ihe night. Few shall be prepared — few watching. It shall be 
 as it was in the days of Noah. While men were least suspecting 
 it the dreadful day burst upon them. It would seem, as we shall 
 see by and by, that at the coming of Christ to make an end of 
 sin and to establish righteousness, he shall find the world in a state 
 of unusual confusion, open sin and unblushing rebellion. And as 
 he came in the days of Noah, to rescue the righteous from the 
 hands of the wicked and to destroy an enemy already too bold 
 and daring to be longer tolerated, so shall the coming of the Son 
 of man be. Iniquity shall abound — and amidst this abounding 
 wickedness and general corruption of public sentiment and the 
 public taste and morals, the love, the allegiance and attachment 
 of many who profess godliness, shall wax cold. In the Church 
 it would seem there shall be much lukewarmness and apathy, 
 yea, much bitterness, and wrath, and strife, and hatred : " Many 
 shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one 
 another." *' The brother shall betray the brother to death, and 
 the father the son, and children shall rise up against their parents 
 and shall cause them to be put to death." And in the world there 
 shall rise up " scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, 
 Where is the promise of his coming 'i and they shall eat and drink 
 with the drunken." 
 
 That " day shall not come except there come a falling away 
 first, and that man of sin be revealed, who opposeth and exalteth 
 himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped : " in 
 other words, there shall be a great shaking and sifting of the 
 Church, and a great and fearful rallying, and a temporary triumph 
 of the wicked. 
 
 0. Dreadful persecutions shall precede the coming of the Mil- 
 lennium. " Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and 
 shall kill you ; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my sake." 
 
88 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 " They shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering 
 you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before 
 kings and rulers for my name's sake." 
 
 The great increase of religious knowledge — the general prev- 
 alence of truth — the general expectation of the approach of Chris- 
 tianity's triumph on the earth, and the many promises of the com- 
 ing of this spiritual kingdom, will no doubt do much to provoke 
 the hatred and opposition of ungodly men, and stir them up to a 
 virulent persecution. 
 
 There are several other events which are to precede the estab- 
 lishment of the Millennial kingdom — events of much greater 
 magnitude than any I have yet named, but which I must defer 
 till the next chapter. I refer to the destruction of the Romish 
 Beast or Papal Rome ; the destruction of Mohammedanism ; the 
 downfall of the Dragon or the Eastern Roman Empire ; the re- 
 turn of the Jews and the awfully magnificent circumstances 
 which shall accompany that event ; the drying up of the great 
 river Euphrates, or the severance of the connection of religion 
 and civil government, or of the union of Church and State ; the 
 sealing of God's servants ; the " slaying of the witnesses," and 
 the great and final battle of Armageddon. All these things must 
 come to pass before the end of the present dispensation and the 
 beginning of a better one. I will, however, speak of one more 
 of the events that must precede this gracious reign of the Mes- 
 siah. 
 
 6. It is the sealing of the servants of God. Precisely what 
 this sealing is we do not know. It is represented as some 
 remarkable act or protest, or some distinctive and prominent 
 mark, whereby the servants of God should be known in the 
 midst of a wicked and perverse generation. It seems to have 
 reference to some public and decided withdrawment from the 
 Romish Church, and from all those churches that have an alliance 
 
SEALING OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD. 09 
 
 with the state. These sealed ones are described as they who have 
 not been defiled with women, for they are pure — they have not been 
 guilty of the great spiritual adultery of which so much is said by 
 John, the Revelator. The great spiritual Babylon is represented 
 as an Harlot, gorgeously arrayed and seated on a scarlet Beast, 
 and all they that have communion with her as guilty of spurit- 
 ual adultery. The sealing here spoken of, therefore, has some 
 near connection with the coming out from the impurities and abomi- 
 nations of the Romish communion, and from every professedly 
 Christian communion which has an unholy alliance with the state. 
 Forasmuch as the world hath for a long time gone " wandering 
 after the Beast ; *' and " all nations have drunk of the wine of 
 the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have 
 committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth 
 have waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies, few 
 events will become more prominent or attach to themselves more 
 importance in the eyes of the whole world, than a separation from 
 those great and corrupt communions, which have so long usurped 
 the place of Christ's Church on earth. Such a transaction shall 
 undoubtedly take place. " I heard another voice from heaven 
 saying. Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers 
 of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her 
 sins have reached up unto heaven, and God hath remembered her 
 iniquities." " Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, 
 death and mourning and famine ; and she shall be utterly burned 
 with fire ; for strong is the Lord who judgeth her." 
 
 The separation from such a communion shall be a notable 
 event — a marked event, and they that separate themselves shall 
 do it in so conspicuous a manner, and shall so distinguish them- 
 selves and their principles in the act, that they shall hold up be- 
 fore the world a token of their decision as prominent as if it 
 were written on their foreheads. 
 
40 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 In conclusion, we are led to raise the practical inquiry, What 
 is the duty of God's people in the day of general tribulation ? 
 Many and weighty indeed are the duties of God's people when the 
 Lord is pouring out his wrath upon the earth. God is known by 
 the judgments he executeth. When he speaks in his wrath, he 
 would have men hear — be humble — watchful — obedient — prayer- 
 ful. He would have them at such times repent and turn to God. 
 When his judgments are abroad in the earth, he would have them 
 " learn righteousness." Seeing in these fearful displays of God's 
 displeasure against sin, the evil of sin and God's awful purpose to 
 punish it, and having in these exhibitions of his displeasure some 
 fearful premonition of the coming wrath, how careful should it 
 make the people of God that they should not provoke him to 
 more wrath, and to longer continuation of his just indignation 
 against man. 
 
 But there are not wanting intimations that a period shall pre- 
 cede the Millennium, so disastrous — the judgments of heaven 
 will at length become so heavy — the persecutions of the wicked 
 so virulent — the times so tempestuous, that the people of God 
 will be obliged to flee before it. If it shall not be so, what means 
 such a passage as this ? " Come, my people, enter thou into thy 
 chambers, and shut thy doors about tb^e fibide thyself as it were for 
 a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For behold, 
 the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the 
 earth for their iniquity : the earth also shall disclose her blood, 
 and shall no more cover her slain." 
 
 The spirit of the martyrs shall rise again. It may yet cost a 
 man as much to be a Christian as it ever did in the days of the 
 crudest, bloodiest persecution. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Signs — Destruction of the Papacy : of Islamism — The Greek Church — 
 Severance of Church and State — Restoration of the Jews — The slaying 
 the Witnesses. 
 
 " What shall be the signs of thy coming, and of the end of the world ? " 
 
 I HAVE already named six of the great and prominent events 
 that shall precede the Millennium and be signs of its approach, 
 viz., sore judgments — civil convulsions — the increase of knowl- 
 edge, and the universal spread of the gospel — apostasies and the 
 rise of false teachers — grievous persecutions^ and the sealing of the 
 servants of God. I shall now proceed to name six other events 
 which shall be yet more far-reaching in their influence, and rev- 
 olutionary and terrible, than those I have named. 
 
 But before I proceed to point out these signs, I shall make a 
 few general remarks on the main subject of our discussion. These 
 shall refer to the Scripture evidence that Chi-ist shall yet set up 
 his kingdom on the earth and destroy his enemies. And 1st, the 
 petition in the Lord's Prayer: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be 
 done on earth as it is done in heaven." This I may call the 
 prayer of the present dispensation — to be used, no doubt, to the 
 very close of it. If this be so, and if this present dispensation 
 
 (41) 
 
42 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 be final — be the closing up of the earthly kingdom of Christ, then 
 we find ourselves praying (as the Lord himself commanded) for 
 the coming of a kingdom which has already come. But no such 
 kingdom as the one here prayed for has come — a kingdom in which 
 God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. The present 
 Christian dispensation is not such a state. We may therefore 
 expect such a condition of the Church — a time when all shall 
 know the Lord — all shall be righteous — all do the will of God 
 on earth as it is done in heaven. Again, the parable of the tares 
 and wheat teaches the same thing. The righteous and the wicked 
 are to exist together until the end of the world, as it is in our 
 English translation, but in the original, the end of the age or dis- 
 pensation. Then the Son of man will send his angels (these 
 may be war, and the pestilence, fire and famine — including the 
 angel having the everlasting gospel to preach) and gather out of 
 his kingdom all things that ofiend, and all that do iniquity, and 
 shall cast them into a furnace of fire, and then shall the right' 
 eoibs shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the Father. After 
 this present mixed condition of the world, when God's will is done 
 but imperfectly, there shall follow a reign of the righteous. The 
 enemies of the Lord shall be removed, and the dominion under 
 the whole heaven be given to the saints of the Most High. 
 
 And the parable in which our Saviour is represented as a noble- 
 man, going into a far country to receive a kingdom and to return, 
 conveys the same truth. Having received the kingdom, he takes 
 account of, receives, honors and rewards his servants, and pun- 
 ishes his enemies. "Those mine enemies, which would not 
 that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before 
 me." When he comes to be glorified in his saints, he comes to 
 be avenged on his enemies. He is revealed in " flaming fire, with 
 his angels'' — which may mean his judgments. " The wicked shall 
 perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs. 
 
THE Messiah's kingdom predicted. 43 
 
 They shall consume ; into smoke shall they consume away." " All 
 the kingdoms of the earth shall be destroyed." That is, as David 
 says, " God will pour out his wrath upon the heathen that have 
 not known him, and upon the kingdoms that have not called on 
 his name" — upon all who will not acknowledge his name. The 2d 
 Psalm seems written expressly to give a prominent utterance to this 
 dreadful idea. This Psalm predicts the establishment of the Mes- 
 siah's kingdom over the nations of the earth — the " heathen" being 
 given him for an " inheritance," and the " uttermost parts of the 
 earth for a possession ; " and the centre of this kingdom shall be 
 mount Zion. " I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion." In 
 view of this, the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing, 
 the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel 
 together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, " Let us 
 break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us." This 
 describes to the life even the present feeling of most of the kings 
 and rulers of the earth against religious liberty and a pure religion. 
 And when the light of Divine truth and the progress of religious 
 liberty shall be such as severely to rebuke their despotism and to 
 throw the reins of restraint on their passions, they will break out in 
 open hostility. This will bring on the great conflict. The King 
 who is to come and reign in righteousness, shall break them with a 
 rod of iron : he shall da^h them in pieces like a potter's vessel. This 
 is a very different thing from converting them, and bringing them 
 into a willing subjection. But without pursuing further this strain 
 of remark, we may conclude that a fearful breaking up of the king- 
 doms of the earth, and the complete destruction of the strongest 
 combinations of wicked men shall precede the establishment on 
 earth of the Redeemer's kingdom, spoken of in the Scriptures as 
 the reign of Christ a thousand years ; or as the world to come ; 
 or the appearing of the Lord ; the new earth ; the Regeneration; 
 the restitution of all things. 
 
44 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 While we earnestly look and pray for the coming of such a 
 period, we are moved to inquire when these things shall be ? This 
 inquiry is answered by another, viz. : What shall be the signs of 
 the near approach of such a day ? Besides those already pointed 
 out, I shall mention other events, which, as signs, shall precede 
 and open the way to the coming of the Millennium. And, 
 
 7. The next in order which we shall name is the destruction 
 of the Man of sin — the Mystery of iniquity — the spiritual Baby- 
 lon — the Mother of harlots — more familiarily known as Popery, 
 that great system, political and ecclesiastical, which puts its chief 
 Bishop, or Pope, in the place of Christ, or whose presiding, pro- 
 tecting deity is the Virgin Mary, and which has put the ordinances 
 and traditions of men in the place of the living oracles of God. 
 This great apostasy was foretold by the prophets, especially by 
 Daniel, and the Apostle John in the Apocalypse, and is often 
 referred to by the Apostle Paul, especially in his 2d Epistle 
 to the Thessalonians. It is spoken of as a corrupt Christian 
 Church — as a great persecuting power, claiming and exercising 
 an extensive temporal as well as spiritual dominion — whose period 
 of existence is limited to twelve hundred and sixty years, reach- 
 ing down to the commencement of the Millennium, and which 
 should be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming. 
 
 Were we able to fix precisely on the year in which Popery 
 took its rise, we could fix with the same exactness on the year of its 
 close, and consequently on the time of the beginning of the Millen- 
 nium. But as Popery had many beginnings, or came to its growth 
 by degrees, so we may expect its end will be. One and another 
 of its hydra heads shall be cut off before its last terrific struggle 
 for life, and its final death. 
 
 Nothing seems to be more clearly predicted than the destruc- 
 tion of this power before the establishment of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom on the earth. Indeed, as this kingdom of antichrist is 
 
SYMBOL OF THE ROMISH HIERARCHY. 45 
 
 SO extensive and monopolizing over the whole world, it is but 
 reason that Christ and antichrist should not reign at the same time. 
 The one must be put out of the way before the other can be set up. 
 Daniel saw the Romish Hierarchy rise under the symbol of the 
 little horn, having the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great 
 things. And Daniel's attention was kept directed towards this 
 little horn which he had seen come up among the ten horns or 
 kingdoms, into which the Roman Empire had been divided, till 
 he saw the end of this persecuting power : " I beheld till the 
 thrones were cast down and the Ancient of days did sit ; " and 
 " one like the Son of man came to the Ancient of days, and 
 there was given to him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom ; and 
 all people and nations and languages should serve him." But 
 mark well what precedes the establishment of this kingdom. The 
 Son of man comes — but a " fiery stream '* went before him, and 
 he rode as a mighty conqueror, taking vengeance on his enemies ; 
 and " I beheld then," says Daniel, " till the beast was slain and his 
 body destroyed and given to the burning flame." The same little 
 horn made war with the saints and overcame them; the Son of man 
 then appears to judge the beast, and to take away his dominion, 
 and to destroy him. " And the kingdom and dominion, and the 
 gi-eatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given 
 to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is 
 an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey 
 him." 
 
 Paul, in his 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians, very distinctly points 
 out the Romish apostasy as a great usurping, persecuting power, 
 tliat should rise and flourish and come to its end between his time 
 and the coming of Christ's earthly kingdom. When this power 
 shall be fully revealed, the Lord shall consume it with the spirit of 
 his mouth, and shall destroy it with the brightness of his coming. 
 In what way precisely we cannot tell, but in a way, as I shall 
 
46^ THE COMING CKISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 hereafter point out, very extraordinary, and with a power the 
 most signal and overwhelming, and perhaps miraculous, the Lord 
 will render unto this mystic Babylon as she hath rendered to 
 others, and *' double to her according to her works ; in the cup 
 which he hath filled, he will fill to her double ; because her sins 
 have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her 
 iniquities." 
 
 8. An eighth great event which we look for as to happen be- 
 fore the reign of a thousand years shall commence, is the destruc- 
 tion of the Mohammedan power. This rose about the same time 
 as the great Romish defection, and its duration is limited to the 
 same period as Romanism, viz., 42 months, or 1260 years. Pre- 
 cisely how this great colossal system of religious fanaticism and 
 of political power shall come to an end, I do not know. It has 
 been generally supposed that its extinction is represented by the 
 drying up of the Euphrates. But I apprehend that is a misap- 
 prehension of the prophecy. Yet we have reason to believe, as 
 nothing particular is said of its end, that it shall not come to its 
 death by violence, but shall die a natural death. It is a great 
 power raised up by the hand of God to curb the otherwise un- 
 endurable persecutions of the Romish Beast; the persecuting 
 Beast being dead, it will, likely, die away, its terrific mission be- 
 ing finished. 
 
 9. Prophecy leads us to expect, before the latter-day glory of 
 the Church, the reappearance on the great theatre of human affairs 
 of the symbohc dragon (which we understand to represent the 
 Eastern Roman Empire), and the destruction of this great power. 
 This is the Greek Church, having one soul and spirit with the Ro- 
 mish Church, and which is at present embodied in the Russian Em- 
 pire, the great Gog and Magog of the North. The dragon shall now 
 appear in alliance with the Beast and the false Prophet. Russia 
 shall now join arms with the civil powers that uphold the great 
 
DESTRUCTION OF THE GREEK CHURCH. 47 
 
 Babylon, and with Babylon herself, in persecuting the true Church. 
 After the pouring out of the sixth vial on the river Euphrates and 
 the drying up of its waters, " three unclean spirits like frogs came 
 out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, 
 and out of the mouth of the false prophet." These are said to be 
 the spirits of devils, working miracles, and going forth to the kings 
 of the whole earth and of the world, to gather them to the battle 
 of that great day of God Almighty. And when all these united 
 antichristian and infidel powers have assembled in their wrath to 
 crush forever the hated powers of Truth and Light, the Messiah, 
 the King and Conqueror, shall suddenly appear and avenge his 
 elect, and execute his wrath on his enemies. 
 
 This mad rallying of so fearful a coalition of the great powers 
 of antichrist and of sin against evangelical Christianity, is to be 
 a consequence of the great event symbolized by the drying up of 
 the great river Euphrates. And if this be intended to represent, 
 as has generally been supposed, the extinction of the Turkish Em- 
 pire and of Mohammedanism, it is difficult to see how this event 
 should produce such a panic among the aliens, and drive to such 
 a frenzy the Beast, the Dragon, and the false Prophet, i. e. the 
 Romish Hierarchy, and the civil states that support this Hierar- 
 chy, the empire of Russia, or the representative of the Greek 
 Church, and the decaying interests of Islam. But if we take it 
 to represent, as I suppose it does, the alienation and withdraw- 
 ment of Christian men from State Churches — a coming out from 
 Babylon, and leaving her to her own fate — an abandoning State 
 religions for the religion of Christ, we shall see cause for this 
 panic. 
 
 10. Another precursor of the Millennium, therefore, is the 
 severance of Church and State. This unholy and unhappy alliance 
 — a union of temporal and spmtual power — which has been a 
 chief cause of the corruption of the Church and of the miseries 
 
48 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 that have followed, shall be dissolved. As the spirit of liberty- 
 shall work, and men shall disenthrall themselves from this yoke, 
 the despotic powers, both in the Church and in the State, will com- 
 bine to suppress this rising spirit of liberty, and thus hasten 
 on the great conflict, called the battle of the great day of God 
 Almighty. 
 
 11. The return to their native land of the Jews, is another event 
 which must precede the coming of the Messiah to set up the Mil- 
 lennial kingdom. It must here be borne in mind that, in the 
 original grant of Canaan to Israel — in the covenant made with 
 Abraham — the land was given to the promised seed for an ever- 
 lasting possession, i. e. as long as the world stands. Though 
 for a time the fulfilment of this promise is suspended on account 
 of Israel's sins, yet the promise is not annulled. Israel shall yet 
 be more glorious in the promised land than he ever yet has been. 
 The promise is unconditional. " Thus saith the Lord God, When 
 I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among 
 whom they are scattered, 1 shall be sanctified in them in the sight 
 of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have 
 given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein." 
 
 I shall not multiply quotations to prove the fact of the return 
 of the Jews to Palestine, No fact seems more abundantly estab- 
 lished. They shall return before the Millennium, and their res- 
 toration and conversion to Christianity shall be so important and 
 efficient means of the conversion of the world to Christ and the 
 establishment of the Messiah's kingdom, that it said to be as 
 " ^l/*^ from the deadJ* 
 
 A few quotations here, showing the position of the Jewish 
 Church and nation in the renovated kingdom, will neither appear 
 out of place nor void of interest. They will show, too, by impli- 
 cation, that that kingdom shall not come till there shall be a 
 gathering together of God's ancient covenant people. They shall 
 
JEWISH CHURCH AND NATION. 49 
 
 constitute an important part of that kingdom. A cloud has come 
 over the Jews for a time. Now is the times of the Gentiles. God 
 is now visiting the Gentiles to take out a people for his name, and 
 then, he says, he will return and huild up the tabernacle of David, 
 which is thrown down. " Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above 
 can be measured and the foundation of the earth searched out 
 beneath, I will also cast off the seed of Israel, for all they have 
 done, saith the Lord." " For, as the new heavens and the new 
 earth which I will make shall remain before me, so shall your seed 
 and your name remain." " The zeal of the Lord of hosts will per- 
 form this." In the kingdom of which we speak, Jerusalem is again 
 to become an important spot, and Judea a land of renown, and the 
 people of Israel a beloved and honored people. And we shall 
 see by and by that their return is intimately connected with scenes 
 of the deepest interest which shall take place before the coming of 
 the Messiah's kingdom. 
 
 Did our limits permit we might speak of other events, and so- 
 cial and moral conditions, which shall precede the coming of the 
 Son of man ; such as the stupidity and listlessness of the wicked 
 — the want of reverence, of loyalty, of respect for authority; to- 
 gether with the purification of the Church from intemperance and 
 various other forms of evil ; and lastly, but not the least, the ex- 
 tensive revivals of religion which so delightfully characterize the 
 present period. All these things indicate, no less than those 
 before named, that a great revolution is at hand ; and admonish 
 us to watch and to wait the speedy coming of our ascended Lord. 
 We pass these to notice but one other of the predicted signs which 
 shall precede the great day of the Lord. 
 
 12. The only other events which I shall name, are, the " slay- 
 ing of the witnesses^' and the final great battle of Gog and Ma- 
 gog — the " battle of the great day of God Almighty." But these 
 two particulars, or rather this twofold particular (for they seem to 
 4 
 
50 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 be intimately connected), involves too many things to be disposed 
 of in a summary manner. 
 
 We merely affirm that these things — this overthrow — must 
 come to pass before the Son of man come to set up his kingdom 
 on the earth. It shall be a dreadful rebuff and a seeming over- 
 throw of the Church, an awful precursor of the full dawn of the 
 Millennial Morn. 
 
 It may relieve the minds of some if I say another word here, 
 before I close, on the term, the coming of Ohrist. I have already 
 used the term, and shall hereafter use it, as implying a personal 
 coming. I would therefore here say, that, though I do not see 
 good evidence for the belief that Christ will continue a personal 
 reign on the earth, as King of Jerusalem and Prince and Potentate 
 of the whole earth, yet I find myself quite unable to dispose of 
 a great variety of very prominent passages of Scripture, without 
 believing that Christ will at least appear personally at the last 
 great battle, and personally vindicate his cause and take the most 
 signal vengeance on his enemies at a time when, in dreadful and 
 most formidable confederacy, they shall be gathered together 
 against him ; and that he will personally commence his reign in 
 Jerusalem. How else can we understand the 14th chapter of 
 Zechariah, especially the following passages ? " Behold, the day 
 of the Lord cometh, and the spoil shall be divided in the midst 
 of thee. For I will gather all nations together against Jerusa- 
 lem to battle ; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, 
 and the women ravished ; and half of the city shall go forth in 
 captivity, and the residue shall not be cut off from the city. Then 
 shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when 
 he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that 
 day on the mount of Olives^ which is before Jerusalem on the 
 east ; and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof 
 toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very 
 
JERUSALEM THE GREAT CAPITAL. 51 
 
 great valley : and half of the mountain shall remove toward the 
 north, and half toward the south." — " And the Lord my God 
 shall come, and all the saints with thee." " And the Lord shall 
 be King over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, 
 and his name one." 
 
 It is further declared that, after the great conflict shall have 
 passed, and the King shall establish his throne in Jerusalem, the 
 people of all nations shall " even go up from year to year to wor- 
 ship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of taber- 
 nacles." "Ajnd it shall be, that whoso will not come up of 
 all the families of. the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, 
 the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain." 
 
 Christ was born King of the Jews — he died as King of the 
 Jews. When reproached as a usurper of the throne of David, 
 he did not deny the charge. It is diflficult for any plain reader 
 of the declarations above quoted, to understand less than that 
 Christ, when he shall set up his Millennial kingdom, shall make 
 Jerusalem, in some special sense, the centre of his great spiritual 
 empire. The Temple at Jerusalem shall be, as it were, the palace 
 of the great King, where shall be seen his glory, and where shall 
 be his more especial presence, and whither, representatively at 
 least, all people, and tribes, and nations shall go up to worship, 
 and keep the " feast of tabernacles." * 
 
 Christ's triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, riding on the colt 
 of an ass, may be taken as an emblem of his future entrance as 
 
 * The feast of tabernacles was the great thanksgiving occasion of the Jewish economy 
 — observed at the close of harrest, and hence often called the feast of ingathering. It 
 was observed in commemoration of the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness, when they 
 dwelt in tents or tabernacles. This occasion, when evangelized and observed in the golden 
 age of the Millennium, will commemorate the now present wilderness state of th« Chris- 
 tian Church (Rev. xii. 6), and, as such, there will be great beauty and propriety in its 
 observance during that long and happy period. It shall commemorate that great in- 
 gathering into the new Jerusalem which shall then be come down from heaven. 
 
52 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 King. If it were not on the occasion of the feast of tabernacles, 
 yet it had a striking allusion to that feast. 
 
 Finally, we cannot be too solemnly impressed with the great 
 things which God is doing in our world. Undoubtedly, all things 
 are hastening to a grand and awful crisis. All things seem to say, 
 " Be ye also ready ; watch unto prayer, for ye know not in what 
 hour the Son of man cometh." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 These Signs verified in our age — Its characteristics : judgments — Civil com- 
 motions — Wars— Spread of the Gospel — Apostasies— The Man of Sin. 
 
 " When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near."— Mi«. xxiv. 33. 
 
 Having pointed out what are the signs — what the events and 
 conditions of the world and of human affairs — which shall precede 
 the coming of the Millennium, I pass to our next general topic, 
 viz., that the characteristics of the present age answer to the signs 
 already named. Our inquiry, therefore, now becomes : 
 
 IV. Are there special indications at the present time of the 
 near approach of the Millennium ? 
 
 "We can return a satisfactory answer to this inquiry only by re- 
 tracing our steps — though not exactly in the same order — and 
 examining, as to each particular mentioned, whether present ap- 
 pearances justify any such expectation. 
 
 1. Divine judgments — wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes 
 in diverse places — do we find these so to characterize our times 
 as to give sign that they are the predicted precursors of the Mil- 
 lennium ? I think we do. We have wars, but more rumors of 
 wars. So inflammable is the present state of the nations that but 
 a spark would set them all in a blaze. 
 
 (53> 
 
54 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 We retain a vivid recollection of the terrible upheavings of 
 Europe by the devastating hand of war in 1848. And we shall 
 not soon forget the wholesale carnage in the Crimea and about 
 the walls of Sebastopol. And yet more recently have we been 
 horrified at the unheard-of atrocities and butcheries of the late 
 Sepoy war. And now again is the blast of the war-trumpet 
 heard in the Italian war, and all Europe seemed about to rush to 
 the battle. Nation may any day be dashed against nation, and 
 the great decisive battle be but a step before us. The present 
 position of the nations of Europe ; the state of imtation which 
 exists ; the formidable preparations which have been made and 
 are still making, and above all the necessity there seems to be for 
 an extensive, exterminating war, to remove out of the way some 
 of the most formidable obstacles to the final and universal estab- 
 lishment of Immanuel's kingdom, all prognosticate the approach 
 of carnage and desolation, such as the world has not before seen. 
 It may be delayed, but shall not fail till its dread mission be ful- 
 filled. 
 
 And the first half of the present century has been signalized, 
 too, by the prevalence of a pestilence of a most malignant char- 
 acter ; almost unknown in the world till within the last fifty years. 
 And here it will be not out of place, nor void of interest, I trust, 
 to glance for a few moments at the strange history of the pesti- 
 lence which has but so recently visited our land, in its devastating 
 progress round the world. In its singular history we shall recog- 
 nize the 'pestilence that goeth before Him, who is about to wrest 
 from the usurper the empire of this world and to establish his 
 kingdom on its ruins : and on this account it deserves some par- 
 ticular attention in this connection. I speak of the Asiatic cholera, 
 which, as a matter of recent history and of Heaven's judgments 
 on men, should not be allowed to pass out of mind. 
 
 With a single exception, the cholera seems to have been,un- 
 
FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE CHOLERA. 55 
 
 known in the world till 1817. But this exception was a terrible 
 one, such as dreadfully to indicate what a fearful instrument of 
 destruction this angel of death was now commissioned to wield. It 
 was in 1782-3, while a noble struggle was making in North Amer- 
 ica to establish liberty on some permanent foundation, and thereby 
 contribute much to hasten the day of the world's Millennium — it 
 was while all things were preparing in Murope for one of those 
 civil convulsions which precede some real civil and moral advance- 
 ment — it was while the English in Ijadia were in the zenith of 
 their glory, adding province to province in their already stupendous 
 empire, consolidating there a power which is very justly the won- 
 der of the world, and a stupendous scheme of Providence for the 
 elevation and renovation of the degraded nations of the East — ^it 
 was, I say, in 1782-3, that another angel came out of the Temple, 
 having one of the seven last plagues. This was one of those ter- 
 rific agencies which the conqueror on the white horse would em- 
 ploy to subjugate the world to himself. This angel appeared — 
 not now finally to fulfil his dread mission, but to indicate his power 
 — and having spread his wings upon the blast and dropped thick 
 about him the spoils of death, he disappeared for a third of a cen- 
 tury. 
 
 His appearance was on this wise : A body of 6000 troops, 
 stationed at Ganjam in India, was suddenly attacked with a new 
 disease of such incredible malignity that men in perfect health 
 dropped down dead by dozens. Besides those who were thus 
 smitten instantaneously, 500 sickened in one day, and for the most 
 part died in the space of an hour. The next day the distemper 
 still raged with unabated fury, and on the third day more than 
 half the army had either perished or were in the hospital. The 
 next year (1783) the army, under Sir John Burgoyne, was at- 
 tacked, and 1000 perished within a month, some not surviving 
 the attack more than an hour. The year after the same strange 
 
66 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 malady broke out among the pilgrims at Hurdwar, and slew 20,000. 
 After some such dreadful displays of power and malignity, this 
 destroying angel took his flight and left the earth for thirty-four 
 years. 
 
 In 1817 the cholera reappeared in Bengal with extraordinary 
 malignity. It now appeared no longer local, but migratory ; for, 
 in a few weeks, it had ravaged every town and village from the 
 mouth of the Ganges up to its confluence with the Jumna. 
 
 From this central district the Pestilence went forth by three 
 general routes on its mission of death around the world. To the 
 south-west its track was marked with anguish and death in the 
 direction of Madras and Ceylon ; to the south-east, along the op- 
 posite coast of the Bay of Bengal, to Arracan and the Malays ; and 
 by a western route it traversed the whole peninsula of Hindostan, 
 overtaking in its course the British army, and cutting down 9000 
 in the course of a week ; it traveled towards Europe by the way 
 of the Persian gulf; 10,000 perished in Muscat — 18,000 in Bas- 
 sora (one-third of its population) died in eleven days. It passed 
 along the Tigris to Aleppo, and along the Euphrates to Erzeroum 
 in Armenia ; and thence it came to the confines of Europe, where 
 it strangely paused from 1823 to 1829. In 1830 we find the 
 pestilence ascending the Volga, where in one month it numbers 
 2367 victims, and rapidly approaching Moscow. In 1831, it is 
 found threading all the chief European rivers, and visiting every 
 principal city from the Danube to the Atlantic. In the autumn 
 of this year (October) the infection had passed from Hamburg to 
 Sunderland in England, breaking out nearly at the same time in 
 London. In four months it had reached Edinburgh in Scotland, 
 and but a few weeks later it appeared in Dublin, Ireland. From 
 England the epidemic seemed to pass into France and Spain, and 
 thence to Quebec and New York, where it made its appearance 
 
PROGRESS OP THE PESTILENCE. 57 
 
 in Jane, 1832. In Great Britain and Ireland 30,000 fell victims* 
 to the scourge ; in Paris alone, 18,000. 
 
 These are the main streams through which this virus of death, 
 in its first circuit, rolled over the whole earth. Were I to return, 
 I might show how these several rivers of death sent out their 
 lateral branches, till, in their fatal course, they scarce left a nation 
 untouched, by some reverted stream. By some reflex current, 
 Spain, Portugal and France, Piedmont, Genoa and Florence 
 were reached from England ; Egypt and Arabia from Persia ; 
 and Constantinople from the great Western stream. At Mecca 
 20,000 died in four days, and in Cairo the mortality became so 
 great that the sick went without care and the dead without burial. 
 
 It will be seen by this brief outline, that it is not true that this 
 scourge only travels westward. In its eastern route through Ar- 
 racan and Malacca, we find it traversing the islands of the Indian 
 Archipelago, extending its ravages into China, and passing the 
 Great Wall and pervading many parts of Mongolia. 
 
 It has been remarked by a writer in the London Times, who 
 has been at some pains to trace the ravages of this destroyer, that 
 it was twenty years from its first outbreak in Bengal before it had 
 completed the circuit of the globe. Two years it took to over- 
 run India ; two, to pass through Persia to the Caspian Sea ; and 
 two, to spread through Europe to Great Britain. During two 
 years it paused in its career on the boundaries of Hindostan ; and 
 during six years it halted on the verge of Europe. And the last 
 reflex current, which invaded the southern peninsulas of Europe, 
 did not reach its destination till 1836-7. Gibraltar was not at- 
 tacked till 1834 — Piedmont, Genoa, and Florence in 1835 — 
 Naples in 1836 — and Rome in 1837 ; or twenty years from the 
 first outbreak in Bengal. 
 
 I need only remark that the pestilence which more recently 
 passed over our land, pursued, with very little deviation, the track 
 
58 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 ' of its predecessors, traveling however more rapidly and committing 
 fiercer ravages. " Many cities," observes the same writer, " as 
 for instance, St. Petersburg and Berlin, were attacked at the same 
 season, and even in the same month, as in 1830. The same streets, 
 nay, the same houses, that suffered most severely before, have suf- 
 fered the most severely now" — and towns which escaped then, 
 were passed by in the late visitation. 
 
 There is much, I think, in the history of this form of pestilence, 
 to indicate that it was one of those Divine judgments which should 
 precede the coming of the Son of man — when he shall come to be 
 avenged on his enemies and to be glorified in his saints. It is gov- 
 erned by no laws which we can discover — is confined to no class 
 of men — ^and is peculiar to no circumstances in life. But, in what 
 to us seems its arbitrary character and its fitful independence, we 
 discover unmistakable marks that it is a special agent of God 
 by which to inflict his last judgments on the earth. 
 
 Thousands of families in our land were, in a moment the most 
 unexpected, clothed in sackcloth — tens of thousands of our citi- 
 zens, of all ages and conditions of life, were, in awful suddenness, 
 snatched away ; all their fond relationships in time broken up ; 
 their friends left in bitterness to mourn, and they hurried away 
 to the judgment-seat. In some instances whole families were cut 
 off in the course of a few days : in one instance a family of eleven 
 persons. In the small city of St. Louis, the mortality rose to one 
 hundred a day — and in Cincinnati its ravages were scarcely less. 
 In New York, 1400 were borne to the grave in a single week. 
 Who was not shocked at the appalling facts which reached us from 
 Sandusky City ? One writing from that infected place and amidst 
 the victims of the devouring scourge, says : 
 
 " The condition of this city, at the present time, is most fear- 
 ful and heart-rending, from the effects of the cholera. For some 
 days past, the epidemic has been making rapid strides, and it has 
 
RAVAGES OF CHOLERA. 59 
 
 now reached a crisis which threatens to involve tho most awful 
 consequences. Of a population of 3000, there are not more than 
 700 remaining. The deaths for the last two days amount to 
 about 100, and are still on the increase. 
 
 " Most of the inhabitants who have escaped the dreadful mal- 
 ady have left the city in dismay. Business of every description 
 is entirely suspended, and the various hotels, together with the 
 post-office and the public stores, are all closed. Many of our 
 physicians have fallen victims to the disease, and those who have 
 escaped its ravages, have precipitately fled from the region of 
 death. The sick are sujQfering in a dreadful manner for the want 
 of medical aid and assistance. 
 
 " The living are not only unable to attend to the wants of the 
 sick, but cannot bury their dead. There are none to be found to 
 dig graves or make coffins. The markets are entirely deserted, 
 and the few inhabitants remaining are under the necessity of send- 
 ing to Cleveland, and other ports on the Lake, for provisions and 
 medical assistance." 
 
 Like the plague or pestilence described in the Bible, the cholera 
 broke in upon the people suddenly — made its dreadful invasion 
 at " midnight" — ^gave signs of being inflicted by God for the sins 
 of the people — and everywhere strangely extinguished the com- 
 mon sympathies of humanity. Friends, absent, dead, dying, or 
 watching over those who are dying, are compelled to leave their 
 dead to persons hired to clear them away as a nuisance to the 
 living. This desolating, hardening effect of the cholera, quite 
 identifies it with the prophetic descriptions of the Pestilence that 
 should precede the coming of the great and terrible day of the 
 Lord. 
 
 2. I said political revolutions — convulsions among the king- 
 doms of the earth, are to be looked for as precursors of the Mil- 
 lennium. Is there any thing in the present political state of the 
 
60 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 world that verifies this sign ? The fifth angel poured out Ms vial 
 on the seat of the Beast ; and his kingdom was full of darkness ; 
 and they gnawed their tongues for pain. 
 
 This we have interpreted of the papal nations — especially of 
 the " ten kingdoms," which " give their power to the Beast" — 
 which sustain the spiritual Babylon by their civil authority. Be- 
 fore Christ shall set up his kingdom, we have seen, these nations 
 shall be thrown into hopeless confusion ; and, inasmuch as their 
 civil despotism is so identified with the spiritual despotism of 
 Rome, that the two must perish together. 
 
 Do we at the present time discover in the condition of Euro- 
 pean nations any thing like the confusion, perplexity and dark- 
 ness represented by the pouring out of the fifth vial ? Do we 
 find kings dethroned, dynasties dissolved, governments thrown into 
 disorder, and a general distrust and uncertainty pervading all the 
 affairs of those nations ? We are all too well acquainted with 
 the revolutions and civil convulsions of 1848, to need any details 
 here, as a matter of history. But there were certain features in 
 these revolutions which go very far to identify them as the events 
 which are foretold shall immediately precede the reign of a thou- 
 sand years. 
 
 The fifth vial was poured out upon the seat, or the throne of 
 the Beast; and the effect should be, that his kingdom should he filed 
 with darkness : i. e. the judgments should fall on the ruling pow- 
 ers, and as a consequence, they should be thrown into a strange 
 confusion and perplexity, and that both rulers and people should 
 act like men blindfolded, or like persons groping their way in the 
 dark. Nothing could more accurately describe the present con- 
 dition of Europe. If we were to describe the condition of Eu- 
 rope as the result of her late revolutions, in a single word, we 
 should say it was one grand disappointment, I do not know a 
 single result that proved in the end to be what was expected. 
 
REVOLUTIONS OP 1848 DISAPPOINTMENTS. 61 
 
 The most profound skill and the most undoubted bravery came 
 as near accomplishing the objects aimed at as men blindfolded 
 would accomplish their objects. France, with some noble spirits 
 to lead in her affairs, annihilated the monarchy of Louis Phillippe 
 and established a republic. And yet there was in the form of 
 government adopted less of republicanism than there was either 
 of monarchy, despotism, or anarchy. France realized nothing- 
 she sought and fought for ; neither did any other nation of Eu- 
 rope. But what is more remarkable, they rather realized the 
 very opposite of what they sought. I may here quote a para- 
 graph from a writer of the time, containing some exceedmgly just 
 remarks, which will put this topic in a more correct light than I 
 should be able to do otherwise : 
 
 " The new government, in place of securing to the people the 
 liberty which they anticipated, is in many respects more tyranni- 
 cal than the monarchy they overthrew. Instead of yielding oc- 
 cupation and abundance to the laborers of Paris, the French 
 Revolution deprived them of employment and reduced them to 
 beggary and starvation. Many of the men who were chiefly in- 
 strumental in establishing the republic, instead of obtaining the 
 political station and enjoying the influence which they expected, 
 have sunk into neglect or been driven into exile. The new ad- 
 ministration, instead of favoring the liberty of other nations, has 
 overthrown the Republic of Rome, and attempted to reinvest the 
 Pope with the worst species of despotic power. The King of 
 Belgium, who was ready to abdicate had his people desired it, 
 holds his sceptre with a surer grasp than any other monarch in 
 Germany. The Austrian Government, which appeared less likely 
 to feel the shock of revolution, has been in greater danger than 
 any other of subversion. Prince Metternich, who was thought 
 to be more thoroughly master ot the art of despotic rule, and 
 more likely than any other minister to maintain his position, was 
 
62 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 the most easily baffled, and the most thoroughly divested of pow- 
 er. The Pope, who from his pretensions to the vicegerency of 
 God and infallibility, it might have been expected, would be the 
 most reluctant to quit his station, and if overwhelmed, fall with a 
 degree of statehness, was more easily induced than any prince 
 to abandon his throne, and in a form the most undignified and 
 abject. The population of Rome, which seemed less capable 
 than any other of self-government, and less likely to offer a brave 
 and effective resistance to a foreign foe, has conducted itself in a 
 more orderly manner, displayed a nobler patriotism, and made a 
 bolder and a more strenuous struggle for the defense of its lib- 
 erties, than the people of any other capital that has been the 
 scene of revolution. The Austrian monarchy, which has ever been 
 fearful and jealous of Russia, has, by inviting the Czar to assist 
 in the conquest of Hungary, assumed the relation of a dependent 
 on him, and probably placed it in the power of the Czar to pursue 
 what course he pleases, without respect to the wishes of Austria." 
 In a word (as I have before said), scarcely an event took 
 place in the course of all those strange revolutionary struggles 
 which was not the opposite of what was expected and desired. 
 Both rulers and people missed their aim in all that they attempted, 
 and all the calculations of human sagacity and forecast quite 
 failed. It was a great political game played in the dark. The 
 " kingdom of the Beast was full of darkness^ No symbol could 
 more exactly express the condition of Southern Europe during 
 that eventful period. The actors in the great drama were with- 
 out concert or understanding of each other's movements, as men 
 groping their way in the dark. Confusion, perplexity, doubt, and 
 especially disappointment, were the most prominent characteris- 
 tics of the recent European movements. Little has yet been re- 
 alized but defeat and disappointment. What but disaster and 
 despair have crowned the noble struggles for liberty, of the peo- 
 
STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY COMING CHANGE. 63 
 
 pie of Paris — of Berlin — of Vienna — of Rome, Genoa, Milan, 
 Florence and Naples ? How completely thwarted all their en- 
 deavors for liberty ! And how disastrous the revolt of the Sicil- 
 ians ; and how humiliating the defeat of the outbreak for liberty 
 in Ireland ! And poor Hungary— noble Hungary — whose heart 
 did not throb a welcome to her among the sons of the free (who 
 more worthy ? ) — and whose heart has not been pained at her 
 melancholy fall ! 
 
 But the other part of the prophecy seems to be meeting a no 
 less exact fulfilment in the present condition of Europe : " And 
 they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of 
 heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of 
 their deeds," All these political convulsions, instead of conduct- 
 ing those nations to moral reformations, seem driving them on to 
 infidelity and atheism ; and their defeat and disasters seem not 
 to be working a feeling of humility and dependence on the Divine 
 arm, but is rather torturing, tormenting and maddening them on to 
 a struggle of which, what has been, is but the beginning of sorrows. 
 All Europe is trembling over a volcano. Its internal fires are boil- 
 ing, and ere long we shall hear the explosion — and such an ex- 
 plosion the world does not often hear ! 
 
 The present hostile attitude of the great European powers is 
 awfully grand and dreadfully ominous of coming change. Stu- 
 pendous armies are rallying to the combat The most for- 
 midable preparations are making to shake the whole continent of 
 Europe, and to drench the nations in blood. We wait in awful 
 suspense the result. If it be not the final great battle (which we 
 do not apprehend), it is doubtless a mighty conflict which shall, in 
 dreadful certainty, hasten on the final battle. The contending 
 parties in the late Italian war seemed not arranged for finality. 
 The great confederated enemy, which shall finally range himself 
 in deadly hostility against the nations that acknowledge and fear 
 
64 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 God and contain the true Church, may first be allowed to fight 
 against himself — one portion of this confederacy be made to prey 
 upon, to weaken, if not to destroy another portion, before the final 
 adjustment of parties for the great and last conflict. 
 
 If the confederation which we anticipate, viz., a confederacy 
 of Russia as the representative and embodied strength of the 
 Eastern Hierarchy, and of the Roman Catholic powers of Eu- 
 rope as the representative and embodiment of the Papal Hierar- 
 chy, were now to join hands in the conflict against the Protestant 
 powers of Europe, the odds would be fearfully against the latter. 
 It would be the alliance of the Bear and the Wolf against the 
 Lamb. But the great King who rules among the nations knows 
 full well how to set the Bear and the Wolf first in deadly con- 
 flict with each other; and not till they shall have expended their 
 strength and wasted their resources in mutual combat, will he al- 
 low them to combine against his anointed. 
 
 Such we apprehend to be the character of the late war in 
 Europe. Before the final adjustment of parties for the Great 
 Battle, we shall probably witness a great slaughter among the 
 aliens. They shall pounce upon and devour one another. San- 
 guinary battle-fields, accompanied perhaps by the Divine judg- 
 ments, shall greatly weaken those powers ; and yet more remark- 
 able changes may, in the mean time, come over the face of 
 European afiairs, and especially over the embattled hosts of 
 Rome and of the great Eastern apostasy, through a repetition of 
 the revolutions of 1848. Europe, as I have said, is rocked on a 
 volcano. There are working beneath her surface elements of 
 tremendous power. Fearful are those internal, hidden struggles 
 for liberty, and ere long they must find vent ; and dreadful will 
 be the explosion. The noble spirits of Forty-Eight are not dead. 
 A decade of years has added strength to their arms, and new res- 
 olution and courage to their hearts. Kossuth and Mazzini yet 
 
APPROACHING SIGNS OF THE MILLENNIUM. 65 
 
 live — or if their arms should be palsied, their mantles shall fall 
 on others who shall rise in the strength of the God of Elijah, and 
 in the sacred name of Liberty, marshal a countless host who have 
 " not defiled their garments" with the wrongs of despotism or the 
 corruptions of Rome. 
 
 The late war was very much a conflict of Rome with Rome. 
 The progress of future hostilities will no doubt reveal new ele- 
 ments of contention, and new arrangements of parties. Unex- 
 pected revolutions may disclose new issues to be sought, until the 
 great and final issue between truth and error, between great Baby- 
 lon and the servants of the living God, shall be reached. We 
 must therefore wait and pray, hope and trust till the end come. 
 
 Indeed, there seems much in the present political condition of 
 the world which we are warranted in taking as preliminary to 
 the no distant coming of the MDlennium. A moment's reflection 
 increases the conviction that the great crisis hastens on apace, 
 heralded by the thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes of 
 political convulsions — the turning the earth upside down — the 
 destruction of all that stands not on the sure basis of truth and 
 righteousness, and the speedy establishment of that better, that 
 glorious kingdom which shall have no end. 
 
 3. Another indication that the time is at hand when the wicked 
 shall meet a signal and awful overthrow, and the emph-e of right- 
 eousness be set up, is, I said, the present extraordinary increase 
 of religious knowledge, and the universal spread of the gospel. 
 
 A distinguishing sign of such a period is that many shall go to 
 and froy and knowledge shall increase. The gospel must first be 
 preached to all nations — the Bible translated into all tongues — 
 the earth traversed in its length and breadth till a knowledge 
 of the gospel become universal. The Press must send out the 
 savor of life far and wide — the Bible must be read and under- 
 stood — Christians be better instructed in the mysteries of re- 
 5 
 
66 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 demption, and there be a general and rapid advance in Divine 
 knowledge. 
 
 And is this not rapidly becoming true of the present age ? It 
 is very generally conceded that this sign is abundantly verified. 
 Since the world began knowledge was never so widely diffused — 
 science never so advanced — ^learning of all kinds so nearly uni- 
 versal. And the gospel was never known to so large a portion 
 of the population of the earth. Indeed, there is scarcely at the 
 present day a nation or a tribe in which the gospel is not already 
 preached, at least to a portion of its inhabitants. Already has 
 the Bible been translated into every principal language on the 
 face of the earth. Already are the embassadors of the cross 
 traversing every nation. Such are the facilities of communica- 
 tion that nations, which but a little time since were unknown to 
 each other, are brought into neighborhood. By means of the 
 press, of travelers, commercial agents and missionaries, they are 
 brought within speaking distance. There is an advanced state 
 of knowledge throughout the whole world. It is a day of unparal- 
 leled light, and light is increasing in a more rapid ratio than ever 
 before. Already has the gospel become a witness to nearly the 
 whole of the earth's population. 
 
 Zion shall arise and shine, her light being come and the glory 
 of the Lord being risen upon her. But this increase of light 
 shall, more surely than any thing else, rouse the slumbering foe 
 and hasten on the conflict. 
 
 4. " That day shall not come, except there come a falling away 
 first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." We 
 may expect, I said, first a very general declension and apathy in 
 religion and sad apostasies, followed by the revelation of the 
 "Man of Sin," a subtle, insidious, dangerous infidelity and law- 
 lessness or insubordination, which, under the pretext of moral re- 
 form and religious advancement, shall trample on all order and 
 
THE MAN OF SIN. 67 
 
 right, and become the most seductive, dangerous and deadly foe 
 Christianity has ever had. Do we not see at the present day a 
 falling away, both from the holding fast of the sound words of 
 Christian doctrine, and more especially in reference to Christian 
 practice ? Have not past years — the year 1858 excepted — been 
 years of general declension — a period when there was a most 
 woful withholding of the Spirit ? And not only this, but there is 
 a sad apostatizing. In one large portion of the Reformed Church, 
 there is a strange retrograde movement back again into the 
 bosom of Rome. And in other portions of the Christian Church 
 there are departures from the simplicity of the gospel, and the 
 purity of the faith once delivered to the saints. 
 
 And not only this, but there is, every year, a more and more 
 manifest revelation of the " 3Ian of Sin, the son of perdition" 
 
 The discussion of our general subject would be left quite in- 
 complete if I did not say more on this particular feature of the 
 times and events that are to precede the Millennium, than can be 
 said in the present chapter. The "revelation," development, 
 growth, maturity and the destruction of this Man of Sin, and son 
 of perdition, is all to take take place before the coming of Christ 
 and the setting up of his earthly kingdom. He is to be destroyed 
 hy the brightness of his coming. 
 
 Reserving to some future chapter, to show that this man of sin is 
 fast being revealed, I shall at present only add that I do not believe 
 the Roman Hierarchy, the Papish apostasy, to be this " Man of 
 Sin." This colossal system and mystery of iniquity is doubtless 
 a man of sin — answering in many of its general features to that 
 power described by Paul (2 Thess. ii). But it is evidently not 
 specifically the Man of Sin there described. I think the attentive 
 reader of that chapter will rather discover the description of a 
 great infidel and atheistic power yet to rise, than the distinctive 
 features of Popery, which have already existed. And if we 
 
68 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 were to translate the word " wicked," in the expression " Then 
 shall that wicked be revealed," by the word lawless or impious^ as 
 with all propriety might be done, and substitute the word '• law- 
 lessness " in the place of " iniquity," in the phrase " Mystery of 
 iniquity," we should much sooner recognize here the popular 
 Infidelity of our times, than the Religion of Rome and of the 
 Pope. It is to be that thing acted over again on a large scale which 
 appeared in miniature, in France, in her reign of atheism and 
 of terror — with this difference, that that was Infidelity with the 
 grossness and comparative ignorance of the time ; this shall be 
 infidelity with the light and knowledge, the refinement and relig- 
 ion of the present times. It is to be a state of things in which 
 human wisdom — human reason, shall be exalted above all that 
 is divine — in which men shall be wise above what is written — 
 when they shall be " heady and high-minded " — shall practically 
 acknowledge no power higher than themselves. Indeed, I sup- 
 pose, the apostle is here describing that same great power of un- 
 holiness of which he and Peter and Jude speak of as being 
 about to prevail in the " last days." * 
 
 I suppose we have here a summary description of that last 
 great and terrible scheme of the wicked one, which shall exist at 
 the revelation of our Lord. Unlike the Papists, who are theo- 
 retically orthodox, the men of that day shall be scoffers, walking 
 after their own lusts, brooking no restraint — lawless — self-willed 
 — supercilious — denying the Lord that bought them — despising 
 dominion, and speaking evil of dignities. That such shall be the 
 next great and final form of sin in our world, and that sin is fast 
 assuming this form — that the moral corruption of wicked men is 
 now developing itself in such a form as we have here indicated, I 
 think, will in the course of the discussion be made to appear. 
 
 *Paul, in 2 Tim. iii. 1—5 ; 2 Peter, iii. 8, 4; Jude, 4—8, 14—19. 
 
REFLECTIONS. 69 
 
 In closing, I may just remark that the three points which have 
 occupied our minds in the present chapter, give rise to three dis- 
 tinct reflections : 
 
 1. When the Judgments of God are abroad in the earth, we 
 should learn righteousness. 
 
 2. When God is overturning the earth, and breaking up every 
 false structure, and bringing to naught all things that do not please 
 him, how ought we to examine our foundation'^ 
 
 3. As knowledge is increased — the gospel more widely preached 
 — the light made clearer — duty made plainer, and new modes of 
 usefulness opened to us, how are our responsibilities increased — 
 how our guilt f 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Characteristics of our Age — Modern Infidelity as the Man of Sin. 
 
 " And that Man of Sin be revealed, the son of perdition."— 2 Tkess. ii. 3. 
 
 In reply to the inquiry, " Are there indications at the present 
 time of the near approach of the Millennium ? " I have already 
 spoken of judgments, of civil convulsions, and of an increase of 
 knowledge and the extensive diffusion of the gospel, as indica- 
 tions that the day of Zion's emancipation is near. In alluding to 
 the falling away, or the apostasies that shall precede that day, 
 and to the consequent revelation of the Man of Sin, that shall 
 be revealed, the son of perdition. I then hinted that I did not 
 think this man of sin the Pope of Rome, or the Roman Hierar- 
 chy, but rather an infidel, atheistic power that should arise — a 
 condition of unparalleled lawlessness and impiety. A great anti- 
 christian power — ^the last great exhibition of sin — the climax 
 and consummation of the works of the Devil, the god of this 
 world, before he shall be obliged to yield up his dominion on the 
 earth and make an end of sin. As we expect that the coming 
 and last dispensation of grace on this earth shall be the most 
 glorious, the most morally magnificent of any preceding one, 
 
 (70) 
 
MODERN INFIDELITY. 71 
 
 SO we may expect the last dispensation of sin shall be corres- 
 pondingly luxuriant in the wiles and the deep-laid schemes of 
 the Pit. As one shall be the nearest approach to heaven of any 
 thing ever yet known on earth, the other shall be the nearest 
 approach to hell. In subtlety — in the power to deceive, if pos- 
 sible, the very elect — in the deep Philosophy of high-fallen in- 
 tellect, all clad in a garb of an angel of light, we may expect 
 the last great scheme of Satan to be his mightiest and his worst 
 — ^more potent to deceive, more sure to destroy. 
 
 In what may in general terms be called Modem Infidelity^ I 
 believe we have, in germ at least, just such a system as I have 
 alluded to. The religion of Rome, of Mecca, and the religion 
 of the Pagans are little else than different illustrations of Infidel- 
 ity. The last scheme shall be like them all — and yet unlike them 
 all — shall have the same spirit, and the same end to accomplish, 
 yet the form and the means of accomplishing that end shall dif- 
 fer. Perhaps we cannot better indicate it than to call it a union 
 of Romanism, Paganism and Infidelity, clad in the garb of an 
 angel of light. 
 
 The judicious and pious commentator, Dr. Scott, on this point, 
 remarks : " Papal persecutors were often concealed infidels ; and 
 infidels concealed under any other mask, and opposing vital Chris- 
 tianity, may perhaps equally answer the prediction : for the pecu- 
 liar opinions of this antichristian power are not specified. The 
 prevalence of Infidelity in various forms, and the zeal with which 
 principles of that tendency are everywhere propagated, when con- 
 trasted with the declining state of the Popish superstition, renders it 
 not wholly improbable that the ' Beast ' may change his ground 
 and method of attack before he thus prevails against the * Wit- 
 nesses.* " 
 
 The probable change of ground, and method of attack and form, 
 
72 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 is, that the Beast will depute his authority to some subtle, delusive 
 Infidelity clad in a Christian costume, which shall prosecute the 
 warfare against the Witnesses more effectually, because more 
 clandestinely, and shall overcome them and kill them. There- 
 fore, 
 
 5. I shall now direct attention, as the next characteristic of 
 our times, to such a view, as I may be able to give, of Modern 
 Infidelity. My object is, that there may be seen in it, first, 
 the Man of Sin — sin matured into manhood — sin in its last great 
 strength and malignity. And, secondly, that there may be dis- 
 covered in its peculiar development, the approaching, ominous 
 close of the present dispensation, and the no distant approach of 
 the Millennial period — ^the coming of the Son of man to set up 
 his kingdom on the earth. 
 
 There is much in the present aspect of Infidelity which beto- 
 kens a fearful conflict with the Truth at no distant day. And we 
 are scarcely in danger of overrating its importance as a sign of 
 the times. 
 
 Infidelity, which in our day is extensively diffused, has changed 
 its mode of attack. In the days of Voltaire and the French Revo- 
 lution it was bold, argumentative and overbearing. It hoped to 
 put down Christianity by logic and philosophy. Argument was 
 the weapon of its warfare. Reason was exalted as the last court 
 of appeal. And Paine^ in his too well-known work, " The Age 
 of Reason^'' essayed to prostrate the fair fabric of Religion, and 
 to remove its very foundations from the face of the earth, and 
 fain to blot out its remembrance from the annals of the world. 
 But he failed. Reason, so far as she was capable of making a 
 verdict on the sublime mysteries of Christianity, pronounced in 
 her favor. And never has Christianity prospered more — never 
 spread her wings so widely and diffused such healing in her 
 beams — never before overshadowed so much of the earth and 
 
NEW PHASES OF INFIDELITY. 73 
 
 scattered over its desert surface so much of her celestial fruits, 
 as since Voltaire and Paine, and that unholy conspiracy against 
 the truth, ceased to pour out the vials of their wrath. The Church 
 has lived and prospered ; and not the less so because of their 
 hard reasonings and bold invectives. 
 
 It was then infidelity unmasked — infidelity fighting under her 
 own banners. 
 
 But a change has come over the scene. The eruptions of the 
 volcano, which then disgorged their fiery floods over all Europe, and 
 rolled their resistless waves across the Atlantic to the land of the 
 Pilgrims, have, at length, given place to the latent heavings and 
 burnings of internal fires, deepening and widening, and preparing 
 to burst forth again with redoubled fury. Infidelity has become 
 subtle and covert, preparing rather to appear as an angel of light 
 — to wear the form of Religion, in which she may the more effec- 
 tually stab her to the heart. There is open infidelity yet, bold, 
 obtrusive, threatening, from which the Church has something to 
 fear. She may still be assailed and galled by its violence. Yet 
 her danger lies, not in Pagan or atheistic, but in baptized infidel- 
 ity — infidelity in and close about the nominal Church. There is 
 the infidelity of Popery, covering the greater portion of the 
 states of Europe and much of the New World ; and the scarcely 
 less extended infidelity in the Greek Church. There is the infi- 
 delity of portions of Protestantism, wearing the form of piety, 
 and assenting to its doctrines, but denying its power. There is, 
 again, the infidehty of Socinianism and all its kindred tribes, and 
 of Universalism and all its pitiful fraternity, endeavoring to rea- 
 son men out of their souls, or laugh them out of their inheritance 
 in the skies. And there is yet the more daring and fearful infi- 
 delity of German Neology, which has usurped the seat of learning 
 and raised its unhallowed form high on the eminence of Christian 
 
74 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 Theology, striking a deadly blow at the vitality of our holy 
 religion. 
 
 Modern infidelity is not so much besieging the walls of our Zion 
 from without — erecting its scaling-ladders, or plying her well- 
 formed bulwarks with its huge battering-ram, but it has insinu- 
 ated itself within her very walls. It is lurking about her altar, 
 and finds a lodgement in her strongholds. 
 
 This is what the page of prophecy has taught us to expect 
 before that great and notable day of the Lord, and is what shall 
 bring about that day. It is the " mystery of iniquity " working 
 in the children of disobedience — the "spirit of devils, work- 
 ing wonders " — not in words denying God, but in works casting off 
 his authority, and exalting itself above all that is called God or 
 that is worshiped. It is an unclean spirit under a religious dis- 
 guise — a threefold emanation from the Dragon, the Beast and 
 False Prophet, described as three unclean spirits like frogs — am- 
 phibious — able to accommodate themselves to all circumstances — 
 noisome and vexatious. 
 
 The danger of such an infidelity is immense. The longer it 
 works the more formidable it becomes. It is the enemy within 
 the citadel. While allowed unmolested possession, it is not tumult- 
 uous. But attempt to dislodge the foe and cast him out, he stamps 
 the earth in his rage, he shakes the forest with his roaring. 
 
 But we must ponder this topic a little more leisurely — must 
 inquire more in detail what there is in the present developments of 
 infidelity which betokens its speedy collision with the truth. 
 
 I shall dwell on this topic the longer as I believe we may here 
 discover the lineaments at least — the incipient developments — of 
 that great antichristian system, the last and most formidable an- 
 tagonist of the Christian Church. 
 
 Where, then, shall we look for these fast-maturing germs of the 
 last great antichrist ? I hesitate not to say I think I see them 
 
SPECIOUS PRETEXTS OF INFIDELITY. 
 
 75 
 
 vegetating and rapidly maturing in the Owenism, the Non-Re- 
 sistance, the Fourierism, Transcendentalism, and Come-outism of 
 our country — ^in the Socialism and Chartism of England — in the 
 Communism and Fourierism of France — in the Radicalism and 
 Free Societies of Switzerland — and in the Pantheism, the ^^ Friends 
 of Light,** and the Hengelianism of Germany. 
 
 These are but different names by which, in different portions 
 of the world, the same thing is called. The animating spirit is 
 the same ; it is a lurking, subtle, masked infidelity suited to the times. 
 At one time it mounts the car of Reform, raised to a dizzy height 
 above the common herd, speeding its way ahead, leaving conse- 
 quences at a fearful remove behind ; again, you find it the judge 
 and censor and fierce advocate of an elevated piety, ready at a 
 blow to demolish all of piety there is in the world for the sake 
 of erecting on its ruins the stately, transcendental fabric of its own 
 imagining ; or you meet it, with the besom of destruction in its 
 right hand, prostrating all law and authority and human govern- 
 ment—or presumptuously entering the sanctuary, stripping the 
 man at the altar of his sacerdotal power, casting the Bible into 
 the labyrinths of distrust and perplexity, disbanding the Church, 
 if possible, and filching from her the sanctity of her Sabbaths, 
 and all this, forsooth, for some hetter thing, which is to be intro- 
 duced when the ground shall be cleared of all present incum- 
 brances. 
 
 Its pious design, under the pretext of a grand system of Reform, 
 in government, society and religion, is to prostrate all existing in- 
 stitutions, whether civil, social or religious, and to build anew, not 
 after the fashion shown to Moses in the mount, but after the fash- 
 ion dictated by the god they worship, the " spirit of the age." 
 
 A brief examination of some of these systems of skepticism, 
 which, of late, have sprung up almost simultaneously in different 
 and widely distant parts of Christendom, yet one in spirit, will 
 
76 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 verify what I have said. No one yet delineates the full-grown 
 Beast. Some portray one feature more prominently, some an- 
 other, yet the spirit and tendency of all is essentially the same. 
 
 Take for an example the Socialism and Chartism of England, 
 which differ scarcely but in name from the Non-resistance and 
 " Come-outism" of America, and we shall see on what moral ba- 
 sis the whole system is founded. 
 
 While true Christianity promotes the civilization and refinement 
 of the world, strengthens the bonds of the social compact, and 
 improves and elevates the social character of man. Socialism, the 
 doctrine of Robert Owen as illustrated in his settlement at New 
 Harmony, and enforced in his public and private teachings in this 
 country and in Europe, would break up the very fountains of the 
 social principle. It is a lawless, restive, licentious spirit which 
 spurns the bonds of civil restraints. It would have no law, no 
 government, no restraints. It is but the concentration and ma- 
 turity of views, feelings, and doctrines which had their origin, not 
 in this pernicious system, but in the human heart. 
 
 Though diametrically opposed to Christianity, Owen, true to 
 the genius of modern infidelity, did not avow this till his follow- 
 ers could bear it. But " now," says a writer in a late English 
 newspaper, " Owen and his followers have completely thrown off 
 the mask, and are at present employed throughout England in 
 the most undisguised and wicked attempts to set aside the scheme 
 of Divine revelation, and to subvert Christian morality. Owen- 
 ism aims at sweeping away all the existing forms of religious 
 belief." Prayer and all other forms of worship are the objects of 
 ridicule and contempt — the Being of a Great First Cause doubted 
 — native depravity and personal responsibility boldly denied. The 
 Bible is virulently opposed and spoken of as written by ignorant 
 men. Salvation through Christ is abused and rejected. It aims, 
 
THE "friends of LIGHT." 77 
 
 in a word, at the complete subversion of the present order of re- 
 ligion and of society. 
 
 " Marriage is denounced as a state of deceit and immorality ; 
 and, to the reproach of human nature^ fe?nale apostles travel through 
 England, unUushingly declaiming against marriage as the cause 
 of the crimes and miseries which afflict the sons and daughters 
 of men, and offer plausible pleas for the indulgence of unre- 
 strained licentiousness." And strange as it may seem in the 
 nineteenth century, this system is not so opposed to the public 
 taste, not so odious or starthng (though directly tending to license 
 the most shameless immorality) that it does not find there numer- 
 ous advocates. Yet it is to be feared that such sentiments are 
 as rife, though not so ripe in America as in England. 
 
 If such a leaven be at work, so extensively and in such a place, 
 is it not a precursor of a convulsion ? This looks more like an at- 
 tempt to " slay the Witnesses" — to suppress the truth and trample 
 under foot the Church of God, than any thing we have yet seen. 
 
 Or, go to Germany and you will meet the same thing : the 
 name and the costume is changed, but the body and soul is the 
 same. There this rising conspiracy against the truth call them- 
 selves the "Friends of Light." The Friends of Light have 
 undertaken to carry out, practically, what the Rationalists had pro- 
 posed, theoretically. The appeal of the one was to Reason, ex- 
 alting it above all they call God or worship ; that of the other 
 to the passions, stirring up popular feeling, and exciting popular 
 prejudices. 
 
 An intelligent writer of the present day (G. de Felice) thus 
 speaks of the Friends of Light, as to the manner in which they 
 treat the Bible . " They do not receive the Bible as supreme 
 authority in religious matters. They say that there are in this 
 book errors and contradictions, and that what was written eigh- 
 teen hundred years ago, does not suit our enlightened age.^' These 
 
78 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Friends of Light concede that the Bible contains words of God, 
 or fundamental truths, which they can distinguish from the dross 
 by the spirit of the Lord which is in them. But when you 
 come to inquire what this spirit, dignified as the spirit of the 
 Lord, is, they do not hesitate to say it is the spirit of the age. 
 And as every man will interpret public opinion to his own liking, 
 it follows that this judge and discriminator of God's word 
 is no more nor less than a man's individual reason. By this 
 convenient method they can conduct a controversy, and sustain 
 themselves in any thing they wish to believe, and reject what 
 they will. They have only to declare a passage which stands in 
 tiieir way to be not a word of God, or if it ever were a truth, now 
 obsolete truth. In this way they seem, to superficial observers, to 
 support a subtle, sinuous system of infidelity from the Bible, 
 while at the same time they are effectually undermining all belief 
 in the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures. 
 
 How nearly akin such views are to those embraced and exem- 
 plified by men of like passions in this country, I leave to the 
 judgment of those best acquainted with both their theory and 
 practice. The Friends of Light in this country may not con- 
 gratulate themselves on much originality in their new-modeled 
 errors. The transcendentalists for subtlety of logic, and the va- 
 rious castes of ultraists for misguided zeal, have their prototype 
 and counterpart in the old world, and that too, as a fruit of Ger- 
 man Neology, or Modern Infidelity. 
 
 JNIy design is only to point out some of these simultaneous and 
 similar developments in different parts of Christendom, of this 
 rising system of false, subtle, yet Christianized Infidehty, which 
 I have supposed is to be the last formidable antagonist of the 
 Church. 
 
 It matters little which of the affianced isms I have named, we 
 select in order to discover their disorganizing and ruinous ten- 
 
FOURIEBISM. 79 
 
 dency, and their ultimate plunge into real if not undisguised Infi- 
 delity. 
 
 Take, if you please, for our next example, Fourierism, This 
 is no doubt regarded by many as only a harmless piece of fool- 
 ery — harmless except to them who foolishly embark their all 
 into the hands of a gang of land-sharks, never to come out from 
 thence till they have lost the last farthing. But this is but the 
 beginning of the miseries of Fourierism. It is based on prin- 
 ciples destructive of all law and order, of all morality and re- 
 ligion. It is pregnant with the popular infidelity of the day. 
 
 This charge finds ample support in its own professions ; and 
 yet its professions are evidently but a partial index of its spirit 
 and real character. It is based on new doctrines both of philos- 
 ophy and religion — doctrines, when carried out, utterly subver- 
 Bive of the old-fashioned doctrines of Divine revelation. They 
 proclaim their intention " to reorganize society," that is, to destroy 
 all its existing relations, and shape it to suit themselves ; to abol- 
 ish the marriage relation, and substitute in its stead universal con- 
 cubinage. Their design is to unsettle and destroy in society all 
 that has hitherto been settled ; and morality and religion they 
 treat as unceremoniously. Contrary to all experience, to con- 
 science and the Bible, they teach that the passions are not to 
 be restrained and governed, but to be allowed " free course and 
 development." 
 
 They make sin to be " merely a weakness incident to the in- 
 fancy of our race, instead of an evil in each individual soul." The 
 worship of God is stigmatized as a " servile and supei^stitious ad- 
 oration," and indeed the whole scheme of revealed Religion is 
 thoroughly and contemptuously discarded. Its forms are treated 
 with levity and ridicule, and its spirit denounced as tyrannical. 
 
 I will quote a paragraph from Mr. Ripley, one of their leading 
 writers, and we shall find their position, as to infidelity, defined in 
 
dO THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 their own words. He is replying to the charge of Infidehty pre- 
 ferred against them. He says : 
 
 " We ARE injideh in respect to the prevailing religion preached 
 in our Ohurches. I say we repudiate the Christianity of our 
 prevailing Churches, because we believe these Churches reject 
 Christianity. We reject the religion of the Churches, because we 
 do not see in them that spirit of devotion to man which the gos- 
 pel breathes ; M^e see in them no attempt to realize the promises 
 of Christ, that men shall be clothed with more beauty than the 
 flowers of the field, and that all earthly things shall be given in 
 abundance unto them. We do aim at the destruction of the 
 present order of society. "We do look for a new heaven and a. 
 new earth, and in this respect we are content to bear the charge 
 of infidelity." 
 
 Who does not discover here the sentiments and almost precisely 
 the language of another class of errorists and fanatics in our own 
 country ? They reject the religion of the Church because the 
 Church is not more devoted, not to God, but to man, and does not 
 realize the promises of all earthly things. They would fain have 
 it understood that they, without either the pretension or attempted 
 practice of piety themselves, cannot tolerate the Church because 
 she is so corrupt. Pious souls, they ; they cannot breathe in so 
 tainted an atmosphere as the Christian Church, and therefore they 
 will regale their pure spirits in the dismal regions of doubt and 
 skepticism. 
 
 Did time allow and need require, it would be easy to point out 
 the characteristics of other kindred germs of this modern Infidel- 
 ity, and, stripping off the Christian guise which for the present 
 they assume, to show the latent, active infidelity which is rampant 
 within. There are the Radicals of France, the Humanitists of 
 Germany, and the Propagandists of Switzerland, whose object is 
 described to be the subversion of all existing morals — the " destruc- 
 
PROPAGANDIST CLUBS. 81 
 
 tion of the social, political and religious organizations of Ger- 
 many. The Propagandist clubs, which have become fearfully 
 numerous in Europe, especially in Switzerland, have taken an 
 advanced step, thrown off their disguise, and speak of " God and 
 the immortality of the soul as old and threadbare trash." " Relig- 
 ion," say they, " is dung." Again : " Religion is all a battle of 
 smoke ; " and " vengeance is a natural act of justice ; and we 
 should desire to see the outbreak of great vices and outrageous 
 crimes rather than that virtue which annoys and that worn-out 
 morality with which thejjaiigtie the people " Any thing but that 
 old morality of the Church — that threadbare virtue which annoys 
 — the wicked. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding the bitter hostility of these Propagandists 
 against all evangelical religion — their downright atheism — they 
 ape a character for piety. Says Standon, one of their leaders, 
 writing to a fellow-champion : " As I spend much of my time at the 
 house of the cur^, and frequently dine there, I pass for the most 
 pious and orthodox person in the world. You may imagine how 
 droll I look in this character." " I assure you I have a terrible 
 penance to go through in playing this pious part I have assumed " 
 — "attending regularly at church and joining in religious meet- 
 ings every day, I every day become more irreligious." 
 
 It is easy to see that a kindred spirit pervades all these systems. 
 They all bear the mark of the Beast, some more, some less dis- 
 tinctly. They are agreed in leveling all existing institutions with 
 the dust, whether of government, society, the family, or religion, 
 and all agree in doing this for the sake of introducing a purer 
 and higher form of Christianity. 
 
 They agree in their bitter invectives against the Christian Church 
 — in their unmeasured abuse of her ministry — in their strange tam- 
 perings and irreverence with the word of God — in their vandal 
 6 
 
82 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 tramplings under foot of the " powers that be," and in the novel 
 doctrines concerning the holy Sabbath. 
 
 None of these systems, or rather parts of the great System, 
 has yet fully developed itself. I only attempt to point out the 
 forming lineaments of the Beast that is to make war against and 
 destroy and kill the witnesses for the truth. We see that Beast, as 
 yet, scarcely out of the shell ; yet we may judge of his enor- 
 mous dimensions and his great power to hurt and to kill, by these 
 faint outlines. 
 
 Already he speaks as the Beast, although he appears in the 
 garb of a lamb. The war-cry against the Church and clergy, the 
 Bible and the Sabbath, which commenced in Europe, has found 
 a distinct echo on this side of the Atlantic. And here more 
 especially has it been achieved under the cover of a pretended 
 piety, and with the pretext of introducing a purer Church and a 
 higher order of piety. Here it has mounted the rostrum of Re- 
 form, and assumed the tone of benevolence and philanthropy, and 
 from these heights of popular feeling, has more effectually struck 
 the fatal blow. 
 
 No language has been too abusive and too base to suit the pur- 
 pose of these pretended Reformers in their attacks on the Church 
 and her ministry. The clergy have been denounced as a " bro- 
 therhood of thieves, and the Church the habitation of devils" — 
 " below the savages " — " destitute of common humanity " — *^ more 
 savage than the cannibals of the South Sea Islands" — "their 
 religion had burnt out their humanity." — " The grog-shops nearer 
 the kingdom of heaven than our Churches." — " The clergy the 
 most guilty and corrupting body of men in the land " — " unworthy 
 and dangerous spiritual guides." (Gerrit Smith.) They must, 
 they say, " rip up the Church and grind them to powder." They 
 would do great things, glorious things — make earth a Paradise 
 for us, could they but annihilate the Church and her very trouble- 
 
PRETENDED REFORMERS. Od 
 
 some ministry, and remodel the Bible to suit the spirit of the age, 
 and suitably dispose of that old Jewish day called the Sabbath, 
 and a few more things which have become antiquated by a too 
 long use. 
 
 Yet these men, while with one hand they raise the axe of exter- 
 mination and strike the very foundations of our religion, with the 
 other they extend a " bland and patronizing condescension ^ to- 
 wards what they please to call Christianity — but not the Chris- 
 tianity of the Churches ; that they repudiate and hate, but the 
 Christianity which they fancy will emerge from the ruins of the 
 moral deluge they hope to produce. But first we must submit 
 without a murmur, or demur, to a complete prostration of all 
 existing moorings and landmarks ; and when we have surren- 
 dered all and left the ground, they will build — what, we must wait 
 and see. 
 
 Surely, did the Devil ever act more wily, to turn Reformer — 
 to burn with zeal for the purity of the Church — to outstrip How- 
 ard and Wilberforce in his philanthropy — to separate himself 
 from the Church because she is so coiTupt — to mourn over the 
 defection of her ministers, and all this that he may carry out, in 
 a manner suited to the times, the great scheme of deceiving the 
 nations of the earth ! " Truly," says one, " the work of Satan 
 grows and expands itself side by side with that of the Lord, and 
 this word of Revelation is proved to be true : the Devil is come 
 down among you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he 
 hath but a short time." 
 
 Did names and human authorities prevail, many might be ad- 
 duced to show that I have not, in what I have said, widely devi- 
 ated in the opinions here advanced, from the sentiments of many 
 wiser and better, and, in intellectual and moral worth, more ex- 
 alted on Zion's walls, and able more distinctly to read the signs 
 of the times. Says one : 
 
84 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 " Infidelity is among us in its most subtle guise. A false and 
 superficial philosophy is the order of the day. The most disorgan- 
 izing principles are openly broached in education, politics and phi- 
 losophy — all under the guise of an extraordinary philanthropy, and 
 a pretendedly higher faith than is to be derived from the teachings 
 of the Church and the authority of Revelation." " The danger, 
 we contend, is real and imminent. The remedy can only be found 
 in a stern resolution on the part of those who have an unwaver- 
 ing faith in the Bible, to guard, by every means in their power, 
 all who are under their influence, from the insidious attacks of 
 this subtle enemy." 
 
 No one need go into any very lengthened examination of either 
 of the Isms I have named, to discover, with Prof. Norton of Cam- 
 bridge, " the latest form of Infidelity T 
 
 But I will dwell on this topic no longer ; nor should I so long, 
 but for its practical importance at this time. When the Enemy 
 changes his mode of attack, then is the time to be on the alert, 
 ready for his next assault. No matter if he be an angel, if he 
 preach any other gospel than Paul preached and Paul's Master 
 dictated — if he invade the fold, and assail the Shepherd, and 
 scatter the sheep — if he set up other standards, or demolish those 
 Christ has erected, he is an enemy; receive him not; and go 
 not after him. For many false prophets have gone out into the 
 world who will so nearly imitate the true, that, if it were possi- 
 ble, they will deceive the very elect. 
 
 I cannot forbear, however, further to confirm what I have said, 
 to quote a brief paragraph or two from the pen of Dr. J. W. 
 Alexander. In a discourse on " Modern Infidehty," he says : 
 
 " The beginning of the infidelity of the present age, unlike the 
 vulgar infidelity of the preceding one, was with a show of great 
 learning and science. The new sciences of astronomy, geology, 
 ethnography, and ethnology, have been invoked to prove the 
 
INFIDELITY AFFECTS TO BE RELIGIOUS. 85 
 
 Bible false ; and metaphysical reasoners, with a show of erudition 
 and acumen never surpassed, have endeavored to crush the doc- 
 trines of the Gospel. 
 
 " The infidelity of our age affects to he religious. Finding that 
 man, despoiled of all the religious emotions, became a Marat or a 
 Paine, a tiger or a swine, the arch-enemy found he must remodel 
 his devices, and bring in a religion better than that of the Bible ; 
 thus becoming most dangerous, when transforming himself into 
 an angel of light. This new form of error employs almost every 
 term of theology and experience in a false and deceptive sense, 
 often applying the most sacred words of gracious truth to matters 
 of literature, scenery, the fine arts, love, and alas, even to sinfiil 
 indulgence. Some of the foremost poets of our day are charge- 
 able with these insidious tactics ; so that a father has need to 
 look well to the books which lie upon his daughter's table, as 
 splendid presentation-copies. 
 
 " Under the present phase of infidelity much is said of God, 
 If frequent repetition of the sacred name could sanctify a cause, 
 theirs would be hallowed indeed. But their God is not our God ; 
 not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; not the God 
 of the saints ; not even a personal God. The more they talk of 
 God, the less they believe in him. In their disguised atheism the 
 term implies the sum of all things, or the everlastingly unfolding 
 process of causes ; or the universal reason, as existing in all minds. 
 Sometimes, in their glorification of humanity, they utter the scrip- 
 tural phrase, * God is man ; ' but their inward meaning is, that 
 man is God. Man is the object of their adoration. The highest 
 manifestation of God, say they, is the human mind. This they 
 dishonestly name at times, the incarnation. Never before has 
 the world seen so large a body of infidels, really denying every 
 thing like a proper revelation, yet full of great swelling words 
 
86 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 about the Spirit, the God of history, the union of virtue and 
 beauty, and the excellence of religion. 
 
 " The infidelity of our age connects itself with freedom and 
 social progress. The cry is, that Christianity is a failure ; that 
 the Church has not made men happy ; that whatever good the 
 Bible has accomplished, its work is done, and we must have some- 
 thing better. It is a part of this scheme to glory in humanity as 
 such ; to assert the independence and self-sufficiency of man ; to 
 deify the creature, and pushing the rights of man to a Jacobini- 
 cal and impracticable extreme, to install lawless freedom in the pul- 
 pit. Thus, strange as it may seem, philanthropy, unsanctified, 
 may lead unsound minds to unbelief; and there are no more reck- 
 less or bitter opponents of Christianity than a number of writers, 
 lecturers, and editors, whom we once knew or heard of as minis- 
 ters of Jesus Christ." 
 
 In conclusion, the inquiry forces itself upon us, what lesson of 
 instruction ought we to gather from such a subject ? If the ene- 
 my has taken the field under a new guise, we should be ready 
 to meet him. In professions, in zeal, in subtlety, he may outstiup 
 us. We must be pj-epared to meet him on the arena of personal 
 piety, and turn against him the battery of God's everlasting truth. 
 We must be " strong in the Lord and in the power of his might." 
 We must put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able 
 to stand against the wiles of the Devil. For we wrestle not 
 against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, 
 against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual 
 wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole 
 armor of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, 
 and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your 
 loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of right- 
 eousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel 
 of peace ; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall 
 
ARMED FOR THE ENEMY. 87 
 
 be able to quench all the fieiy darts of the wicked ; and take the 
 helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word 
 of God : praying always with all prayer and supplication in the 
 Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and suppli- 
 cation for all saints ; and for me, that " utterance may be given 
 unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly and make known the 
 mysteries of the gospel." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 More Signs — Paganism — Popery— The Hierarchy of England and of Scot- 
 land — Increase of religious knowledge — Stupidity and listlessness of the 
 wicked— Extensive revivals of Religion. 
 
 " Can ye not discern the signs of the times?" — Matt. xvi. 3. 
 
 Men are usually wise in their secular affairs. They look about 
 them — detect adverse influences — arrest their progress, and adapt 
 means to the accomplishment of ends so as to secure their own 
 interests. We are often not a little astonished at the discernment 
 with which men, who in other matters are deficient, manage their 
 own affairs. They are not generally lacking where they need 
 wisdom for their own secular benefit. They can discern the face 
 of human affairs and judge pretty correctly what will come to pass. 
 They, too, can judge of the face of the sky. They are worldly- 
 wise, as well as weather-wise. Yet they do not discern the signs 
 of the times in the moral world. Sad, indeed, is the stupidity of 
 man in this respect. Christ here upbraids the wise ones of his 
 time and nation, because they could see nothing in the unusual 
 movements of his day — in his teachings and miracles, in his char- 
 acter and labors of love, which betokened a great moral revolution 
 — the establishment of a new order of things in the religious world. 
 
 We may be living in a similar disregard of the signs of our times. 
 
 (88) 
 
PAGANISM. 89 
 
 It is often said we live in a remarkable age. So we do— though 
 not exactly in the sense implied. It is remarkable as a prepara- 
 tory season for a remarkable age. It was for this reason I in- 
 stituted the proposition in a former chapter, viz. : 
 
 That thQ characteristics of the present age indicate the speedy 
 approach of the final and universal triumph of the kingdom of 
 Christ ; and by consequence, of the great conflict between truth 
 and error. 
 
 I have spoken of some of the characteristics of our age, or 
 signs of our times. I shall now speak of others. 
 
 7. Paganism gives portentous signs of dissolution ; yet its dis- 
 solution may not be expected without a terrific dying struggle. 
 Look at Paganism as it now is. It is a waning system. Into 
 whatever quarter of its dark domains you cast the eye, you find 
 it shorn of its strength. It is old, worn out, decrepid and ready 
 to decay. In all its multifarious developments and excrescences, 
 it was formed for a different condition of society and of the world, 
 from what the world now presents. Satan originated it for a gross 
 state of ignorance and barbarism. But the world has advanced, 
 and undisguised idolatry is too gross a religion for this advanced 
 order of things. Its days are numbered, not only on the page of 
 inspiration, but numbered in the necessity of the case. The at- 
 mosphere in which Paganism once so freely breathed — the soil 
 on which it once took so deep root and thrived so prosperously, 
 has been changed, and now its poisonous leaves wither and its 
 wide-spread branches are falling off. No system of idolatry on 
 the whole face of the earth is in its full force and youthful vigor. 
 Every system of European idolatry has long since sunk into the 
 shades. Scarcely vestiges enough remain to tell what it was. 
 The idolatry of Western Asia, of Persia and Arabia, has fled 
 before the rising sun of Christianity ; and the grosser systems of 
 superstition and image worship of the Pacific Ocean have been 
 
90 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 completely overwhelmed by the irresistible tide of gospel truth. 
 The principal remaining systems are those of Brahminism of 
 India, and Boodhism of India and China, and these are but the 
 mere shadows of what they once were. Their power over the 
 minds of the people is rather nominal than real — at least, rather 
 a matter of habit than of principle. European power, intelligence, 
 and religion have come in upon them like a flood, and they can- 
 not withstand the invasion. As soon might you expect midnight 
 darkness to tarry before the rising sun. Everywhere do they 
 show marks of decay, and give premonitions of a no remote down- 
 fall. Hundreds of villages have within a few years renounced 
 the long established, but now antiquated religion of their fathers, 
 and embraced the Religion of the Cross. 
 
 As proof of this assertion, I will present two or three testimonies 
 as specimens of the delightful intelligence which is reaching us 
 from month to month. 
 
 " The feeling," says Mr. Bariero, " is becoming general that some 
 extraordinary change is near at hand, which is to be effected by 
 the diffusion of Christianity. Well may the people look for such 
 an event when they see so many signs of it in the neglect of rites 
 and ceremonies essential to Hindooism. Recently, two men came 
 from a place not twelve miles distant to inform us that nearly one 
 thousand persons — in consequence of reading some of our tracts 
 — were desirous of putting themselves under our protection. The 
 same company mention half a dozen villages where a similar change 
 has been produced simply by the reading of Christian books." 
 
 An Episcopal missionary writing from Southern India (Mr. 
 Pope), says : " Since my appointment here, nine devil temples 
 in this division of the district have been either destroyed or con- 
 verted into Christian prayer-houses ; and of the twenty-two vil- 
 lages in connection with the Episcopal mission, the whole of the 
 most respectable and influential inhabitants are under instruction. 
 
IDOLATRY IN INDIA AND CHINA. 91 
 
 A few days ago a large temple was made over to me within a 
 furlong's distance from my bungalow. The whole utensils of the 
 temple have been brought to me, and the property transferred to 
 the church in the village." The idol has been demolished — and 
 the temple converted into a church. 
 
 And, what is much in point, the Brahmins (Hindoo priests) and 
 the principal men of the nation are engaged in fierce and fearless 
 controversies touching the merits and demerits of their national 
 religion. Not a few native newspapers are freely and boldly as- 
 sailing the mighty colossus of Hindooism in every vulnerable 
 point, undermining its foundations and breaking down its super- 
 structure. And what has been reared, and for centuries stood in 
 darkness and ignorance and cruelty and despotism, must neces- 
 sarily fall before the light of truth and a religion of purity, free- 
 dom, light and love. 
 
 The late withdrawal by the British Government of their sup- 
 port of idolatry in India, has taken away the last substantial prop of 
 Brahrainism and Boodhism throughout the vast territories of 
 England in the East, Those systems which have so long held in 
 thraldom dire one-half the population of the globe, need now only 
 to be left to be pervaded by the light of truth which is already 
 profusely shining on them, and to the many and powerful provi- 
 dential agencies* which are operating there, to fall by the weight 
 of their own ignorance and corruption. 
 
 The late act of toleration of Christianity in China, by the em- 
 peror, and the removing, by the British Government in India, of 
 the unrighteous and cruel disabilities of Hindoo converts, especi- 
 ally as touching the right of inheritance (a change of religion 
 
 * Such as commerce, intercourse with Christian nations — subjection to a Christian 
 government— light, intelligence, European education and science— and a thousand in- 
 vasions on their usages of caste and religion. 
 
92 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 heretofore forfeited all right of inheritance), further weakens the 
 hold of Paganism on the common mind by removing obstacles to 
 the free action of the gospel. 
 
 Since writing the above, India, China and Japan — all those 
 vast and populous regions over which these two great systems of 
 religion have so long retained an iron sway — have undergone 
 revolutions which presage the no distant downfall of idolatry. 
 The late insurrection in India, the war with China, and the recent 
 treaty with Japan, are such revolutions. But we cannot review 
 those events in this connection. They deserve a separate consid- 
 eration, which we shall give them by and by. 
 
 These are signs of the times, betokening the approaching 
 overthrow of this mighty system of idolatry. And we speak 
 advisedly when we infer that the teeming millions of its deluded 
 votaries (as many have already done) wull soon abandon a sys- 
 tem of priestcraft and cruelty under which they have so long 
 groaned. 
 
 But we have no reason to expect from what we have seen in 
 like cases, such a mighty revolution can take place without a con- 
 flict Satan will not yield his seat ajid his great power without a 
 struggle. 
 
 8. The present condition of the Romish Church furnishes an- 
 other of the characteristics of our age which betoken a great moral 
 revolution. 
 
 The Church must remain in the wilderness — exist in a state 
 of abandonment by the world, during the conjoint spiritual des- 
 potism of Mohammedanism and Popery. The former spread its 
 dire ravages over the eastern portion of the Christian Church, and 
 was the scourge of what is known as the Greek Church ; and the 
 other breathed its withering influence over the western portion. 
 
 We have reason to believe, both from prophecy and from pres- 
 ent appearances of the Papal power, that its days are as nearly 
 
POPERY ON THE WANE IN THE EAST. 93 
 
 numbered as those of Mohammedanism. Its existence is limited 
 to twelve hundred and sixty years — and these we believe are 
 nearly expired. And, in accordance with such a belief, we find 
 the Papal Beast shorn of much of his power ; yet maddening and 
 raving, and strengthening himself in the things that remain. The 
 court of the Inquisition has for the most part been disbanded and 
 its dismal prisons broken down ; the block, the stake and fagots, 
 and the multifarious and skilfully invented instruments of torture 
 and death, are scarcely known only as matters of history. That 
 ghostly despotism which once knew no bounds to its rapacious- 
 ness and despotism, rioting on the ignorance and stupidity of its 
 countless millions, now has found a limit and meets a merited re- 
 buke in the gathering ranks of a fearless Protestantism. Though 
 the Pope still lords it over the consciences of a great multitude 
 of the human family, where his ecclesiastical domination is still 
 undisputed, yet his political dominion has nearly ceased, and is 
 yearly diminishing. He can no longer make and unmake kings, 
 and give empires to whom he will. His secular arm is palsied. 
 He entreats rather than threatens — ^negotiates where he once co- 
 erced. So feeble, it is said, and really powerless has the Pope al- 
 ready been for some years past, that but for the presence in Italy of a 
 large Austrian army, he would not have been safe even in Rome. 
 Hence the inference, and with no slight probability, that his Ho- 
 liness feels all the anxiety he manifests, for the extension and 
 prosperity of the Romish Church in America. He may need 
 America for an asylura when he can no longer riot on European 
 soil. 
 
 There can be no doubt that Popery is on the wane in the 
 Eastern continent. One of the most magnificent and extensive 
 empires that ever existed was the Portuguese empire in Asia. 
 That empire was but a province of the Romish Church. No- 
 where perhaps has Rome ruled with more cruel tyranny, over 
 
94 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 hundreds of millions of our race. The history of the Inquisition 
 of Goa is written in human blood. But that empire now lives 
 only in the annals of its despotism, intolerance, cruelty and blood- 
 shed. The vast domains, from the Red to the Chinese seas, over 
 which it stretched, have been given into the hands of Protestants. 
 Indeed, while Rome is gaining a few poor proselytes from Ox- 
 ford and the ranks of High Churchism, both in England and 
 America, or from the ranks of ignorance and infidelity, she is 
 elsewhere losing kingdoms. Spain^ though far enough from the 
 outer limits of an evangelical religion, is weary of the merciless 
 domination of Rome, and is seeking to free herself from her spir- 
 itual yoke. Debased Portugal, debased by the "Mystery of 
 iniquity" which workcth in her, threatens to throw off the Pon- 
 tifical authority. Yet Popery is in still greater danger from the 
 puissant arm of the Czar of the Russias. Nicholas not long since 
 raised the fearful hand of persecution against the Romanists of 
 his empire — though Nicholas be not justified, yet Rome is hum- 
 bled:* "They that take the sword shall perish by the sword." 
 As they have measured to others, so shall it be measured to them. 
 Yet, perhaps, the most portentous sign of Babylon's approach- 
 ing fall is to be seen in the progress of Protestantism and evan- 
 gelical religion in certain Catholic countries in Europe. Whole 
 communes in France have recently renounced their allegiance to 
 the Pope and embraced the religion of the Bible. The gospel 
 is preached by faithful and self-denying evangelists, and the doc- 
 trines-of a pure Christianity are inculcated by the books and un- 
 tiring labors of colporteurs throughout the length and breadth of 
 this great Catholic country, and with the most cheering success. 
 But what is the most distinctive sign of the times is the conversion 
 
 *The supposition that the autocrat of Russia shall humble Rome, does not neces- 
 sarily militate against our theory, that Russia and Rome shall finally join hands in the 
 last great day of conflict. Herod and PUate shall in that day be made friends. 
 
EVANGELICAL WORK IN FRANCE. 95 
 
 from Roraanisrn of so many Romish priests. While Rome, from 
 a sense of her own weakness, no doubt, and her inability much 
 longer to hold control over the minds of her deluded millions by 
 any thing like fair and open means, has called again to her aid 
 her Janizaries, the Jesuits, and found it necessary to return to 
 some of her grossest and most shameful superstitions, such as the 
 exhibition of a pretended garment of Christ, and other marvels 
 quite as sensible. On the other hand, her more intelligent priests 
 leave her communion in disgust. Scores of Romish priests have 
 renounced Rome within the last ten years, and it is believed that 
 numbers more wait but for a favorable opportunity. In a single 
 " department (Saintonge), no less than forty parishes are open to 
 the labors of evangelists." In another department, says a French 
 paper, thirty ^ine parishes have rejected the mass, and are long- 
 ing for the Bible and a Christian ministry." " More than one 
 hundred places in France are calling for evangelical ministers — 
 and the number is increasing rapidly." 
 
 Such are but specimens of the evangelical work now going on 
 in France — all tending to undermine Rome in her stronghold. 
 
 ** Never," says Mr. Roussel, a celebrated French pastor, " have 
 the Roman Catholic people been more disgusted with the super- 
 stitions of their Church and the avarice of their priests, than at 
 present ; and never has there been a more favorable opportunity 
 of declaring the gospel to them." And it is a presage of much 
 good that this opportunity is altogether lost. Says a late re- 
 port of the Foreign and Evangelical Society : " There are few 
 villages in France, if any, where the word of God has not been 
 offered and in which some copies have not been left. And though 
 the priests may burn the Book of Life, and utter a thousand lies 
 against it, the people begin to perceive that the Romish religion 
 and the Bible cannot exist together." Two hundred thousand 
 copies of the Bible have been distributed in France the past year, 
 
96 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 and almost wholly among Roman Catholics. But Rome and the 
 Bible cannot live together ! ! 
 
 More than six hundred persons, the entire inhabitants of com- 
 mune (Villefavart), were last year converted to Protestantism by 
 the simple reading of the Scriptures — and this in the face of the 
 most violent opposition of the Romish priests. 
 
 But more remarkable and significant yet are the present relig- 
 ious movements in France and Ireland. In those countries, so 
 long and so decidedly given over to Rome, the Spirit is poured 
 out from on high. Whole counties are pervaded by the blessed 
 influences, and revivals, characterized by all the general features 
 which distinguish the late revivals in our own land, are this day 
 in progress there. Sinners are awakened, convicted and converted, 
 and great numbers are added to the Church. We have met 
 nothing before which looks so much like the predicted end of the 
 Man of Sin. The Lord shall consume him with the Spirit of his 
 mouthy and destroy him with the brightness of his coming. The 
 Papacy can withstand any thing but such a revelation of God's 
 Spirit, and of his word. The demonstration of the Spirit in the 
 preaching of the word is wonderfully fulfilling the prophecy in 
 these countries. 
 
 And the Papacy has been scarcely less seriously galled by the 
 arrows of God's Truth, in Belgium and Switzerland, and more 
 recently in Tuscany. In Belgium more than 250,000 copies of 
 the Bible, and a larger quantity of Christian tracts and books, 
 have been distributed within the last fifteen years. In Tuscany 
 the word is having free course, and we may be sure it will be glo- 
 rified. 
 
 Ominous signs of coming change have from time to time ap- 
 peared in the Romish communion. Ever and anon oppressed 
 humanity, pressed beyond the point of endurance, boldly resists. 
 Such an outburst of resistance transpired a few years since in 
 
JOHN RONGE A NEW CHURCH FORMED. 97 
 
 Germany, under the leadership of Ronge and Czarski ; and may- 
 be repeated in this country, under the leadership of Father 
 Chiniquy, of Illinois. 
 
 A few yeai's since (Oct. 1844), John Ronge, Catholic priest in 
 Germany, roused to indignation by the audacious conduct of Bishop 
 Arnoldi, of Treves, in exhibiting for pay to great multitudes of 
 people (500,000) an old coat, which he impiously called the coat of 
 Christ, issued a most spirited letter to the Bishop and the people of 
 his charge, in which he speaks in merited and unmeasured terms of 
 rebuke of the shameless imposition and traffic, and calls on his cler- 
 ical brethren to arouse and throw off the despotism of Rome, and 
 emulate the noble spirits of Huss, Hutten and Luther. 
 
 The consequence of this bold, Luther-like movement was to 
 rouse the Catholic mind in Germany in a degree unknown since 
 the Reformation in the sixteenth century. Ronge raised a 
 giant's voice and wielded a giant's power. Immense crowds sur- 
 rounded him where he went, and though priests and political power, 
 and prejudice and superstition and ignorance most bitterly op- 
 posed him, and the Papal Beast was ready to stamp him under 
 foot, yet his cause lived and prospered. It gathered strength 
 daily, and carried terror to the very heart of Rome. 
 
 A new Church was formed, called the German Catholic Church, 
 protesting against the errors, corruptions, superstitions and fool- 
 eries of Rome, and incorporating much of Protestant and Bible 
 truth. It embraced a large number of clergy and people of Ger^ 
 many. 
 
 Though this movement did not mature into the full realization 
 hoped for, and by many confidently expected, yet it was a move- 
 ment in the right direction, but not altogether of the right spirit 
 It was lacking in the evangelical element. There was something 
 of Luther's soul in it, without Luther's holy fire. The movement 
 was not sufficiently pervaded with the gospel, and evangelical 
 7 
 
9B THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 piety. Yet it was not a vain effort. As a bold protest, as an un- 
 compromising resistance against error and corruption, it fulfilled 
 a mission ; it struck a blow at the colossus of Rome which she 
 will not cease to feel. Germany has felt it. It was a blow for 
 freedom. 
 
 Nor was the wonderful movement by any means confined to 
 Germany. " Not only," says a late account, " it seems to be 
 diffusing itself into all parts of that country, but it is spreading 
 even into Barvaria and Austria, which are the most Roman 
 Catholic countries in all Germany." It found its way into Poland, 
 into the PoHsh part of Prussia, and gave no doubtful symptoms 
 of a speedy eruption in France. Nor did poor Italy lie prostrate 
 beneath the vandal foot of the Beast without giving some signs 
 of struggling life. The late movements there in favor of political 
 liberty, instigated by the galling of the yoke of ecclesiastical bon- 
 dage, are but the sympathetic struggles which Papal Europe is 
 making to be free. 
 
 I referred to the movement at St. Anne's, Illinois, under the 
 leadership of Father Chiniquy. It may be premature yet to ex- 
 press an opinion as to what shall come of this movement. It is 
 a bold and noble protest and resistance against the unwarrantable 
 oppressions of Rome. It will do a work — probably will accom- 
 plish something important in the right direction ; " and though 
 Father Chiniquy may not be the Luther for whom we look, yet 
 he may be a Wickliffe, or a Knox, gathering materials, securing 
 resources, and preparing the way for the great and final work. 
 God takes time — seldom begins and finishes a work by the same 
 agent, or in the same generation. One sows and another reaps. 
 He employs a succession of agents, as from step to step the 
 work goes forward, till it draws near to its consummation ; then he 
 raises up some controlling spirit who finishes the work Moses, 
 Luther, Washington, were selected for their respective missions, 
 
EFFECTS OF THE LATE WAR IN ITALY. 99 
 
 and brought on the great theatre of action, just in time to give 
 completion to their work. 
 
 In due time our Luther will come. The great and final blow 
 will be struck, and great Babylon will fall. 
 
 The late war in Italy has largely contributed to the same long- 
 looked for result. Ostensibly, it has done much in breaking down 
 barriers, removing obstacles, and preparing the way for the intro- 
 duction of the Bible and a preached gospel in Sardinia, and the na- 
 tions of northern Italy. Yet, really, it has done more, in destroy- 
 ing the prestige of an old order of things in religion and in poli- 
 tics, which, incubus-like, had settled down on those nationalities, 
 like the curse of the apostasy. The leaven is at work. The 
 effervescence may be terrible. The result will be sure. 
 
 Switzerland, too, is a volcano, heaving from its very centre. 
 One hundred and fifty ministers in the canton of Vaud^ no longer 
 able to endure the exactions and control of the Neological Church 
 authorities, have formally separated themselves from their con- 
 nection, and, like the Free Church of Scotland, become inde- 
 pendent. They have given up their sanctuaries, parsonages and 
 salaries, that they may have liberty of conscience. 
 
 Again Rome shows another sign. She madly presumes, in some 
 quarters, to raise the hand of persecution, and again to play the 
 tyrant and oppressor. I refer to the infamous transactions of the 
 agents of Rome at the Society and Sandwich Islands, and the 
 scarcely less alarming indications in France herself. The un- 
 offending inhabitants of these Islands were compelled, at the can- 
 non's mouth, to receive and protect the very emissaries of the Beast, 
 and to give place, on a soil already consecrated to a holy Religion, 
 to the temples of the mystery of iniquity, and in addition to this, 
 to give countenance to a trafiic in intoxicating drinks, which once 
 spread desolation over those fair Isles. 
 
 Such is the spirit of Romanism at this very day. Shorn of 
 
100 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 its temporal power, it cannot depose kings and trample down em- 
 pires as it did, yet it will still trample on the weak with the same 
 cruel oppression, and drink the blood of saints with the same 
 zest, wherever it can. 
 
 But why speak of the remote Islands? The same things, 
 marked if possible by more violence and hatred of the truth, 
 have transpired in Madeira, Madagascar, and in semiprotestant 
 France. The late relentless persecutions of Dr. Achilli, and the 
 Madiai, are illustrations of the spirit of modern Rome. 
 
 There is evidently a movement of the Beast, which presages a 
 convulsion, indicating weakness at the centre, and a struggle to 
 renew life at the extremities. Dreadful as the great conflict shall 
 be, we may hope it shall be the last. 
 
 It may be that Rome feels her seven hills trembling beneath 
 the ponderous excrescence of papal tyranny and corruption. It 
 may be that she feels that Rome — that Europe is not the place for 
 the Mystery of Iniquity longer to work, it having worked there 
 so long already. Or it may be that His Holiness feels himself, 
 in Italy, too much shut out from the great centre of the world, 
 commercial, civil, literary or religious, and too much removed 
 from the further sympathies of European Governments much 
 longer to be sustained ; and for any or all of these reasons, he 
 would fain try his fortune in the New World. 
 
 As a forlorn hope, he may be looking across the Atlantic for a 
 retreat. Nor is it althogether unlikely that such a plan may be 
 carried into execution, and that the American Church may yet 
 feel the power of that scourge which has been so severely felt 
 by the Church in the Old World. May God avert such a calam- 
 ity. But should it come, it is no more than our ingratitude and 
 short-coming in duty deserves, and no more than the present state 
 of the Romish Church seems to demand. The very struggle 
 Rome finds it necessary to make for the preservation of her 
 
HIERARCHY OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 101 
 
 waning power, is the best evidence of her weakness. She is now 
 rousing her wasting energies for one more desperate effort before 
 she meet her doom, which hastens on apace. Such renewed 
 efforts have been made in India, China, and Japan ; and recently 
 it was reported that a French general had gone to Rome to an- 
 nounce to the Pope that the Emperor of Burmah will not only 
 tolerate, but encourage and aid Catholic missions throughout his 
 empire. The emperor has built at his own cost spacious schools, 
 and will provide funds for the support of the European professors 
 who will be attached to them. He is about to erect a hospital 
 to be administered by French Sisters of Charity, and means to 
 build churches where the converts are sufficiently numerous. 
 
 9. Another indication of a great moral revolution, is the recent 
 shaking of the Hierarchy of England and Scotland. 
 
 The religious establishment of England, especially, has grown 
 to an enormous stature. We have no occasion to discuss the ex- 
 pediency of a National Religion. It is enough for our present 
 purpose to allude to some of its excrescences. It doubtless in- 
 corporates much in its system which must be done away before 
 the coming of the latter day of glory. And He who ariseth to 
 shake terribly the earth, is now shaking this establishment to its 
 centre. It has long been conceded by the evangelical part of 
 the Church that there is imperative need of Church Reform. 
 But recent developments have shown that the evils complained 
 of are not so superficial as was supposed. There are causes 
 already there at work, which go a great way to confirm the idea 
 advanced under a former head, that before the much desired 
 downfall of Papal Rome, the Man of Sin will increase in power, 
 ancient error will be revived under new and specious forms, and 
 truth and righteousness experience such a conflict with sin as 
 has never yet been known. Both in England and America there 
 are many such indications. But what I more particularly allude 
 
102 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 to here is, the recent Theological movement at the University of 
 Oxford, England. 
 
 This ancient, rich and learned Institution, over whose enchant- 
 ing grounds, and within whose venerated walls, and through whose 
 extensive and costly libraries the writer once had the pleasure to 
 roam, has long been the rallying point, as well as the radiating 
 point of Church of Englandism. But as you now catch the sound 
 from those high battlements of Zion's walls, surely you hear not 
 the voice of " Protest " against the " Mystery of iniquity " that 
 worketh in the spiritual Babylon ; but it is the well-known voice 
 of the Beast. 
 
 Some years ago. Dr. Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew 
 and Canon of Christ Church in that University, began to publish 
 certain new and startling doctrines in what were called " Tracts 
 for the times." In these he apologized for the errors of Popery 
 — called the Romish Church the elder sister of Episcopacy, whose 
 faults are to be treated with much tenderness ; and advanced sen- 
 timents diametrically opposed to the Reformation. He indeed 
 speaks of Protestantism as a thing much to be lamented, and the 
 Reformation as a misjudged act. 
 
 Such sentiments, too, have met the sympathy and support of 
 other principal Professors of the University. 
 
 At first these innovations — or rather this attempt to revive old 
 popish and ancient errors — attracted little attention, and did not 
 excite much alarm; but within the last few years, they have 
 spread with astonishing rapidity into almost every part of the 
 English Church. Many of the high dignitaries of that Church 
 have avowed these principles ; and some of the most popular and 
 widely circulated periodicals of England give them currency. 
 
 In these Tracts the great and distinguishing Protestant doc- 
 trine of Justification by faith is denied, and branded as the 
 offspring of fanaticism ; while the old Romish doctrine of Bap- 
 
FEARFUL SHOCK TO EPISCOPACY. 103 
 
 tismal Regeneration is openly avowed. Prayers for the dead, 
 the worship of saints and angels, belief in Purgatory, crossings, 
 holy water, festivals and fasts, and perhaps the whole routine of 
 Romish rites and observances are gradually being introduced. 
 Indeed, the design seems to be to resuscitate as fast as the people 
 will bear it the rites and tenets against which Luther and the Re- 
 formers of Germany and England so strenuously contended, and 
 to oppose which rivers of Protestant blood have flown. 
 
 And what is a more sad and alarming sign of the times, the 
 religious state of England is such that a no inconsiderable portion 
 of the Established Church is prepared to embrace a system so 
 delusive and destructive. 
 
 These things are portentous of what may shortly be. Amidst 
 the general convulsion, the fabric of Episcopacy is receiving 
 a fearful shock. It may be rent in twain— or, more, it may be 
 demolished, and the tottering Church of Rome be pillared on its 
 ruins. 
 
 And fain would I add that America is not infected with this 
 poison. Already have its pestiferous streams found their way 
 across the Atlantic. The leaven is at work here. Admirers of 
 Oxford, who do not fear to commend the Popery of Protestant 
 Oxford, are not few on our side of the water. Nor did tliis new 
 flood from the mouth of the dragon find the Church in question 
 so well rooted and grounded in the truth and so fortified by habits 
 of unadorned piety as not to be overcome. Not a small portion 
 of the laity, and a large portion of her clergy have embraced the 
 fascinating dogmas of Oxford. A test question (relating to the 
 ordination of a young man who had one foot in Rome and was 
 willing to put the other there) arose a few years ago, which leaves 
 no room to doubt that a decided majority of the largest, richest 
 and most influential Episcopal Convention in this country are the 
 friends of Pusey and Oxford. And what is found true there, 
 
104 THE COMING CRISIS OF TKE WORLD. 
 
 would probably not be found untrue elsewhere if the test were 
 applied. 
 
 Eomanism gives ominous signs that she is rallying for the great 
 struggle. 
 
 No one can have been a careful observer of European history, 
 for the last lialf century, without observing the strange advances 
 of the Papal power in countries professedly Protestant. Although 
 as a political system it has lost its hold, as an ecclesiastical power 
 it seems endowed with a strange vitality. Three centuries- since, 
 the clouds of superstition seemed to have almost entirely receded 
 from Central and Western Europe. But the dark shadow seems 
 returning again. Puseyism counts its beads and mutters its mum- 
 meries in the very sanctuaries that once listened to the truths of 
 a primitive gospel. Mysticism and infidehty dispute the sway of 
 the German mind, with a State religion, Papal in every thing but 
 in name. The very cities where Luther preached, and Melancthon 
 wrote, now boast their priests and their Romish conventicles. All 
 over Western Europe, the emissaries of the Papal hierarchy 
 seem to be fast regaining the soil from which the Reformation so 
 lately expelled them. " How," says an able writer, " is this phe- 
 nomenon to be explained ? In what manner may we account for 
 the startling fact, that amid the blaze of science, the spread of 
 education, the wide diffusion of intelligence, the awakened spirit 
 of inquiry and of progress ; in lands blessed with an open Bible, 
 a free gospel, and all the appliances of religious instruction, an 
 old tottering hierarchy, foul with pollution, laden with abhorred 
 memories, and reeking with the blood of murdered saints, should 
 come forth from the gloom of the dark past, and flaunting its 
 tattered traditions in the eyes of the nineteenth century, be wel- 
 comed and embraced ? " 
 
 The solution of the difficulty doubtless lies in the fact that the 
 Beast is allowed to rally his already decayed energies for the final 
 
THE KIRK OF SCOTLAND. 105 
 
 encounter. The great apostasy has always, when it could, been a 
 persecuting power. Its terrific mission has been to make war 
 with the saints and to kill them. And before it shall be finally 
 overcome, he shall rise in great wrath, because he knows his time 
 is short. 
 
 Another kind of process has been going on in the Kirk of Scot- 
 land. Already has the work of the divorce of Church and State 
 begun, and going forward with rapid and irresistible strides ; and 
 probably the ball of revolution, started on the heights of the 
 Grampian Hills, will never be stopped, frill, gathering magnitude 
 and strength as it advances, it shall prostrate before it every proud 
 tower of hierarchal domination. 
 
 The Kirk of Scotland, though Presbyterian, has, since the 
 union of the two kingdoms, been Uke the Church of England 
 and Ireland, a National Church ; and as such, no particular parish 
 could choose their own minister, or transact their own ecclesias- 
 tical affairs unmolested by Government. The Patron or lord of 
 the Manor — the owner in a sense of the peasants or working people 
 and of the lands they occupied, has the ecclesiastical right of 
 choosing and imposing on a parish such a one as he will ; and the 
 only alternative the Church and Society have, is either to retain 
 and support a man who is offensive to them, or reject him at the 
 hazard of a legal prosecution, yet still support him — and in addi- 
 tion to this, support the man of their choice. 
 
 To many parishes these burdens became intolerable. A manly 
 — a Scottish resistance was made, which has resulted in a large 
 secession and the organization of a new Church, on independent 
 und evangelical grounds. And it is predicted that a Reform is 
 there began, which shall not stop till every Church in the British 
 Isles shall be disenthralled from the trammels of the State and 
 be made free with the liberty of the sons of God. 
 
 10. We must not overlook another characteristic of our times 
 
106 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 of an opposite character : I mean the stupidity and listlessness of 
 the wicked at a period like the present. 
 
 The period preceding the great conflict is thus described by 
 Daniel : " Many shall be purified and made white and tried, but 
 the wicked shall do wickedly ; and none of the wicked shall under- 
 stand, but the wise shall understand." Even in the midst of such 
 superabundance of light, the wicked shall walk in darkness — in 
 the midst of extraordinary privileges they shall remain unmoved, 
 uninstructed, unprofited. While the truth is proclaimed about 
 them and enforced upon them they remain stupid and unconcerned 
 as the marble. It is not open infidelity, but a listlessness, which 
 admits the necessity of religion and assents to the truth, yet in- 
 dulges in its stupidity. No effort seems to reach them. Preach- 
 ing is powerless — exhortation unavailing — judgments ineffectual, 
 mercies unheeded — death does not move a muscle. This is but 
 too true of a large class of the ungodly : none of the wicked shaU 
 understand. They will harden their hearts and blind their eyes 
 that they may perish. 
 
 The extensive religious revivals of modern days present another 
 evidence which identifies our age with the age that should precede 
 the final triumph of the Church. Great numbers shall be gath- 
 ered in, and many shall be zealous for God before that great and 
 notable day of the Lord shall come. But this is a topic which has 
 already assumed an importance as a sign of the times, and an 
 efficient agency in the great moral revolutions which are coming 
 on the earth, that has placed it among the great and leading move- 
 ments of the day. We shall therefore assign to it a separate 
 place of consideration. 
 
CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 Mohammedanism : giving no doubtful signs of coming change — The char- 
 acter, mission and destiny of Moslemism — The late war and its results — 
 Eleventh sign. 
 
 " I will tJhow wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath ; blood, and fixe, 
 and yapor of smoke : the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, 
 before that great and notable day of the Lord come." — Acts ii. 19, 20. 
 
 " The day of the Lord " is a day when God shall vindicate 
 his cause and magnify his name — the day of the manifestation of 
 his power and the execution of his judgments. And the " great 
 and notable day of the Lord " is a period when he shall do this in 
 an extraordinary degree. Every deliverance of his people — every 
 instance of his executing vengeance on his enemies, may be termed 
 the day of the Lord. But when he does this in a signal manner, 
 it is the great and notable day of the Lord. The deliverance of 
 the children of Israel out of Egypt, and the corresponding inflic- 
 tion of wrath on his enemies was a day of the Lord. So was the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, and the preservation of the people of 
 God, in that awful event. 
 
 This is particularly what is meant here. But as in general it 
 means any period when God signally manifests himself — and, 
 
 (107) 
 
108 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 more emphatically than any other, the judgment-day, I shall not 
 be deviating from the spirit of the passage if I apply it to that 
 gi'eat conflict of sin against righteousness, and the consequent 
 vindication of his cause on the part of God, which shall take 
 place previous to the complete establishment of Messiah's king- 
 dom on earth. 
 
 " I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth 
 beneath" — great changes and wonderful events both in the Church 
 and out of it — " Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke" — wars, calam- 
 ities, conflagration of towns. " The sun shall be turned into dark- 
 ness, and the moon into blood" — such calamitous events as shall then 
 transpire shall cast a gloom over the moral and political world, 
 such as resembles that dismal appearance of the atmosphere when 
 the sun is eclipsed, or the moon is shorn of her silver brightness 
 by a thick haze or a dense vapor. Such shall be the gloomy as- 
 pect of the world before the eventful period, called the " great 
 and notable day of the Lord." But soon after there shall be a 
 period of a very different character. A change comes over the 
 scene. The darkness is dissipated — the vapor is cleared away 
 — the blood dried up — the fire is quenched. Peace smiles again. 
 Prosperity shines. Righteousness reigns. The period is de- 
 scribed in these words : " the kingdoms of this world are become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ." 
 
 There is a general expectation that such a period is at hand ; 
 and the expectation seems but a simple response of ancient pro- 
 phecy. It is becoming then that we should read these signs, un- 
 derstand their import, and be prepared for the coming of the 
 " great and notable day of the Lord." The aspect of the world is 
 peculiar, and such as to indicate a mighty convulsion as not dis- 
 tant. What this shall be, we should, if not aided by the light of 
 prophecy, be quite unable to form a conjecture. But with this 
 Divine guidance, we more than conjecture it shall be the last 
 
DOWNFALL OP THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 109 
 
 great conflict of sin against holiness which shall precede the Mil- 
 lennium. 
 
 I shall name other " signs of the times" which indicate the ap- 
 proach and prepare the way of the coming of the great event. 
 And the next that claims our attention, as verified in our present 
 age, is— 
 
 11. The present condition of the Mohammedan Empire. Con- 
 stantinople, the present centre and head of Mohammedan power, 
 is the keystone of dominion in the great world of religion and 
 politics. Any movements, therefore, in that quarter are especially 
 ominous of coming change. What we assert is, that present ap- 
 pearances indicate the no remote downfall of the Turkish Em- 
 pire and the Mohammedan religion, and the consequent pleasing, 
 dreadful, humiliating, glorious results of that great event. 
 
 Satan has always been careful to keep organized against the 
 true Church of God some mighty confederacies and counterfeits. 
 The spirit of this hostility has been essentially the same in all ages 
 of the world, though it has worn a form suited to the times, places, 
 and the condition of the Church. Before the rise of the Sun of 
 righteousness — or the introduction of the Christian dispensation. 
 Paganism presented a sufficient barrier against a holy religion. 
 The Church then was less aggressive, less powerful and diffusive, 
 and presented less to the eyes of the world which could excite 
 alarms or engender fears. "With the exception of a few insignifi- 
 cant spots, Satan sat entrenched in the strongholds of idolatry 
 over the whole face of the earth. Gross, absurd and corrupt as 
 Paganism was, it was not too much so to be allowed to stand in 
 an equally corrupt world. The world's morality was then such 
 as could tolerate it. But Christianity threw a new light over 
 the world. There was now a grand moral advance. The Church 
 was enlarged and enlightened. It was more holy and powerful. 
 It now became aggressive. During the life of its Divine author, 
 
110 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 it began to overstep its former prescribed boundaries ; and at his 
 death, astonishment must have seized the foes of the true Church 
 to hear him issue the command, clothed in the power and bap- 
 tized with the affection of a dying request, that his followers should 
 never cease their aggressions till they should subjugate the entire 
 earth to the dominion of Immanuel. 
 
 This was alarming, but it did not immediately give the alarm. 
 Earthly dominion was then in the hands of Paganism, and in a 
 few years it became more so by the subjugation of the Jewish 
 nation to th« Romans. The great author of Christianity was 
 dead — he had died an ignominious death. The spell that held 
 the disciples together seemed broken — their number was so small, 
 their condition so humble-r-the reputation in which they were held 
 so low, that the most timid in the ranks of the foe felt no alarm. 
 But to the utter confusion of the world, Christianity lived and 
 prospered. After a little while it was heard of in Arabia, in 
 Mesopotamia, in Asia Minor, in Athens, Corinth, and in Rome. 
 And behold it has appeared in the very household of Gcesar. 
 
 This, however, gave no very general alarm. The apathy which 
 the empire of sin had acquired by its centuries of undisturbed 
 dominion was not yet broken. At length it is proclaimed that 
 the hated religion of the Nazarene has appeared in the forum — 
 in the council-chamber, and in the hall of legislation — in the pub- 
 lic arena of the bustling world, and in the walks of private life — 
 in the halls of science and among the humblest cottages of the 
 hamlet, yea, that scribes and Pharisees, high priests and rulers, 
 kings and emperors, were numbered among its disciples; and the 
 enemy began to be alarmed. The besiegers were brought to the 
 very gates of his stronghold. 
 
 At length the great Constantine is born. He is converted to 
 Christianity — espouses the cause of Christ ; Christianity is known 
 in the palace, and anon it is the religion of the Roman Empire. 
 
RISE OF MOHAMMEDANISM. Ill 
 
 Hitherto the Enemy had looked on with astonishment, wonder- 
 ing whereunto this thing would grow, yet believing that the bloody 
 mouth of Persecution, which stood ready to glut his insatiable 
 maw with the blood of the saints, could not fail to exterminate the 
 rising sect. Paganism, which had for ages stood an impregnable 
 bulwark against all former encroachments on the dark domains 
 of sin, was no longer suited to its purpose. Its spirit would do, 
 but its form — its garb was too uncouth, too offensive to the taste 
 and sentiment of the age — savored too much of barbarism and 
 ignorance, to allow it any longer to be a fit instrument by which 
 to oppose the then formidable growth of the Christian Religion. A 
 new Power must now be formed suited to the new state of the world 
 as modified by the introduction and progress of Christianity. It 
 must be a grand delusion — and be so constructed as to meet the 
 threefold demand of the Pagan, the Jew, and the Christian — and 
 withal contain nothing that should disturb the quietude of the 
 carnal heart. 
 
 Mohammed arose. He commenced his public mission in 609, 
 only three years later than the generally received date of the rise 
 of the Papal Beast. Mohammedanism was a religion for the 
 times. It was a new edition of the same old error. It was 
 Paganism and Infidelity and Licentiousness dressed in a costume 
 suited to the new order of things under the gospel dispensation. 
 It incorporated in itself so much of each of the prevailing relig- 
 ions as should satisfy their respective votaries. Mohammed chose 
 out a common ground. The Jew, the nominal Chistian, and the 
 more enlightened heathen would acknowledge the existence and 
 unity of God, and the duty of rendering to Him some service ; 
 while to the carnal mind a sensual Paradise would be altogether 
 congenial. 
 
 The Church had become corrupt, and Mohammedanism became 
 the scourge of the eastern portion, as Romanism did of the west- 
 
112 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 ern. Mohammed was a reformer among the Pagans, though a 
 corrupter of the truth, and a False Prophet to Christianity. His 
 system was a most cunningly devised fable — a fit instrument by 
 which to ensnare the unwary souls of men. It was Paganism 
 modified and modernized and fitted to a more enlightened state 
 of the world. It was Satan's second grand scheme to subjugate 
 Asia and Africa to himself. 
 
 The corrupters of Christianity, who prepared the way for the 
 rise and progress of Mohammedanism, are represented, in the 
 ninth chapter of Revelations, as a " Star fallen from heaven unto 
 the earth " — to whom was given the " key of the bottomless Pit J' 
 ^^ And he opened the bottomless Pit J* The propagation of his 
 false doctrines let loose the powers of hell, and encouraged 
 wicked men in sin. " And there arose a smoke out of the pit as 
 the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and tJie air were dark- 
 ened by reason of the smoke of the pitr Here was Mohamme- 
 danism. It was a grand delusion which either blinded the eyes 
 of men, or so bedimmed and perverted their vision that they could 
 only see as through a glass darkly — as men see when the sun 
 and the air are darkened by a dense smoke. 
 
 There could not be a more exact description of Mohammedan- 
 ism as a religious power. But Mohammed was not merely a 
 False Prophet — a corrupter and destroyer of religion ; he was a 
 scourge among the nations. He had a political as well as a relig- 
 ious dominion. Follow on in the description: ''''And there 
 came out of the smoke locusts on the earth ; and unto them was 
 given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. ^^ That is, 
 great armies of Arabians or Saracens were raised up by the pol- 
 icy and craft of the Mohammedan imposture, which spread desola- 
 tion among the nations of the earth. They were numerous as 
 locusts ; and arose from the same quarter from which the greatest 
 
AN ARABIAN ARMY DESCRIBED. 113 
 
 swarms of locusts originate. Yet in their power to hurt, they are 
 as scorpions. 
 
 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto 
 battle ; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and 
 their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the 
 hair of women^ and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And 
 they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron ; and the sound 
 of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses run- 
 ning to battle. And they had a king over them, which is the angel 
 of the bottomless Pit. 
 
 What more accurate description of an Arabian army ? Numer- 
 ous as swarms of locusts from the southern desert — vindictive and 
 deadly as the scorpion — consisting principally of horsemen — with 
 turbans on their heads resembling crowns — with their long hair, 
 as the Arabians are accustomed to wear it — and although, hke 
 women, they may wear some marks of timidity and gentleness, 
 yet they have teeth like a lion. They ravage and devour 
 without mercy. They have faces of men — appear like men, yet 
 they are unchained tigers. 
 
 They were a well organized army — had a king over them — 
 were actuated by one spirit, as one commissioned from the bottom- 
 less Pit. They harmonized in their object, the prostration of 
 the Church — were protected by a strong civil power — had breast- 
 plates of iron. They produced a great tumult in the world — 
 flew from one country to another like an army with chariots 
 and many horsemen. At first they favored and flattered ; but 
 there was a sting in their tail. They at length stung like a scor- 
 pion. 
 
 They had power to do hurt for five months — one hundred and 
 
 fifty days — or, according to prophetic language, one hundred and 
 
 fifty years. 
 
 Mohammed began publicly to declare his mission in the year 
 8 
 
114 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 612, and the power of his violent agressions was suspended on 
 the building of Bagdat, in 762 — one hundred and fifty years 
 after. The smoke continued — the power of religious delusion 
 did not cease, but the flying, furious, stinging, scorpion-like 
 locusts ceased their ravages. The fierce military character was 
 abated, yet their civil and religious power and dominion over the 
 fairest portions of the world was continued, and is to continue till 
 it shall have accomplished in all twelve hundred and sixty years. 
 The period of its existence (which was cotemporaneous in its be- 
 ginning) is the same as that of the Papal Beast. 
 
 What I have described is the " first woe " of Mohammedanism, 
 or the fierce and cruel ravages of Moslemism during its first one 
 hundred and fifty years. During this period it spread its gloomy 
 desolations over the whole Eastern Roman Empire. Arabia was 
 already in the hands of the Prophet before his death. Syria, 
 Persia and Egypt are soon made the vassals of his proud succes- 
 sors. The banners of the Moslems wave over thirty-six thousand 
 cities, towns and castles, subjugated to the new conquerors within 
 the first twelve years ; four thousand Christian temples destroyed, 
 and fourteen hundred Mosques dedicated to the Prophet. 
 
 Africa was subdued — the Moors are converted to the new 
 Religion, and in their turn descend into Spain and establish a 
 magnificent empire there. " The victorious standard of the Cres- 
 cent was raised on the cold mountains of Tartary, and on the 
 burning sands of Ethiopia." " On Mount Lebanon and by the 
 waters of Babylon ; under the pyramids of Egypt, and to the 
 Mozambique and Madagascar, the standard sheet of Mohammed 
 was unfurled." 
 
 The " second woe," or the second grand aggressive, blood-thirsty 
 stride of Mohammedanism may be looked for in the rise of the 
 Turkish Power. The Turks, recently so formidable and 
 constituting so important a portion of the Mohammedan Empire, 
 
THE SECOND WOE, OR TURKISH INVASION. 115 
 
 were not an original part of this dominion. They were a tribe 
 of Tartars from beyond the River Euphrates — often called 0th- 
 mans or Otomans, from Othman their chief, who assumed the title of 
 Sultan. Suffice it to say these Tartar hordes, after various and 
 extraordinary success, in which they subjugated Persia and West- 
 ern Asia, and formed four governments on the east side of the 
 Euphrates, had hitherto been held in check. But in the year 
 1281 these " four angels which were bound in the River Euphra- 
 tes, were loosed." The Turks burst forth on the Saracens — car- 
 ried their conquests from the Euphrates to the Danube — overrun 
 the whole Mohammedan Empire — took Constantinople, the capi- 
 tal of the Roman Empire, in 1453 — took possession of Syria, 
 Greece, Egypt, and conquered most of Europe. 
 
 These wars and conquests reached up to the year 1672, being 
 three hundred and ninety-one years from their incursions west 
 of the Euphrates. This answers precisely to the length of time 
 predicted for the continuance of the " second woe," or the woe of 
 the Turkish invasion. " The four angels which were loosed, were 
 prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year" That 
 is, for three hundred and ninety-one years, the very time occupied 
 in the above conquests. 
 
 Since that time the Turkish Empire has stood the grand centre 
 of Mohammedan power, and the formidable barrier between 
 Christianity and Paganism. It has occupied the central portion 
 of the earth, and been the keystone in the arch of empire. It 
 is the balancing power among nations. But for this fact it would 
 have been demolished long since. Consequently, when it does 
 fall, it must produce a crash among the kingdoms of the earth. 
 
 The same remark might be made in reference to the Turkish 
 power on the religious world, but that would be to anticipate an- 
 other part of our subject. 
 
 Russia has always looked with an eagle-eye on Turkey. She 
 
116 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 now waits to seize on her prey. France waits to realize her 
 long indulged dreams of making Egypt (an important part of 
 this dominion) her tributary. England fears for her wide do- 
 mains in the East if Turkey shall be dismembered; while 
 France, England, Austria and Prussia have a common interest 
 in opposing the encroachments and the consequent aggrandize- 
 ment of the autocrat of the North, the grand Czar of Russia. 
 
 Thus it is that Turkey is the pivot of power. The great de- 
 sideratum among the nations is, how to preserve the balance when 
 this pivot shall be destroyed — for destroyed it soon must be. 
 Mohammedanism is rotten at the core. It has always nourished 
 within its bosom the seeds of its own dissolution. Its vigor was 
 long since departed. Infirmity, disease and age have long since 
 betokened its downfall. The keen-eyed statesman has long since 
 seen it. The courts of the great Powers of Europe are per- 
 plexed, not as to the probability of the speedy overthrow of this 
 power, but as to the manner that it shall be disposed of so as to 
 preserve the balance of power among the nations. The moment 
 the banners of the Crescent shall be furled on the towers of Con- 
 stantinople, there will be a tumult among the nations — some to 
 preserve what they have, others to gain what they have not. 
 
 If such be the relative position of the Turkish Empire, it is 
 easy to see why, politically as well as religiously, so much im- 
 portance is attached to the downfall of this power. 
 
 What, now, are the facts in regard to it ? They are these : 
 The arm of this empire is broken — the sceptre is departing — ^her 
 glory is eclipsed — her strength is weakness. Long ago would 
 she have fallen but for the interested interposition of those who 
 were not yet prepared to divide the spoil. But now her days, 
 to all human appearance, are numbered. She cannot be pillared 
 up much longer. She must fall — and that speedily — ^perhaps 
 
INDICATIONS OF A GENERAL CONVULSION. 117 
 
 within a few years. But this event shall be followed by a mighty 
 revolution. 
 
 Am I not right, then, in pointing to the present political as- 
 pect of the world as indicative of a general convulsion ? Pre- 
 cisely what that will be we may not determine. Yet we are not 
 left without some landmarks by which we may be guided in our 
 inquiries here. Let us turn to them for a moment : 
 
 The overthrow of Mohammedanism is, I think, foretold in the 
 following passage from the sixteenth chapter of Revelations: 
 " And the sixth angel poured out his vial on the great river Eu- 
 phrates^ and the water thereof was dried up, that the wag of the 
 kings of the East might he prepared.^' 
 
 The Euphrates, it is well known, is the very centre of Mo- 
 hammedanism. To the north, at the head of this river, lies 
 Turkey, the very fountain of Islamism ; at the east, Persia ; at 
 the west, Arabia, Syria and Egypt. The land of the Euphrates 
 is the very land of the Mohammedan delusion. Here it has held 
 undisputed sway over the fairest portions of the world. Thence 
 it has sent out pestiferous waters to poison the souls of men. It 
 is therefore well symbolized by the river Euphrates — and its 
 downfall by the drying up of the waters of this river. The power 
 of that great empire shall wane and waste away until it shall 
 cease to be. So it has been for many years past, losing its vigor 
 and diminishing till only the shadow of its former greatness re- 
 mains — and to all human probability it must soon cease to be. 
 But what shall be the consequence ? The account proceeds : 
 "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth 
 of the dragon, and out of the beast, and out of the mouth of the 
 false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, 
 wliich go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the world, to 
 gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty." 
 
 First the body shall die, and the eagles shall gather together to 
 
118 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 divide the carcase. The kings of the earth shall come to seize 
 the spoil. But the spirit shall live. It shall be a spirit of a three- 
 fold power : 1st. The spirit of the Dragon or the Devil — the spirit 
 of Idolatry or of Infidelity ; 2d. The spirit of the Beast or Popery; 
 and 3d. The spirit of the false Prophet — the same old spirit of 
 Mohammedanism. 
 
 These foul spirits of the Pit now issue forth on the annihila- 
 tion of the great antichristian power — the great scourge of a pure 
 religion. They practice all manner of deception, even pretending 
 to work miracles. Their grand design is to stir up the kings of 
 the earth to the last great conflict — to the battle of the great day 
 of God Almighty. 
 
 This great battle, the battle of Armageddon, is the result of 
 that last and fearful confederacy of the powers of darkness against 
 the Church of Christ. 
 
 The signs of the times are portentous. The world is in com- 
 motion ; the political world seems to move from its very centre. 
 The fountains of the great deep seem about to be broken up. 
 It labors and heaves from beneath and betokens another deluge. 
 Not a deluge like that which broke up the material surface of 
 the earth and cast the mountains into the sea, and turned the sea 
 into dry land — that remodeled the entire surface of our globe, 
 but a moral and political deluge. A convulsion that shall cast 
 down the high mountains of despotism and break to pieces the 
 strongholds of ecclesiastical domination, and throw into fearful 
 commotion the stagnant ocean of common minds. We seem to 
 be in a transition state — passing the threshold of some mighty 
 change. The world is about to be shaken to its centre. Those 
 things that may be shaken shall be removed ; and those things 
 that cannot be shaken shall remain. Every nation's as well as 
 every man's works are about to be tried, that it may be seen of 
 what they are. The hay, wood and stubble shall be burnt ; the 
 
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS RESUSCITATIONS. 119 
 
 gold, silver and precious stones shall come out seven times puri- 
 fied. 
 
 Already does the earth give signs of such a convulsion. The 
 world is becoming too much enlightened much longer to bear the 
 galling yoke of despotism. The genius of Liberty is too rife in 
 the world much longer to be trampled under foot by a bull of the 
 Pope, or to crouch to the thraldom of Pagan or Mohammedan 
 priestcraft. These mountains, however, cannot be cast into the 
 sea without a convulsion that shall shake the whole earth. Al- 
 ready, to all human appearance, it is beginning to work. 
 
 But there is another and a less despondent phase of affairs in 
 Turkey. In the midst of the wanings of the Crescent and the 
 drying up of the waters of the Euphrates, new fountains of moral 
 and political life have sprung up and are beginning to cheer the 
 desolations of that land of despotism. Christianity, in its primi- 
 tive life and purity, has entered Turkey. And Christian civili- 
 zation has there entered on its benign mission. The gradually 
 vanishing away of old systems and polities does but make place 
 for the ingress of the reforming institutions of a better religion 
 and a better civil polity. 
 
 But remarkable and ommous of change and promising of a 
 radical reform as the decay of the old regime is, these are not 
 the features in the present history of the Turks and of the Mos- 
 lem religion, which the most obviously betoken a revolution that 
 shall put out of the way one of the most formidable obstacles 
 with which Christianity has now to contend. We refer rather 
 to the civil and religious resuscitations which are there transpir- 
 ing at the present day. The past few years have wrought mar- 
 vellous changes in Turkey. The destruction of the Janizaries, 
 and the death-blow thereby struck to the despotic power of the 
 Ottoman empire ; the abrogation of the death penalty on account 
 of a change of religion, and the free toleration of all religions ; 
 
120 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 the extensive introduction of the Press and the publication of a 
 great variety of newspapers and periodicals ; the translation of 
 the Bible into the principal languages of Turkey and its free and 
 extensive circulation among all classes of people, and the re- 
 cent increased attention paid to education, especially to female 
 education, are signs of the times of no doubtful import. Recent 
 movements of the Sultan in reorganizing the schools of his em- 
 pire, and especially in putting upon a more prosperous footing than 
 ever before, schools for girls, indicate the determination of the 
 Sublime Porte to carry out the schemes of reform already so 
 auspiciously begun. 
 
 And what is yet more to our purpose, European civilization 
 has been very extensively introduced, and Christian missions have 
 made known, in every principal place in the empire, the religion 
 of the New Testament. These are the things which are inau- 
 gurating a new era in the land of the Moslems, and which indicate 
 coming changes of a most delightful character. Agencies are 
 undoubtedly at work there which shall not fail to work out a 
 glorious emancipation. 
 
 Whether, therefore, we watch the receding wave of the old 
 and decaying order of things as it returns again to the dark chaos 
 whence it rose, or whether the eye fix on the inflowing and 
 gradually strengthening tide of the new order, we are instinctively 
 impressed with the idea that great changes are at hand. Turkey 
 can scarcely fail to be soon revolutionized. And we think we are 
 not mistaken in the intimation already made, that a revolution 
 in Turkey will be the signal of revolution in most of the nations 
 of the earth. 
 
 What shall be the immediate results of such revolutions we 
 cannot predict ; but sure we are that the mighty hand of God will 
 be in them, and an immense revenue of glory shall accrue to his 
 name. He will break to pieces, as with a rod of iron, the power 
 
GOOD OUT OF EVIL. 121 
 
 of reigning despotism ; he will rebuke the pride of man ; he will 
 strengthen the hands of the nations that serve him, and weaken 
 the power of those who will not have him to reign over them. He 
 will, in all things, open the door among the nations for the free 
 and universal diffusion of the gospel. 
 
 It will be seen that we do not anticipate a violent death for this 
 great system of religious delusion. In this respect its end shall 
 signally differ from its great contemporary, the Romish Apostasy. 
 
 These views might be abundantly confirmed by intelligent wit- 
 nesses, at present residents in those countries ; men who have, 
 for more than a quarter of a century, been identified with these 
 reforms and who know whereof they affirm. The Rev. Dr. 
 Goodell, who has done good service in Turkey for the last thirty 
 years, speaks thus hopefully of the prospects of the work. He 
 says : " A wide and efi*ectual door is opened before us to labor for 
 the evangelizing of this Mohammedan and corrupt Christian 
 land. Behold what things God hath wrought ! War has come 
 and brought many evils in its train, but it has also brought the 
 Bible, ministers of the gospel and many praying hearts here. It 
 has given liberty to distribute thousands of copies of Bibles and 
 Testaments to those who are denied this blessed book in their own 
 land. It has broken the wall of bigotry and prejudice that can 
 never be built up again between Mohammedans and Christians, 
 and opened the Mussulman mind largely to Bible and Gospel in- 
 fluences. It has officially pledged i-eligious liberty to all classes, 
 even native-born Mussulmans in the Turkish Empire, and that, 
 too, with the sanction of all the great powers of Europe. Having 
 thus accomplished the great designs of God, the late war ceased, 
 and peace was proclaimed amidst universal rejoicings. And the 
 way is now opened for evangelical Christians to enter in and take 
 possession of this land for our Lord and his Christ. The signs 
 of the times call upon us to gird ourselves with one heart and one 
 
122 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 mind for the work. There will doubtless be a great conflict in 
 the overthrow of Moslem ism in the opposing of the flood of infi- 
 delity and licentiousness that will follow, and in the establishment 
 of a pure and evangelical Christianity, but the result is sure as 
 the Word of God." 
 
 In commenting on the late Hatti Sheriff, which he regards as 
 the turning-point in the history of the East, the Rev. Dr. Schaf- 
 fler says : " The entire war seemed made for the Hatti Sheriff, 
 the late firman of the Sultan, granting liberty of conscience to all 
 the subjects of the Porte. Before this was proclaimed, the al- 
 lied powers tried to make peace, but it was impossible. God's 
 purpose in the war was not yet accomplished. But when relig- 
 ious liberty had been pledged from Constantinople throughout the 
 Turkish Empire, then the conferences met at Paris, and peace 
 was at once concluded. A good Arminian brother said, * This 
 war was not made for the queen, the emperor, or the sultan, but 
 for the Lord Jesus Christ, to pave the way and to open every 
 door for the spread of the Bible and the preaching of the gospel 
 in this land.' A great leaf was soon to be turned in the history 
 of the East ; it was now trembling in the hand of Providence, 
 and we believe there is written on it glorious things for the tri- 
 umph of the gospel of Christ. Hatti Sheriff, being interpreted, 
 signifies sacred writing. This was to prepare the way for God's 
 sacred writing — his Hatti Sheriff — to go forth in all the languages 
 and lands of the Mohammedan empire." Almost the only sub- 
 stantial fruit of the Crimean war was the decree securing relig- 
 ious liberty. 
 
 "Nor did the renunciation of the claim to inflict the death 
 penalty," says the Rev. Dr. Riggs, " appear alone. The same 
 edict proclaimed the entire equality of the subjects of the empire, 
 of whatever faith ; and besides, it comprised twenty points of re- 
 form, all proposed by the English embassador, and seconded by 
 
**THE MORNING COMETH." 123 
 
 the embassadors of the other allied powers, who were thus led, 
 in the wonder-working providence of God, to demand in Turkey 
 a more complete toleration than they grant in their own em- 
 pires." 
 
 Indeed, the united testimony of the whole missionary corps in 
 that benighted land, comes to us in accents the most cheering, pro- 
 claiming " the morning cometh." " There was never a time," say 
 they, " like the present in this country. The word of God has free 
 course. Christians, Jews and Mohammedans, in the great cities 
 of the country, in the interior, in the mountainous regions — Kurds 
 and Kuzzlebashes — accept the Word. The dwellers in the rocks 
 and in the plains, shout to each other, and every prosperous year 
 is outdone by the year following. Our experience is that the 
 time for the evangelization of the East has come." 
 
 Such are the signs of the times in that land which stands as 
 the key-empire of the world. Change and commotion there be- 
 token change and commotion among the nations. On the one 
 hand, we have seen the Turkish Empire toppling to its fall, and 
 is only propped up by the strong arm, and preserved in its integ- 
 rity by the complicated interests of foreign powers. The no 
 doubtful premonitions of the overthrow of the Moslems are omi- 
 nous of mighty changes ; and at the same time preparatory to the 
 things which must shortly come to pass. Soon we may expect 
 to witness a crash among the nations. The dying struggle of 
 Islamism shall be the signal of a wide-spread commotion. On 
 the other hand, we have witnessed at work there, under auspices 
 the most promising of success, a series of reforming elements and 
 agencies, which are working out results as sure as they are ame- 
 liorating and benevolent. Yet we do not expect the Sun of Right- 
 eousness will arise on those lands so long darkened with the de- 
 vouring locusts of the false Prophet, except he shall arise out of 
 
124 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 the thick darkness and the tempest. Yet we expect he shall 
 soon arise. 
 
 When the great drama shall end, when the most colossal system 
 of imposture which the world ever witnessed shall dissolve away 
 and be no more, then shall he who overturns and overturns, come 
 and set up his kingdom on the earth. The duration of this im- 
 posture, we remember, is nearly coeval with that of the Romish 
 Apostasy. We therefore expect, in the waning of the Crescent, 
 to witness the downfall of great Babylon. 
 
 In all these commotions and overtumings the Christian hears 
 the stately steppings of his Prince. The pestilence and the sword 
 may go before him, but righteousness and peace shall follow in his 
 footsteps. 
 
 But what shall the sinner and the ungodly then do ? The earth 
 is tottering beneath him — it shall reel to and fro hke a drunken 
 man — and if he have not laid up for himself a good foundation 
 for time to come, he is indeed in want of all things. When the 
 day of the " Lord's vengeance" shall come, then may we know that 
 the " year of the redeemed is come." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Movements in the camp of Israel, indicating the approach of the latter-day 
 glory— The present condition of the Jews, a (12th) sign of the times. 
 
 " Balration is of the Jews."— John iv. 22 
 
 In designating what should be the signs of the coming of the 
 Son of man, I said the " restoration to the land of their fath- 
 ers, and their conversion to Christianity, of the Jews," should 
 hold a prominent place. We have purposely reserved what we 
 would say on this topic for a separate but brief chapter. It is 
 the design now to show that the present condition of this extraor- 
 dinary people is suck as to indicate the no distant approach of the 
 glorious era foretold. 
 
 But what has the world now to do with the descendants of 
 Abraham — with these despised and everywhere spoken-against 
 Jews ? Are they not cut off and cast out, repudiated and cursed 
 of God ? Why should those ancient rebels be now called up to 
 honor the King when he shall come in his glory ? What have we 
 to do with them ? Much every way ; and chiefly because God will 
 honor them more prominently than he ever has done as an instru- 
 mentality by which to carry forward the glorious work of Redemp- 
 tion. Salvation is of the Jews. 
 
 (125) 
 
126 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 We here do well to go back and inquire at the mouth of the 
 living oracles, what is the mind of God in respect to Israel? 
 Has he done with that extraordinary people ? Are his purposes 
 all fulfilled, his promises through them all performed ? Will he 
 use his ancient covenant people no more as prominent instruments 
 by which to carry on the great work of human salvation ? 
 
 As preliminary therefore to the main design of the present 
 chapter, and as a means of confirming our faith in the permanency 
 of God's covenant with Abraham to the end of time, it will not 
 be amiss to refer to a few particulars respecting this singular peo- 
 ple which can scarcely fail to inspire in us fresh hopes that God 
 will yet make the seed of Abraham bear a very signal part in 
 bringing in the latter-day glory ; and make us feel the more con- 
 fident, as we see any movements among the Jews betokening 
 their return to the land of their ancient inheritance, and their 
 acknowledgment of the Messiah, that such a day is at hand. 
 But why does any movement in the camp of Israel, or a move- 
 ment in reference to this people have such a strange significancy, 
 and Avhy is it taken as an index of corresponding movements in 
 the Church of God, and among the nations of the earth ? It is 
 because of the peculiar relation in which this people stand to the 
 purposes and covenant promises of God. 
 
 Such has been the past history of the Jews — such God*s cov- 
 enant and its promises — such the whole course of his dealings 
 with them — their singular dispersion and more singular preser- 
 vation — and the no less remarkable predictions concerning their 
 future — as well as the prominence in human affairs which in all 
 ages has been allowed to individuals of that nation, while at the 
 same time the great mass of them were still crushed under great 
 oppression — all these things indicate that this people hold a posi- 
 tion in relation to the Church universal and to the world, which 
 
god's promises to the jews. 127 
 
 can scarcely fail to invest every thing which belongs to them with 
 a peculiar interest. 
 
 When Christ said " Salvation is of the Jews/' he announced 
 a fact which runs parallel with the whole history of this wonder- 
 ful people — and more significant, probably, in relation to its future 
 than its past. The destiny of the world is strangely bound up in 
 the destiny of Israel. 
 
 But let us inquire a little more particularly what there has been 
 so singular in the relative position of the Jewish Church and 
 nation in the past history of the world — and what there is in God's 
 promises, and his obvious purposes towards them in the future, to 
 indicate that they are to have any special agency and influence in 
 the conversion of the world and the bringing in of the latter-day 
 glory ? what that should make us feel that any movement among 
 that people, or in respect to them, is especially auspicious and 
 encouraging? There are some things in connection with the 
 original grant made to Abraham — something in the form of the 
 promises and blessings appended, which more than suggest that a 
 glorious future yet awaits that people. Israel should become a 
 great nation. This has been but partially fulfilled. In the palm- 
 iest days of the Hebrew Commonwealth this grant was only in 
 part appropriated. And as the land was given as an everlasting 
 possession, it yet remains for a future occupancy. 
 
 Another feature in the covenant with Abraham, was that his 
 name should he great. He should be denominated, not the Father 
 of his country only, but the Father of the faithful. No other 
 name is so universally honored by the whole family of man. 
 " Jews, Gentiles — Mohammedans and Christians, vie, one with 
 another, in their reverence to the memory of this great man,*' 
 and glory in their real or supposed descent from him. Never 
 was a name so immortalized on earth — so interwoven with the 
 
128 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 saint's hope of eternal life — appended, as it were, to every grant 
 of pardon at the court of heaven. 
 
 And not only so, but he should be a remarkable channel of 
 transmitting blessings and honors to others, without limit. Thou 
 shalt be a blessing — a fountain whose streams shall bless a world. 
 Do we value the Bible ? do we esteem above rubies the institutions 
 of Religion — the Sabbath and the Sanctuary ? — Is Christ pre- 
 cious, the chiefest among ten thousand ? These are boons through 
 faithful Abraliam. 
 
 And we observe another thing here. God singularly iden- 
 tifies his interest and aims in the affairs of this world with 
 Abraham and his descendants: "I will bless them that bless 
 thee, and curse him that curseth thee." To raise a hand against 
 Israel, is to fight against God. No people, no nation has ever 
 opposed, persecuted, and harmed Israel and prospered. This, 
 all history has abundantly verified ; not in respect to the spiritual 
 seed of Abraham alone, but scarcely less remarkably, in respect to 
 his natural seed. 
 
 Another significant fact in relation to this race, is its singular 
 preservation. They have remained a distinct people 4,000 years — 
 and, impliedly and prophetically, since the promise of a Saviour to 
 Adam. There is not another such instance in the annals of the 
 world. The Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Greek and the Roman 
 — where are they ? The tide of empire rolls on, rising and fall- 
 ing — flourishing and decaying, till the revolution of empires is 
 scarcely less looked for than revolution in any other mutable 
 thing. Not one of the nations which oppressed Israel is now to 
 he found. How diflTerent the fate of the Jews ! The earth has 
 been overturned and overturned — the foundations of empire 
 broken up — kingdoms on kingdoms wrecked, and nations dissolved 
 into their elements, yet the nation which the King is pleased to 
 honor, has stood like a tower amidst embattling hosts. Amidst a 
 
SINGULAR PRESERVATION OP ISRAEL. 129 
 
 spiritually barren world, she remained from century to century as a 
 garden in the desert, the only spot on which the eye of moral 
 beauty could fix with delight. Founded on a Rock, Israel stood 
 and prospered, while the beggarly elements of the world were 
 dissolving about him. 
 
 And though now scattered to the four winds and cast among 
 people of .every language and latitude, they lose none of their 
 identity. They stand separate and alone amidst the endlessly 
 changing population of the globe. But why has this people been 
 so remarkably preserved a separate and distinct people, if God 
 has no further special use for them? If his future purposes 
 concerning them are simply that they shall acknowledge the 
 Messiah like any other nation of unbelievers, why all this special 
 care of them ? 
 
 In other respects, too, this singular people hold a most extraor- 
 dinary position in relation to all the other nations. They were the 
 chosen depositories of God's grace for a perishing world — Zion, his 
 earthly dwelling, the place of his pecuhar presence — of his prom- 
 ises, of the covenants, of the living oracles of the truth — of the 
 advent of the Messiah. They were the dispensers of salvation 
 to a dying world ; the channel of transmission of the waters of life. 
 And they were, too, the keystone to empire. Ancient monarchies 
 rose, prospered, and faded away according to the good pleasure of 
 God as touching Israel. They were the grand radiating point of 
 light — the fountain of moral influences for a lapsed world. 
 
 And, what is more remarkable, the first agents, the most 
 efficient and successful, in the early diffusion of Christianity, were 
 of this same stock of Abraham. Under the auspices of this Jew- 
 ish, apostolic agency, the gospel, in spite of all governmental power 
 arrayed against them, and in spite of all the opposing power of 
 the world, the flesh and the devil, was, in about thirty years, 
 made known to every nation under heaven. And not till a Gen- 
 
130 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 tile agency was substituted in the place of a Jewish, did the mis- 
 sionary spirit of the primitive Chui'ch subside and the Church 
 herself become corrupt. Most emphatically was this great salva- 
 tion of the JewSf both in its introduction and its diffusion among 
 the nations. 
 
 And more remarkably yet, shall this same feature characterize 
 the final conversion of the world and the establishment of Mes- 
 siah's kingdom on the earth. The prophets are full of the most 
 glowing expressions as to the leading influential part which the 
 seed of Abraham shall take in the final evangehzation of the 
 world. 
 
 There are here two classes of predictions : the one relating to 
 the profound and overwhelming conviction, which the restoration 
 to God's favor, and the fulfilment of so many prophecies, and the 
 verification of so many promises shall produce on the mind of 
 the whole Gentile world; and the other relates to the direct 
 instrumentality which the Jews, when converted and restored to 
 the land of their fathers, shall have in bringing about the desired 
 event. The conversion, after so long a time, of such a people — 
 the manner of their return — the forbearance, faithfulness, good- 
 ness, mercy and judgment of God displayed in it — the great prac- 
 tical attestation it will furnish to the truth of prophecy, will pro- 
 duce a moral impression on the mind of the nations, more powerful 
 than we may readily conceive. When the " light" shall have come 
 to Israel, and the " glory of the Lord shall be risen" on the re- 
 stored house of Jacob, " the Gentiles shall come to her light and 
 kings to the brightness of her rising." When God shall " arise 
 and have mercy on Zion, the heathen shall fear the name of the 
 Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory." '' They shall 
 be in the midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord, as the 
 showers upon the grass." " When the Lord shall build up Zion 
 
THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS. 131 
 
 • — restore his ancient covenant people — he shall appear in his 
 glory." 
 
 The restoration of the Jews — ^after the fulness of the Gentiles 
 shall be brought in — is everywhere held up as the spiritual res- 
 urrection of the whole Gentile world. The great apostle to the 
 Gentiles has left us no room to doubt of the meaning of the 
 many prophetic visions to which I have scarcely more than al- 
 luded. " Now," says he, " if the fall of them be," as by all con- 
 ceded, "the riches of the world" — the means or occasion of bringing 
 the gospel to all the nations of the earth ; and the " diminishing 
 of them the riches of the Gentiles, how 7nuch more their fulness ?" 
 Or " if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, 
 what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" 
 The resuscitation of the dry bones of the house of Israel shall be 
 the regeneration of the world. 
 
 Precisely how converted Israel shall become the regenerator 
 of the whole Gentile world — be as life from the dead to the 
 vast realms of spiritual death, we may not be able fully to ex- 
 plain. 
 
 Yet we can see how the conversion itself of such a people shall 
 so reassure the people of God in his faithfulness to fulfil his 
 promises and execute his purposes, shall so verify a long and in- 
 teresting series of prophecies, shall send home conviction to the 
 mind of skepticism and infidelity, and so solemnly enforce on the 
 mind of the entire world the truth of Divine Revelation and the 
 certainty that not a jot or tittle of all that God hath spoken 
 shall go unfulfilled, as to be an overwhelming means of the con- 
 version of the whole world. 
 
 But vastly more than this is doubtless true. The Jews once 
 converted shall have a most successful agency in the conversion 
 of the world. They shall be again, as they once were, the most 
 energetic and effective missionaries. Scattered as they are among 
 
132 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 all nations and acquainted with every language on the face of the 
 earth; inured to every climate ; familiar with the religion, phi- 
 losophy, literature, the manners and customs of every people ; 
 possessed of immense learning and greater wealth, and endowed 
 with uncommon energy and perseverance, they will be prepared, 
 if once energized with the ommnipotent Spirit, to go forth, such 
 missionaries as the Church has not had since the days of the 
 Apostles. Rather, they would become missionaries — every man 
 in the land of his own home ; and thus a thousand lights would 
 be kindled in the heart of every nation and kingdom on the 
 earth. 
 
 Thus possessed of the gift of tongues, and aided by a thousand 
 modern facilities in the way of improved modes of travel ; of 
 translations of the Bible into almost every language ; of the Press 
 in its, at present, astonishingly increased power ; of the present 
 condition of education and of free principles, they may be expect- 
 ed to evangelize the world with an apostolic rapidity. They would 
 bring to bear on the world a moral power which no other people 
 can. This power, at present almost dormant, if once quickened 
 into life, will tell delightfully on the world's regeneration. And 
 then shall it be acknowledged in a depth of meaning not now 
 comprehended, that Salvation is of the Jews. 
 
 If such be the relative position which this extraordinary people 
 occupy in the coming conversion of the world to God, and such 
 the part they are to act in that illustrious event, we may feel no 
 difficulty in accepting any movement among this people as a sig- 
 nal of a great and universal movement among the nations of the 
 earth. Their conversion shall precede the general conversion of 
 the world ; and as we see signs of a resuscitation of the house of 
 Israel, we may confidently expect that the consummation of all 
 things is at hand. 
 
 But do we see such a movement among that people "^ Does 
 
CIVIL CONDITION OF THE JEWS. 183 
 
 the cloud which has so long settled down upon them seem to be 
 rising, and are the tribes again on the march ? I think they are ; 
 and a cursory glance at their present condition will abundantly 
 justify such an opinion. 
 
 I shall not indulge much in details here in reference to the 
 present condition of the Jews. What I would say to illustrate my 
 proposition, has been said in another place.* Such is at present 
 the civil condition of the Jews — such the feeling and sympathy 
 for them on the part of the Christian Church — such the intellec- 
 tual and religious movements among themselves — and such their 
 favorable disposition to receive the gospel, and its present success 
 among them, as to hold out no doubtful indications that the time 
 to " favor Zion" draws near. And then shall the " Gentiles come 
 to her light and kings to the brightness of her rising." 
 
 But a few years since the Jews, among almost all nations, were 
 compelled to live under the most oppressive civil disabilities. They 
 were outlaws — had no rights. It was no sin in the eyes of the 
 world, and scarcely of the Church, to abuse and persecute a Jew. 
 But how changed his civil condition now ! Those oppressive acts 
 have been repealed by almost every nation. This movement 
 among the nations — this abatement of prejudice, is a prognostic 
 of coming good — an index that the long night of their abandon- 
 ment approaches its close, and the day of their redemption is at 
 hand. 
 
 And more than this : there is a movement in the camp of Israel 
 itself — a shaking among the '' dry bones." Jewish mjnd is roused 
 — their prejudices abated — their bigotry less rigid. Many gladly 
 receive the New Testament, and the teachings of the missionary ; 
 and yet more entertain a growing distrust of the Talmud and the 
 teachings of the Rabbles. Weary of their vain waitings for the 
 
 * Chapter nineteenth, vol. i. of " God in History." 
 
184 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 Messiah, some acknowledge, and others entertain a half-formed 
 conviction, that He has come already. 
 
 Such a state of mind, when taken in connection with the grow- 
 ing interest and sympathy in their behalf on the part of the Chris- 
 tian Church, is a star of hope for benighted Israel. Neglect and 
 contempt had soured and alienated their minds against all Chris- 
 tendom. They looked on Christians as enemies, in whose hearts 
 there was no flesh to feel for a Jew. They are now beginning to 
 learn that Christianity has a heart to pity, and an arm to embrace 
 the long forgotten children of Judah. 
 
 And there is another sign in the Jewish horizon. It is a move- 
 ment in the Jewish mind towards their beloved Jerusalem. And 
 there are movements in Palestine and in reference to the 
 Holy Land which seem to be inaugurating a state of things * 
 that shall at no distant day invite the return of the scattered 
 tribes to the land of their long-cherished hopes and desires. Says 
 an intelligent Prussian, " there is a general movement of inquiry, 
 and a longing expectation abroad, that something will take place 
 to restore them to the land of their fathers." " For better or 
 for worse," says another, " they are on the move. Old chains are 
 being severed. Old opinions, associations and observances are 
 being broken up." 
 
 And here I cannot forbear quoting the very valuable testimony 
 of Rev. Mr. Bellson, a converted Jew and Missionary in Posen, 
 and late candidate for the Bishopric of Jerusalem : " I am more 
 than ever impressed that the Jews are hastening to a great crisis. 
 It must be evident to any common observer, there is a great move- 
 
 *Dr. Magowan, resident at Jerusalem, says : " An extraordinary change has come over 
 Jerusalem. It is no longer a city which ' no man seeketh after.' It is now the resort of 
 the wealthy and the great ones of the earth. Large purchases of houses and lands are 
 made by agents of European governments, and establishments on a large and magnificent 
 scale will be shortly made in the neighborhood." Lady Polack, a wealthy Jewess, has 
 purchased the Mount of Olives — a Ilailway is about to be constructed from the Mediter- 
 ranean to Jerusalem. 
 
GOD AND THE TRUTH. 135 
 
 ment among them. This wonderful people, who for 1800 years 
 remained unaltered, have undergone a marvellous change within 
 the last forty years, especially the last twenty years. They are 
 in a transition state. Thousands, convicted of the hollowness and 
 rottenness of Rabbinism, and therefore thrown it off, feel a vacuum 
 in their souls, which Christian truth alone can fill. The Talmud 
 is sinking fast, and its giving up the ghost cannot be far off." 
 
 Such are facts connected with the present condition of the Jews. 
 And do they not afford increasing and decisive evidence that the 
 time draws near when the Father of Jacob shall again smile on 
 his wayward, wandering children, and bring them back to their 
 native hills, and accept their services in their beloved Zion. God 
 has not cast off his people. They are dear to him as the apple 
 of his eye. " The Lord shall arise and have mercy upon Zion, 
 for the time to favor her is come." 
 
 But we must not forget that the destiny of the nations is sus- 
 pended on providential movements connected with the Jews. 
 Any divine purpose fulfilled to Israel, or any movement in their 
 camp, involves in it a series of purposes and movements towards 
 the Gentile world. We are then again conducted to the conclu- 
 sion that the Church of Christ is approaching a crisis which will 
 soon bring her into sore collision with the enemies of the truth — 
 a crisis in human affairs of intense interest to the whole race. 
 Truth is rapidly approaching its fiery trial and final consumma- 
 tion. The two belligerent parties are arraying themselves for the 
 conflict. There will be no neutral ground — if not for God and 
 the truth, we are against him. But God will conquer — the truth 
 will prevail. 
 
 How important, then, that we be found on the Lord's side. 
 Never has there been a time when the people of God were more 
 loudly called upon to put on the whole armor, and having done 
 all, to stand. " For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but 
 
136 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the dark- 
 ness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." 
 "We have need of all the courage, all the decision, all the piety, all 
 the holy energies of prophets, apostles, reformers or martyrs. 
 While the great Head of the Church is, in such quick succession, 
 accomplishing his great purposes ; while he is hastening on all 
 things to their last and great consummation, shall we not stand 
 in our lot ? Shall we not cheerfully yield to him our poor ser- 
 vices, and give him our unworthy instrumentality .'' Now is the 
 exigency in God's cause on earth, and if we will not step in now 
 and come to the help of the Lord when the mighty oppose, are 
 we worthy of our high calling ? Can we expect to be called in 
 to share in the victory if we are not ready to bear the burden 
 and danger of the warfare? Loudly, indeed, do the signs of the 
 times call on all who profess the name of Jesus, to be up and 
 doing. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 More signs of the times— Want of reverence, of loyalty— Signs in the 
 Church — Abounding wickedness. 
 
 In previous chapters I have pointed out several appearances 
 which, go to sustain the proposition " that the Christian Church, 
 the * witnesses' for the truth, approaches her last and great con- 
 flict with the Beast : " and not with the Papal Beast merely, but 
 the Beast under his modern guise, and in his new mode of attack 
 -^a great, conjoint Antichristian Power, made up of the Infidel- 
 ity of Paganism, Mohammedanism and the Papacy, modernized 
 and nominally Christianized to suit the spirit of the age, its ruling 
 deity ; and yet incorporated and nominally lost in the fogs of 
 modern Infidelity ; which we represented as a subtle, covert Infi- 
 delity, disguised under the garb of a pretendedly purer Chris- 
 tianity, laboring by every plausible means to undermine and kill 
 what it calls the " Christianity of the Churches " by many a well- 
 directed, yet covert blow at the Christian Church, her ministry, 
 her Bible and her Sabbaths. It was shown, too, that this pecu- 
 liar species of Infidelity, this last great resource of the Devil, to 
 prop up his waning empire and to oppose the Church — this most 
 
 ti:i7) 
 
138 THE COMING CRISIS OF TKE WORLD. 
 
 effective, and most-to-be feared form of Infidelitj, has sprung up 
 of late almost simultaneously in different countries of Europe 
 and of America, organized under different names, but one in 
 spirit and in aim. 
 
 I shall now name one or two indications more of the approach- 
 ing conflict. 
 
 14. The present striking want of reverence — loyalty — respect 
 for authority, indicates some great revolutionary struggle. 
 
 Our age is characterized by a fearful spirit of lawlessness. The 
 yoke of restraint is galling. Men talk of their rights as if they 
 alone of all the world had rights. The impulse of the age is to 
 resist as oppressive, all laws and restraints which do not favor 
 their own wishes or interests. Hence outbreaks of violence in 
 the shape of mobs and riots. Hence the difficulty of enforc- 
 ing laws for the suppression of sin, as Sabbath- breaking, intem- 
 perance, gambling. Men are determined to do as they please, 
 despite the will or pleasure, the peace or interest of others. This 
 is the spirit of the age. It is unrestrained selfishness. Covet- 
 ousness is the sin of the world — and would to God it were not 
 the sin of the Church. It is a selfish age. 
 
 Now whoever will be at the trouble to examine, will find this 
 to be the characteristic of the times which should precede the 
 last great conflict. Says St* Paul (2 Tim. iii. 1 — 5) : " This know 
 also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men 
 shall be lovers of themselves ; covetous, boasters, proud, blasphe- 
 mous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural 
 affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despis- 
 ers of them that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of 
 pleasure more than lovers of God ; having the form of godliness, 
 but denying the power." 
 
 Here is portrayed a spirit of general insubordination, and of 
 recklessness of obhgations throughout all the varied relations of life. 
 
SELFISHNESS OF THE PRESENT DAY. 139 
 
 From the violator of national treaties, or " truce-breakers," down 
 through all the social, religious, domestic and individual relations, 
 to the pert and disobedient child, the prophetic eye of Paul fore- 
 saw there would be an all-pervading spirit of lawless7iess. 
 
 How far this description applies to our times facts must deter- 
 mine. Is the present or is it not, a day of peculiar selfishness, 
 pride, self-conceit, insubordination and blasphemy ? Is our day 
 inglorious tor covenant-breaking, in the Church and out of it ? — in 
 the nation and among societies and individuals ? Is not the pres- 
 ent an age of unblushing licentiousness, of impatience of restraint, 
 developed in a thousand forms, whether of pride, or the love of 
 power, or pleasure, or sensual gratification ? Men scorn that law, 
 human or divine — that public sentiment — that the fear of man 
 or God, should interpose between them and the gratification of 
 their desires. 
 
 Was there ever a time when men were so " high-minded " and 
 " heady " — so wise in their own conceits — so " fierce " in the sup- 
 port of their own dogmas ? 
 
 Again, the apostle Peter says : " In the last days, there shall 
 come scoffers, walking after their own lusts "—determined to live 
 as they please in spite of social or religious restraint, or of law, 
 human or divine. And Daniel says in reference to the same 
 period : " The wicked shall do wickedly '* — shall abound in wicked- 
 ness. It is hatred of authority — rebellion in the broad sense of 
 the term. Who is God that we should serve him ? — who is man 
 that we should regard him ? We will not have this man to reign 
 over us. Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their 
 cords from us. 
 
 If you will allow the mind to recur for a moment to some of 
 the developments of our age, you will not hesitate to identify them 
 as fulfilments of the predictions of the apostle. There is, in 
 the first place, a want of respect for established institutions. Yea, 
 
140 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 more, there is a hatred of them. In religion, in morals, in poli- 
 tics, in social and domestic relations, large classes of men tread 
 with vandal step on the long-tried institutions of their fathers, and 
 trample down the long ago venerated structures of wisdom and 
 experience. I have already pointed to numerous and extensive 
 organizations, both in this country and in Europe, whose end and 
 aim is to prostrate at their feet all law and authority — to break 
 up the foundations of all social order, to put far away religious 
 restraints, to sever marriage ties and scatter family relations to 
 the four winds. They would leave men to act as dictated by pas- 
 sion. Under the magic spell of " Men's rights " and " Women's 
 rights," they subvert all right, all order, all decency. 
 
 There is, ia a word, a fearful tendency to throw off the bonds 
 of restraint. The fire of loyalty in the old world, burns with 
 less strength than it was wont to burn. Among the nations of 
 Europe there is the appearance of a mighty convulsion at hand. 
 Men are growing restive under the yoke of despotism. The prin- 
 ciples of liberty, political and religious, have taken deep root, and 
 are now beginning to bear fruit. Men no longer feel themselves 
 to be the property o? a sovereign or a master, but assert their un- 
 alienable rights as men. Nations, societies, churches, individuals, 
 are evidently now passing through a transition state. Commotion 
 and overturning is the order of the day, indicative of the break- 
 ing up of an old order of things and the introduction of a new. 
 Much that is wrong will be broken up, much that is right. Such 
 are fearful times because there are so many fearful energies at 
 work. 
 
 The most careful and honest observers of the signs of the times 
 see, or think they see, portentous sights. They tell us " perilous 
 times " are at hand, and warn us to be prepared. And, inasmuch 
 as the aspect of our times corresponds with the predicted forerun- 
 
SIGNS REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 141 
 
 ners of that great convulsion which shall shake heaven and earth — 
 the Church and the world — the warning is not a needless one. 
 
 15. The Church gives signs that the ^^ great and notable day 
 of the Lord " is at hand. God has begun to humble his people, 
 to make them feel their dependence on sovereign power and 
 free grace. But is the Church humbling herself and feeling her 
 dependence ? It is one thing to he humbled^ another to be humble, 
 God may, for our sins, bring us low, yet in our pride and self- 
 righteousness we may exalt ourselves and still provoke the divine 
 indignation. There ure but too many indications, at the present 
 time, that God is about to allow his Church again to be prostrated 
 in the dust, and the enemy for a short space to triumph over her. 
 All over Christendom are ominous signs* The apostasies from 
 the faith and the apathy of the Church at such a day as this, be- 
 tokens a day of trial. There is something, too, in connection 
 with the very revivals of religion^ and the benevolent enterprises 
 of the Church, not without alarm. 
 
 There is not a more marked dispensation of mercy towards 
 Zion than is to be read in the revivals of religion of late years. 
 The windows of heaven have been opened, and showers of grace, 
 rich and copious beyond any former precedent, have fertiUzed our 
 parched and mourning Zion. Many hearts have been made glad, 
 and thousands begun the song of redeeming love on earth, to be 
 consummated in higher and holier strains on Mount Zion above. 
 
 But has not this richest boon of heaven's love been abused ? 
 Has not strange fire been laid on the altar ? Has not the ingrat- 
 itude and presumption of man cast a cloud over the brightest radi- 
 ance of heaven towards our benighted world ? In our self-depend- 
 ence and complacency we were beginning to feel, we could make 
 revivals — we could convert souls, I had almost said — we could open 
 and no man shut. We were vain in our imaginations, and God 
 brought a blight over our fairest prospects. We humbly and con- 
 
142 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 fidently hope the late wonderful work of grace is mixed with more 
 faith and dependence and humility than any previous work which 
 has blessed the Church, and that its results will be altogether 
 happy and lasting. But should not all our high-raised hopes 
 be realized, we need not marvel as if some strange thing had hap- 
 pened. The heavenly is still mixed up with the earthly. Too 
 often does the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed. 
 
 The same may be said in respect to other measures of the 
 Church. She contributes funds for the evangelization of the 
 world ; sends out men ; engages many agencies in her behalf, and 
 presses on with a zeal worthy so good a cause. The Lord of the 
 harvest prepares the way and prospers their going forth. So 
 many are ready to give — so many more to talk and wish a good 
 cause well, and so many have been willing to go abroad, that we 
 are in danger of feeling that the conversion of the world rests on 
 our shoulders; and as the work advances, to look upon it as if 
 our hands had wrought out salvation for a perishing world. 
 
 In proportion as such becomes the state of the Church, we may 
 look for a rebuke. Spiritual pride goeth before destruction, and 
 a self-righteous spirit before a full. God will not give his glory 
 to another. He is a jealous God. If his people get proud of 
 their works or their graces He will rebuke them. Persecu- 
 tions will arise ; unexpected forms of error assail ; conflicts betide, 
 and they seem shut up, so that no power on earth can relieve 
 them. The great Head suffers them to be brought into straits 
 that they may learn where their strength lies. 
 
 Is not such the condition of the American Church, if not of the 
 Church universally, at the present time ? God has in a remark- 
 ble manner opened our way to the Gentile world, and provided 
 unprecedented facilities to enable us speedily to fulfil the com- 
 mand : " Go ye into all the world." Yet what is the present con- 
 dition of the missionary work ? It stands hovering between hope 
 
ABOUNDING WICKEDNESS OF THE WICKED. 143 
 
 and fear. Hope beckons onward. Fear suggests that the wide 
 and effectual door now open, may, through the apathy of the 
 Church to enter, be in a measure closed, and the dark cloud, 
 which seemed rising and scattering, soon again settle down on the 
 broad plains of Idolatry. Every enterprise is, for the want of 
 funds and missionaries, retarded, or again in danger of being sus- 
 pended. Has not the Lord a controversy with his people that 
 he will not accept this service at their hands, and allow them the 
 honor of final success ? And may we not expect that before Zion 
 shall spread her wings over the whole earth and shadow the na- 
 tions, before her Lord shall clothe her in the strength and beauty 
 of heaven, for her final and glorious triumph, he will bring her 
 into the very dust of debasement, divesting her of all self-reliance. 
 
 These things intimate that the Church, like every thing beneath 
 the skies, is not perfect — ^that there is much in the Church which 
 does not please God. He will, therefore, sift her — humble her — 
 deliver her for a time into the hands of the Philistines for her 
 chastisement ; yet God will not cast off his people. Though he 
 chasten them, they are dear to him as the apple of his eye. 
 
 1 6. In connection with the apathy and defection of the Church, 
 I name as the last sign of the coming conflict which I sliall men- 
 tion, the abounding wickedness of the wicked. 
 
 If, as you cast your eye over the face of society, you discover 
 vice to be bold and aggressive ; sinners hardened in sin ; infidel- 
 ity covert and disguised, sapping the very foundations of our 
 Religion under the delusive pretext of introducing a more excel- 
 lent way ; if an all-pervading selfishness characterize the inter- 
 course of man with man ; if rectitude and honesty be rare, and 
 our age so corrupt that man is scarcely expected to act except as 
 prompted by selfish interest — if there is found to be, as has been 
 intimated, any thing like the forming of a grand confederacy of 
 the different systems of iniquity and infidelity, a rising up of a new 
 
144 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 form of the Beast, animated by the same spirit of hostility to the 
 truth, yet in the stolen robes of the truth ; and if, on on the other 
 band, when iniquity comes in like a flood there be but few to 
 set up a standard against it, apathy having come over large por- 
 tions of the Church, you have but too much reason to regard the 
 signs of the times as ominous— just what are foretold as precur- 
 sors of the great conflict — ^fulfilments of such scriptures as I have 
 quoted : " The wicked shall do exceeding wickedly " — " Iniquity 
 shall abound " — " The love of many wax cold " — Sin shall be- 
 come reckless and unrestrained. "Iniquity shall come in like 
 a flood," and few shall be found to raise a standard against it. 
 
 This, in connection with the 'predicted apostasies and the rising 
 up of false prophets which should immediately precede the " per- 
 ilous times '* of the latter days, confirms the view of the subject I 
 have taken. St. Paul says expressly that ^Hhat day shall not 
 come except there come a falling away firsts and that Man of 
 Sin be revealed, the Son of perdition." The abounding of sin is 
 to be accompanied by a great apostasy or falling away in the 
 Church. Both these are found sadly true of our times. 
 
 A few years past have been remarkably signalized for apos- 
 tasies bofh in the Church and among her clergy. Recall what 
 I have said of apostasies in the Church of England, and recall 
 what, in many a sad case, has transpired elsewhere, and ours will 
 be marked as a day of falling away. 
 
 And equally, I apprehend, shall we find the present a day of 
 false prophets — and of jiist such hind of false prophets too as 
 should characterize the period in question. They should be sub- 
 tle, plausible teachers, ostensibly, of the truth — so complete a 
 counterfeit of the true as with difficulty to be distinguished — '' in- 
 asmuch, if it were possible, to deceive the very elect." 
 
 Facts must determine whether such prophets, teachers, guides 
 or leaders have risen up all over Christendom, zealous in some 
 
ENEMY TRIUMPHS DOUBTS. 145 
 
 particulars, denunciatory in all, loose in moral principle, and 
 utterly defective in the the groundwork of truth and right- 
 eousness. 
 
 " When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?" 
 an interogrtory implying that when Christ shall come to set up 
 his kingdom nearly the last ray of Christian piety shall have 
 expired. The Church shall have been brought into a state of de- 
 basement the most helpless and hopeless, from which nothing short 
 of the omnipotent arm of her Inmaanuel can deUver her. The wit- 
 nesses are now slain. They lay dead in the streets ; and the enemy 
 send gifts one to another, and rejoice over them. The Church never 
 saw a dai-ker day. But this is the hour of the gracious interpo- 
 sition of her Lord. The faith of the Church needs now to be, in 
 some remarkable manner, reassured. The enemy have been 
 allowed so strangely to triumph over her — she is so completely 
 overwhelmed — ^the gates of hell seem so to have prevailed against 
 her, that she begins to waver in her faith, to half doubt the prom- 
 ises of her Lord. Since the fathers fell asleep they despair of 
 his coming. 
 
 Such a state of the Church seems aptly represented by one of 
 the closing scenes in the life of John the Baptist. He had under- 
 stood himself to be the forerunner of Christ. He had pointed 
 out the man of Nazareth to the multitude and declared him to 
 be the Lamb of God, the Messiah, that taketh away the sin of 
 the world. He had heard his words and witnessed his wonderful 
 works ; and had unreservedly recognized him to be the expected 
 Messiah : and he fully believed in the increase of his kingdom 
 and its universal extension over the whole earth. Yet when he 
 had been cast into prison, and the enemy allowed to triumph over 
 him, and darkness and doubt allowed to come over his soul, his 
 faith staggered. Had he not been mistaken ? If he were the 
 10 
 
146 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Christ, and himself, as he had supposed, were his forerunner and 
 his personal friend, why had these things befallen him ? 
 
 Under such feelings of painful suspense and failing faith he 
 sent messengers to Christ to ask if he were indeed the Christ, or 
 should we look for another ? Under his darkness and doubt and 
 extreme depression by the enemy, he needed a reassurance of the 
 divinity and faithfulness of his Saviour. 
 
 So the Church at the time of which we speak. In her extreme 
 depression and apparent overthrow, she now needs a renewal of 
 her faith — a reconfirmation of her hopes. And " the coming of 
 Christ with clouds " with his mighty angels, and flaming fire, will 
 be precisely the kind of confirmation which the depressed and 
 down-trodden saints will then require. Yet we do not suppose 
 the coming, at this time, will be personal. He shall be revealed 
 in great power — shall " come with clouds," judgments, mighty 
 providential displays. These may be the " mighty angels " — "the 
 flaming fire," by which he shall discomfit his foes : and tiiese the 
 manifestations by which he shall reassure his people ; or, as the 
 apostle says, shall " be glorified in his saints and be admired in 
 them that believe." 
 
 But I need not pursue this branch of the subject. The signs of 
 the times indicate a mighty conflict at hand. The fountains of the 
 great deep are breaking up. You may see it in the present state 
 of the Church — in the commotions on the great political arena of 
 the world ; you may see it in the genius of revolution abroad on 
 the dark and turbid waters of Paganism, and amidst the restless 
 billows of Infidelity. And especially you may see it in that gen- 
 eral restiveness of control which has so strangely seized on the 
 minds of men in all the relations of life. Ours is an age of 
 rebellion, not yet fully developed, but smothered for a more fear- 
 ful explosion. It is a warfare between Rulers and ruled — abused 
 authority on the one hand; aJmsed liberty on the other. We 
 
WITNESSES TO BE SLAIN. 147 
 
 watch with intense interest the awful progress of the car of war, 
 as at the present hour it rolls over Europe. Its carnage is dread- 
 ful ; its commotions fearful. It is the awful power of God to 
 break down and destroy — to remove out of the way those great 
 and formidable civil despotisms and hierarchies which hinder the 
 progress of his kingdom. But we confidently expect, when the 
 smoke of the battle-field shall have passed away and the " con- 
 fused noise " of the warrior and " garments rolled in blood " shall 
 be forgotten, sweet Peace shall return to the earth, and the angel 
 preaching the everlasting gospel shall ploclaim that the kingdoms 
 of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
 Christ. 
 
 It will again be seen that the position attempted to be estab- 
 lished in these chapters leads once more to the conclusion that the 
 " Witnesses," by which I understand a succession of godly men, 
 essentially embodied in the visible Church, are yet to he slain — 
 that their slaying means the great conflict which truth and the 
 true Church is yet to encounter from the combined enemies of the 
 truth — that the Beast, the personification of this combined hostil- 
 ity, shall change the mode of his attack — put on a Christian garb, 
 and, under the pretext of carrying out the spirit of the age, shall 
 essay to break down and trample under foot our old landmarks, 
 prostrate the walls of our fold, and for a little space, sorely gall 
 the flock. This rousing up and rage of the Beast shall be a con- 
 sequence of the increased light and real progress of the truth, 
 producing the conviction that the Church will triumph and event- 
 ually make all men feel the strength of her cords and the tight- 
 ness of her bonds. Seeing this — that his time is short, Satan will 
 enter the field with redoubled rage — marshal his forces under 
 new colors — colors stolen from the armory of heaven — and 
 snatching from their hands the very weapons of the sacramental 
 host, ApoUyon mounts the car and is ready for the last great en- 
 
148 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 counter. He now comes up to battle, not as heretofore by divis- 
 ions, but with all the powers of darkness confederated, and now 
 animated by one spirit, hatred of the Chuj-ch and the truth. 
 
 That the affairs of the Church and of the world are verging to 
 such a crisis I have little doubt. And that it will terminate in the 
 complete overthrow of the wicked, and, after a temporary (a three 
 and a half years') prostration of the Witnesses, they shall then 
 arise in their strength and glory — Zion shall put on her beautiful 
 garments — her light shall shine, '' fair as the moon, clear as the 
 sun, and terrible as an army with banners." The wicked shall 
 triumph, yet their triumphing shall be short, and their overthrow 
 signal and final. 
 
 I have before me an opinion on this subject, which, from the 
 circumstances of the case, I regard as peculiarly valuable. It is 
 a joint letter from the American Mission at Constantinople, 
 signed by Messrs. Goodell and Dwight, than whom no two men 
 are more advantageously situated, or better qualified to form a 
 correct opinion on such a subject. 
 
 " We notice," say they, " the wide-spread alarm and the stern 
 hostility which the slightest success in turning men from darkness 
 to light awakens ; and we can scarcely be mistaken as to the in- 
 fluence of future and more decided progress. A mighty revolu- 
 tion must take place, and in the course of its accomplishment, the 
 ecclesiastical and moral world will be shaken to their very centre. 
 We cannot hide from our eyes the approaching struggle, the gather- 
 ing storm. We wish not to hasten it prematurely, but we dare not 
 try to avert it. It will come, must come, and ought to come. No 
 one of our plans can be accomplished without it, no one of our 
 prayers heard, no one of our hopes realized. We pray that God 
 may pour out his spirit on this people, but that oannot be without 
 producing instant commotion. We long for the conversion of sin- 
 ners ; but this soonest of all things will turn upside down this 
 
PREMONITION OF THE COMING CONFLICT. 149 
 
 ecclesiastical world. There is no possible way to avoid this but 
 by concealing the light of the truth." 
 
 Ever and anon we descry some new premonition of the coming 
 conflict. A voice from the same Mission, after the lapse of years, 
 utters again similar notes of alarm. The commotions in India 
 (connected with the Sepoy mutiny) come as an earthquake, shak- 
 ing the whole Mohammedan world. They have strangely roused 
 the sleeping animosities of the Moslems against Christianity. 
 And it is easy to see how the inflammable spirit of Mecca should 
 take fire at the first intelligence of the insurrection ; and how 
 easy it would be, when the King of nations shall permit, to light 
 up the torch of war among all the nations of the earth. A con- 
 federacy of Pagan and Mohammedan nations against evangelical 
 Christian nations, in which nations that represent a corrupt Chris- 
 tianity might very naturally be drawn in, would of itself at once 
 bring on the great Battle. In a late letter the Rev. Dr. Hamlin, 
 of Constantinople, says : " The rebellion in India has communi- 
 cated a singularly excited spirit to the Turks. The fanati- 
 cal party make great and effective use of it. Tens of thousands 
 believe that it originated in efforts of the English to make Mussul- 
 mans Christians by force ; and that all the English have done 
 here for freedom of conscience is only to prepare the way for 
 the same violent conversion of Mussulmans in Turkey. 
 
 " This storm will probably soon pass over ; but it is an indica- 
 tion of what we must anticipate in the future. The excitement 
 against missionaries, personally and as a body, is just now very 
 strong. Fearful indeed is the trail that is laid, and, when the 
 signal shall be given, the least spark will set the whole on fire." 
 And who has not been shocked at the horrid details of the late 
 Syrian Massacre ! This is but another explosion of the same 
 internal fires, which are boiling, and surging, and gathering 
 strength for a final and dreadful eruption. The Moslem's hatred 
 
150 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 to Christianity is as virulent as death. Though smothered for 
 a time, it has lost none of its power : and his " wrath " shall be 
 all the greater when he shall " know that he hath but a short 
 time." 
 
 The Evangelists, Matthew and Luke, have left on record a 
 vivid and thrilling description of these times : " The sun shall he 
 darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall 
 fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall he shaken" 
 Or as Luke has it : " There shall he signs in the sun and in the 
 moon and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with 
 perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring" Which, in plain lan- 
 guage, means, there shall be a most alarming prostration of 
 authority. The sun shall he darkened — authority shall be sub- 
 verted — restraint resisted. The moon shall cease to give her light 
 — the light of the Church shall be dimmed, her authority rejected 
 and disdained. The stars shall fall from heaven — ministers of the 
 gospel shall fall, some by apostasy and sin, more by being driven 
 from their charges, and bereft of their influence, and the author- 
 ity of their instructions lost because of the commotion of the 
 times, and the disorganizing spirit of unreasonable and wicked 
 men. Many in the Church and more out of her will think 
 they can do God no greater service than when sapping the 
 foundations of confidence in his ministers, or thrusting them from 
 their sacerdotal orbits. The powers of the heavens shall he shaken 
 — unheard of commotions in the ecclesiastical world. Upon the 
 earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves 
 roaring — political eruptions, commercial distresses, the outbreak- 
 ings of violence among the common people in the form of riots, and 
 mobs, and revolutions. The sea and the waves roaring — men of 
 loose principles and infidel sentiments, " rising in ungovernable 
 rage, throwing off all restraints, and spreading consternation and 
 panic" among men. 
 
"distress of nations." 151 
 
 If there be something in our times which looks Hke this, then, 
 " lift up your heads," ye saints, for " your redemption," after a 
 short and severe rebuff, hastens on apace. And " mourn," ye 
 sinners, as ye see ^^ the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, 
 with great power and glory : " for he comes, " revealed in flam- 
 ing fire," to take vengeance on them that obey not the gospel. 
 
 We venture to add to this chapter a few paragraphs which 
 recently appeared in the Puritan Recorder. They are so much in 
 harmony with our views, and withal so pertinent to the times, that 
 they seem to claim a place in this connection : 
 
 " Christ foretold, that preparatory to his coming, there should be, 
 ^ upon the earth, distress of nations, with perplexity.* He has not 
 clearly defined what coming of his is to be thus preceded. Nor 
 is it needful for us to have such a definition ; for it seems that the 
 introduction of every new era of light to his kingdom, has its 
 period of conflict and painful trial to precede it. The whole cre- 
 ation groaneth and travaileth together in pain, to be delivered 
 from the bondage of corruption. There are doubtless to be many 
 of these bitter throes and pains, before the full consummation of 
 the glory of Christ. But if * distress of nations ' is one of the 
 precursors of a brighter day, we have now the means of quick- 
 ening our hopes for its advancement. 
 
 " The pressure of God's hand upon many of the nations of the 
 world is now heavy. Our own nation is having a remarkable 
 experience. In the midst of an abundance of all the products 
 of the field, an actual famine of bread is staring us in the face. 
 Immense multitudes of the people have been thrown out of employ- 
 ment, and thus out of the necessary means of subsistence. And 
 the financial crisis which here began, is now extending itself over 
 the nations of Europe ; so that the commerce of the world is to 
 feel the stroke of the palsy in every limb. 
 
 " But this financial crisis is only one item in the present distress 
 
152 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WOELD. 
 
 of nations. Our mother country, having had scarcely time to 
 breathe freely after the exhausting war with Russia, has found 
 herself suddenly involved in another war, and that with the whole 
 of Eastern Asia. Over her vast domains in India the curse 
 of civil war is sweeping ; and the hundred millions in China seem 
 to be at war, not only with the most powerful of foreign nations, 
 but also among themselves. How much of the distress of nations 
 is involved in such a wide-sweeping extent of warfare, it is not 
 easy for us at this distance to conceive. Here, then, we have, 
 * upon the earth, distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea and 
 the waves roaring, and men's hearts failing them for fear, and for 
 looking after those things which are coming upon the earth.' 
 
 " In such clouds as these, the Redeemer is wont to come when 
 he extends his spiritual reign upon the earth. In the figure of 
 the poet, these clouds are the dust that waits upon his sultry march 
 when he visits earth in mercy. These judgments which are abroad, 
 awake more of expectation and of hope, from their coming at a 
 time when so many evangelizing agencies are abroad in the world, 
 accompanied by so much of the quickening breath of the Holy 
 Ghost. Never since the primitive days of the Christian Church, 
 was so much done, and with so much success, to extend the gos- 
 pel to those who have it not. It is well for us to look upon these 
 remarkable providences, as intended enforcements of God's word 
 of grace now sent forth to the nations. God, in saying to his 
 Son, ' Thou shalt break them with the rod of iron ; thou shalt 
 dash them in pieces as a potter's vessel,' says in the same con- 
 nection — ' Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings, be instructed, ye 
 judges of the earth ; serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with 
 trembling ; kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the 
 way when his wrath is kindled but a little.' 
 
 " But we commenced these few remarks with a special reference 
 to the spiritual impression upon our own nation, to be received 
 
god's spirit on the churches 153 
 
 from our present distress. It is obvious, at a glance, that our 
 calamities are in their nature adapted to rebuke our most preva- 
 lent sins, and lead to that spiritual impression which is needed by 
 us as a people. If God were about to pour out his Spirit on the 
 churches, and on the masses of our people, these providences 
 might operate as an admirable means of the conviction of sin, 
 and of turning men to God. And who shall say, that this is not 
 the great purpose of these remarkable visitations ? In this view, 
 these are times which invite and encourage special earnestness in 
 our supplications for the outpouring of the Spirit. When God's 
 judgments are abroad in the earth, it is a time for the inhabitants 
 thereof to learn righteousness. Then, especially, is a time to 
 hope and pray for the putting forth of his saving power." 
 
 The closing remarks of this writer seem prophetic. God has 
 *• poured out his Spirit on the churches, and on the masses of the 
 people ; " and " these providences " have operated " as an admira- 
 ble means of turning men to God." And we may now believe 
 that this is the " great purpose of these remarkable visitations." 
 
 It only remains to add here, that if there is discovered a seem- 
 ing discrepancy between the unfavorable features pointed out in the 
 foregoing chapter, and the favorable features of our age as they at 
 present appear in connection with the extensive and delightful 
 religious revivals of the present day, I have only to say, there is 
 no discrepancy. This is only what was spoken of by the prophet 
 Daniel : " Many shall be purified, and made white and tried ; but 
 the wicked shall do wickedly" As light increases, as divine influ- 
 ences are more active, and their effects more ostensible, and as 
 tlie ranks of the adversary are seen to be thinning, and his cause 
 waning, he is wont to come to the rescue. The only wonder is 
 that he has thus far, during this extraordinary religious interest, 
 kept so quiet. Men of all ranks and conditions in life, in great 
 numbers, deserted his ranks, and we may be sure he will not 
 
154 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 quietly submit to his disasters. He will ere long rise in his great 
 wrath, knowing that his time is short. He will stir up wicked 
 men to do more wickedly. " The wise shall understands^ but the 
 incorrigibly wicked shall not understand, but be allowed to go on to 
 their own eternal undoing. We shall see if the great enemy of 
 all good will allow his vassals to succumb, without a struggle, to 
 the new order of things which the Lord, by the late wonderful 
 effusion of his Spirit, is now inaugurating in our land. In what 
 form the reaction will come we know not, but we believe it will 
 come. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Great Battle — The slaying of the Witnesses — Their restoration and 
 ascension to Heaven. 
 
 " And when they shall have finished their testimony, the Beast that ascendeth out 
 of the bottomless Pit shall make war against them, and shall orercome them, and kill 
 them." — Rev. xi. 7. 
 
 We have all along kept in view the idea of the great conflict 
 which awaits the truth before its final triumph. It is time that 
 we define more definitely what we mean by the Great Battle ? 
 what it shall be ? when ? and where ? Its character is perhaps 
 no where more accurately delineated than in the eleventh chapter 
 of the Revelation, in the account of the " slaying of the two Wit- 
 nesses." This, we believe, represents the great Battle of God 
 Almighty, the Battle of GrOg and Magog, or of Armageddon — the 
 battle of the great day. It demands some special consideration. 
 
 Who are these witnesses ? When did they begin their testi- 
 mony, and when shall they end it? What is meant by the slaying 
 of the witnesses, and when shall it be ? What their restoration 
 and ascension to heaven ? These are queries all of which we 
 may not satisfactorily answer ; yet much that is satisfactory may 
 be said. 
 
 WTio are these Witnesses ? Some say they were certain eminent 
 (155) 
 
156 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 individuals, as Moses and Aaron, Elijah and Elisha, or Moses and 
 Elias. Christ sent out the twelve, and also the seventy, two and 
 two. I do not suppose these were the Witnesses. They were 
 witnesses for the truth, but do not meet the conditions in the case. 
 Nothing less, I apprehend, is here meant than a succession of holy 
 men and fearless prophets and teachers, who, during the period 
 in question, bear testimony to the truth, and sustain the true 
 Church. Such a succession of men there has always been in the 
 world. These are the two candlesticks, with each its seven 
 branches and lamps, emblematical of the Church universal, as 
 the light-giving body to illuminate the surrounding darkness. 
 These two candlesticks are accompanied by two " olive trees, 
 which, by means of conductors, convey their oil continually to 
 the lamps." Hence the lamps of the candlesticks could never go 
 out. 
 
 Such is the true Church, or the succession of witnesses for the 
 truth. Fed by an unction from on high, they are a bright and 
 shining light, that shineth brighter and brighter till the perfect 
 day. In whatever age or nation, they are the light of the world. 
 They have power to prophesy a thousand two hundred and three 
 score days, or twelve hundred and sixty years. 
 
 A second question arises as to the commencement and termina- 
 tion of this period of time. The whole period of their prophecy 
 is co-eval with the existence of '* the Beast that ascendeth out of 
 the bottomless Pit," and also with that of the false Prophet — two 
 events which had their commencement and are to have their ter- 
 mination, nearly or quite at the same time ; and I may here add 
 — though this is not the time to furnish the proof — that the 
 restoration and conversion of the Jews, and the gathering in of 
 the Gentiles or Pagan nations, are two other exceedingly impor- 
 tant events, which, it seems, are to take place at the same time 
 with the two above-mentioned. 
 
THE PAPAL BEAST. 157 
 
 The Papal Beast is generally said to have arisen in the year 
 606. This was when the Pope became universal Bishop. A 
 hot contest had for some years previous, been carried on between 
 the Bishops of the Eastern and Western Church ; the one, the 
 Bishop of Rome, and the other, of Constantinople. Boniface, 
 then Bishop of Rome, in the year 606, prevailed on the then reign- 
 ing Emperor, Phocas, to declare the Bishop of Rome universal 
 Bishop or Pope. Here separated forever the eastern and western 
 Churches ; the former was afterwards known as the Greek Church, 
 and the latter as the Latin, the Roman or the Roman Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 Here we have the full-grown Papal Beast — ^but as yet withoni 
 his horns. For it was not till the year 756 that the Pope became 
 fully established as a temporal prince. 
 
 Here lies the difficulty of determining the precise time when the 
 twelve hundred and sixty years begun. If we fix their date in 
 the year 606, they will terminate in the year 1866. This at first 
 seems too short a period into which to crowd so many and such 
 mighty events as must transpire before or at the termination of 
 that period. But when we reflect on the wonderful changes of 
 the last few years, how many and how mighty changes both 
 moral and physical have taken place, and what are now the signs 
 of the times in reference to a mighty onward progress, it need 
 not greatly stagger our faith to believe that within this short space 
 the gospel may be so universally difi\ised over the earth, and take 
 such deep hold on the hearts and consciences of men — change 
 laws and customs, that the wicked, no longer able to brook the 
 restraints of piety, shall burst " the bonds and break the cords " 
 of the godly, and come out and make war on the saints of the 
 Most High ; that they shall, to all human appearance, overcome 
 them and kill them; that God shall then in some remarkable 
 manner avenge the cause of his elect — completely overwhelm the 
 
158 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 powers of antichrist — the confederated hosts of Popery, Moham- 
 medanism and Infidelity, or rather of a new power made up of all 
 that " opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God 
 or that is worshipped ; that the Jews shall be restored to the long- 
 lost favor of God, and to their long-forsaken and desolate land — 
 and that their restoration shall be a glorious signal, and, in a 
 great measure, the means of quickening into spiritual life the 
 whole dead body of the heathen world. And then shall com- 
 mence that glorious era of a thousand years when peace shall 
 reign and righteousness shall prosper and be ascendant throughout 
 the whole earth. 
 
 It is no more difficult to conceive that all I have supposed will 
 take place in the brief term of six years, than it was as many 
 years that what has transpired, should have taken place. Who, 
 but a few years ago, could have conceived that the whole world 
 should so soon be thrown open to receive the gospel — the Bible 
 be translated, published, and read in one hundred and sixty different 
 Pagan languages — the Christian Press, free as the air we breathe, 
 be scattering, as on the wings of the wind, millions and millions 
 of the leaves of the tree of life, until there is scarcely a nation, or 
 a tongue, or a people that may not already read the wonderful 
 things of God in the tongue in which they were born ? — And that 
 funds to such an amount, and men in such numbers should be en- 
 gaged, and so much land should be possessed ? Nor are the 
 moral, civil and political changes which have taken place less re- 
 markable. 
 
 There seems, therefore, no reason for rejecting the idea that 
 the notable twelve hundred and sixty years commenced in 606, on 
 the ground that the small space which remains of it now, is not 
 sufficient for the accomplishment of all its events. There is time 
 enough, and all this too without a miracle. Indeed, should the 
 Great Dagon at Rome fall prostrate before the ark of the Lord 
 
CONDITION OF THE WITNESSES. 159 
 
 in half six years, and Mohammedanism explode with the Turkish 
 Empire, and Pagan nations meet their hastening doom, we need not 
 be surprised. All things are fast hastening to such results. Six 
 months, indeed, might suffice to set all the nations on earth on fire 
 — to dash the nations one against another : and another six months 
 suffice to overthrow the armies of the aliens — to clear away the 
 smoke of the battle-field, and to plant on the ruins of the nations 
 that would not serve the King Jehovah, the foundations of the 
 everlasting kingdom. A thousand years with the Lord is as one 
 day, and one day as a thousand years. 
 
 But if we fix on the other date, as its commencement, viz., 756, 
 then we add to the unexpired period of the reign of the Beast 
 and the prophesying of the witnesses in sackcloth one hundred and 
 fifty years, making the unexpired time one hundred and fifty-six 
 years instead of six. The true date is doubtless not sooner than 
 the first, nor later than the second, but purposely left in this ob- 
 scurity, because it is not given unto us to know the " times and 
 the seasons." 
 
 Another thing that demands a passing remark concerning the 
 witnesses, is the condition in which they appear. They are clothed 
 In " sackcloth," indicative of their humble condition, the contempt 
 cast on them by the world, and their own affliction and grief 
 on account of the wretched condition of the world, and the estate 
 of the Church. 
 
 " Clothed in sackcloth " well represents the general condition 
 of genuine piety in our world. In another place the Church 
 is represented as a " woman " so tormented and persecuted by a 
 " great red dragon," which had " seven heads and ten horns," that 
 she was compelled to flee away and hide herself in the " wilder- 
 ness " — a most apt illustration of what has been the real condition 
 of the true Church, or genuine Christian godliness, ever since the 
 oorruption of the Church and the origin of the persecuting powers 
 
160 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 of Rome. Rivers of blood have flown. Perhaps the ingenuity 
 of man was never more taxed than in inventing modes of torture 
 and of death for those whose only crime was to worship God 
 agreeable with the dictates of their own consciences- The fashion 
 of the world has always been to cast a pure Religion out, and to. 
 compel her to seek the lodging-place of a wayfaring man in the 
 wilderness. False or corrupt Religions have not unfrequently 
 been called to sit in high places, but in no nation has holiness 
 been popular. It has been tolerated, but not a passport to popular 
 favor. The witnesses are clothed in sackcloth. 
 
 A fourth characteristic of these witnesses is, that they are sus- 
 tained hy a supernatural power. They stood before the God of 
 the whole earth, and received power from him. And they are 
 protected by the same omnipotent arm. " If any man hurt them, 
 fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies." 
 God will avenge the cause of his elect. By the power of holiness 
 they shall be a terror to evil-doers — one shall chase a thousand, 
 and two put ten thousand to flight. 
 
 What is meant hy the slaying of the witnesses, and when shall 
 this event take place, and by whom ? Their death is the violent 
 and complete suppression of their testimony. If by the witnesses 
 be meant the succession of those who profess and contend for the 
 faith once delivered to the saints, then the suppression of their 
 testimony must be their death. The people of God will then be 
 prohibited from bearing witness to the truth. Ministers may not 
 pr-each ; Churches may not be opened ; Christians may not assem- 
 ble for worship ; Bibles may not be published, circulated or know- 
 ingly read ; all benevolent societies will be suppressed ; the Chris- 
 tian Press prohibited ; Christian schools abandoned ; and all relig- 
 ious instruction interdicted. Righteousness will be sent away 
 into the waste, howling wilderness, to sit solitary and to mourn. 
 Wickedness will sit in high places and triumph over downcast 
 
SLAYING OP THE WITNESSES. 161 
 
 piety. Every remaining vestige of piety, or the pious, shall be 
 treated with savage contempt. 
 
 This I understand to be meant by the slaying of the witnesses 
 — which I gather from the account given of the transaction in the 
 following passage : " And when they shall have finished (or shall 
 be about to finish) their testimony, the Beast that ascendeth out 
 of the bottomless pit, shall make war against them, and shall over- 
 come them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the 
 street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and 
 Egypt, where also 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. And they that dwell on the face of 
 the earth, shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send 
 gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them." 
 The wicked had a long time been held in an unwilling bondage 
 by the restraints of their piety, but now they had at length broken 
 away, and rejoiced in the hope of henceforth living as they should 
 list. Piety being, as they supposed, dead, they hoped they might 
 revel unmolested in the way they should choose. 
 
 A query here naturally arises as to the time of this disaster. 
 Is it already past, or is it yet to come ? I have no doubt it is 
 yet to come. Several past eras have been fixed on as the time 
 when the witnesses were slain — as the period when the saints of 
 the valley of Piedmont, the Vadois, the Waldenses, the Albigenses, 
 etc., so severely suffered. These were days of cruel persecution. 
 Few could then openly profess the Lord that bought them, without 
 sealing their testimony with their blood. There have been times 
 of triumph of the persecutions of the Church in France, Ger- 
 many, Bohemia and Italy. But there was in none of these in- 
 stances that general suppression of the testimony of the people 
 of God, nor that complete and vociferous and public triumph of 
 11 
 
162 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 all the enemies of godliness, which is here described. BuL what 
 is more in point, none of the mighty conflicts of iniquity against 
 the Church of the living God, occurred at the right time to make 
 them coincide with the event spoken of in our text. 
 
 This dread overthrow is to take place as the result of the dying 
 struggle of the Papal Beast. He is then to arise in his last wrath, 
 and to rage and lay desolate more than ever, because " his time is 
 short." This, of consequence, must fall at or near the close of 
 the above-mentioned twelve hundred and sixty years — or at or 
 soon after the year 1866, as its nearest point of termination. 
 
 And, further, the slaying of the witnesses shall be attended by 
 an open avowal and general rejection of Christianity — and a jubilee 
 of triumph over its supposed final suppression, as if the demons 
 of the Pit had broken loose to keep jubilee on earth over the 
 final overthrow of the hated cause. Such a time seems yet to 
 come. 
 
 Another no less interesting inquiry here arises : By whom shall 
 the witnesses he slain ? The text replies, by the Beast that ascen- 
 deth out of the bottomless pit; by which has generally been under- 
 stood, the Papacy or Romish Church. In all its essential features 
 it no doubt is so. It is the " antichrist that should come " — the 
 antichristian, antireUgious power that should oppose itself to all 
 godliness. This does not shut out the idea, but rather encourages 
 it, that it is more of a confederacy of iniquity against every thing 
 which bears the form of piety, than any particular form that re- 
 ligious persecution has yet assumed. It is not so much Pagan- 
 ism, Papacy, or Islamism, as it is a joint and inveterate and venge- 
 ful hatred of the truth, which shall then make one united, general 
 and desperate onset against the Christian Church. It is the " man 
 of sin," armed rather with the panoply of infidelity, than with any 
 particular form of hostility to the truth that has as yet appeared 
 in our world. 
 
THE COMBINED ATTACK. 163 
 
 It is only analogous to what we know to be the subtlety of tlie 
 Serpent, to believe that he may, and that he often does change his 
 mode of attack. He has heretofore come up to the encounter by 
 Divisions, each bearing its own respective banner, such as Pagan- 
 ism, Infidelity, Popery and Mohammedanism. The spirit of the 
 corps has always been the same — the spirit of Infidelity. Tlie 
 grand object of attack has always been the same — the kingdom of 
 the Redeemer. But there has never yet been a general rallying 
 of all the forces towards a single point. 
 
 Such a time, it seems to me, is yet to come. The grand line of 
 demarcation shall at length be drawn. The powers of light and 
 darkness shall then be arranged on their own respective sides. 
 The neutral ground shall all be left as a common arena. The 
 army of the aliens, led on by the arch-spirit of darkness, shall 
 embody in it all that opposeth itself to the empire of holiness. 
 This is " the man of sin." Its name is " Legion." It embraces 
 all the antichristian powers of earth, whether found in the garb 
 of Christianity, or on the altar of the Pagan, or under the banner 
 of the Crescent. It is one grand infidel confederacy, roused from 
 its native torpor. Long had it slumbered in the dark caverns of 
 spiritual death. Light broke in. A ray penetrated through the 
 black folds of night and came even to the seat of the Beast. He 
 roused from his lair as if a star had fallen from heaven. Another 
 follows and another, till the surrounding darkness becomes visible 
 — sin is unmasked — abominations unveiled — the moral turpitude 
 of ages exposed — sin shown in its own original and undisguised 
 hatefulness — character exhibited as it is — virtue honored and vice 
 despised — righteousness exalted and sin trodden down ; and how 
 long, think you, before the monster will be roused and shake the 
 earth with his roaring ? Sin cannot bear the light. Darkness is 
 its native element. Light makes sin mad — the more light the 
 more outraoreous he is. 
 
164 THE COMING CRISIS OF TKE WORLD. 
 
 Hence as the gospel shall penetrate, as it is now fast doing, in- 
 to Pagan, Mohammedan and Popish darkness, the mystery of 
 iniquity shall be exposed ; and when this shall be done up to a 
 certain point, " the man of sin," the universal genius of iniquity, 
 shall arise in the madness of his strength, rally the joint forces 
 of wickedness, and, by one mighty, bloody onset seek to sweep 
 Christianity from the earth. And so successful shall they be that 
 they shall seem to have effectually done it. Their conquest 
 appears to be complete. The witnesses are slain, and their dead 
 bodies, in contempt and savage triumph, left unburied in the streets 
 three days and a half. 
 
 In other words, the infidel power shall triumph, Christianity be 
 prostrate — no one may safely raise his voice in her defense- — 
 the Bible shall be proscribed — the pulpit closed — the press muz- 
 zled — missionaries recalled — religious instruction prohibited— 
 the fires of persecution lighted, and almost every vestige of Re- 
 ligion destroyed. Yet the good seed shall still remain. 
 
 If it be asked, then, if this shall be a conflict with carnal weapons 
 — a conflict of flesh and blood ? I can only answer that I see not 
 why, in one of its aspects, it will not be. There is in the different 
 descriptions we have of the great battle every appearance of it. 
 There seems good reason to suppose it will be a mighty and bloody 
 conflict between Christian and antichristian nations. But not 
 solely nor principally this ; it will be a mighty moral conflict. 
 The united powers of darkness will be roused against the children 
 of light, and shall " overcome and kill them." A Religious pro- 
 fession may yet cost as much as it ever did in the darkest, crudest 
 days of the Inquisition. And there may be those that now read 
 this, who shall not taste of death till all these things shall be ful- 
 filled. Therefore be ye ready. 
 
 Do you ask why 1 suppose the " Beast " here spoken of, who 
 shall overcome and kill the witnesses, to be an infidel confederacy, 
 
WHY THE GOSPEL SHOULD BE PREACHED. 165 
 
 made up of all the haters of godliness, rather than simply the 
 Papal Beast ? I reply, that this better agrees with the character 
 given of this power by the Apostle Paul, in his second epistle to 
 the Thessalonians, than the papacy does. Though the papists 
 have to a shocking extent been concealed and real infidels, yet, in 
 theory and profession, they are as orthodox as the Church of Eng- 
 land, or the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Is it asked again, why preach the gospel to the nations of the 
 earth, if there is soon to be so complete an overthrow, and all 
 seemingly to be cast to the four winds ? I answer : The gospel 
 is the very thing which shall bring about the mighty, and, to the 
 enemies of God, the awful revolution of which I am speaking. 
 It is the diffusion of the truth which shall rouse the latent energies 
 of the opponents of all righteousness, and bring on the last great 
 day of conflict. We might as well object to, or at least call in 
 question, the utility of a preached gospel, or of any religious in- 
 struction, on the ground that it will rouse the slumbering energies 
 of the foe and be followed by some disagreeable conflict. 
 
 What I mean may be illustrated as follows : Yonder is a 
 province of Idolaters. The quiet of spiritual death reigns there. 
 Sin riots and revels there, w^ith none to molest or make afiaid. 
 Darkness covers that land, and a gross darkness the people. At 
 length a messenger of truth arrives there. He plants and unfurls 
 his banner for the first time on this unpropitious soil, A conflict 
 now begins. It is the conflict of truth with error — of holiness 
 with sin. Truth is the aggressor. Many seeing the righteousness 
 and purity of its cause, range themselves under its banners. Its 
 progress at first is slow and so gradual as to excite no alarm. The 
 means seem so inadequate to its professed end that it excites rather 
 ridicule than serious apprehension. But the Bible works its way 
 — leveling all opposition — exalting valleys, and making low 
 mountains. It changes manners, customs, and laws. It attacks 
 
166 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 and brings to the ground their strongholds. It prostrates princi- 
 paUties and powers. It erects a new empire ; and all this by such 
 apparently insignificant means as a preached gospel — education 
 and the Press. 
 
 The alarm is now taken. Individual opposition at first appears. 
 It becomes more and more consolidated and general, until a com- 
 plete confederacy is organized, and there is a simultaneous rising 
 up to crush the new Religion. So irritated have the opposing 
 party now become — so sorely do they feel themselves restrained 
 in their rights, that they are prepared to engage in a war of ex- 
 termination. Nothing but the eradicating of the offensive party, 
 root and branch, will now serve their purpose. They rise in their 
 might and rage, and do the bloody deed. But they have forgot- 
 ten that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. 
 
 All now appears " dead," and they rejoice and send gifts and 
 congratulations one to another. But the progress of the good 
 cause, so far from its being finally arrested and all that has been 
 done being lost, is scarcely impeded. A desolating tornado has 
 passed over and laid all prostrate ; but this is but the presage of 
 a reanimation more stable and glorious than ever. 
 
 6. The restoration, or resurrection of the witnesses. 
 
 "And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God 
 entered into them and they stood upon their feet ; and great fear 
 fell upon them which saw them." After this short suspension 
 (three and a half years, according to prophetic language) and this 
 overthrow of the witnesses, God will avenge the cause of his elect 
 — He will vindicate his own cause and exalt it far above all that it 
 has ever yet known. It shall be as life from, the dead. And in 
 so extraordinary manner shall it be effected as to confound and to 
 fill with consternation all those mighty, vaunting hosts that were 
 so recently congratulating themselves and one the other over the 
 final overthrow of a hated Religion. What a contrast ! one day 
 
RESURRECTION OP THE WITNESSES. 167 
 
 they were indulging in excessive and open mirth over a prostrate 
 foe ; the next day they are in their turn laid low and overwhelmed 
 beyond the hope of recovery, and those they hated are again aUve 
 — their strength renewed, and they shielded by the arm of Omnip- 
 otence. And more yet ; for, 
 
 7. They shall ascend into heaven, '* 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." This, like most of the chapter, is figurative language. 
 The slaying of the witnesses, as I have explained it, means the 
 suppression of all efforts for the instruction and extension of the 
 Church ; their restoration the re-establishment of all such efforts 
 under far more favorable auspices than ever. Their ascension to 
 heaven must consequently mean that God now, in a special man- 
 ner, approves and accepts them. Before, they had been clothed 
 in sackcloth — dwelt in the wilderness — ^been forsaken, cast down, 
 afficted and tormented. They had eaten the bread of affliction 
 and drunk the waters of affliction. But now had the Beloved 
 appeared and lifted up their heads, and put a crown upon them, 
 and set them in a high place, and made them kings and priests, and 
 put their enemies under their feet, and put a new song in their 
 mouths — even praise to Him that sitteth on the throne. 
 
 Such shall be the great reaction of that wonderful drama. The 
 saints who so little time ago were dethroned, and cast down and 
 dispossessed of the earth, are now suddenly invested in more than 
 all their former dignities and exalted, as it were, to heaven in the 
 sight of their enemies. " They ascended up to heaven in a cloud ; 
 and their enemies beheld them." "And the same hour was 
 there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and 
 in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand [a definite 
 for indefinite number] ; and the remnant were affrighted, and gave 
 glory to the God of heaven." 
 
168 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Now follows a great slaughter of the foes of the Church. Mul- 
 titudes fall by the sword ; multitudes are swallowed up by the 
 judgments of heaven as by a mighty earthquake ; and many be- 
 holding the arm of the Lord made bare over his enemies, are 
 affrighted, turn away from their rebellion, are converted and give 
 " glory to the God of heaven." 
 
 The saints of the Most High now have the kingdom. Anti- 
 christ is put down ; and it is proclaimed, " The kingdoms of this 
 world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ : 
 and he shall reign forever and ever." This is the Millennial Morn 
 — this the day when God shall lift up the heads of his people — 
 when the New Jerusalem, come down from heaven as a bride 
 prepared for the bridegroom, shall shine forth in her beautiful 
 attire as the glory of this lower world. 
 
 The view we have taken of the Witnesses — who they are and 
 what they signify — we believe to be abundantly confirmed in the 
 prophetic descriptions of these events both in the Old and 
 New Testaments. But we must defer the consideration of these 
 for the present. In the mean time we may indulge in two reflec- 
 tions : 
 
 1. What a pleasing confidence the saint may indulge in his 
 God. 
 
 2. What confusion and disappointment shall finally over- 
 whelm the wicked. " Hand joined in hand " they thought to 
 prosper. They made themselves strong in sin, they boasted of 
 their iniquity, and " because sentence against an evil work was 
 not executed speedily, their hearts were fully set in them to do 
 evil." They thought themselves strong and began to afilict the 
 saints of the Most High. Then he confounded and overthrew 
 them, and none could deliver out of his hand. To the wicked 
 God is a consuming fire. 
 
 What madness then to live at enmity with God ! " Fear not 
 
LIVE NOT AT ENMITY WITH GOD. 169 
 
 them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can 
 do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear : fear him who, 
 after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell : yea, I say mito 
 you, fear him." 
 
 May we all be faithful witnesses for the truth, that our mi- 
 worthy names may be found written in the Lamb's book of life. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The year 1868 — The financial crisis and the Great Awakening. 
 
 Since writing the preceding chapter God has done great things 
 for his people. A previously mentioned sign of the coming of the 
 Son of Man is signally verified. The year (1858) has been re- 
 markably distinguished as the year of the right-hand of the Lord 
 and the day of vengeance of our God. It has been signalized by 
 one of the most powerful revivals of religion ever known in the 
 Christian Church : in power another Pentecost ; in extent and con- 
 tinuance, more than a Pentecost. And this delightful event was 
 heralded by a convulsion which shook terribly the earth. The 
 FINANCIAL CRISIS burst on the commercial world like a tornado, 
 threatening for a time to demolish the strongholds of Mammon. 
 In one short year both the heavens and the earth were shaken 
 that " those things which cannot be shaken may remain." 
 
 The year has, in like manner, been signalized, in another part 
 of the world, by one of those virulent outbursts of Idolatry and 
 barbarism against civihzation and Christianity which ever and 
 anon convulse the nations. And again was the year signahzed 
 by an unwonted triumph of human skill and power in the success- 
 ful laying of the Ocean Telegraph. Nor would we overlook the 
 
 (170) 
 
THE FINANCIAL CRISIS. 171 
 
 pleasant fact that the first intelligence conveyed through the sub- 
 merged wires, was a message of peace, a proclamation of the next 
 event of the year, announcing that the great Empire of China 
 no longer stands aloof in proud isolation, from the nations of the 
 earth, but has become as one of us ; throwing open her wide 
 domains to the religion of Calvary, and inviting its embassadors 
 to unfurl there the banners of the cross. 
 
 The four events alluded to, together with the opening of Japan 
 by commercial treaty, and Africa by late explorations, are espec- 
 ially characteristic of the last year. The year 1858 was the 
 year of the right-hand of the Lord. Morally, physically, politi- 
 cally, it was a great year : and its events are no doubt in some 
 special sense preliminary to, and the precursors of, that great day 
 of the Lord whose speedy coming they herald. They are signs 
 of the times, and it becomes us to note them as such. They pro- 
 claim the approach of the acceptable year of the Lord, and of 
 the day of vengeance of our God. 
 
 A brief review of these events will abundantly confirm such an 
 opinion. 
 
 I. The financial crisis and the Great Awakening. We 
 join these together because we believe that in the mind of God 
 there is such a connection. Such a concussion in the commercial 
 world had perhaps never been known before. It was a thunder- 
 bolt. It was the earthquake, the fire and the storm, which made 
 men stand aghast, and wonder amidst the wreck of their earthly 
 hopes, and bade them give heed to the " still small voice " which 
 was about to speak. Engrossedness in things seen and temporal 
 had become our besetting sin. We had gone wild after Mammon, 
 and needed to be taught the instability of all earthly good. And 
 in a moment when least suspected the clouds gathered and the 
 dtorm burst upon us. The whole commercial world was thrown 
 into convulsions. Princely fortunes were in a moment scattered to 
 
172 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 the winds; business relations and prospects which had been 
 regarded firm and hopeful, were ruthlessly invaded — stability in 
 all earthly good became as the "baseless fabric of a dream." 
 Never did Providence administer a more unexpected and scath- 
 ing rebuke to all who were " hastening to be rich ; " never were 
 nil classes of men, the employed as well as the employers, the 
 poor as well as the rich, made to feel the uncertainty of all hu- 
 man affairs. And from the ruins of their earthly treasures and 
 the wreck of their earthly hopes they seemed to hear that " still 
 small voice" say, " Set not your affections on things on the earth." 
 And men listened to this voice. Business men betook them- 
 selves to the place of prayer, and sought the durable riches. The 
 work begun in our great emporium of trade where the finan- 
 cial convulsion was felt most severely ; and thence has extended 
 through the length and breadth of our land. 
 
 The great commercial revulsion of the closing months of 1857, 
 doubtless had much to do in preparing men's minds for the gracious 
 visitation of 1858 ; a year ever to be remembered as the " accepta- 
 ble year of the Lord." Never before did the windows of heaven 
 open so widely, and so rich a rain of righteousness descend. 
 
 For back of all these thunder-tones of rebuke, God had been 
 preparing those quiet, invisible influences which were about to 
 sway the mind, well nigh, of a nation, and perhaps set in motion 
 a wave of influence which shall not lose its power till it shall 
 have rolled over all the nations of Christendom. 
 
 II. It is more especially the design of the present chapter to 
 contemplate the Great Awakening of 1858 as one of those 
 remarkable outpourings of the Spirit so often predicted by the 
 ancient Seers, which shall precede that " great and notable day 
 of the Lord " — when the Lord shall come to gather into his fold 
 an innumerable multitude to commence his Millennial reign on 
 the earth ; and when he shall come in his signal judgments to 
 
PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT. 173 
 
 take vengeance on them that obey not the gospel. The present 
 extraordinary work of grace seems a reahzation of the many 
 precious promises of a special divine influence on the Church in 
 the " last times," and a delightful presage of the commg of the 
 Son of man to reap the harvest of the earth and reign in right- 
 eousness among the children of men. 
 
 God has promised that he will in the last days pour out his 
 Spirit in rich profusion — that he will fulfil his promises and con- 
 summate his purposes — that good times await the Church of the 
 living God. This sin-smitten earth shall yet rejoice in the sun- 
 shine of the divine favor. That which was spoken by the 
 prophet Joel, and had its first and partial fulfilment at that Pen- 
 tecostal season when a few thousand were converted under the 
 preaching of Peter, shall have a final, universal, a far more glo- 
 rious fulfilment in the outpouring of the Spirit on the widely 
 extended tribes of the present Israel, and in the great turning to 
 the Lord which shall follow. 
 
 The Christian dispensation was to be a dispensation of the 
 Spirit. Christ must go away that the the Spirit might come. He 
 had finished the great work of expiation — ^the framework of 
 salvation — the body had been made ready, and now it only re- 
 mained that it should be quickened by the inbreathing of the Holy 
 Ghost. If Christ went not away the Quickener might not come. 
 The outgushing of the Spirit at Pentecost was his advent — the 
 inauguration of the glorious part he was destined to act in the 
 new order of things under Christ. The wonders then wrought 
 were the earnest, the first fruits of the rich harvest which should 
 distinguish the new kingdom of the Redeemer, but more espec- 
 ially should mark the closing period. The Pentecost was a spec- 
 imen, not so much of what should immediately follow, as of the 
 power and blessedness of Immanuel's reign in the last days, when 
 the King shall gird himself and ride forth to the conquest of the 
 
174 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 world. When he shall come to make a short work on the earth, 
 then shall the Spirit be revealed in his great power and glory. 
 That which appeared as a glimpse at the Pentecost — an excep- 
 tion and glorious manifestation compared with any thing that had 
 gone before, shall, in the appointed time, become the rule and . 
 order of the Spirit's operations. Only believe and you shall see 
 yet greater things — greater wonders of mercy, greater miracles 
 of grace, more extraordmary manifestations of the divine power 
 in the conversion of sinners, more wonderful answers to prayer. 
 The wonders of Pentecost shall be outdone — if not in the power 
 of the Spirit's working, yet in the extent, and the longer continu- 
 ance of his blessed influences, and the greater numbers brought 
 under his converting and sanctifying power. 
 
 Peter, in the words of the prophet Joel, speaks of an order of 
 things which should begin at that Pentecost, but should be con- 
 summated in the last days. For her encouragement the Cliristian 
 Church was thus, at the very outset, allowed to witness at least a 
 transient display of the mighty power which should thenceforth be 
 engaged in her behalf. This was heaven's pledge, gloriously to 
 be redeemed in the " last times." 
 
 Our faith in the coming of the latter-day glory is well founded. 
 It has its pledge. All we need is the repetition and the continu- 
 ance of the power of that day. And we seem to see that pledge 
 about to be redeemed. The Lord is making bare his arm — the 
 sacramental host is being endued with power for the work because 
 the Holy Ghost is come upon them, and why should we not ex- 
 pect the scenes of a perpetual Pentecost ? May we not regard 
 the present great religious movement as the beginning of such a 
 season ? 
 
 The Pentecost was an occasion of thanksgiving for the first 
 fruits of the harvest — the partial ingathering and pledge of the 
 full harvest. May we not in like manner regard what our eyes 
 
PRATER-MEETINGS DOING THEIR WORK. 175 
 
 now see as the first fruits of a glorious spiritual ingathering, 
 tokens of the full and final ingathering of souls into the garner 
 of our God ; when we shall go up from year to year to worship 
 the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of Taber- 
 nacles ! 
 
 It is the relation which we believe the work in question holds 
 to the coming kingdom of the Redeemer which clothes it with the 
 profoundest interest. Let us, therefore, advert to some of the 
 characteristics, circumstances and results of this work, as confir- 
 matory of what I have intimated — identifying it with what we 
 have been wont to look forward to as the fulfilment of prophecy 
 and the precursor of the Millennium. 
 
 1 . The work has been characterized hy extrax)rdinary influences 
 of the Spirit. In this respect it has been truly a Pentecostal 
 season. The word preached has been with power, because made 
 efficacious by the Holy Ghost. The reading of the word, ex- 
 hortation, religious conversation, the social prayer-meetings, the 
 ordinances of the Church, and all the various means of grace, 
 have all seemed to possess unwonted power. Thousands who 
 have come to the religious meetings to scoff have gone away to 
 pray. Strangely is the truth brought to bear on all classes of 
 men and under all circumstances. A gentleman on his way to 
 the noon prayer-meeting, passing through Washington Market, 
 meets a young man who tells him the good work has reached 
 that great and busy mart of trade. The young man, taking 
 from his pocket a list of names, says, " There is a list whom we 
 have been praying for in different praying circles. I have carried 
 them to the meetings for prayer — we have prayed for them one 
 by one, and now all on this list are converted." Presenting 
 another list, he said, " Here I have another list of nine. We are 
 now praying for these ; and we pray for them one by one ; and 
 we follow them up, not only with our prayers, but with personal 
 
176 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 conversation, entreating them to become reconciled to God." 
 " Learning," says the gentleman, " that I was going to the Fulton 
 Street Prayer-Meeting, he begged me to ask you to remember 
 these nine young men in your prayers, and ask for their im- 
 mediate conversion." 
 
 The good work was as the coming of the Son of man, without 
 observation. It was heralded by no prophetic tokens of coming 
 good. It began, seemingly, " without human contrivances, and 
 when no one seemed to be expecting it," and so effectually has a 
 lay agency been in the work as quite to refute the evils of 
 wicked and unreasonable men, who fain would attribute such a 
 work to the cunning craftiness of priests. 
 
 From the market you may pass to the pier, to the busiest 
 haunts of trade — to the counting-room or the hotel, and you are 
 surprised that this same blessed agent, whose office it is to con- 
 vince of sin and to quicken into a new spiritual life, has been 
 there before you ; and there remain the evident memorials of his 
 blessed workings. And so you will find it if you repair to our 
 watering-places and fashionable places of summer resort. It is 
 not all fashion, not all worldly pleasure there now. The Bible, 
 the Sabbath, the Daily Prayer-Meeting have been admitted, yea, 
 welcomed, because the Spirit has been poured out from on high, 
 and another spirit pervaded the hearts of many who the present 
 season resorted thither for the healing of their mortal maladies, 
 or the recruiting of their wasted energies. Now they drew 
 waters from the wells of salvation to heal the moral maladies of 
 the soul. 
 
 Or you might go to the fashionable restaurant, or even to the 
 beer saloon, and you are not altogether beyond the limits of the 
 Spirit's influences. A gentleman is dining in a restaurant. A 
 conversation occurs with the waiter which leads the gentleman 
 to inquire if he wished a copy of the Bible. He said he did. 
 
THE POWER OF GOD's SPIRIT. 177 
 
 " Do you ever attend the noonday prayer-meeting ? " " No," said 
 the waiter ; " we are obliged to be here at our business all day and 
 till ten o'clock at night. But we then have a prayer-meeting in 
 the house among ourselves." Who would expect to meet, among 
 the busy, bustling herd at a large eating-house, a company of young 
 men who retire at that late hour to pour out their supplications 
 and plead their wants at the throne of grace ? Surely God is 
 there and we knew it not. His gracious visitations seem, as never 
 before, to be blessing every department of human life. 
 
 But there is related an incident yet more marvellous, and illus- 
 trating yet more impressively the all-pervading power of God's 
 blessed spirit. A thoughtless young man goes into a beer sa- 
 loon ; such a one as the wretched young Gouldy left, and went 
 directly home to make his father's house the scene of his shock- 
 ing murders and his own suicide. The young man while par- 
 taking of his refreshments, heard a company in an adjoining 
 apartment, separated only by a curtain, discussing the Gouldy 
 tragedy, and alluding, in connection with it, to the Fulton Street 
 Prayer-Meeting. Some at first laughed at the idea of a prayer- 
 meeting having any claims on them* Others said it was not a 
 thing to be laughed at ; " There is something in it, and we will go 
 and see." The young man who listened, responded, " There may 
 be something in it, and I will go and see too." He was deeply 
 impressed that he had immortal interests at stake. As you entered 
 that saloon you thought it a godless place. But God was there. 
 The invisible agent was at work, and you knew it not. May 
 his blessed influences soon become so universal and all-pervading 
 that the sinner shall say, " Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? 
 Whither shall I flee from thy presence ? " 
 
 Meetings for prayer have been singularly marked by evidences 
 of the Spirit's presence. " One cannot be in one of these prayer- 
 meetings more than a few minutes, without feeling it is holy 
 12 
 
178 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 ground, because the Holy Spirit is present in his silent but amaz- 
 ing power." And we are made conscious of the blessed influence 
 as we listen to the different requests for prayer. We feel, as 
 never before, that there is a deep and tender solicitude felt for 
 the undying spirit of man. 
 
 2. Another delightful characteristic of the work in question 
 which seems to identify it with the predicted reign of righteous- 
 ness, is the unwonted spirit of prayer which pervades the Chris- 
 tian Church. It was the prevalence of the spirit of prayer that 
 preceded the wonderful season of Pentecost — rather, it was this 
 which brought down the blessings of that day. The disciples 
 were commanded to wait in Jerusalem for the " promise of the 
 Father," which was the baptism of the Holy Ghost. But did 
 they wait idly ? No ; " all these continued with one accord in 
 prayer and supplication, with the women." With united heart 
 and voice they called mightily on God for the promised blessing, 
 the outpoui-ing of the Spirit. And the blessing came in over- 
 whelming power — as " a mighty rushing wind." 
 
 But was there any thing in the character and the results of 
 that Pentecostal occasion, which might not, and ought not, to be 
 realized in the whole history of the Christian Church ? It is a 
 dispensation of the Spirit. There is no restraint with the Spirit 
 — no restraint with the Father in giving the Spirit. He giveth 
 not his Spirit hy measure. A stronger assurance of God's read- 
 iness to give his Spirit to them that ask cannot be given ; he is 
 more ready to give his Spirit to them that ask him, than earthly 
 parents are to give good gifts to their children. And whenever 
 the same spirit of prayer prevails, are we not authorized to ex- 
 pect the same results ? 
 
 If we may judge from the readiness with which men of all 
 classes come together to pray — not excepting men of business — 
 those the most burdened with life's cares and toils ; and to busi- 
 
READINESS OF GOD TO HEAR PRAYER. 179 
 
 ness men, the untimely hours at which they assemble, and the fre- 
 quency and fervency with which they pray, we are constrained 
 to conclude that the present era of the Church is marked by an 
 unusual spirit of prayer. Perhaps no age since the day of Pen- 
 tecost has been, in this respect, so signalized and blessed. And is 
 not this the very tiling which, guided by prophetic vision, we have 
 reason to expect as preliminary and introductory to a yet greater 
 ingathering to the fold of the great Shepherd ? And are we not 
 authorized to expect yet richer effusions of the Spirit, and yet 
 more wonderful demonstrations of his power in the conversion 
 of yet greater multitudes to God ? 
 
 One of the rich promises which remains to be fulfilled in the 
 " last times," is : " I will pour upon the house of David, and upon 
 the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of suppli- 
 cation.*' The Church of the living God shall become priests — 
 intercessors before the mercy-seat, for a world that lies in ruins. 
 They shall appreciate as never before the priceless value of the 
 immortal soul, and lift up their hearts in agonizing prayer for their 
 salvation. As we shall more and more witness abroad over the 
 face of Zion, such a spirit of prayer and supplication, we may 
 know that Zion's redemption draws nigh. 
 
 3. The present work of grace is no less signalized by the read- 
 iness of God to hear prayer. This identifies the present religious 
 interest with the great turning to the Lord before the great and 
 notable day. A striking characteristic of that period is to be, 
 that " whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved.*^ 
 How delightfully, in the history of God's grace, do the multitude 
 of extraordinary answers to prayer which have been recorded 
 the last year, verify this declaration. I will cite a few — which 
 are as only one in a thousand — and these perhaps not the most 
 striking : 
 
 The son of a faithful minister in New England had fallen into 
 
180 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 evil ways — given his parents much solicitude — and had gone to 
 the West to study law. A Revival commenced in his native 
 town. A friend proposed in one of their meetings that they 
 still pray for their pastor's son. Earnest and repeated prayer 
 was offered. The first letter his father received, announced him 
 greatly anxious for the salvation of his soul. Soon he returned 
 home a new man. There was joy over him that was lost and is 
 found. He returned to the west ; has changed the course of his 
 studies, and is determined to give himself to the work of the gos- 
 pel ministry. 
 
 A stranger from City Island, a town of 400 inhabitants and 
 only twenty professors of religion, appears in the Fulton Street 
 Prayer-Meeting, and asks prayers for his native town. Prayers 
 are offered ; and in due time he returns home : when to his great 
 astonishment he is saluted with the inquiry, "When are you go- 
 ing to come out on the Lord's side ? we have been praying for 
 you ever since you have been gone." " It went like a dagger to 
 my heart. How strange ! while I was here asking you to pray 
 for them, they should be praying for me. The Lord has turned 
 my sorrow into joy." He stands a witness for the truth amidst a 
 goodly number of his fellow-townsmen into whose mouths the 
 Lord hath recently put the new song. 
 
 In a prayer-meeting in Philadelphia, prayer is requested for 
 the conversion of a son of an aged clergyman. A pastor, well 
 stricken in years, who had long been praying that his own prodi- 
 gal son might be arrested, rose and made earnest supplication " for 
 this son of an aged clergyman." His own son, out of mere cu- 
 riosity, had entered the room unknown to his father, and sat at 
 some distance from him. There he heard his father praying for 
 just such a son and just such a sinner as himself. He left the 
 meeting in great distress — could not sleep, but walked the streets 
 the whole night. In the morning he returned as a prodigal to 
 
CONVERSION OF A SEA-CAPTAIN. 181 
 
 his father's house — humbled before God, and ready to enhst in 
 the service of Him who suffered on the cross for sinners. He is 
 now daily at the prayer-meeting, and not without a word of 
 warning to all who are out of Christ. 
 
 A profane, intemperate and generally irreligious sea-captain 
 becomes the object of the intense interest and fervent prayers of 
 his wife. She leaves nothing unsaid or undone to impress him 
 with the importance of seeking the salvation of his soul. He 
 goes to sea, setting all these things at defiance. She now re- 
 doubles her diligence at a throne of grace, and besought others 
 to pray for him. 
 
 This sea-captain was in the city of Antwerp, Germany, in a 
 convivial party in a parlor. He had a glass of wine in his hand 
 and was in the act of raising it to his lips — quick as a flash the 
 thought came into his mind, " What is to be the end of all this .'' " 
 The arrow sunk deep. He put the glass down untasted — soon 
 retreated to his ship — locked himself in his cabin and tried to 
 pray. His distress was keen and pungent. He found no peace 
 till, weeks after, he found it in Jesus. Alone, on his homeward- 
 bound voyage, Avith his Bible and the great Teacher, he dragged 
 heavily in making his peace with his God. But peace came. 
 The hand that had arrested him in Antwerp, in that parlor amidst 
 his jovial companions, never left him till he was brought to him- 
 self at the foot of the cross. 
 
 Having thus incidentally referred to the mighty hand of God 
 as come down upon the sea, a further allusion to the extraordinary 
 work of grace at present in progress among the class referred to, 
 will not be out of place. There is perhaps no feature in the pres- 
 ent Revival more promising of an extended influence, or more 
 significant as a sign of the times, than the one in question. Though 
 the number of seamen recently converted, both in the navy and 
 in the mercantile service, is not inconsiderable, yet it is not so 
 
182 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 much numbers as the character, the position and the relations of 
 these men to the conversion of the world, to which we refer. 
 Sailors are citizens of the world. They visit every port, and 
 bless or curse every city and nation under the sun. And such 
 are the habits, the propensities, the nature of the sailor that he 
 will leave his mark wherever he goes. He is true to his master 
 for good or for evil. He exerts no neutral influence among the 
 masses of the people wherever he may be. If he be a praying 
 pious, devout man, he will not fail to bear witness to the truth as 
 it is in Jesus ; as the wicked sailor is sure not to fail to corrupt 
 and put to shame the very heathen who are so unfortunate as to 
 come within the contagion of his example. 
 
 We may therefore confidently expect to hear good tidings of 
 salvation, which shall gladden the heart of the American Church 
 from the hundreds of seamen who shall soon go out from the 
 Bethel churches of our principal seaports, and the scores that are 
 already being detailed from the receiving ships of New York and 
 Boston, and soon to be scattered through different ships of the 
 navy and sent to different and distant ports. They will go, each 
 in his o^Ti way, preaching the words of eternal life. Without 
 charge to the Church, without any expensive agency of missions, 
 every sailor, every officer of the vessel, may be a missionary, and 
 in proportion to their fidelity, every nation and kindred may hear 
 of the unsearchable riches in Christ. In no class of men has the 
 Christian Church a more vital interest than in seamen. Let the 
 leaven of genuine piety once pervade the mass of the five hun- 
 dred thousand seamen who speak the English language, and we 
 should at once have a class of representatives abroad among the 
 nations whose influence would tell mightily on the conversion of 
 the world to Christ. 
 
 There is something perfectly wonderful in this subject of 
 prayer! I cannot understand it. "It seems," says some one, 
 
THE INCREASED SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 183 
 
 " as if God Lad disclosed the fact that he cannot withstand the 
 prayers of his people." What means it that God could not de- 
 stroy his rebellious people Israel, if Moses interceded for them ? 
 What means it that at the prayer of one man, the sun stood still ? 
 at the prayer of another, it rained not for three years and a half; 
 and again he prayed and there was an abundance of rain ? When 
 Israel was invaded by an overwhelming army, one man prayed, 
 and 180,000 of Israel's vaunting foes in a single night lay pros- 
 trate in death, and Israel was saved. Paul and Silas prayed, 
 and their chains were loosed, and the prison-doors were Of)ened, 
 and the foundations of the prison were shaken. 
 
 If such be the power of prayer, and such the readiness of God 
 to hear prayer, and there be, among the people of God, so greatly 
 increased a spirit of prayer, then may we not take courage that 
 God has risen up and made bare his arm to hasten his work on 
 the earth ? May we not take it as an evident token that he will 
 soon set up his kingdom among men ? 
 
 4. The same conviction is pressed on the mind again, from the 
 fact that men of all conditions in life so readily listen to the calls 
 of mercy. You will hear the claims of religion, as I have said, 
 discussed in the saloon and the restaurant — on the pier and in 
 the counting-room — among laborers in the field, and mechanics 
 in the shop — among merchants, lawyers, physicians. Seamen, 
 as they do duty on shipboard, or as they tarry at their land 
 " retreats," or congregate in the Bethel, inquire after the chart 
 and the compass of God's eternal truth, and seek to steer their 
 course into the haven of eternal rest. Boatmen on our rivers 
 and canals — a godless crew — are lieard to ask after the way of 
 life and plead for mercy. One hundred and fifty boatmen on 
 the Mississippi River — a hardened race — have during the past year 
 been gathered into the fold of the good Shepherd. For whom 
 may we not hope now ? 
 
184 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 In one of our great cities (Philadelphia) there are eight or 
 ten prayer-meetings among Jiremeii, in as many different engine 
 and hose houses. " A silent and effectual work is now going on 
 among them." These meetings are largely attended, and promise 
 rich results. " Some of the most striking conversions," says one, 
 " that have ever come under our notice have been brought about 
 by the Spirit of God brooding over these ©ngine-house prayer- 
 meetings." Scarcely is there a class of men so far removed be- 
 yond the limits of mercy that individuals of the class, at least, 
 have not turned a favorable ear to the gracious calls of the gospel. 
 They are, as never before, ready to hear. 
 
 And not only has there been such an unwonted readiness on 
 the part of so many to give a respectful if not a cordial and sav- 
 ing attention to the things that belong to their eternal welfare, 
 but there is no marked or conceited opposition. They who care 
 for none of these things, nevertheless, seem secretly to concede 
 that it is the finger of God, and that they " must let these men 
 alone, for if this counsel or this work be of God, ye cannot over- 
 throw it." 
 
 It is but a common testimony which comes to us from an im- 
 portant quarter of the great field, viz., that "those Christians 
 who have been stimulated to make efforts for the good of their 
 neighbors and friends, have been surprised that the mind was 
 already prepared and open to impressions, and men are more than 
 ever before disposed favorably to consider the subject when pre- 
 sented kindly but faithfuUy to their attention." 
 
 0. Another feature which gives the present religious interest 
 an Apostolic, pentecostal, millennial aspect, is the Christian union 
 which so greatly characterizes it. The Jachin and Boaz of the 
 strength of this movement, is the power of united prayer. The 
 apostles, as preparatory to the wonderful manifestations and works 
 of Pentecost, were waiting and praying, with one accord, and in 
 
CHRISTIANS FLOWING TOGETHER. 185 
 
 one place. It is recorded by the prophet Isaiah, as a feature of 
 the coming golden age of the Church, that " they were enlarged 
 and flowed together ^ Nothing like the present movement has 
 so completely annihilated denominational barriers, and made 
 Christians of every name to flow together. Union prayer-meet- 
 ings, in which Christians assemble, simply as the disciples of the 
 same great Teacher and servants of the same Master, have been 
 favored, honored spots which God has been pleased to visit, and 
 the Spirit has loved to bestow his richest gifts. Union is the 
 watch-word — union the talisman by which we conquer — union the 
 love which binds together, the spirit of our rehgion, the badge 
 of discipleship, " By this shall all men know that ye are my 
 disciples because ye love one another." This should give strength 
 and power, and secure progress to the religion of Jesus. This 
 is an element in our religion which gives it a power that the 
 enemy can neither gainsay nor resist. It is heavenly, and it 
 will exalt the earthly and make it set in heavenly places. 
 
 6. We come to speak of the results of this work in their bear- 
 ing on the future destinies of the Church. And what impresses 
 us as particularly worthy of remark here, is the number and the 
 character oj the converts. The number probably may be safely 
 put down at 500,000. This is a great number when compared 
 with the results of any previous revival since the origin of Chris- 
 tianity ; yet it is but a small number compared with the number 
 that still remain unconverted. 
 
 But what more especially claims our attention here, is the char- 
 acter of the converts. Who are they ? Do they belong to classes 
 in society not so generally reached by spiritual influences ; and 
 who, if reached, are fitted to exert on community in general a 
 deeper and more permanent influence ? We make no comparison 
 between the value of one immortal soul and another. What is 
 most highly esteemed of man may be least esteemed of God. 
 
186 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Yet there is a very great difference to a community and to the 
 world in the worth of the conversion of different men. While the 
 poor man, and the ignorant man pray as fervently, and have as 
 much power with God at a mercy-seat, and may illustrate the 
 truth as impressively, and in every thing live as holily as the rich, 
 the learned, or the man of influence and position ; yet the last 
 may do all this and a vast deal more. The man who, in addition 
 to a holy life and power with God at the throne of grace, conse- 
 crates to the Lord a large amount of wealth, or brings talents and 
 the acquisitions of learning, or the power of social position and 
 influence, and lays them all down at his Saviour's feet, does more 
 than it is possible for the poor and illiterate disciple to do. God 
 has given him more, and he can consecrate more to his Lord. 
 He comes into the vineyard of his Lord with weightier responsi- 
 bilities on him, and with increased facilities with which to serve 
 his Lord ; and consequently, if he do his duty, his conversion is 
 worth more to the common cause than his who comes in empty- 
 handed. Just as the man who comes in a partner into some joint 
 stock company. If he come with a good stock of capital and en- 
 terprise, habits of industry and business talents of high order, and 
 an irreproachable moral character, he is worth vastly more to the 
 company than the man who comes with neither capital nor busi- 
 ness aptitudes nor general intelligence. 
 
 Judged on this principle the converts of the past year consti- 
 tute an unusually valuable accession to the Church. Never at 
 any one time were there brought in so many business men — men 
 of wealth — of learning, of influence — or so many young men, 
 and so many of these setting their faces towards the sacred office. 
 There has, in a word, been brought into the work an unusually 
 large amount of lay labor. And the whole course of the late work 
 has been to provide and employ for the general prosperity of re- 
 ligion the labors of her lay membership. Long and grievously has 
 
ALL ARE EXPECTED TO WORK. 187 
 
 the Church suffered for the lack of a feehng of individual respon- 
 sibihtj in her members. Private Christians have for the most 
 part, heretofore, embarked rather as passengers. The ship had 
 been provided, furnished, and was sailed, they supposed, chiefly 
 to give them a safe and gratuitous passage from earth to heaven. 
 They were willing to share in its comforts and accommodations, 
 and hoped to share largely in its benefits when safely landed on 
 the heavenly shore. But they never understood that they had 
 much to do in working the ship. They w^ere passengers and not 
 laborers. 
 
 Many are now beginning to learn that this is a ship in which 
 the great Captain does not engage to take cabin passengers. All 
 must work their own passage — help work and guide the ship, and 
 bring her to a safe haven and a successful issue. 
 
 Now when we see so many working men brought into the Church 
 — so many who come in with their loins girt ready for the work, 
 and who from the very outset begin to work, and who have appa- 
 rently buckled on the harness with the expectation and determina- 
 tion to work and to make a life business of it ; and when we see 
 multitudes come into the vineyard furnished largely with the quali- 
 fications and appliances for the work — with wealth, talents, learn- 
 ing and social advantages, can we be mistaken if we infer from 
 all this that the master has a great work to do, and that he is 
 about to do it ? 
 
 Again, when we see a vast many already in the Church who 
 have heretofore been but mere passengers in the ship, enjoying 
 her protection and feeding on her rich stores, and hoping she may 
 prove a safe and convenient vehicle to convey them to heaven — 
 when we see many of this class rousing from their lethargy and 
 betaking themselves to the work, taking in hand the laboring oar, 
 we infer again that a new era in Immanuel's kingdom is struggling 
 
188 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 in birth. " Christ is about to reorganize the world ; " and out of 
 the ruins of the old, to bring the new heavens and the new earth. 
 
 And again, we are conducted to the delightful conclusion, when 
 we see so many young men brought in and subsidized for the 
 work. When a prevailing majority of natural births are males, 
 human sagacity predicts a war ahead. In very truth we may 
 predict that, when a decided majority born into the kingdom of 
 Christ are males — young men — just putting on the harness and 
 enlisting in the King's army, there is war in the no distant 
 future. 
 
 God makes no vain preparations. The great Captain is not 
 thus so greatly recruiting his army, and collecting the munitions 
 of war — storing his arsenals — preparing the weapons of war — 
 and appropriating to his service the silver and the gold — the time, 
 talents and various services of all sorts of laborers, if he is not 
 about to arise and enter on the warfare with renewed vigor and 
 carry it into the strongholds of the enemy. We do not see a great 
 nation — a wise and powerful king, greatly filling up the ranks 
 of his army, and at work in his dock-yards and arsenals, if a 
 great war is not expected. And the extent of the preparation 
 indicates the extent and importance of the expected war. We 
 may then very ligitimately infer, from the greatly increased num- 
 bers of men enlisted and the vast amount of resources engaged, 
 that our Lord and great Captain is about to push the warfare to 
 a final victory. And may we not judge something of the magni- 
 tude and grandeur of the approaching conflict by the vastness of 
 the preparation ? 
 
 7. Present appearances indicate that the work of grace now in 
 progress will become more extensive and powerful than it has yet 
 been, and that it is but the first fruits of a glorious harvest which 
 remains in reserve for all who wait for the appearing of the Lord. 
 " At no time since the revival begun, more than a year ago, was 
 
PRESENT ASPECT AT HOME AND ABROAD. 189 
 
 the spirit of prayer more earnest, never more confident of a bless- 
 ing. The past week will be long remembered for glorious an- 
 swej's to prayer." And another says " the spirit of prayer, as indi- 
 cated by such an attendance at prayer-meetings, inspires fresh 
 confidence in the continuance of the work." There seems an 
 increasing confidence and high expectation on the part of Chris- 
 tians of all classes that the work shall not cease. The undimin- 
 ished numbers that attend the daily meetings for prayer — the 
 unanimity of spirit which pervades those meetings — the multiplied 
 and urgent requests for prayer which are daily made to these 
 assemblies, and the remarkable answers to special prayer, all 
 seem pledges of a continuance of God's converting grace. 
 
 " Since the beginning of our meetings," writes one, " we have 
 never seen any thing more encouraging than the present. It is 
 felt on all hands that we are on the eve of great and blessed times. 
 Stand at the door and see the crowd as it disperses. These are 
 mostly business men. Some few hurry, but very few. A vast 
 majority seem in no hurry to leave the scene." 
 
 But we may not confine our observations to any narrow limits. 
 We ask after the signs of the times in different parts of our land, 
 and in other lands. " Watchmen, what of the night ? " The 
 response comes from Ohio : " This is the time to favor Zion. 
 Many Christians," says the writer, " are believing that the revival 
 has but just begun. Never did I hear so much good news from 
 so many pastors as last Saturday." " The revival of religion," 
 says the Maine Evangelist, " throughout our State seems to be 
 deeper and more earnest at the present time than at any time 
 previous. Nearly all our exchanges come to us laden with the 
 most encouraging reports. It is evident that our richest harvest 
 is yet to come." Tidings from Philadelphia announce that •* the 
 work of grace is extending itself more and more in the city and 
 environs, and for thirty miles around." Never was there a time 
 
190 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE >yORLD. 
 
 when so many heard the word gladly ; and so many others hear to 
 be pricked in their hearts and anxiously ask, what shall we do to 
 be saved ? " God has come down in great power, anew, upon 
 the prayer-meetings of this city and imparted a fresh baptism of 
 his Spirit." 
 
 The English correspondent of the Chronicle says : " Signs of 
 the presence and power of God are manifest, and I greatly mis- 
 take if an abundant reaping is not near the British Church. The 
 conviction is deepening in the minds of multitudes, and the spirit 
 of anxiety for it was never more powerful for years." 
 
 We hear the same good tidings from Scotland. " Within the 
 month or two the interest has become more extended and intense. 
 Within a very recent period there has arisen up a band o^ lay 
 evangelists entirely from the ranks of society, who have not only 
 done all the good they could in their own particular districts, but 
 have rendered themselves extensively useful in the country gen- 
 erally." 
 
 And we are yet more surprised at recent intelligence from 
 Sweden^ in which we had feared evangelical Protestantism had 
 almost died out. " There is scarcely a parish, if there be one, 
 in which some persons have not been roused to an earnest con- 
 cern about their salvation." And what is more remarkable, it is 
 so even in parishes where a pure gospel is scarcely preached at 
 all. The awakening is felt among all classes. "Not a few of 
 the nobility have felt its power. Some of the principal families 
 among the aristocracy are at the present time devoting the in- 
 fluence of their high position and adding to that their personal 
 exertions to spread evangelical truth. Instances of sudden con- 
 version are not uncommon. The Divine impulse has been in 
 some cases so irresistibly felt in the midst of secular engagements 
 and in the open streets, as to compel to the exercise of instant 
 prayer, and behind the first gateway persons have been known to 
 
IRELAND AWAKENING FROM HER LETHARGY. 191 
 
 fall on their knees and cry for mercy. In other instances, in large 
 and fashionable parties, congenial minds under a spiritual influ- 
 ence have retired into the adjoining boudoir, and the one sought 
 counsel of the other, while big tears of penitential sorrow con- 
 trasted strangely with diamonds and plumes." 
 
 Five hundred thousand Bibles were circulated in Sweden the 
 last year. Dr. Stearne of London says of this work : " It is, 
 without exaggeration, one of the greatest spiritual phenomena of 
 the times in which we live." 
 
 Our hearts are cheered, too, with good news from France. That 
 land, once stained with the blood of St. Bartholomew's Day, has 
 a few who have not " defiled their garments." Their prayers are 
 heard. These "souls under the altar," are called to arise and 
 stand up before the presence of the Lamb. The long deferred 
 blessing has at length come down. Power is given to the word. 
 Crowds assemble for prayer and prais^e, and multitudes are in- 
 quiring the way of life. The best spirit of the Huguenots is 
 revived, and expectant piety hopes great things from that laud 
 so long overshadowed by the Hierarchy of Rome. A glorious 
 revival is there begun which we fain hope will increase in power 
 and punty till that great people and their mighty prince shall be 
 gathered into the fold of the great Shepherd. 
 
 And, what shows the power and onward progress of this work 
 of grace if possible yet more strikingly, Ireland, poor, priest- 
 ridden, down-trodden Ireland, has become the theatre of the 
 great power of God. " There is now going forward," says a 
 gentleman from that country, " in the north of Ireland, and es- 
 pecially in the county of Antrim, such an amazing work of grace 
 as the world has never seen since apostolic times." " Churches 
 are opened for prayers, but so thronged that multitudes cannot 
 gain admission. Not only individuals, but whole families whose 
 members had encouraged one another in sin, are now rejoicing in 
 
192 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 holy peace and blessedness." In some places the mills are stopped, 
 in others are " running on half time," so anxious and determined 
 are the people to hear the gospel, and to attend upon places of 
 prayer. 
 
 In one instance related, a funeral is passing by a mill or fac- 
 tory. An operative requests the accompanying clergyman to stop 
 and preach a sermon. In a few minutes the mill was emptied, 
 and the operatives all crowded into the street around the preacher; 
 and " many souls were awakened and converted before the close 
 of that sermon." In some of the towns the prayer-meetings have 
 to be held in the streets, there being no churches or halls large 
 enough to contain them. 
 
 A very pleasant incident is related. A clergyman from a 
 distance is inquiring of a clerical friend he had met in the street 
 about the Revival. To show the readiness of the people to hear 
 the gospel, the resident clergyman said, " Preach right here in the 
 street." " I can preach," said he, " but I have no congregation." 
 " Open your hymn-book and we will sing." They had not sung 
 more than two stanzas when hundreds were assembled. The 
 Spirit of God came down in great power, and sinners were soon 
 heard crying for mercy. And the same writer adds : " All 
 through the north of Ireland are the same gracious and glorious 
 displays of Divine Mercy in the salvation of souls." 
 
 And these same glad tidings from the frigid North are echoed 
 back from the sunny climes of India. "All's well," says a revered 
 Missionary; "the light is rising on India's obscurity, and her 
 darkness shall yet become as the noonday. We are encouraged at 
 the many indications that we see already of God's wise and gracious 
 designs in connection with the late mutiny, and we look for a 
 glorious work of grace in this land. And it may be nearer than 
 we imagine." 
 
 And the Isles of the South, in cheerful notes, respond : " There 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR A GENERAL REVIVAL. 193 
 
 is something wouderful," writes Mr. Baldwin, from Laliaina, " in 
 the way God is moving among us. We have seen nothing like 
 it in this part of the world. The greatest transgressors are those 
 who seem most affected, and are the first to come out and declare 
 their purpose to serve God. Two weeks ago I spent the Sab- 
 bath at a village seven miles south of this. The awakening 
 there seemed even more universal than here. In Lahaina, nearly 
 all our oldest and most hardened backsliders from the church have 
 come of their own accord into our meetings; and as soon as lib- 
 erty is given, they are on their feet, mentioning what they have 
 labored all their lives to conceal, asking the prayers of Christians, 
 and sometimes breaking out in prayer for themselves. It is the 
 same also with the greatest sinners out of the Church. They 
 seem to be pressing towards the kingdom of heaven, and our 
 prayer is that they may not stop short of it." 
 
 These are some of the evidences that Grod is still moving on 
 the minds of men without respect to race or locality, and is ready 
 to convert and save. A very general impression is produced — a 
 very general confidence and expectation exist that the way is pre- 
 pared for a more general and extensive Revival than we have yet 
 seen. 
 
 Truly we are living under the dispensation of the Spirit. We 
 may expect great things. G^d is working wonders of grace, and 
 gives no doubtful tokens that he will do greater things jet. Let 
 the sacramental host come forward in the strength of their cov- 
 enant God, and in the overcoming power of prayer, and our eyes 
 shall yet see what our imaginations have never yet conceived. 
 Never had God's people more for which to be unfeignedly thank- 
 ful — never were they permitted to indulge higher hopes. It is a 
 season of the richest spiritual blessing. Salvation has come near 
 unto us. The good news of great joy has reached us from all 
 13 
 
194 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 parts of our land and from other lands, proclaiming the Lord as 
 nigh unto all that call upon him. 
 
 We have been praying and God has been answering our pray- 
 ers, till now the world is literally opened and waiting for the 
 
 '' This awakened and listening attitude of the nations, appear- 
 ing at the same time with the outpouring of the Spirit, increased 
 prayer, and the self-consecration of young men, in increasing 
 numbers, to the work of the ministry, and the return of commer^ 
 cial prosperity — this concurrence of events all tending towards 
 the rapid and effective diffusion of the kingdom of Christ, is a 
 sign from heaven that the higher dispensation for the world's sal- 
 vation is opening upon us." 
 
 I may appropriately quote here the words of the venerable Mr. 
 James of Birmingham, England : " Are we not authorized to ex- 
 pect some richer effusions, some more wonderful manifestations, 
 some more convincing demonstrations, of the Spirit's power than 
 we have been accustomed to witness or receive ? Is this Divine 
 Agent confined, and ought our expectations to be confined, to rou- 
 tine, formality and fixed order and measure ? Should we not look 
 for times of refreshing days of power, intimations of the coming 
 Millennial glory ? Are not these awakenings the very things we 
 have prayed, longed for, waited for ? Are they not, too, the sub- 
 ject of inspired prophecy ? Are they not given to support our 
 faith in Divine prediction, and animate our languid hopes of the 
 coming glory of the Millennial age, when a nation shall be born 
 in a day ? " 
 
 Another word, in closing, upon the time of this wonderful man- 
 ifestation of the Spirit. This revival begun "just at the time 
 when the exulting note of defiance and contempt from the infi- 
 del school, of which the Westminster Review is the organ, was 
 raised to its highest pitch." The infidel had been saying, and 
 
EXULTING NOTE OF THE INFIDEL SCHOOL. 195 
 
 beginning half to believe that " the world had advanced far above 
 and beyond Christianity ; that Christianity had lost its power — 
 had become obsolete, and would have to be abandoned for some 
 new religion that would have power to meet the necessities of 
 mankind." The enemy was exultant in consigning God's word 
 to the fossil remains and huge debris of past systems and schools. 
 He was loud in calling for a new revelation, a new religion be- 
 cause the " old was worn out, effete, and no longer able to satisfy 
 the human heart or intellect." This most timely visitation from 
 on high has confounded Infidelity and put to shame the vaunting 
 wisdom of man. 
 
chapteh xni. 
 
 The year 1858— The Sepoy Mutiny and the renovation of India— Peace with 
 China and what of it— Opening of Japan— The Treaty- The Embassy — 
 Africa and her Interior— The Ocean Telegraph— The Great Eastern— A 
 new era. 
 
 No year since the Christian era has been more remarkable for 
 great and far-reaching events than 1858. We receive these 
 events as unmistakable signs of the times. They have thickened 
 upon us the past year in such quick succession that before the 
 marvel of one had passed away another trod on its heels. It is 
 not too much to say that this single year has given birth to more 
 great, influential events which shall tell on the future destinies 
 of the world and hasten the long expected golden age than cen- 
 turies were wont to do in the past history of the world. These 
 events, while they have nothing in common in their character, 
 and are brought about by agencies so entirely different, and im- 
 pelled by motives so unlike, and transpired in localities so remote, 
 the one from the other, yet all seem converging towards a com- 
 mon object, and that object appears to be the overthrow of Idolatry, 
 Infidelity, and every form of false religion, the speedy and univer- 
 sal diffusion of the ever-blessed gospel, and the final establishment 
 on earth of the kingdom of our glorious Lord. 
 
 Never before were we made to feel, as now, with what a glo- 
 (196) 
 
REVIEW OP THE YEAR. 197 
 
 rious rapidity God is hastening the great crisis of tlie world's con- 
 version, and the enemy's discomfiture. We shall do well briefly 
 to review the leading events of the year, and contemplate them 
 in their probable bearing on the great and final crisis. 
 
 The year was rendered memorable by the Revolution in India 
 — the peace with China, and the opening of that great and pop- 
 ulous country to free-trade and a free-gospel ; negotiations and 
 the opening of commercial relations with Japan ; the exploration 
 of Central Africa, and the new field of commercial and religious 
 enterprise there opened; the laying of the Atlantic Telegraph; 
 and the great financial convulsion and the remarkable religious 
 interest of the year. Having already disposed of the latter two, 
 a brief review of the other events may constitute a suitable ap- 
 pendix to the foregoing chapter. 
 
 III. TJie early part of the year was distinguished by the rev- 
 olution in India — the commencement of a series of movements 
 wdiich we confidently expect shall be for the more perfect Chris- 
 tianization of that great and populous country — -for the breaking 
 down the institution of caste — the annihilation of the Hindoo 
 and Mohammedan prestige, and the introduction of a new order of 
 things in government and religion. 
 
 I have had occasion elsewhere* to speak of the never-to-be 
 forgotten Sepoy Mutiny ; and of what God seems to be bring- 
 ing out of it. Yet I may not, in this review of the year, omit 
 so significant an item in the year's history. 
 
 We believe the time is at hand when God will give to his Son 
 that great heathen land. Its stagnations of forty centuries shall 
 be broken up — ^its idolatries shall be abolished — its superstitious 
 abominations and oppression shall be exposed and done away, 
 and on their ruins shall be reared the beautiful superstructure of 
 
 * See " India and her People," by the Author. 
 
198 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 a pure religion and good government. We believe the renova- 
 tion of India is now hastening on with more rapid strides than 
 ever before ; and that the late appalling revolution was but the 
 earthquake, the fire and storm, which go before when God is 
 about to take some signal step in the advancement of the Re- 
 deemer's Kingdom. We believe it to be a marked sign of the 
 times — a not doubtful token of what Grod is about to do for that 
 great and populous land. 
 
 India contains a sixth part of the population of the globe ; and 
 she only needs good government, a Christian civilization and 
 a pure religion to make her one of the fairest portions of the 
 globe. But the god of this world has had almost undisputed 
 possession there for four thousand years. It has been a land of 
 the most systematic and inveterate idolatries — of wars and foreign 
 conquests the most ruthless and bloody — of rites and superstitions 
 the most senseless and degrading. All the activity and shrewd- 
 ness of a class of men, by no means lacking in these qualities, 
 have been employed from time immemorial to bind the yoke of 
 bondage on that great people. Sin has there had its perfect work 
 — the man of sin has been revealed. Under various forms and 
 systems has Idolatry had its day and development, and shown 
 what it can do to deliver man from the curse of sin, and make 
 him sit in heavenly places. Moslemism has done what it could 
 and as signally failed, and a half -Protestantism, succumbing to 
 Mammon, and Moloch, and to all the Dagons of the land, has 
 played its ignoble part. During a full century an unchristian 
 Government has done little for Christianity but to bring scandal 
 on the Christian name. The natives were left in doubt whether 
 their Christian governors preferred the religion of the cross or 
 the Crescent, of Brahma or of Boodh. 
 
 Heaven could no longer tolerate the indignity ; and in wrath he 
 
SEPOY MUTINY. 199 
 
 rose to vindicate his cause, and dreadful was the wrath ; yet there 
 was mercy in that wrath. 
 
 We have no need here to repeat the dreadful details of the 
 Sepoy Mutiny. The annals of man's history scarcely present a 
 more appalling array. It is enough for our present purpose that 
 God has done it, and done it for a great and final purpose. It is 
 evidently one of those great revolutionary struggles which ever 
 and anon shake terribly the earth. We are less concerned with 
 the causes of this dreadful insurrection than with the results ; and 
 not so much concerned with the immediate results, as with the 
 great and final purposes which Providence seems about to accom- 
 plish by it. 
 
 It matters little here whether " impatience," on the part of the 
 natives, of foreign rule and a remembrance of past exactions 
 and cruelties ; or " hatred of the Christian Religion " and a grow- 
 ing apprehension of its speedy triumph, and the not distant over- 
 throw of the Religions of the country ; or whether it were " rais- 
 government and the unchristian example " of European office- 
 holders in the country ; or the long -continued disaffection, and 
 unheeded grievances of native princes ; whether it were a calam- 
 ity sent to humble England and to rebuke the Church ; whether 
 any, or all, or none of these be the real causes, it matters little 
 in our present inquiry. This inquiry is, what indications do we 
 discover, in this awful outbreak of violence, of the rapid, onward 
 progress of the Redeemer's kingdom ? 
 
 India may, in an important sense, be taken as the great central 
 nation of Heathendom. The day seems fast approaching when 
 the whole of this great heathen empire, consisting as it does of 
 not a few of the nations of the earth, shall be subdued and given 
 to Christ, its rightful owner. And the late Revolution in India 
 seems to present more of the character of a war which shall 
 strike a death-blow to the great central nation, than any warfare 
 
200 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 of modern times ; and which shall at the same time enlarge the 
 borders of that western race which seems destined to act so im- 
 portant a part in the future regeneration of the nations. 
 
 No previous event has ever done so much to make India, her 
 wants and her woes, her religions and superstitions known — what 
 has been done for her, and what advances she has made in ameli- 
 orating her condition, and what ought to be done for her. Nothing 
 could have so strikingly revealed the real character of the pres- 
 ent race of heathen. We are startled at such exhibitions of cold- 
 blooded ferocity. If such yet be the character of the unevangel- 
 ized, what an ai'gument to send them the gospel. If such be the 
 character of the semi-civilized Hindoos, whom we had supposed 
 to be a very quiet, inoflfensive people, what may we expect, when 
 their turn shall come to rise, will be the strength and malignity of 
 the more ignorant and savage portions of the heathen world? 
 All Christendom will now see that in self-defense, if not as a 
 matter of Christian duty, she must convert the heathen. 
 
 And nothing has done so much to humble the British Govern- 
 ment in that country, and rebuke the Christian Church for her 
 apathy in not having ere this Christianized a people so completely 
 thrown into her hands. The world would then have been saved 
 from witnessing one of the most appalling warfares which has ever 
 disgraced the annals of our race. Had England and the Chris- 
 tian Church done their duty during the century which has elapsed 
 since England has had possesion of that country, that great and 
 noble nation had escaped this scathing rebuke, and the world had 
 not been shocked with the details of a war barbarous almost be- 
 yond comparison. 
 
 And nothing, it is believed, has struck so deadly a blow on the 
 native prestige of the country. What of governmental power 
 remained in the hands of the natives is probably gone forever. 
 The native regime has doubtless departed no more to be recalled. 
 
REBELLION IN INDIA WHAT IT HAS DONE. 201 
 
 Caste, that ruthless tyrant which has, unresisted and unques- 
 tioned, from century to century, controlled those numerous millions 
 in all things social, secular and religious, has no doubt now 
 received its final doom. Superstition has lost its power to charm 
 and blind men in its iron chains ; and religious systems, hoary 
 with age, and which have controlled uncounted numbers for twice 
 twenty centuries, are become weak as the fallen Dagon before 
 the ark of the Lord. And not only do we believe that the civil 
 and religious prestige of that great nation has now met an over- 
 throw from which it can never recover, but the population itself, 
 already doomed to dwindle away before a superior race, has been 
 left to call down upon their heads the vengeance of British arms, 
 to hasten their own destruction. Like all other pagan races they 
 seem, as a mass, destined to extinction. Christianity shall inter- 
 pose and stay the hand of the Destroyer, and rescue a multitude 
 not small, of such as the gi-eat Shepherd will gather into his fold. 
 But ask you, after another century shall have rolled away, where 
 are those numeroiis tribes^ echo will answer, " Where ? " 
 
 They who watch the stately steppings of the King of kings in 
 his onward march to victory, see that a " sword goeth before him." 
 The destruction of his enemies, especially of the heathen, has 
 always held a prominent place in the movements of Providence. 
 And why should it not be so in reference to this great nation of 
 heathen ? 
 
 And, again, while the rebellion has done much to advance the 
 final renovation of India by taking out of the way, or annihilat- 
 ing obstacles, it has done more by testing the faith of the native 
 Christians, and arousing the whole Christian Church to renewed 
 exertions for the conversion of India. Never was the very heart 
 of the whole British Church so moved as now to come up to the 
 help of the Lord against the mighty. And America is delight- 
 
202 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 fully and earnestly responding to the call of her elder sister to 
 come to her aid in the great work. 
 
 The martyr spirit has been revived. We feared that, in the 
 day of temptation, these little ones would fall away. But they 
 have stood the fiery trial like men in Christ ; they met death like 
 martyrs. Offers of exemption from prison and death could not 
 draw them from their allegiance to their Divine Master ; tortures 
 the most inhuman could not make them deny the Lord that bought 
 them. And not only have members of Mission Churches man- 
 ftilly met death rather than abjure Christ, but others have avowed 
 themselves Christians and since united with the Church, although 
 assured of the determined vengeance of the mutineers. 
 
 And we are daily confirmed in this favorable view of India's 
 not distant evangelization by the late reports of the progress of 
 Christian missions there since the partial return of peace. Num- 
 bers in different parts of India have since been received into the 
 Christian Church ; and what has not failed to attract the grateful 
 and admiring regard of the Christian more than any thing else, 
 is the very encouraging report from Merut, the spot which had 
 been marked as the place where first a native Sepoy was dis- 
 charged from the English ai'my because he had become a Chris- 
 tian ; and distinguished again as the spot where, in dreadful 
 retribution on a time-serving, unchristian Government, the late 
 rebellion burst forth in retributive vengeance ; and not the less 
 distinguished as the place where the good seed, sown in less 
 troublous times, is taking deep root, and the golden sheaves are 
 already being gathered in. 
 
 And mark the finger of God here. A native Christian in his 
 flight leaves behind his Bible. That Bible falls into the hands of 
 a native who is disposed to peruse it. He was impressed with its 
 truth, convinced that it taught the only true religion. He read, and 
 persuaded others to read. God saw it, and was pleased to act on 
 
THE CLOUD OF WAR RECEDING. 203 
 
 their hearts, and turn them from the vanity of their idols to the 
 living God. Late intelligence announces a Church founded at 
 Merut of sixty members and not less than two hundred inquirers. 
 Never perhaps were the friends of missions more hopeful for 
 India than at the present moment. 
 
 And never was evangelical Christendom more thoroughly and 
 universally moved to send the gospel in the shortest possible time 
 to that benighted land. Loud is the cry of every Missionary 
 Society for men and money— earnest the appeal of every Bible 
 and Religious Book Society for means to send the word of life to 
 the aid of them who are perishing. The dying experience of 
 many of the native Christians, especially when outraged by the 
 mutineers, has had a wonderful influence on the Hindoo mind. 
 " The blood of martyrs " in India is literally becoming *' the seed 
 of the Church." Where the mutiny was the worst and the atroc- 
 ities the greatest, at the present time seems to be the deepest 
 religious interest and the most earnest inquiries about the truth. 
 The submission and patient sufferings of the Christians is doing 
 its work silently and surely. 
 
 The watchmen on those distant walls, respond, ** The morning 
 COMETH." The dark cloud of war is receding, and with it, the 
 thick moral darkness which has so long settled down upon that 
 unhappy land. 
 
 God has doubtless large and benevolent purposes to answer 
 through these commotions and this bloodshed. When all parties 
 shall have been humbled and duly punished, British pride rebuked 
 and the B Irtish and American Church humb?ed and roused to 
 the importance of the conversion of India, we believe a glorious 
 future awaits that long-forsaken, ill-fated nation. Hushed shall 
 be the din of war ; the carnage of the battle-field shall be forgot- 
 ten. Immanuel shall there unfurl his peaceful banners; and 
 those nations, no more inured to the devastations of war, shall 
 
204 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 become the willing subjects of the Prince of Peace. Faith con- 
 templates these luxurious climes as all vocal with the praises of 
 our King. Their idol gods cast to the moles and the bats, and 
 the waning Crescent sunk into the abyss whence it came, all 
 these populous nations shall bow before the cross, and serve the 
 one God. 
 
 It is the voice of faith that proclaims there shall be yet another 
 invasion, and yet another conquest of British India ; and the 
 fame of the Clives and the Wellesleys, the Lakes and the 
 Havelocks, the Wilsons and Neills, shall yet be surpassed. The 
 conquest is to be achieved by railways and telegraphs, by power- 
 looms and steam-engines — by just and equal laws, by schools, by 
 the active promotion of every good word and work, by the prac- 
 tical exemplification, from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean, 
 from the Birmese frontier to the banks of the Indus, of all those 
 Christian principles and virtues, which have the promise of the 
 world that now is, and of that to come. To this course the Brit- 
 ish people are impelled by the strongest motives of self-interest, 
 as well as by the purest impulses of philanthropy. And we 
 rejoice to see that they have become so deeply sensible of the 
 fact. The rebellion, terrible as it has been, will prove a signal 
 blessing, and no misfortune, if the sense of responsibility and spirit 
 of duty which have been awakened shall bear their appropriate 
 fruits in practical action.* 
 
 It is thus that we regard the Sepoy Mutiny as a sign of the 
 times, betokening the no distant downfall of Idolatry in all nations, 
 and as hastening that blessed consummation which we hail as the 
 ccming of Christ's kingdom on the earth. 
 
 IV. Another event worthy of notice which has distinguished 
 the year just closed, is the peace recently concluded with China, 
 
 * " India and her People," by the writer of this work. 
 
THE LATE PEACE WITH CHINA. 205 
 
 and the opening of that great and populous country to a free 
 trade and a free gospel. 
 
 China is an ancient nation. When Europe was a wilderness, 
 and America was unknown, China was in the vigor of her man- 
 hood — matured, rich, civilized — more advanced in the arts and 
 sciences, more consolidated, more systematized in her religious 
 faith than perhaps any nation then known. But China has from 
 century to century strangely and determinedly isolated herself 
 from all foreign intercourse. Though in dimensions the largest, 
 in age the oldest, and with her teeming multitudes of people the 
 most numerous, and in the exhaustless resources of her soil, 
 her mines and her mechanical skill the most wealthy, she has 
 proudly and selfishly stood aloof from the great family of nations. 
 She has refused her shoulder to bear international burdens, or 
 to contribute her share of influence to international prosperity. 
 No foreigner might enter her bolted gates. 
 
 British cannon, a few years ago, in a war which we have no 
 necessity to attempt to justify, battered down some of her strong- 
 holds, and forced a treaty which opened some of her ports to for- 
 eign trade and intercourse. But this did not long serve the 
 rapidly unfolding plans of an ever onward marching Providence. 
 Commerce demanded more. Literature, science, civilization, 
 Christianity demanded more. Nations no more than individuals, 
 may longer be allowed to live to themselves. Consequently in 
 the ever restless, never retrogading movements of human affairs, 
 another war transpires. Now France and Russia, as well as 
 England and America, have demands to make of China. She 
 can no longer be allowed to coil herself up in her own selfishness. 
 She must now live and let live among the nations of the earth. 
 She is at length forced to yield to these demands and to throw 
 open her gates and let the nations come in. 
 
 The late war with China has, we trust, forever settled the ques- 
 
206 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 tion of her exclusiveness. The terror of French and British 
 arms, on the one hand, backed by the urgent and oft-repeated 
 demands of Russia and America ; and the resistless and ruthless 
 invasions of the " Rebels " on the other hand, forced the trembling 
 emperor and a weak government to yield to the demands of the 
 four great western nations. The treaty embraces all they could 
 have asked or could desire. " This haughty and isolated power 
 has thus been humbled, and forced to open its doors, which have 
 heretofore been rigorously closed, to the nations of Christendom. 
 Its great river, the Yang-tse-kiang, is to be opened from its mouth 
 to its source, a distance of three thousand miles through the very 
 heart of the great empire. Six more ports, eleven in all, are 
 opened to commerce. Missionaries are to be allowed to diffuse 
 Christianity throughout the empire without persecution or annoy- 
 ance, and the Chinese are allowed to embrace it without any injury 
 to their persons or property. Foreign ministers are to have free 
 access to the imperial court at Pekin, whenever necessary." 
 
 This we claim to be one of the great events of the year, 
 an event, which, in its relations to the world's future, can scarcely 
 be overrated. It has, as if in a day, introduced into the great 
 family of nations a new member, of full age, of huge dimensions, 
 laden with wealth, and rich in mechanical skill and in all the 
 resources, which, if rightly directed, cannot fail to make a nation 
 truly great. But this new sister comes into the great sisterhood 
 of nations with but a heathen civilization, and a Pagan religion — 
 wise, yet ignorant of every thing which pertains to the great end 
 of this life, and to the realities of the life to come. 
 
 China is the last great nation that remained to be opened to the 
 ameliorating influences of Christianity. And scarcely any event 
 could just now more distinctly betoken the speedy coming of the 
 long looked for day when the kingdoms of this world shall become 
 the kingdom of our Lord. Chinese Idolatry seems more com pletely 
 
SOLICITUDE IN REGARD TO CHINA. 207 
 
 intrenched in the strongholds of civilization, learning, wealth, num- 
 bers, and national pride, than any other system. The charm is now- 
 broken ; the death-blow is struck — the strong governmental arm 
 which has been so long nerved for the defense of that religion, is 
 now paralyzed; her strong intrenchments are prostrated; and the 
 formidable obstacles to the free and universal evangelization of 
 China seem removed. The chief solicitude now in reference to 
 the conversion of that great nation to Christ, relates to the ability — 
 rather to the willingness of the Christian Church to put forth the 
 adequate Christian effort, and to make the needed sacrifice to ac- 
 complish the great work. Heaven is willing — Providence has the 
 most significantly and effectually moved in the matter. Heaven's 
 aid is ready — and now it would seem that heaven waits that man 
 should do his part. 
 
 The missionaries in China are looking with anxious expecta- 
 tion to see what will be the effect of this great event upon Chris- 
 tians at home. Especially are they turning their eyes to this 
 country with the hope of being strengthened by the fruits of the 
 great revival with which our churches have been blessed. In 
 removing the last obstacle to the introduction of the truth into 
 that vast empire, God in his providence has opened a door, which 
 those who pray for the extension of his kingdom should be ready 
 to enter. 
 
 " It was a remarkable and delightful coincidence " says one, 
 " that while the first dispatch sent across the Atlantic cable was the 
 chorus of the angels proclaiming glory to God and peace on earth, 
 the first news telegraphed from the Old World was the unexpected 
 intelligence, ' Peace with China,' and a report that the mutiny in 
 India is being rapidly quelled. Under the terms of the treaty of 
 peace, the Chinese empire is open to the trade of all foreign pow- 
 ers. The Christian religion is allowed in all parts of the empire. 
 
208 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 Foreign envoys are to be received at the capital, and France 
 and England are to be indemnified for the expenses of the war. 
 
 " Sixteen years ago, August 29, the war between Great Britain 
 and China was closed by the signing of a treaty, by which five 
 ports were thrown open to foreign commerce. Three years after, 
 a treaty was ratified between China and the United States, by 
 which our citizens were admitted to the same privileges. This 
 new treaty greatly enlarges these privileges, and gives the prom- 
 ise of opening to the gaze of the world the political, commercial, 
 and social life of that most exclusive people. The importance 
 of the commerce of China can hardly be estimated. It is stated 
 that the tonnage used in the navigation of its rivers and canals is 
 larger than the aggregate tonnage of all the other nations of the 
 earth ; that ten thousand imperial barges collect and carry to Pekin 
 the duties in kind imposed on grain, and an equal number on salt ; 
 that the annual revenue of the government amounts to about 
 $120,000,000 ; that there are over four thousand walled cities and 
 towns, and not a creek or haven on which there is not a town of 
 commercial importance , and that its great river Yang-tse-kiang 
 opens up the trade of a hundred millions of people. 
 
 " But this treaty concerns the Christian still more than the 
 merchant. That vast empire, containing one-third of the popu- 
 lation of the world, is now open to the spread of the religion of 
 Christ. Instead of being confined to a few points on its borders, 
 the missionary may now penetrate to the heart of the kingdom. 
 A still greater load of responsibility is thrown upon the churches. 
 The gospel must be given to the four hundred miUions of Chi- 
 nese. Men and means must not be wanting, now that the door 
 has been providentially opened." 
 
 And we must not overlook, in the review of the providential 
 opening of China, the terrific agency of the present Insurgents' 
 war. Like the first Mohammedan conqueror of India with his feai-- 
 
THE INSURGENTS — HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. 209 
 
 less, half-barbarous Afghans, they spread devastation and death 
 wherever they go. They fight, they pray, they plunder and rob, 
 and break in pieces idols and demolish temples ; and are the fierce 
 champions for the unity of God and the religion of Christ. They 
 seem sent before as a scourge, to break down and put out of the 
 way what God is about to destroy — the rod of heaven's anger to 
 weaken, and then annihilate the prestige of the native govern- 
 ment, and finally to batter down the great colossus of Chinese 
 Idolatry. This idea is confirmed by those most conversant with 
 the condition and prospects of China. A missionary recently 
 writes: "The rebels in the country are reported to have com- 
 mitted dreadful enormities, in some places, in revenge for what 
 was done to them last year, when they were driven away. I 
 would hardly like to have them regarded here as Christians ; I 
 fear they would do little honor to the Christian name ; and yet I 
 may say, in regard to this rebellion, whether in this province or 
 elsewhere, that if there is not a single individual among all the 
 " insurgents " who is a true follower of Christ, I think it is a great 
 step, preparing the way for the gospel in China, to have an army 
 of natives marching through the country destroying the idols and 
 ploclaiming that there is but one God. By this movement, 
 which at present brings countless miseries upon this nation, God 
 may, in his wonder-working providence, be preparing the way 
 for speedy and most wonderful displays of his grace in this dark 
 land." 
 
 We think we see, in the present aspect of the Chinese Empire, 
 and especially in the results of the late war and in the prospects 
 of the successful diffusion of the gospel there, a glorious hope for 
 China, and, in that hope, a deliglitful anticipation of the coming 
 of the universal kingdom of our Lord. The Christian Church is 
 now earnestly asking, "How shall we best evangelize India and 
 China?" 
 
 14 
 
210 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 V. The next important event of the year, and one kindred to 
 the last, is the late commercial Treaty with Japan, and its opening 
 to receive the gospel. 
 
 The eagle-eye and the all-encroaching spirit of commerce have 
 for a long time been directed towards Japan. That rich and pop-' 
 ulous, and in many respects, highly civilized yet idolatrous people, 
 have most sternly and hitherto most successfully resisted all the 
 overtures of commerce and intercourse with foreigners. They 
 have at length yielded to the demands of human progress and 
 thrown open their doors. Soon shall European science pervade 
 that hitherto isolated land. Modern inventions and discoveries, im- 
 provements and facilities for intercourse and communication with 
 other nations, shall now bless that land. Railways, steam-ships, 
 telegraphs, shall henceforth become so many agencies and rcr 
 sources for progress and profit to the improved and highly im- 
 provable people of Japan. A great and promising field is there 
 open to the agency of the Christian Press. No people are per- 
 haps better prepared to profit by the introduction among them of 
 a Christian literature. 
 
 Since writing the above the Japanese Embassy have arrived 
 in this country to ratify the treaty alluded to. The manner the 
 embassy have been received ; the universal interest excited in the 
 event throughout the country ; the very gratifying attentions paid 
 these distinguished strangers, are all significant events, and signs 
 of the times. It encourages the hope, so animating to Christian 
 faith, that the last formidable barrier to intercourse with any con- 
 siderable nation, is at length removed, and, having embraced, as 
 we now hope, this interesting but hitherto isolated people in the 
 fellowship of nations, we would fain receive it as a token that 
 the King of nations and the King of Zion is about to gather that 
 people into the fold of CIn'ist. The event is truly extraordinary 
 and hopeful, and, though the hope may be deferred, yet we wait 
 
JAPANESE EMBASSY IN NEW YORK. 211 
 
 to see this to be but the beginning of a most interesting series of 
 events. 
 
 The extraordinary reception of the Embassy in New York on 
 the 16th (June, 1860), seems to the reflecting mind, to foreshadow 
 the coming importance of the event, as the shrewd people of that 
 great commercial city seem to interpret it. Scarcely any pre- 
 vious event has ever called forth so enthusiastic a demonstration. 
 It was a grand and whole-hearted welcome of Japan into the fellow- 
 ship of nations. Broadway for miles was thronged with the eager 
 multitude. Flags of all nations, at different points, greeted the 
 imposing cortege. Some index of the public feeling seemed sig- 
 nahzed in the numerous mottoes which appeared in the windows. 
 I transcribe one as a specimen. It appeared at Nos. 320 and 322 
 Broadway. Numerous flags were flying, and there was a motto 
 in each window. The following were the most striking : 
 
 WELCOMK — JAPANESE EBIBASSY — WELCOME. 
 
 JAPAN AND UNITED STATES. FRIENDLY NATIONS. 
 
 UNIVEBSAL BROTHERHOOD. 
 
 GATES OF ALL NATIONS THIS DAY OPENED. 
 
 WALLS OF TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION MOULDERING TO DUST THE WORLD OVER. 
 
 FREEDOM FOR THE WORLD. THE TRUMPET-BLAST OF THE NINETEENTH 
 
 CENTURY. 
 
 LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY. 
 
 1860 — PEACE, PROGRESS, PROSPERITY. 
 
 ONE BLOOD — ALL NATIONS. 
 
 ALL NATIONS — UNION FOREVER. 
 
 THE JUBIT^E OF THE WORLD NEAR AT HAND. 
 
 But we here refer to the Treaty, the Embassy and all the in- 
 terest that attaches to it, as an event principally challenging our 
 admiration and Christian gratitude, because of its hopeful and 
 prospective relations to the spread of the gospel among that in- 
 teresting people, and their final Christianization. The great 
 obstacle seems now removed, and henceforward the friends of 
 
212 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Christian Missions may arise and in the name of Immanuel take 
 possession of the land. A wide and effectual door seems there to 
 be opened, and it is truly delightful to witness the readiness of 
 our Benevolent Societies to enter in. Already meetings have 
 been convened, and consultations held, and measures adopted for 
 the speedy evangelization of Japan. 
 
 Truly God seems to be hastening his work on the earth. India, 
 China and Japan, the great nations which Satan hath bound, lo 
 these twice eighteen hundred years, are now disenthralling them- 
 selves from the bondage of ages — are bursting the chains of their 
 darkness, and are coming to the light and liberty of the children 
 of God. Half the population of the globe, as embraced in these 
 three great nations, are now, in the wonder-working providence 
 of God, laid at the feet of the Christian Church, waiting the 
 voice of the gospel trumpet, bidding them that are dead, to arise 
 to a new national, social and religious life. Never were the re- 
 sponsibilities of the Christian Church so fearfully increased ; never 
 did the conversion of all nations to Christ appear so near. 
 
 But there is yet another great Missionary field beginning to 
 loom up from the dark abyss of Paganism, which we may not here 
 overlook. When the great Asiatic field shall have been occupied 
 — when the teeming millions of India, China and Japan shall 
 be added to Christ's heritage, then we may expect Zion's conquer- 
 ing King will turn his victorious sword towards the long neglected, 
 the long afiiicted children of Ham. Africa shall become the ob- 
 ject of his next great conquests. Ethiopia shall stretch out her 
 hands to God. We need not then be surprised that, 
 
 VI. The fourth great event of the year relates to movements 
 in Africa and in respect to Africa. 
 
 The last year's explorations of Livingstone, Bowen and Barth 
 into the interior of this almost unknown continent, have formed 
 a new eia in the history of Africa. Starting from difierent points 
 
OPENING OF ANOTHER MISSIONARY FIELD. 213 
 
 on the coast, eacli of these travelers explored different portions 
 of the interior, and all essentially for the same general purpose. 
 They have laid open to the world great and interesting fields, which 
 invite the labors of the philanthropist and the Christian. Those 
 inland tribes and nations are found to be far more intelhgent, in- 
 dustrious, enterprising and hopeful than the people on the coast. 
 They have a better country, a more salubrious climate — show 
 themselves not the less accessible to foreign influence, and de- 
 cidedly favorable to the introduction among them of the gospel. 
 
 A new impulse is consequently given to the friends of Africa 
 to redouble their diligence and zeal for the renovation of that 
 long oppressed and abused continent, with fresh hopes of success. 
 Africa, we may expect, shall henceforth become a most interest- 
 ing missionary field. In proportion as she has been the scene of 
 oppression and cruelty, of neglect and abuse, by other nations, 
 shall she receive at the Lord's hand " double " for all her aflclic- 
 tions. 
 
 But we should quite fail, rightly to estimate the recent opening 
 of Africa as a promising field for the spread of the gospel, if we 
 did not take a cursory view at least of the pecuhar character of 
 this field, and the prospects of a rich and speedy return for all 
 labor bestowed. We shall therefore briefly refer to a few features 
 in the present condition of Africa, which are especially hopeful. 
 
 1. The native Africans are a settled people — not migratory — 
 moving from place to place, and never at home, so that what 
 should be done one year should be undone the next. 
 
 2. They are a domestic people — formed into families, and ap- 
 pear capable of strong domestic affections. There is not a more 
 promising basis for the success of all religious instruction. And 
 to this we may add, they are naturally kind, affectionate, generous 
 and benevolent. No people appear by nature to be more richly 
 endowed with all the gentler virtues of humanity. Love, grat- 
 
214 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 itude, obedience, docility, are traits of moral character most easily- 
 developed in the African, and altogether promising of success in 
 all our attempts for his moral improvement. 
 
 3. But, what is yet more promising, the African race, more 
 than any other race, are readily impressed with religious truth. 
 The religious instinct is ever prominent. I know of no one trait 
 of which travelers and missionaries have more frequently spoken 
 than the unusual susceptibility of tlie African to the religious 
 sentiment ; and certainly there is not a more hopeful trait. No 
 race has received the gospel with so much eagerness and docility. 
 And the reason assigned by the missionary is that there seems in 
 their very nature a principle of reliance and unquestioning faith 
 which has not been discovered in any other race. " It has often 
 been found among them that a stray truth, borne on some breeze 
 of accident into hearts the most ignorant, has sprung up into fruit, 
 whose abundance has shamed that of higher and more skillful 
 culture." African races form an exception to all other races, in 
 their readiness to embrace the gospel as soon as it is offered. 
 And more especially has this been found to be true of the more 
 highly civilized tribes of the interior. They make the missionary 
 welcome — provide houses for them, and do what they can to 
 facilitate their work. 
 
 4. Another hopeful feature of this great field is, that there 
 is in Africa less to be undone than in any other portion of the 
 heathen world. In India and China the ground is preoccupied 
 with a sturdy, inveterate growth of error, to eradicate which, and 
 to prepare the ground for the good seed, is for years the great 
 work of the missionary. The greatest obstacle to his immediate 
 success lies in the preoccupation of the Pagan mind with false 
 systems of philosophy and religion, which are stereotyped in a 
 false literature. In Africa there is very little such rubbish to be 
 removed. Books, science, philosophy, they have none. They 
 
A HOPEFUL FEATURE FOR AFRICA. 215 
 
 are a people for the most part without a written language — they 
 have no literature — no long established and venerated systems 
 of religion, to be contended with and overcome, before truth can 
 be received and established. They are without a history. Their 
 crude Religion has neither system nor law, nor any very strong 
 hold on the mind of the people. They are, compared with the 
 old Asiatic nations, without a religion. This they virtually ac- 
 knowledge in their anxieties that the bookmen may come among 
 them. And as the missionary goes he has nothing to contend 
 with but ignorance and common depravity — nothing to do to re- 
 move the rubbish of wrong systems, before he may build the 
 superstructure of the right. A people without a literature or 
 religion are in a much more favorable state to be acted on. Vast 
 indeed, in this respect, is the diiOference between the native of 
 Africa and the superstitious, conceited Hindoo, or the no less 
 higoiQ^ Momanist. So completely is the latter ensconced in his 
 impregnable fortresses of error, which are all a matter of the book, 
 written and engraven on his mind as with a pen of iron, that the 
 well aimed aiTow will sarcely reach him. 
 
 What immense facilities for good, then, do they possess, who 
 have it in their power to give a people their literature — to begin to 
 write their history — to make their books — to have the control of 
 their education — to teach them philosophy, and to give them their 
 religion ! They have very much thrown into their hands the 
 control of the native mind. They secure at once the three great 
 elements for reforming, civilizing, and Christianizing a people ; 
 education, the Press, and a preaclied gospel. Such facilities has 
 the missionary enterprise now in Africa. No other field probably 
 presents so few obstacles to success. 
 
 5. Another feature in the present condition of Africa relates 
 to her commerce. This potent agent which Providence is pleased 
 largely to employ for the amelioration and final Christianization 
 
216 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD 
 
 of a people, has hitherto done little for Africa. Aside from the 
 direct agency of divine truth, there is not perhaps a mightier el- 
 ement at work. In Africa this agency has but just begun to be 
 operative and make its power felt. Her vast resources are now 
 being developed — all the great staples of commerce ai-e there in- 
 digenous to the soil — all the various and rich productions of the 
 Indies, East or West, are found there, and these are the articles 
 of exchange which are so much in demand by the two great 
 branches of the Anglo-Saxon family. African commerce must 
 consequently fall chiefly into the hands of these two great Prot- 
 estant, Christian nations. This will throw the destinies of Africa 
 very much into the hands of these two nations. An interchange 
 of commodities and easy facilities of intercourse will here bring 
 Africa into contact with the literature, the science, the philosophy 
 and the religion of England and America. It wdll, on the one 
 hand, bring poor, bleeding Africa into direct communication with 
 the great heart of the Protestant Church. It will open the chan- 
 nels through which the waters of salvation shall flow over that 
 great moral desert and make it as the garden of the Lord. 
 
 And more than this : commerce promises to extinguish for Af- 
 rica her crudest curse. The Slave-Trade is the blighting curse 
 of that unhappy land. Africa wants the commodities of other 
 lands, and they have wanted her human chattels in return. But 
 let her once understand that her cotton, indigo, cofl'ee, sugar, and 
 the great variety and abundance of her native productions will 
 be accepted in exchange for what she wants, think you that she 
 will, amidst cruelties direful as death, make merchandise of her 
 soqs and her daughters ? 
 
 With such tokens for good — with such facilities and resources 
 for successful action, can we otherwise than opine no distant, no 
 stinted good in reserve for poor Africa ? The explorations of the 
 last year and the unwonted preparedness of the people of the in- 
 
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE. 217 
 
 terior to receive the good tidings of great jov, betoken the speedy 
 approach of Africa's gracious visitation. We will thank God and 
 take courage. May the Lord hasten liis work and bless that cap- 
 tive race. 
 
 VII. The only other great event of the year which I shall 
 notice, is the laying of the transatlantic Telegraph Cable. 
 We cannot just now speak, as we gladly would, of the final suc- 
 cess of this great enterprise. The mere fact that the cable has 
 been laid and communication has been had from continent to con- 
 tinent would seem honor enough for one year. The principle is 
 established — the practicability of the enterprise is no longer ques- 
 tionable. And now it only remains to complete what has been 
 begun. All probably now needed, in order to realize the en- 
 thusiastic hopes of a few months ago, is time and further experi- 
 ment, the opportunity to remove difficulties and to supply defects, 
 and perhaps the application of yet more skill and enterprise. 
 Though our rejoicings over the work as if complete, were prema- 
 ture, yet they were neither premature nor overabundant, as de- 
 signed to commemorate an event which shall undoubtedly in the 
 future accomplish all, and more than its most sanguine pro- 
 jectors have yet conceived. Though there be at present a lull 
 in the loud jubilations of a few months ago, and we are in danger 
 of overlooking the importance of this great event of the year — 
 though the eclat of the event is less enthusiastically celebrated, 
 its real importance and prospective utility are scarcely diminished 
 by the mere failure, or rather the delay of sending messages from 
 one continent to the other. The indomitable enterprise and sci- 
 entific skill which have already done so much, are our best pos- 
 sible pledge that they will not give over till they shall have ac- 
 complished what they have begun. 
 
 Even should the whole matter end here and what has been 
 done should remain merely as an exploit of science and human 
 
218 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 enterprise, never to be repeated, the mere fact that, in the year 
 1858, a chain cunningly wrought of copper, gutta-percha and steel 
 was stretched across the bed of the Atlantic Ocean, and that mes- 
 sages were transmitted along it instantaneously from the Old 
 World to the New, will remain a marvel for all ages. It will 
 gather new lustre as each generation transmits it to its successors, 
 and may fill, in the poetic chronicles of some future age, or un- 
 born civilization, a larger space than our " ancients" allotted to 
 the labors of Hercules or the voyage of the Argo. 
 
 But we wait with confidence the realization of all our form- 
 er hopes of the final and complete success of the Atlantic Tele- 
 graph. We do not believe its important bearings on the so- 
 cial and moral condition of the world have been overrated. It 
 no doubt has a most important part to play in the renovation of 
 our world and the establishment of Christ's kingdom on the earth. 
 
 The year in question was truly a notable one. It was crowded 
 with great events, each of which seemed but the beginning of a 
 series which presages the speedy revolution of the world and the 
 introduction of that golden age for which we wait. All are has- 
 tening on the great conflict between truth and unrighteousness. 
 The whole heathen world is thrown open to the labors of the 
 Christian Church — the numbers and resources of the Church 
 have within the same short year been greatly increased — ^un- 
 wonted facilities have been provided for easy access to the heathen 
 world — distances have been annihilated — national alienations been 
 unexpectedly removed, and they that were afar off have been 
 brought near. Truth approaches her triumph. 
 
 But we may not pass from a review of that eventful year with- 
 out associating with it another event, of later date indeed, but 
 which seems in a sense to belong to the same year. We refer to 
 the *' Great Eastern," the Mammoth Steam Ship. This seems 
 but a prognostic, kindred with the last, of the coming auspicious 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 219 
 
 age. No reflecting mind can look upon this leviathan of the 
 deep, comparing it with the ordinary craft that lies in the harbor 
 about it, and not be impressed with the idea that it foreshadows 
 a future order of things yet to be revealed. No present commerce, 
 no carrying trade, no migrations of mankind, no existing system 
 of warfare, requires any such stupendous craft. It no doubt be- 
 longs to an age yet future ; to an age of unprecedented enter- 
 prise, of heretofore unknown prosperity and magnificent achieve- 
 ments. 
 
 Its very name may be significant of its future destiny. The 
 Great Eastern — shall it have any special relations to the 
 " kings of the east ? " when by the drying up of the waters of 
 the Euphrates — the gradual decay and destruction of the Turkish 
 Empire — the power of the Moslems shall fall and the great ob- 
 stacles to the restoration to their land of the Jews, the royal priest- 
 hood, the kings and priests of God, shall be prepared ? May not 
 this be a precursor of the " ships of Tarshish ? " which means by 
 eminence, a ship of the ocean, a palace of the deep, a great ship. 
 These " ships of Tarshish," the prophet says, shall bring " the 
 sons and daughters of Israel from afar, their silver and their gold 
 with them, unto the name of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel." 
 And not only shall they return with their own great wealth, but 
 kings shall minister unto them and they shall bring the riches of 
 the nations. And what more likely than that extraordinary modes 
 of conveyance should be provided for so extraordinary an occa* 
 sion ? All is mere conjecture. Or shall the ordinary pursuits of 
 commerce, as in human progress they shall enlarge, demand so 
 extraordinary a mode of conveyance? Be it enough that the 
 heretofore undeveloped advancements in human affairs, whatever 
 they may be, shall require correspondingly extraordinary modes 
 of transit and conveyance. 
 
 Truth, I said, approaches her triumph : yet in her triumph we 
 
220 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 descry a gathering storm which shall for a time spread " desola- 
 tions " over the earth. 
 
 This is that which was spoken by the royal seer : " The heathen 
 raged ; the kingdoms of the earth were moved ; he uttered his 
 voice, the earth melted." 
 
 And then men and angels are summoned to survey the great 
 battle-field and behold the dreadful displays of incensed Omnip- 
 otence on his enemies. " Come, behold the works of the Lord, 
 what desolations he hath made in the earth." " But," says a con- 
 fiding Church, " the Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob 
 is our refuge." Xhe great conflict passes over ; the Church tri- 
 umphs. Her Lord " maketh wars to cease unto the end of the 
 earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder ; 
 he burneth the chariot in the fire." And then in view of the dread- 
 ful desolations which have covered the earth, and the signal dis- 
 comfiture of the enemy, and the triumphant and glorious vindi- 
 cation of his people, heaven and earth are charged to bow in 
 reverential fear before the God of the whole earth, and to sub- 
 mit to his sceptre : " Be still and know that I am God : I will 
 be exalted among the heathen ; I will be exalted in the earth." 
 
Vit 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The great American Crisis ; or the Conflict of 1861— Its causes, character 
 and results — The hand of God in it. 
 
 We have already treated of civil commotions, wars and revo- 
 lutions, as the sure precursors of that coming kingdom for which 
 we look, and the eflficient agents which shall hasten it on. We 
 have seen how India, China, Italy, and the Crimea have, each 
 in its turn, been made the battle-field, on which to decide, in some 
 of its forms, the great question of the age — the question between 
 liberty and despotism, between human freedom and bondage. 
 The great centre of conflict is for the present transferred to 
 America ; and here the next great blow shall be struck in the 
 name of human freedom. The light of the nineteenth century ; 
 the course of human events ; the onward march of an irresistable 
 Providence ; the latent workings of liberty in the great mind of 
 the whole civilized world; the pulsations of the great heart of 
 humanity, and the outspoken conviction of all Christendom, have 
 decreed that man shall be free, and especially have they decreed 
 that man shall no longer buy and sell his brother, and thereby 
 disown his manhood, and reduce him to a mere chattelship. 
 
 It has been a long conflict in this world of ours — an "irrepressi- 
 (221) 
 
222 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 ble conflict," which has at length gathered strength and reached 
 a crisis. The wise and patriotic framers of our Constitution felt 
 the incongruity of incorporating a system of human bondage into 
 an instrument which should stand before the world as the magna 
 charta of our liberties. Yet, in the hope of its early extinction, 
 they extended to it a present toleration, contemplating it as an 
 existing evil, to be tolerated only till it could be peaceably 
 terminated. Hence the " compromises of the Constitution." The 
 northern portion of the original confederacy continued to treat 
 the institution of Slavery as the framers of the Constitution evi- 
 dently intended it should be treated, and consequently State after 
 State gradually terminated the relation till at length all these States 
 became free ; and having tried the experiment, first of slavery, 
 and since of freedom, found the last state better than the first. 
 The southern portion of the confederacy pursued an opposite 
 course, and established and perpetuated slavery. 
 
 These two antagonistic elements have been in active conflict 
 (though suppressed), and gathering strength for more than four 
 score years, and have now burst forth into open hostility. The 
 one strikes for freedom ; the other wages an uncompromising war 
 for the extension and perpetuation of slavery. For a long time 
 it was a war of opinion, of the ballot-box, of the pulpit and the 
 rostrum. At length the appeal is made to the sword ; and we 
 wait in awful suspense the result. Each contending party, con- 
 fidently, appeals to heaven for the justice of their cause. We 
 wait to see whom heaven will favor ; whether the just, the good, 
 the merciful God will smile upon and bless a confederacy con- 
 fessedly founded on negro slavery as its corner-stone ; or whether 
 by giving success to our arms, he will vindicate our cause and 
 establish us such a nation as, in his providence, he indicated he 
 would establi.^h in this Western world. 
 
 If the finger of Providence ever pointed out a land " as the 
 
TREE OF LIBERTY. 223 
 
 land of the free and the home of the brave," it was the United 
 States of America. Early in our national existence was the tree 
 of Liberty planted upon this soil ; and under its shadow have 
 sprung up and grown all those civil and religious institutions 
 which had made our land the glory and en\y of all land?. But 
 engrafted on this sightly tree was a bitter stock, whicii has borne 
 nought but a bitter fruit. That stock was African slavery — per- 
 mitted, as we said, by the wise and patriotic framers of our Con- 
 stitution, but cordially adopted, cherished and perpetuated by all 
 the Southern portion of our confederacy, until it threatened to 
 overtop the whole tree and to blast its entire fruit. 
 
 The North, though slow to believe and slower to act, were at 
 length aroused to withstand the steady determined and persever- 
 ing encroachments of the South ; and the South were yet more 
 determinedly aroused for the defense ef their darling institution, 
 and lor its extension and nationalization. Apprehen.-ions for 
 the security and the perpetuation of slavery, arising from the 
 more determined conviction of the North, and an equally strong 
 conviction on the part of the whole civilized world that every 
 system of human bondage ought to be done away, gradually led, 
 not only to drawing tighter the bonds of the system, and of adopt- 
 ing a course of strong justification of the system, making that to 
 be a good which they once conceded to be an evil, but the same 
 apprehensions, united with a strong self-interest and a feudal pride, 
 rapidly fostered a sentiment of hostility to the North. 
 
 The agitating process produced the general conviction through- 
 out the entire South, that the institution of slavery was no longer 
 secure in the hands of men who recognized neither its divine 
 right, nor its economic or humane policy. Hence it had become 
 a necessity, with all such as felt slavery to be with them a neces- 
 sity, that the administrative power of our government should he 
 in their hands. They did not feel that their institutions were 
 
224 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 secure in any other hands. Such a feeling has in a measure 
 prevailed at the South from the beginning, but it has from year 
 to year gained strength, till at length it is demonstrated in an 
 open resistance to the ballot-box, and we are plunged into a dire- 
 ful war because a fair majority declared in favor of a Northern 
 President. Of the seventy-two years which has elapsed from the 
 inauguration of George Washington, first President of these United 
 States, in 1789, to the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, in 1861 
 Southern men had occupied the Presidential chair fifty-two 
 years.* And not even this undue proportion measures the share 
 of governmental power and patronage, which, in other respects, 
 have been accorded to Southern men. Such undue balance of 
 power in their own favor have they deemed it needful that they 
 should hold in the halls of our National Legislature and in the 
 Presidential Mansion in order to preserve intact and inviolable 
 the peculiar institutions of the South. 
 
 But even this would no longer do. The opposing tide from 
 the North, backed by the united sentiment of the whole civilized 
 world, still rolled on. It seemed to carry in it the portentous de- 
 cree of universal emancipation. And it must and it should be 
 resisted. And as no other government on earth would lend its 
 support to the system, the Government of the United States 
 should. Hence the uncompromising determination to force our 
 own government to a virtual nationalization of Slavery. And 
 hence the necessity felt that the friends and supporters of Slavery 
 should hold the government of the country at their own control. 
 Identified as they have chosen to make the institution with their 
 
 * And we must not overlook the fact here, that of the five Northern men who have 
 occupied the White House during the twenty years in question, two or three of them 
 were but " Northern men with Southern principles," or proclivities, extending an unduly 
 liberal patronage to the South. Indeed we are not quite sure of the loyalty of any but 
 the two Adamses, though sure that the last of these Northern incumbents of the chair 
 was as arch a traitor as ever escaped hemp. 
 
THE WAR OF 1861. 225 
 
 very social and civil existence, the wielding the powers of govern- 
 ment becomes a matter of life or death. When, four years previ- 
 ous to the late Presidential election, a strong apprehension existed 
 that the sceptre might pass from the hands of the Southern Oli- 
 garchy, there was a determination to resist scarcely less marked 
 than at present. Had the election terminated in the choice of 
 the non-slaveholding candidate, war was then equally inevitable. 
 Under another like contingency war has come — ^but with a four 
 years' accumulated vengeance. 
 
 It is a war for power ; generally for the love of powpr, and 
 because men, inured to despotic rule in their social and domestic 
 relations, have a feeling that they are the most suitable if not the 
 legitimate rulers of the nation ; but, specifically, it is a war to 
 secure the prestige of American Slavery. 
 
 It is a war, not against the form of Republicanism, but against 
 its very soul and spirit. And it is waged on the part of the in- 
 surgents with an uncompromising determination and virulence, 
 and an unscrupulousness, which seem to proclaim " rule or ruin " 
 to our whole land. Appearances at present seem to force upon 
 us the conclusion that the war shall settle the long vexed question 
 of slavery or no slavery, through the length and breadth of our 
 land. There is indeed a prevailing conviction on the one hand, 
 and a fearful foreboding on the other, that the war now so fear- 
 fully raging shall strike the death-blow to the last great system 
 of human bondage which now afflicts our world. 
 
 The present war is the great conflict of eighteen hundred 
 and sixty-one. With so wonderful acceleration do events now 
 hasten on the great and final consummation of the Divine pur- 
 poses among men and nations, that each revolving year presents 
 some great decisive conflict, and wins some signal victory for 
 truth and righteousness. Civil despotism is overcome; or Papal 
 Rome is cast into the crucible of war and her dross burnt out ; 
 15 
 
226 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 or Pagan Idolatry is put on its last trial, and its fate decided on 
 the battle-field. And finally, in the present war, the last great 
 scheme of human bondage is summoned to answer before the 
 high tribunal of justice and humanity, for its long-protracted 
 and relentless depredations on human rights and all the dearest 
 interests of man. Every dictate and prerogative of Christianity 
 declares man to be free. Every step in the progress of the 
 light and liberty which distinguishes the middle of the nine- 
 teenth century from the darkest period of the dark ages, 
 demands that man, of whatever nation, lineage or color, shall 
 own in fee-simple both his body and his soul. Our Declaration 
 of Independence proclaims the right of every man to life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness ; and to all this the spirit of our 
 age most unhesitatingly responds a long amen. 
 
 Our present conflict is eminently a war for human freedom ; 
 for Republicanism in the purest form it has ever yet been able 
 to exist ; for the emancipation of man from the thraldom of his 
 fellow-man. It is the last great blow struck for liberty. If 
 successful, it shall proclaim liberty to the captives, and the open- 
 ing of the prison to them that are bound. If unsuccessful ; if 
 they who offer to the world as a " model Republic " for the 
 times — a Republic founded on negro slavery as its corner-stone 
 — shall succeed, then we are thrown back into a barbarous age ; 
 the tide of human progress is arrested and turned back a 
 century, and hopelessly may we look soon again to see the 
 fair form of Liberty rise and attain its present stately pro- 
 portions. 
 
 And what would the nations of the earth say — those nations, 
 and their potentates and rulers, who have looked on with evil 
 eye and predicted, and more hoped than predicted, our downfall ? 
 Shall they hold us in derision, and rejoice over the downfall of 
 liberty as fallen to rise no more ? Shall they rejoice over her, 
 
WHAT WE MAY EXPECT. 227 
 
 and make merry and send gifts one to another, because she that 
 tormented them is no more ? 
 
 Such being the cause, and such the character of the war which 
 now afflicts our land, we come to inquire after the probable 
 results — what may we expect God will bring out of this war ? 
 
 War is one of the dread agencies of 'Providence, used more 
 commonly than any other form of agency, to break down and 
 remove out of the way the great hindrances to human progress. 
 It is the millstone more usually employed to grind to powder 
 the great systems, organizations, or confederacies, which the 
 arch enemy of man erects as the stronghold of his empire. And 
 we may expect to find that all wars, but more especially modem 
 wars, are more or less directly overruled for such a purpose. 
 What, then, may we expect as the issue of the present war ? 
 
 1. We may expect an expensive war, possibly a protracted 
 war, and certainly a war that shall sorely afflict us. As a nation 
 we have grievously sinned. Our pride and extravagance ; our 
 Sabbath-breaking and intemperance ; our ingratitude and gen- 
 eral forgetfulness of God, and, more especially perhaps in the 
 present case, our past complicity with the system of human 
 bondage, which has at length cried to heaven for righteous ret- 
 ribution, have come up in remembrance before a righteous God, 
 and we must not think a strange thing has happened, if God 
 should reward us according to our doings. In all the afflictions 
 which an expensive and bloody war shall bring upon us, we 
 only recognize the righteous judgment of God. And we need 
 not expect this war shall close till we shall be thoroughly 
 purged from our national and social sins. God will turn away 
 his wrath from us, when, having forsaken our sins, we with 
 repentance and contrition turn unto him. 
 
 God hath dealt so with no other people. He hath made us 
 his modern Israel — hath seemed to choose us as a peculiar 
 
228 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 people — hath made his goodness to pass before us as he did to 
 his Israel of old; and yet in many respects, more abundantly. 
 In our origin, and growth, and rapid maturity, we most distinctly 
 discern the mighty hand of our God. But our ingratitude and 
 forgetfulness of God, and especially our failure to stand up 
 before the nations of the earth as a model nation, to exhibit to 
 them the beauty and glory of free institutions — of a self-govern- 
 ed people — a great moral fountain whose fertilizing streams 
 should go out to bless a desert world ; these and a long list of 
 our national sins, have provoked our Lord and King to subject 
 us to his chastening hand. But he has not cast us off. If we 
 turn unto him he will turn unto us, and again make his face to 
 shine upon us. He will not cast off his people, nor give up the 
 heritage, which he has cherished and watched over with such 
 parental tenderness and care, to spoiling and final desolation. 
 Yet he may afflict us still more severely ; for deeply indeed 
 have we been compromised in the sin that now makes us mourn. 
 Our statesmen, our army and navy, our ships and capital, have 
 all done homage to the great Moloch of our nation ; and now 
 we are made to participate in the awful retribution that has 
 overtaken us. We are made to drink to the dregs the bitter 
 cup we had mingled with our hands. This we may expect as 
 the first and most obvious result of our present conflict. And 
 we may be yet more sorely afflicted. But though cast down 
 and sorely chastened, we shall not be destroyed. For, 
 
 2. We may expect a final victory. Yet this expectation we 
 do not predicate on the fact that, in money and men, and in all 
 the munitions and resources of war, we have the advantage of 
 our enemy, but on the confidence that, with all our sins and ill- 
 deserts, God is on our side. They that have risen up against 
 us, fight that they may, without let or hindrance, bind the yoke 
 on the oppressed and never let them go free. We, on the other 
 
ENCOURAGEMENT. 229 
 
 hand, have raised the banner of freedom. It is a strike for 
 liberty and the institutions of our Puritan fathers ; and our 
 confidence is that, however dark the cloud that overcasts our 
 hemisphere may be — however fierce the assaults by which these 
 dearest interests may be assailed, they can never be destroyed. 
 They are interests dear to humanity — dear to God. And what- 
 ever checks or seeming retrogressions may, from time to time, 
 betide, God and humanity will be sure to vindicate these in- 
 terests. They are vital to human progress — essential to the 
 carrying out of the gracious purposes of heaven towards our 
 degenerate world. 
 
 We have only to cleave to these interests, and heaven is 
 surely on our side and we cannot fail. 
 
 A brief retrospect of our past providential history is full of 
 encouragement here. The time of the first settlement of this 
 country ; the character of the early settlers ; the peculiar train- 
 ing they had for their mission in the new world ; the peculiar 
 institutions which they brought with them and established here ; 
 the peculiar prosperity which has attended these institutions ; 
 the great success and efficiency which has here been given to 
 the Puritanical element and AtoJ^o-Saxon type of our people ; — 
 these are some of the features in our history which encourage 
 the hope, and give unfailing confidence that, however sorely we 
 may first be scourged for our sins, we shall not be overcome or 
 destroyed. We are sure that heaven is on the side of the 
 principles and institutions which brought our fathers to this 
 land, and which have had the smiles of heaven from the 
 beginning of our national existence. And we cannot for a 
 moment entertain a doubt that what has been so propitiously 
 begun and so fai* prosperously conducted, shall go on to its glo- 
 rious completion. Progress is the law of Heaven ; and strange 
 indeed would it be if the wheels are now to be stopped and 
 
230 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 rolled back into the dark ages ; if the great, the modern idea of 
 self-government is to be exploded ; Republicanism to prove a 
 myth ; feudalism to be restored and perpetuated ; the African 
 slave-trade reopened in all the horrors of that odious traffic, and 
 men again barter in the souls and bodies of their fellow-men :— r- 
 if such things are to be ; if such a melancholy retrogression is 
 to blight and turn back all that modern enterprise and improve- 
 ment have done, and all that the most sanguine friends of 
 progress have predicted and hoped for, then may we expect 
 failure in our present struggle. Our confidence of final victory 
 is predicated on the assurance we feel that God is just, and 
 therefore will not allow oppression to riot forever ; that God is 
 the friend of freedom, of light, of progress, and therefore he 
 will not retrace his stately steppings, and allow the sad retro- 
 gression which the triumphing of our enemies would entail on 
 the world for ages to come. 
 
 That we have formed a just estimate of the feelings of the 
 South on the subject of social and civil freedom ; that such are 
 their prevailing sentiments, and such their determination and 
 real design in waging a ruthless war against us, and such our 
 hopes or fears in victory or defeat — at least that the views above 
 expressed harmonize with those of persons who have had ample 
 opportunities to form a just judgment, we take the liberty to 
 transcribe a paragraph or two, from a writer w^ho seems to know 
 whereof he affirms, and who affirms what tallies but too well 
 with what we know from a great variety of other sources. The 
 article from which we copy is entitled " The Spirit of the 
 South," and headed with a sentence from a Southern paper, in 
 these words : 
 
 ■' * We claim to be the superiors of the Northmen in every respect, and 
 we are.' — Augusta {Ga.) Chronicle and Sentinel, Aug. 18. 
 
FEELINGS OF THE SOUTH. 231 
 
 " Allow an old subscriber to your paper, and a son of a 
 soldier of the Revolution, to state two reminiscences that came 
 under his own observation, for the consideration of those who 
 are aiding the insurgents in this wicked rebellion by their cry 
 for ' peace ! ' 
 
 "• In the fall of 1839, twenty-two years ago, the writer returned 
 to this country from Europe. During his residence abroad, he 
 made the acquaintance of several gentlemen from the South. 
 Soon after his return to America, he was present at a large 
 dinner party which was composed almost altogether of Southern 
 gentlemen, many of whom, at the time, were high in office under 
 the General Government. The conversation was mostly on 
 Southern men and Southern matters ; . and, after a circulation 
 of the wine, the conversation became quite free and outspoken, 
 and made such an impression on my Northern ears, that its 
 nature has been distinctly remembered ever since. It was on 
 the subject of the government of our country, and on the supe- 
 riority of the Southern over the Northern people! It was 
 emphatically declared by these gentlemen, that ' no man born 
 north of Mason's and Dixon's line ' should ever have any thing 
 to do with the government of the United States ; or should hold, 
 under governnient, any office of trust or importance. And it 
 was as emphatically declared that an arrangement would be 
 brouglit about, sooner or later, w^lien the entire government of 
 these United States should be in the hands of the men of the 
 South — as they only were the race par excellence fitted to 
 govern the nation ! They claimed then, as now, * to be the 
 superiors of the Northmen in every respect,' and that the people 
 of the North must, and should be, under the dominion of the 
 men of the South ! 
 
 " The other reminiscence is of more recent date. Twenty-one 
 years later — in August, 1860— the writer met, at the White 
 
232 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Sulphur Springs, in Virginia, several hundred of the very men, 
 many of whom are now among the leaders, and who were the 
 fomenters of this wicked rebellion. There were present some 
 of the leading men from every one of the Slave States. Their 
 meeting at this time was for the purpose of planning this rebel- 
 lion ; and they were then as much determined on breaking up 
 the Union as they have ever been at any time since. The 
 writer knew personally many of these men, and the declaration 
 was made to him repeatedly, that if the ' Black Republicans 
 should elect any man as President, the Union would be dissolv- 
 ed.* Governor Letcher, of Virginia, was there, and on that 
 occasion reviewed the first volunteer company which was formed 
 at Richmond, and, in addressing this company of F. F. V.'s, the 
 writer heard him make this declaration : ' You, young gentle- 
 men, are the nucleus of five hundred thousand Southern men, 
 who will yet be called together to repel the invasion of the Black 
 Republicans of the North ! * 
 
 " These statements are given to show what we have long 
 believed to be true — that the plotters in the present outrageous 
 rebellion have been for more than a quarter of a century matur- 
 ing their plans to destroy this government ; and that, during this 
 time, they have never for one moment intended, nor do they now 
 intend, to listen to any terms of ' peace ' or of * compromise,' 
 short of the entire subjugation of the North to their will ! No, 
 gentlemen of the * white feather* * peace * negotiators ! Know, 
 assuredly, that one of two conditions must take place in our 
 country — the North must conquer the South, the rebellion must 
 he ' crushed out ; ' or, we and our children must take our position 
 only one degree above the slave, and he prepared to hoe the corn 
 of our masters ! 
 
 " A Son of One of the Soldiers of the Revolution." 
 
REPUBLICANISM ON ITS TRIAL. 233 
 
 Because we believe God is the friend and abettor of liberty, 
 the friend and avenger of the oppressed ; because we believe 
 he will finish in our country the work he so nobly begun, and 
 which, without let or hindrance, he has thus far so effectively 
 carried on up to the present day, we believe the final victory 
 shall be ours. 
 
 3. We expect as another issue of the present war, the final 
 triumph of free principles — a signal vindication of Republican- 
 ism — and the unloosing of every yoke and letting the captives 
 go free. 
 
 Republicanism is now on its trial. The lovers of liberty the 
 world over — all who expect that such a boon shall yet be the 
 inheritance of man, and that the nations that have heretofore sat 
 in darkness and in the shadow of civil despotism, and sighed for 
 deliverance, shall see light — and all, wherever found, who hope 
 yet to taste the sweets of freedom and to repose under the 
 shadow of her wings, look on, with irrepressible anxiety, to see 
 how the battle will go with us. Shall we succeed and liberty 
 triumph ; or shall the rising hope of millions set in darkness to 
 rise no more ? Must they yield in despair that such an heritage 
 shall ever be realized on the earth ? The war now so fiercely 
 waged, is as truly a deadly blow aimed against civil liberty, as 
 it is against the personal liberty of the four millions of colored 
 men already held in bondage. And as the American Republic 
 has stood before the world as neai'ly the sole representative of 
 civil liberty, we may expect the nations of the earth will regard 
 our success or failure in the present conflict as decisive of the fate 
 of liberty for years to come, and perhaps forever. If self-gov- 
 ernment cannot be maintained under the favoring auspices of its 
 present existence, we should seem to look in vain for it else- 
 where. 
 
 But who for a moment will believe that a retrogression in 
 
234 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 human affairs so disastrous and disheartening as the one imphed 
 in our failure in the present struggle, awaits our world? Most 
 wistfully do the friends of freedom throughout the world, now 
 hope for and expect a signal triumph of free principles — a mani- 
 fest vindication of civil liberty. 
 
 And not only this ; but there is an equally confident expecta- 
 tion that the present war shall not end but in the entire eman- 
 cipation of our whole enslaved population. Though not entered 
 upon by our government with such an intent, and though there 
 be still the greatest reluctance on the part of both the govern- 
 ment and people of the North to make the war a war of eman- 
 cipation, yet the conviction is every where and every day 
 strangely gathering strength that it will be so ; that it must be 
 so ; that heaven has decreed it, therefore it must be so. In every 
 form and mode, unmistakable utterance is given to the feeling 
 that the day of redemption to our captives draws nigh ; the year 
 of Jubilee is at hand. Thousands who were silent a few weeks 
 since, now give unequivocal expression to the sentiment in 
 question. A writer this very day, signing himself " A Veteran 
 Observer," may be taken as a representative of the sentiment. 
 " We may dodge the point," he says, " as much as we can, but 
 slavery is the cause of the war, and the war will be the com- 
 mencement de la fin to slavery. The time has come when the 
 problem of the day, beyond all others, will be : ' What shall we 
 do with the negro?' Any general, senator or editor who tells 
 you this is not the case, may be written down either a blockhead 
 or a hypocrite." 
 
 That the war on the part of our assailants means the defense, 
 the sure establishment and the perpetuation of Slavery in our 
 land, and the no distant reopening of the slave-trade, there can 
 be no doubt, and consequently success on their part, means the 
 compassing of those ends. And so, we believe success on our 
 
HOW THE ENGLISH PEOPLE FEEL. 235 
 
 part will finally mean universal emancipation ; and consequently 
 the utter and final extinguishment of that odious trafiic. The 
 mighty of God shall do it. 
 
 To show that we have not mistaken the designs of our Enemy 
 in this conflict — at least that we are by no means alone in enter- 
 taining such convictions, we may quote the opinions of others. 
 An intelligent observer of the great events now transpiring in 
 our nation says : 
 
 " To a looker on, in the extreme South, this rebellion has so 
 many curious phases, it may be a matter of interest to the inquir- 
 ing mind to analyze the mutiny in all of its forms, throughout the 
 Southern States. 
 
 "It is, doubtless, a well understood fact, that the perpetuation 
 of Slavery, and the revival of the slave-trade, were the chief in- 
 centives to this unholy revolt against the laws of civilization. It 
 is a fact easily susceptible of proof, that with the first outbreak 
 of this revolt, the slave-trade was reopened. Aye, notwitlistand- 
 ing the cunningly devised clause in the rebel constitution — de- 
 vised for the purpose of deceiving Europe — notwithstanding that 
 clause, the slave-trade was reopened, by the equipment of many 
 vessels for the coast of Africa, some of which, it is believed, have 
 landed cargoes on the Southern coast, recently.'* 
 
 Or would we know how the great philanthropic heart of Eng- 
 land pulsates on this subject — not how the aristocracy, or the 
 cotton-spinning oligarchy, or the govej-nment feel, but how the 
 mass of the people feel — what the popular voice of philanthro- 
 pists and Christians is, we may quote a paragraph from the British 
 Standard, of London. While the editor doubts our ability to 
 cope with the South in arms, he does not conceal his horror of 
 an empire founded on slavery. The reader will see that " he 
 grows quite sulphury over the fate which he thinks the chief con- 
 spirator richly merits." 
 
236 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 We quote the following rather to show that the heart and con- 
 science of modern Philanthropy, and the living spirit of Reform, 
 have decreed the downfall of the last great system of human servi- 
 tude which yet mars the fair face of modern civilization. If the 
 language is caustic it is not the less emphatic. The Standard says : 
 
 " Let none of our friends think that in thus speaking (express- 
 ing a fear that the Government cannot put down the rebellion), 
 the wdsh is father to the thought ; nothing can be more contrary 
 to the fact. Our aversion to the Rebels, their cause, and their 
 object, is intense, extreme, unutterable. They have avowed their 
 purpose, in the face of the world, to found an Empire upon Slavery. 
 Ten thousand execrations on the hideous project ! The thing is 
 of Hell, and worthy of its origin ! We hold President Davis to 
 be vicegerent of Beelzebub ! If he succeed in his unholy enter- 
 prise. Slavery may exist for centuries in the States of the South ; 
 and not only so, but overrun the entire territory of South America, 
 after the way shall have been cleared for it by the sword. Slave- 
 breeding will go on as now, but that will not suffice ; and to meet 
 the necessities of the Satanic Confederation, the slave-trade will 
 once more be reopened with all its horrors in Africa, on the JVIiddle 
 Passage, and in the New World ! 
 
 " These are the grounds on which we deprecate the success of 
 the Rebel arms, and invoke defeat, confusion and destruction on 
 the Rebel Chief, his Congress, and his Army, while we pray and 
 agonize for universal triumph to President Lincoln. 
 
 " Such are our desires ; but, alas ! fear preponderates over hope. 
 Our sole remaining consolation arises from the fact that the Lord 
 God Omnipotent reigneth ! In season due, He will avenge the 
 oppressed and break in pieces the oppressor." 
 
 And not only at home and abroad has a strong impression 
 possessed the mind of the friends of freedom that the day of 
 general emancipation is at hand — that the present war shall secure 
 
FURTHER EXPECTATIONS. 237 
 
 a consummation so devoutly to be wished ; and are we mistaken 
 in our belief that there is also, throughout the dark domains of 
 Slavery itself, the same longing hope and confident expectation 
 that the tocsin of freedom shall soon be heard through all their 
 fields and cabins, and the long oppressed tribes shall rejoice that 
 the day of their redemption has at length come ? 
 
 How these tilings shall be we may not be prepared to explain ; 
 but that such is the purpose of God in the war, and that such 
 shall be the result to the slave, we can entertain little doubt. 
 Whatever disasters may first betide and try our fiaith, and humble 
 our pride, and rebuke our extravagance and self-dependence and 
 boasting, we fully believe the issue of the war will be such as 
 abundantly to vindicate, in the eyes of the world, the strength, 
 stability and superiority of our free institutions, and to proclaim 
 a year of Jubilee to all that are still bound. 
 
 4. And yet more than this do we expect as an issue of the 
 war. We look that it shall inaugurate a new era of development 
 in connection with the whole Africa race. The enslavement and 
 general debasement of that race is one of the great facts of history. 
 Great results have already been brought out of it. And what 
 has been is, probably, but the beginning of the end. God*s de- 
 signs are but beginning to be developed in connection with that 
 race. So important an item, as their singular transfer to, and 
 their long bondage in America, cannot but have a connection 
 with their future history of stupendous interest. What it shall 
 be we can scarcely more than conjecture. The shrewd observer 
 of human affairs 3,300 years ago, might have predicted with some 
 degree of certainty, from the peculiar dealings of Providence in 
 conveying the children of Israel into Egypt, subjecting them to 
 bondage there, giving them the peculiar training and experience 
 which they were made there to acquire ; from the deliverances 
 he wrought for them in the land of Ham, and the judgments he 
 
238 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 inflicted on their enemies and oppressors ; from these things it 
 might have been predicted that the future history of that people 
 would be signalized in a manner corresponding to their singular 
 training. This is precisely what we expect, at least of that por- 
 tion of the African race which has served in " durance vile " in 
 America. Their bondage here has been their school-master, to 
 train theni for the position they are yet to occupy among the nations 
 of the earth — for their nationality wherever that shall be ; and 
 to train them for the Church and the peculiar type of Christianity 
 and civilization which they are to illustrate. No people of the 
 present day present a more interesting study for the philosophic 
 historian, and none present a more interesting field for honest 
 conjecture. 
 
 The providential history of the children of Ham has, from 
 the first, been a very singular one. God in the beginning chose 
 the seed of Shem as the favored race, where he would choose 
 his Church and place his name, and whom he would first use as 
 his instruments in carrying out his purpose on the earth, and 
 through whom religion, and civilization, and all human progress 
 should have their first development. The Patriarchal and 
 Mosaic dispensations were confined very much to the race of 
 Shem. And Christ came of the same race. But with the 
 fading away of the glory of the Jewish Church and nation, and 
 the introduction of Christianity into the world, the sceptre 
 passed from the descendants of Shem to those of Japhet, and 
 it is through this race that, for nearly two thousand years, 
 religion and liberty, intelligence and human progress in general, 
 have, from generation to generation, grown and matured. And 
 poor Ham has, all these long centuries," been made the servant 
 of servants. Abused, debased and made the prey of the worst 
 passions of man, he has sorely suffered the malediction of 
 heaven, doubly intensified by the malediction of man. 
 
RELIGIOUS INSTINCT OF THE NEGRO. 239 
 
 The descendants of Ham, as represented by present African 
 races, have seemed, in the great army of the King, to be kept 
 as a reserved corps. No conspicuous part have they yet taken 
 on the great battle-field of human advancement. Ever and anon 
 has African intellect, or skill or bravery, risen above the low 
 lever of African degradation, towering aloft and yielding in 
 eminence to the capabilities of no other race — just enough to 
 vindicate to the world their real, though for the most part latent 
 capabilities, but not enough to serve their turn in the great mis- 
 sion of life. 
 
 The query now is, shall not the reserve yet be brought up — 
 brought upon the gi-eat field of human activity, and act a part 
 in the last great drama ? — a part not the less conspicuous, not the 
 less eflective and honorable in the eyes of the great Captain and 
 of the world, than his elder brethren have acted. We think so ; 
 and we think we need not be careful to give but a single reason 
 for such a belief And that reason is, that God is unfailingly 
 and forever the friend of the oppressed. On no other principle 
 of the Divine government can we rely with a positive certainty. 
 He wiil take the part of the down-trodden and oppressed, and 
 break the arm of the oppressor. Yet were we to assign another 
 reason, it would be the peculiar susceptibilities of African races, 
 of a higher type of Christianity, and, perhaps, of civilization than 
 the world has yet witnessed. 
 
 The religious instinct of the Negro is every where remarkable. 
 He seizes the good seed of the word with an avidity common to 
 no other race ; and his rude soul offers a ready soil to its accept- 
 ance. As in coming ages the spirituality of our Religion shall 
 become yet more developed, the negro races, if we mistake not, 
 will be found the happiest mediums of its exhibition. Their 
 moral susceptibilities, or their susceptibilities of exemplifying the 
 purely moral elements of our Religion, seem quite peculiar to 
 
240 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 themselves. There is, in the religion of the negro, a simplicity, 
 a pathos, an absorption, a lifting up of the soul to God, a bring- 
 ing of heaven and earth to meet, which we discover in the 
 religion of no other people. They will understand what I mean 
 better than I have been able to express it, who have had the 
 privilege to join in their worship, and especially to lift the heart 
 in the sacred song, in some colored church at the South. Such 
 a scene not only illustrates the point in question — the suscepti- 
 bilities of the negro for a higher order of spiritual worship, and 
 a religion of a type better suited to that future and higher con- 
 dition of Christianity which we hope and pray for — but it brings 
 to our minds a delightful evidence of the great condescending 
 love of Grod, in vouchsafing to them so richly of heaven's treas- 
 ures, as a compensation, to the lowly and humble, to the outcast 
 and down-trodden. 
 
 But it was to the other reason that we gave the precedence. 
 The first and the chief ground of hope we find is in the long, 
 low and extreme oppression of the African. Herein they have 
 the unfailing promise of God, the guarantee of heaven, that the 
 down-trodden shall yet sit in the high places of the earth. God 
 will surely lift up the heads that hang down ; " give them rule 
 over them that hated them," and " reward them double " for all 
 the dishonor which has been put upon them. God will surely 
 take the part of the oppressed, and put to shame the pride of the 
 oppressor. 
 
 5. There is a wide-spread conviction in the minds of reflecting 
 people in all parts of our land, that the present war shall prove 
 a gi'eat moral agency for the advancement of the higher interests 
 of our nation — the interests of the Church and of a pure Religion. 
 We have great confidence in these presentiments, or general ex- 
 pectations among men. They seem but the foreshadowing of the 
 things which are about to transpire. It is a revelation from on 
 
PRESENTIMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS. 241 
 
 high, an inspiration of the Almighty, which, in a way we cannot 
 account for, takes possession of the mind and creates a coniSdent 
 expectation of the cpming event. Such a feeling in relation to 
 the moral results which shall follow the present war is already 
 finding expression in every part of our land. We may take the 
 following as examples of such a persuasion, or presentiment. 
 Writing from Ohio, one says : 
 
 " It is worthy of note, that Christians almost universally ex- 
 press the conviction, that God is about to work a great work in 
 our land, for the vindication of his power and the advancement 
 of Christ's kingdom. There is no complaint, no murmuring at 
 the stagnation of business and the hard times, but on the con- 
 trary, a quiet disposition to * stand still and see the salvation of 
 God.' 
 
 " When I remember what blessings have followed some of the 
 most grievous chastisements with which God has afiiicted his 
 people, I cannot but hope that, notwithstanding the portentous 
 appearances, God has great things in store for his people. If 
 the Church of Christ shall be found in her lot and place, near 
 the mercy-seat, I cannot but hope that, although the heavens 
 blacken, the thunder mutters and the lightnings flash, yet, in due 
 time the rain — ^the refreshing rain of righteousness — will fall." 
 
 Another, writing from Pennsylvania, utters a similar senti- 
 ment, in expressions like these : 
 
 " This war is but the work of the Lord. He has this nation 
 in the crucible of affliction, to burn up the dross. If I was ever 
 thankful for any thing, it is for this ; and my prayer is, that the 
 fires may not cease to burn until the gold of this nation shine in 
 righteousness, clear and bright, reflecting the image of our 
 Saviour. I am willing to suffer with the people all that may 
 be necessary to this end. Nay, it would be a pleasure, if it were 
 necessary, for me to pour out my blood, with our noble EUs- 
 16 
 
242 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 worth, to sustain our government, and our much loved country. 
 I do hope our government will not draw back — I believe it will 
 not. God is in this work." 
 
 We await the issue with a solemn awe, and yet with a confi- 
 dent hope. The cloud through which we are passing may 
 become yet darker. The thunders may roll and the lightnings 
 play yet more terrifically, yet our confidence wavers not; the 
 end shall be well. It is but another of those great and terrific 
 moral earthquakes which ever and anon shake terribly the 
 earth. It is a thunder-storm which for the moment shrouds 
 the earth in darkness and portends only desolation ; but as the 
 storm soon passes away and the sun reappears with healing in 
 his beams, and the earth smiles with new beauty and fertility, 
 so, in like manner, we contemplate the passing away of the 
 present fearful crisis. It is one of the last mighty strides of 
 Providence towards the goal of humanity's final and high 
 destiny. 
 
 A few more such strides, a few more such terrific struggles 
 and travail-pains among the nations ; a few more such convul- 
 sions and revolutions, that shall break to pieces and destroy 
 what remains of the inveterate and time-honored systems and 
 confederations of sin and Satan, and the friends of freedom may 
 then lift up their heads and rejoice, for their redemption draweth 
 nigh. The day of vengeance has always preceded and 
 
 BEEN preparatory TO THE YEAR OP THE REDEEMED. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Scripture view ; or several Scripture representations of the Great 
 
 Conflict. 
 
 Having in previous chapters shown that the characteristics of 
 our age indicate the no distant approach of the final and universal 
 triumph of the Church, preceded by a great and terrible conflict, 
 it remains now, that, in confirmation of the foregoing views, we 
 should present the Scripture argument ; and also the argument 
 derived from the analogy of the Divine mode of working. 
 
 The Scripture view of our subject will occupy our present 
 chapter. 
 
 Were we to divide the eventful history of our race into but 
 three grand periods, iho, first should reach from the fall of man 
 to the establishment of Christ's reign on earth, of a thousand 
 years. This is the empire of sin. The second should be the 
 '* thousand year's reign," the conflict still going on, yet righteous- 
 ness, during this indefinitely long period, being in the ascendant. 
 The third, after a short interval in which Satan shall be loosed 
 for a little season, shall be the final, complete and eternal triumph 
 of righteousness, and the final and everlasting overthrow of sin. 
 
 It is the closing scenes of the first of these periods that now 
 claims our attention. And if, as I have endeavored to show, the 
 
 (243) 
 
244 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 events of our times seem to identify them with the period in 
 question, it invests them with a new interest. 
 
 We are not, however, ignorant that it is a favorite theory with 
 some that the Millennial morn has already dawned, and that its 
 consummation will be no more than a continuation and increase 
 of what we already experience. I see gleams of light streaking 
 the eastern horizon, which no doubt are the sure harbingers of 
 the day soon to burst upon us in all its glory. Yet I see a dark 
 and threatening cloud gathering. It increases and spreads itself 
 athwart the whole horizon, and soon will obscure the rising light. 
 Though it may obscure it for a little time, it cannot extinguish 
 it. It shall burst through that cloud, and, scattering the darkness, 
 reveal a glorious day. Everywhere do the sacred writers couple 
 the " year of the redeemed " with the " day of vengeance of our 
 God." When ye shall see " these things " (tribulations and con- 
 flicts, sore as death), then " lift up your heads, ye saints, for 
 your redemption is nigh." 
 
 I shall call attention, first, to a class of scriptures which describe 
 the " great battle " of Gog and Magog : of which we have a full 
 account in the 38th and 39th chapters of Ezekiel, and reiterated 
 and confirmed in the 20th chapter of the Revelation. Gog is 
 believed to designate the king, and Magog the people, who shall 
 make war upon the Church and seem to have overcome her. 
 What people are here intended, seems not easy precisely to de- 
 termine. Nor do I suppose any one people is designated. The 
 prophecy which predicts the invasion of this numerous and mighty 
 host, and their apparent victory, but their final and signal over- 
 throw, commences thus : " Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the 
 chief prince of Meshech and Tubal." 
 
 The word here rendered " chief ^^ is Rosh., which, if taken as a 
 proper name, as many commentators do, is the name of a portion 
 of the Scythians from whom the modem Russians have their 
 
GOG AND MAGOG. 245 
 
 origin. Magog was the son of Japhet, from whom the Scythians 
 are supposed to be derived. Tubal was the fifth son, and Me- 
 shech the sixth son, of Japhet. They are supposed to be the 
 progenitors of the Muscovites, another large portion of the Rus- 
 sian empire. The Tartars, from whom descended the Turks, are 
 of Scythian origin. The Mogul Tartars are to this day called 
 Magog by Arabian writers. The people, therefore, here des- 
 ignated would seem to be (as national localities now are), the 
 Russians, the Turks, the Tartars, and all those vast hordes of 
 Barbarians that inhabit the north of Asia. In ancient times all 
 these would have been called by the comprehensive and indefinite 
 name of Scythians. 
 
 I, therefore, understand the terms Gog and Magog to be general 
 terms, used formerly to denote those hordes of northern Barba- 
 rians that used to make their bloody and desolating incursions on 
 the more civilized portions of the south. Hence these terms 
 come in time to mean any barbarous, cruel, invading army. It 
 is in this sense, I apprehend, that the prophets used the words 
 Gog and Magog, in reference to the enemies of the Church. Sen- 
 nacherib, with his fierce, blood-thirsty army, was the Gog and 
 Magog of that period. The heartless and ferocious Antiochus 
 JEpiphanes, whose whole heart seemed intent on his bloody design 
 of exterminating the people of God and blotting out their name 
 forever, was the Gog and Magog of his dark period. He raised 
 his foot and had well nigh crushed his prey, when a hand from 
 on high snatched them as from the paws of the Lion. In like 
 manner the Romans were the Gog and Magog of that disastrous 
 period, when, in the desti-uction of the Holy City and the over- 
 throw of the Jewish nation, God allowed his elect people to be 
 scourged for their sins. 
 
 These terms are used, alegorically, for any princes or people 
 that set themselves up to oppose the true Church ; and the in- 
 
246 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 stances to which I have alluded, may be taken as primary though 
 not principal fulfilments of those prophecies which predict the 
 general invasion of the Church by some strong, combined and 
 cruel enemy, and as emblematical of that great and final confiict 
 to which our attention is now called. 
 
 The conflict described in Ezekiel, 38th and 39th chapters, is 
 confined " to the loiter days." The substance of the prophetic de- 
 scription is this : that a powerful and fierce army shall be arrayed 
 against the people of God — shall put them in great fear, and well 
 nigh overcome them, yet they shall be signally discomfited by the 
 special interposition of the Almighty. Their defeat is described 
 thus : " My fury," says God, " shall come into my face ; for in 
 my jealousy, and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken (saying), 
 Surely in that day shall there be a great shaking in the land — so 
 that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the 
 beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep on the earth, 
 and all the men that are upon the earth, shall shake at my pres- 
 ence ; and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places 
 shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will 
 call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith 
 the Lord God : every man's sword shall be against his brother. 
 And I will plead against him, with pestilence and with blood; 
 and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many 
 people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, 
 fire and brimstone." Then follows a survey of the battle-field. 
 The weapons of war lie mingled with the dead — shields and buck- 
 lers — bows and arrows — ^hand-staves and spears — cover the wide 
 and bloody arena. For seven years they take no wood out of 
 the field, nor cut down any out of the forests, for they shall bum 
 the weapons for fuel — and seven months shall be occupied in 
 burying the dead bodies, or in gathering up their bleaching bones 
 from off the face of the land. 
 
ASSAULT OF THE ENEMIES OF GODLINESS. 247 
 
 They came as a mighty, vaunting, countless host — they came 
 over the whole land as a cloud, and darkened the whole face of 
 the earth — nothing seemed wanting to ensure them a complete 
 victory — they are about to shout their triumph, when in an un- 
 expected hour pestilence, and the fiery flying dragons of divine 
 judgments come down upon them, and they are as the stubble 
 before the devouring flames. And the " Lord magnifies himself," 
 and makes known " among the nations that he is Lord." 
 
 Here we have, " in the latter days" a great and confederated 
 assault of the enemies of godliness against the true Church, and 
 their final overthrow, and the triumph of the Church. 
 
 There is also a prediction of this same thing, as it seems to me, 
 in Isaiah, 66th chapter, 15th to 24th verses. A very similar scene 
 of conflict is here described with the additional fact, that after the 
 great battle and the temporary overthrow of the righteous, the 
 remnant that shall " escape " shall flee to the Gentiles, to Tar- 
 shish, Pul, and Lud — to Tubal and Javan, and the isles afar off — 
 countries which, in the minds of the ancients, occupied the places 
 of what we term heathen nations — and " they shall declare my 
 glory among the Gentiles." That is, the conflict will become so 
 severe that many will gladly make their escape to the heathen 
 world where they shall preach the good news of the kingdom, and 
 exemplify the glory of the cross, to those who know not God. 
 Their fall shall be the rise of many. 
 
 The result of the great conflict as here described is, first, a great 
 overthrow of the wicked, and, secondly, a great ingathering of the 
 saints. The enemies of the Church are now all prostrate : " And 
 they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that 
 have transgressed against me ; for their worm shall not die, neither 
 shall their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an abhorring to 
 all flesh." The overthrow shall be complete, signal and disgrace- 
 ful in the extreme. But, on the other hand, the people of God 
 
248 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 are strengthened and multitudes of all nations added to their 
 number : " And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering 
 unto the Lord, out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, in 
 litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy moun- 
 tain Jerusalem, saith the Lord." That is, great multitudes of 
 converts shall come from all parts of the world and shall be con- 
 veyed to the Holy City or the central place of worship, by all the 
 facilities which the different modes of conveyance can afford. 
 There seems something here to favor the idea that, during the 
 Messiah's reign of one thousand years, not only the Jews shall 
 occupy the Holy Land, but Jerusalem shall be made a kind of 
 religious capital for the whole world — that not the twelve tribes 
 alone, but all that be the true seed of Abraham or heirs accord- 
 ing to the promise, shall, by their representatives at least, go up 
 to Jerusalem to worship. 
 
 I would next direct attention to the scene as presented in the 
 Revelation given to the disciple at Patmos. Here I would make 
 a remark or two concerning the thrillingly interesting subjects 
 brought before us in that extraordinary portion of the Sacred 
 Volume. Its general subject is the condition of the Churchy in 
 the different ages of the world, up to its final triumph. There 
 are seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vicds of the last plagues. 
 The first, or the seven seals, are taken by the most approved 
 commentators to be a representation of the Church and her per- 
 secutions under the pagan power. The seven trumpets represent 
 the same under the iron rule of Popery and Mohammedanism. 
 And the seven vials, or the seven last plagues, symbolize the 
 destruction of these mighty and long continued antichristian 
 powers. The pouring out of the first four vials, describes the suc- 
 cessive stages of the destruction of these antichristian powers. The 
 fifth and sixth symbolize the final downfall of the Romish and 
 Mohammedan powers. And the seventh, the grand overthrow of 
 
EXTINCTION OF THE TURKISH POWER. 249 
 
 the combined powers of Satan on earth. It is with these three 
 last with which we are at present more particularly concerned. 
 
 ** The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the Beast ; 
 and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their 
 tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven, because 
 of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." 
 " The seat of the beast " — the centre of Papal power, or Rome 
 itself. The proud and cruel, the persecuting and usurping hier- 
 archy of Romanism shall wane more and more, till there shall 
 come some terrible interposition of divine indignation. He will 
 send "darkness" into their kingdom. He will confound their 
 counsels and bring their cunning craftiness to naught. But this 
 shall not bring them to repentance, but shall only the more call 
 forth the venom of sin, and nerve their arm the more madly 
 against the God of heaven — whom they shall more wickedly 
 blaspheme — and " gnaw their tongues for pain." 
 
 Bear in mind now for a moment the state of high excited feel- 
 ing and of mad and irrepressible frenzy into which this portion of 
 the enemies of the Church are now brought by the judgment of 
 Heaven and the insupportable apprehension that their cause is 
 now desperate, and we will turn to the next, or the sixth vial, 
 " And the sixth angel poured out his vial on the great River Eu- 
 phrates, and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the 
 kings of the east might be prepared." 
 
 Here we have the extinction of the Turkish power and the 
 Mohammedan Religion. It is symbolized, as before shown, by 
 the River Euphrates. And the drying up of the waters of that 
 river is an apt illustration of the extinction of that mighty flood 
 of oppression to the true Church. " That the way of the Kings 
 of the East might be prepared " — that the mighty obstacles thrown 
 in the way of the conversion and return to their native land, of 
 the Jews, who, by the special divine favor, are princes of the 
 
250 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 East ; or it may mean that the way for the conversion to Christi- 
 anity of the nations of the east with their nobles and kings, might 
 be prepared. For Mohammedanism is the grand barrier between 
 Paganism and Christianity. 
 
 The Crescent is no doubt waning, and soon to cease to cast its 
 sickly light over the nations. But it is not with its waning, or 
 with the means, or the precise time of its overthrow, that we are 
 at present so much concerned, as with the results of that much-to-be 
 desired catastrophe. We have seen into what a state of demoniac 
 madness the correlative power of the beast was thrown by the many 
 encroachments of the kingdom of light into his dark domains. 
 As soon as he sees his empire in peril he maddens like a chained 
 tiger — " gnawing his tongue for pain " and " blaspheming the God 
 of Heaven." And if you will read on from the 12th verse of 
 Chapter 16th, you will see that the adherents of the Papal Beast 
 are not alone in waging a dreadful warfare against the saints of 
 the Most High. After the drying up of the waters of the Eu- 
 phrates and the consequent ingathering of many eastern nations, 
 and the glorious progress and triumph of Christianity, then shall 
 come the great battle of Armageddon. The vision of the man 
 of Patmos, describing this mighty conflict, was this : " And I saw 
 three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the 
 dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth 
 of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working 
 miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the 
 whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God 
 Almighty. And he gathered them together in a place called in 
 the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." 
 
 Mark here the origin and the character of the hostile invaders. 
 They are all " unclean spirits " — the first is an emanation from 
 the " Dragon," the personification of Paganism ; the second is the 
 embodied spirit of the Beast (or the Papal Power), and the third 
 
THE GREAT BATTLE. 251 
 
 of the False Prophet. An unholy confederacy of these three, 
 it would seem, is to compose that last great enemy against which 
 the Church of Christ is finally to contend. Hitherto the warfare 
 between the powers of hght and of darkness has been carried 
 on sectionally. Formidable divisions of the enemy have from 
 time to time made their deadly assaults, and never are they absent 
 from the field, yet never before have they united their inglorious 
 destinies and fought for the common interests of a sinking cause. 
 It is not said, nor are we to suppose, this combined foe to God 
 and man, that shall wage so fierce and exterminating a war against 
 the saints, shall, inform, be either Pagan, Mohammedan, or Papal. 
 It may, in name and dress, be altogether another thing ; yet it 
 shall possess the spirit of the Dragon, the Beast and the False 
 Prophet. Its spirit shall be a disgusting compound of the abom- 
 inations of Idolatry, of the bigotry and blasphemy of the Papacy, 
 and the delusion, the cruelty and haughtiness of Mohammedanism. 
 It shall be literally an antichristian power — a grand confederacy 
 against a pure Religion. However at variance they may be on 
 other points they shall agree to unite all their powers, and put 
 forth all their fury against the people of the Holy One. That 
 this shall be altogether a conflict with carnal weapons I do not 
 assert. No doubt it will be a spiritual warfare — a war of words 
 and of principles, and opinions such as the world never yet wit- 
 nessed, yet I see not what reason we have to believe it will not 
 be a war of nations and of blood. There is every appearance 
 of it both in the prophecy and in the present signs of the times. 
 The place of this great battle is said to be Armageddon. This 
 is a place in or near the great plain of Esdraelon, not far from 
 Mount Carmel. It had become proverbial as a place of blood 
 and slaughter — more than a Waterloo of modern history — a place 
 of many fights. It was the battle-ground of King Josiah against 
 Pharaoh, King of Egypt — of Gideon with the Midianites — of 
 
252 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Saul with the Philistines — of Judas Maccabeus with Tryphon — 
 and in later times, of the Tartars with the Saracens. Hence 
 the term Armageddon is probably merely a proverbial expression 
 for a great and bloody slaughter, in whatever part of the world 
 it may be. I think, however, there is much which leads to the 
 expectation that this great conflict will be in or near the Holy 
 Land. 
 
 The 15 th verse, which I omitted in the above quotation, con- 
 tains an admonition to all, to be prepared for the great day of 
 trial : " Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, 
 and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his 
 shame." He shall come as he did to vindicate his cause in the 
 overthrow of Jerusalem, unexpectedly. He shall take the world 
 by surprise. The language of warning, therefore, is, " watch, for 
 ye know not in what hour the Son of man will come." Keep 
 your lamps trimmed and burning, for He will come as a thief in 
 the night. 
 
 Let us now turn for a moment to the result of this mighty com- 
 bat. Nothing, as we have seen, can exceed the fierceness of wrath 
 by which the aliens shall be urged on to the battle-field. They 
 gnaw theu' tongues in their rage. They seem now determined 
 to crush their long-hated tormentors and to cast their bonds from 
 them forever. But they know not against whom they contend. 
 The Lord of hosts, the God of armies is there ; and, with all 
 their power and their wrath, with all their vaunting and prowess, 
 they are as chaff before the wind. Their overthrow is described 
 in the pouring out of the next vial. 
 
 " And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air ; and 
 there came a great voice out of heaven, from the throne, saying, 
 It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; 
 and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men 
 were on the face of the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so 
 
DOWNFALL OF GREAT BABYLON. 253 
 
 great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the 
 cities of the nations fell ; and great Babylon came in remem- 
 brance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the 
 fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the 
 mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail 
 out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent ; and men 
 blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail ; for the plague 
 thereof was exceeding great." 
 
 Though highly figurative, yet nothing could be more awfully 
 descriptive of an irrecoverable overthrow. The vial is poured 
 out into the air — on the prince of the power of the air. It is 
 aimed at the very principles and outbreakings of sin. It struck 
 a death-hhw. Angels saw it, and a song of triumph and of praise 
 issued from the Temple above, saying, " It is done ; " the great 
 battle is fought and victory won. And this is echoed back to 
 heaven by nature's spontaneous bursts of joy : — voices and thun- 
 derings and lightnings and a great earthquake. The mystic Bab- 
 ylon fell. It was a great commotion. ** Every island fled away, 
 and the mountains were not found." The whole earth shall be 
 shaken in this mighty convulsion. A dominion of six thousand 
 years shall now be demolished, and on its ruins be established the 
 empire of the Messiah. Men, who shall " blaspheme God," shall 
 still exist, yet they shall not, as now, sit on the high places of the 
 earth. The leviathan shall then have a hook in his nose. 
 
 The seventeenth and eighteenth chapters are taken up in a 
 more detailed account of the great slaughter and of the magnifi- 
 cent victory of the saints, together with the bitter lamentation of 
 the wicked over the downfall of their great Babylon. The nine- 
 teenth chapter begins with a beautiful and sublime ascription of 
 praise to Him who has avenged the cause of his elect — over- 
 thrown the powers of sin and hell and, as the Lamb of God, 
 made ready the Bride for the marriage-supper. " And to her 
 
254 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and 
 white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And 
 he said unto me. Write, Blessed are they which are called unto 
 the marriage-supper of the Lamb." 
 
 The latter part of the nineteenth chapter seems but a prophetic 
 description of the same great conflict which we have seen to be 
 foretold in the sixteenth chapter. He that is called " Faithful 
 and True," whose name is called " the Word of God " — and the 
 ensign of whose authority is written on his vesture and on his 
 thigh. King op kings and Lord op lords, whose eyes are 
 a flaming fire, and on whose head are many crowns, and out of 
 whose mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, he leadeth forth the hosts 
 of heaven. While, at the same time, an angel summons the fowls 
 of the air to come and feast on the flesh of kings, and on the flesh 
 of captains, and the flesh of mighty men. So sudden, so signal 
 and so complete should be the overthrow. And the kings of the 
 earth, with their armies, headed by the beast, make war on him 
 that sitteth on the white horse and on his army — and the result is 
 that they were " cast alive into a lake of fire and brimstone." 
 " And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sitteth 
 on the horse — which sword proceedeth out of his mouth : and all 
 the fowls were filled with their flesh." 
 
 And here we must drop the curtain and leave this most awfully 
 interesting scene. Christ has conquered ; the Church is trium- 
 phant ; the empire of sin is demolished ; angels shout the victory ; 
 hell trembles ; heaven rejoices. 
 
 It behooves us, then, seriously to reflect how puny, how unavail- 
 ing is the rage of man. He may speak great swelling words and 
 mouth the heavens, but his breath is in his nostrils — his arm is in 
 a moment palsied. In vain does he contend with the Almighty. 
 Men may combine their counsels and their might — nations may 
 confederate and speak stout words against the God of heaven — 
 
OUR RESPONSIBILITY. 255 
 
 the heathen may rage, and the kings of the earth set themselves 
 and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and 
 against his anointed — they may defy the majesty on high, and 
 think to cast off his law ; their attempts are but presumption and 
 madness. 
 
 How solemn, then, to occupy, as we now do, a position where, 
 either as a matter of history, present experience or of prophecy, 
 we see the steady, the onward and the irresistible movements of 
 Providence, accelerating as they advance, and drawing along 
 with them events more and more momentous ; and leaving behind 
 them consequences more and more magnificent ; and we ourselves 
 associated with and expected to take a part in the affairs of a 
 period like the present. What a responsibihty rests upon us to 
 live worthy our times ! 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Day of Vengeance and the Year of the Redeemed. 
 
 '' Y6 princes, potentates, and men of war, 
 And naitred heads, associate now yourselves, 
 And be dispersed ; embattle and be broken. 
 Gird on your armor, and be dashed to dust. 
 Take counsel, and it shall be brought to naught. 
 Speak, and it shall not stand." 
 
 Incidentally having alluded to the fact that the sacred writers 
 are wont to speak in the same connection, of the day of the Lord's 
 vengeance on the wicked and the year of the redeemed, or the 
 great and final deliverance of God's people, as contemporaneous 
 events in close juxtaposition, it may seem proper to sustain this 
 position by a reference to a few passages of Scripture. These 
 will go to support the position we have assumed, viz., that the 
 clearing away of the smoke of the great battle-field, shall reveal 
 the dawn of the glorious Millennial morning. The sun of right- 
 eousness shall arise upon the darkest cloud that ever brooded over 
 the face of our sin- smitten earth. The great conflict shall be 
 the dying struggle of the Dragon, the Beast, and the false Prophet. 
 It shall shake terribly the earth, yet shall be the immediate pre- 
 cursor, yea, the efficient agent to bring in that reign of righteous- 
 ness of which we speak. 
 
 I shall call attention to a class of scriptures which describe as 
 (256) 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT BATTLE. 257 
 
 contemporaneous events the day of the Lord's vengeance, and 
 the year of the redeemed. Of the many which might be adduced 
 I shall select but a few. 
 
 The first description of the great battle which I shall cite is 
 taken from the 34th chapter of Isaiah, summoning all the tribes 
 and nations of the earth to come and behold what the Lord hath 
 done. 
 
 " Come near, ye nations, to hear ; and hearken, ye people ; let 
 the earth hear, and all that is therein ; the world and all things 
 that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon 
 all nations, and his fury is upon all their armies ; he hath utterly 
 destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their 
 slain also shall be cast out — the mountains shall be melted with 
 their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and 
 the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll ; and all their 
 host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a 
 falling fig from the fig-tree. For my sword shall be bathed in 
 heaven ; behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the 
 people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled 
 with blood ; for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great 
 slaughter in the land of Idumea. For it is the day of the Lord's 
 vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of 
 Zion." 
 
 What we would have more especially noted here is, that the 
 dreadful conflict described above, and which we verily believe is 
 at hand, is a conflict which, while it shall bring disaster and in- 
 evitable defeat on the aliens, shall end in the triumphant deliv- 
 erance and the final enlargement of the Saints of the Most High 
 God. 
 
 Edom or Idumea, the land of Edom, is used in the passage 
 
 cited, as the prophets are wont to use it, to denote the enemies 
 
 of Zion, or the true Church. Being an ancient, prominent, and 
 17 
 
258 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 inveterate enemy of Israel, it is taken as a representative of 
 Zion's enemies in all after-ages. In its general import it does 
 not seem to differ greatly from that of Gog and Magog. In 
 modern phrase, both may be taken to represent the great modem 
 antichrist, which, after having stood as the enemy of the Church 
 from generation to generation, shall, in some more concentrated 
 form, and in the spirit of a more confirmed and inveterate hos- 
 tility, make war with the saints of the Most High, and overcome 
 and kill them. Bozrah was the chief city of Edom — the Rome 
 of the ancient Church, and a living type of modern Rome. 
 
 But we should quite fail to discover the force of the Prophet's 
 prediction : " My sword shall be bathed in heaven ; behold it shall 
 come down upon Idumea and upon the people of my curse, to 
 judgment ; the sword of the Lord is filled with blood — the Lord 
 hath a sacrifice in Bozrah," unless we admit that the prediction, 
 in its principal and final import, remains to be fulfilled in the 
 coming conflict with the modern Edom, the Antichrist of the 
 present day. 
 
 But lest the reader should think the attempt to identify Edom 
 and antichristian Rome, fanciful or far-fetched, we may remind 
 him that history has identified the two in a manner he may not 
 be aware. What we have intimated is that the terms Esau, 
 Edom, Idumea, representing as they did the ancient enemies of 
 the Church, have, in prophetic language, descended to us as the 
 representatives of the modern foes of Zion. Yet more than this 
 is true. There is a historical connection of some interest here. 
 Rome was founded by the Trojans ; Troy by the Tyrians ; Tyre 
 by the Edomites, and some historical records claim a yet more 
 direct lineage of Rome from Edom ; viz., that the earliest colo- 
 nists of Rome were actually Edomites. And others think they 
 discover veritable marks of consanguinity between Papal Rome 
 and Edom, not the less significant or interesting, making one a 
 
ROME IS EDOM. 259 
 
 type of the other. Esau or Edom means red. Rome is delineated 
 in prophecy, and largely characterized in all history as a woman 
 arrayed in scarlet — as a woman on a scarlet beast — and she is de- 
 nominated a great city clothed in scarlet. Rome is Edom — Red 
 — ^the scarlet city. And it is upon this Idumea, this land of 
 Edom, that the unsheathed sword of the Lord, bathed in blood, 
 shall come down, and dreadful shall be the sacrifice upon the 
 altar of the Divine displeasure when he shall arise to be avenged 
 on his enemies. 
 
 But this " day of vengeance " shall be the " year of recompense 
 for the controversy of Zion." The Lord shall interpose when 
 the foe shall appear the mightiest and the most boastful ; and 
 " great shall be the slaughter." 
 
 Did the above view need verifying we might call to our aid 
 another vision of the same prophet. The 63d chapter of Isaiah 
 represents a terrible conflict and a dreadful slaughter of formi- 
 dable enemies ; and the period at which this occurs is character- 
 ized as the time when the " year of the redeemed is come." The 
 description is that of a warrior returning from an awfully de- 
 structive battle. "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with 
 dyed garments from Bozrah ? this that is glorious in his apparel, 
 traveling in the greatness of his strength ? I that speak in right- 
 eousness, mighty to save. 
 
 " Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments 
 like one that treadeth the wine-fat ? 
 
 " I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there 
 was none with me ; for I will tread them in mine anger, and 
 trample them in my fury ; and their blood shall be sprinkled 
 upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the 
 day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed 
 is come." " And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and 
 
260 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength 
 to the earth." 
 
 It is the day of the Lord's vengeance — a day of dreadful slaugh- 
 ter — of unparalleled carnage, yet the day of deliverance to God's 
 people — the usherer in of the " year of the redeemed." Then 
 follows a state of quietness, peace, and blessedness, which puts 
 into the mouth of every saint the song of triumphant praise: "I 
 will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of 
 the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed upon us ; 
 and the great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he hath 
 bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the 
 multitude of his loving-kindnesses." 
 
 In view of such a triumphant deliverance, the evangelical 
 prophet elsewhere utters the same voice of hope and encourage- 
 ment : " Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble 
 knees. Say to them that be of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear 
 not : behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with 
 a recompense ; he will come and save you." Then follows the 
 happy time which prophets and kings have desired to see : " The 
 eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall 
 be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like the hart, and 
 the tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters 
 break out, and streams in the desert." The same Mighty One, 
 who shall come in vengeance on his enemies, shall come with a 
 recompense to save all, and to be honored in all whose names are 
 written on the palms of his hands. 
 
 Again, in that great and notable day of the Lord, the day of 
 sore consternation and rebuke, when the Lord shall arise to shake 
 terribly the earth and to be avenged on his foes, he utters to his 
 people the warning voice : " Flee out of the midst of Babylon 
 and deliver every man his soul : be not cut off in her iniquity ; 
 for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance." But Zion shall not 
 
SIGNS OF THE LAST GREAT CONFLICT. 261 
 
 be forsaken of her God. " He will render unto her a recom- 
 pense." 
 
 And since I have taken in hand to cite a few of the passages 
 which sustain the position assumed, I will adduce a few corrob- 
 orative passages from the New Testament. 
 
 In the 21st chapter of Luke, the same idea is not the less dis- 
 tinctly announced. The evangelist alludes to the commotions and 
 afflictions which shall precede and accompany the last great con- 
 flict. There shall be " wars and commotions ; for these things 
 must first come to pass." Nation shall rise against nation, and 
 kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be in di- 
 verse places, and famines, pestilences ; and fearful sights and great 
 signs shall there be from heaven. They shall lay their hands 
 on you and persecute you. There shall be great distress in the 
 land and wrath upon the people. And then shall there be " signs 
 in the sun and in the moon, and in the stars ; and upon the earth 
 distress of nations, with perplexity : the sea and the waves roar- 
 ing ; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those 
 things which are coming on the earth ; for the powers of heaven 
 shall be shaken." 
 
 These strong figures, describing as they do a most appalling 
 series of events which accompany a great and general conflict, 
 had, no doubt, a primary though not principal or final fulfilment 
 when our Lord came to be avenged on and to destroy Jerusalem, 
 and the people who had by wicked hands crucified and slain the 
 Lord of life, and to give enlargement to his Church. The great 
 conflict of that eventful period was but a type of the one of which 
 we speak. This shall be the signal and final overthrow of the 
 powers of darkness ; and the great and final victory of the saints. 
 The sun of that glorious morning — the morning of the " latter- 
 day glory," shall arise out of, and shall scatter that cloud of " blood 
 and fire, and vapor of smoke," with which the last great battle 
 
262 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 shall envelop the earth. Or, as the evangelist has it : " When 
 these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your 
 heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." " When ye see these 
 things," these dire calamities, these scathing judgments " come to 
 pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is at hand." 
 
 We cannot look abroad over the face of the earth and behold 
 the commotions which at the present moment disturb the nations 
 — the wars and rumors of wars — the popular outbreaks of polit- 
 ical furor — the internal smoulderings of suppressed liberty — the 
 explosions of anarchy and usurpation — the ebuUitions of insub- 
 ordination and discontent, and more than all, the illy-suppressed 
 and the irrepressible rage of a half-suppressed infidelity and the 
 ominous festerings of public corruption and wickedness, and sup- 
 press our most serious apprehensions that " that great and notable 
 day of the Lord" hastens on apace: a day as great and notable 
 for the deliverance and enlargement it shall bring to the saints 
 of the Most High God, as for the disaster and overthrow it shall 
 inflict on their enemies. 
 
 The appearance or revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, spoken 
 of by Paul in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, teaches the 
 same thing. And it matters not here if it be claimed that this 
 passage refers more particularly to our Lord's second coming to 
 judge the world. The coming of which we speak is at least typ- 
 ical of that second coming ; and the general design and results 
 of the two comings are the same, viz., to vindicate himself, to take 
 vengeance on his enemies, and to accept, honor and bless his 
 friends : " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with 
 his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that 
 know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 — and to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them 
 that believe." 
 
 " Christ's coming," whether taken in the higher sense, or in some 
 
THE LAST GREAT WOE. 263 
 
 subordinate acceptation of the term, is a period of righteous dis- 
 crimination between the wicked and the righteous, exalting the 
 one and humbling if not overwhelming the other. 
 
 Another of these characteristic passages which describe the 
 coincidence in question, occurs in the eleventh chapter of the 
 Revelation. The Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit 
 makes war against the saints, overcomes them, and kills them. 
 So completely prostrate do they seem to be that their bodies lie 
 dead and unburied three days and a half in the streets of the 
 spiritual Sodom, in contempt, and triumphed over by the vic- 
 torious foe. Then follow a series of judgments — and then a most 
 remarkable resuscitation, vindication and exaltation of the pros- 
 trate saints, and the most unexpected and complete overthrow of 
 their enemies. The seventh angel sounds — the last great woe is 
 inflicted — and the Revelator, without stopping to detail its awful 
 contents, hastens to tell us of the grand consummation ; the re- 
 sult educed by the Divine Hand from that terrific event. It is 
 that " The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of 
 our Lord, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign forever and ever." 
 The four and twenty elders (representatives of the Church) fall 
 on their faces and worship God, praising him for his judgments 
 and his mercies, " who is, and was, and is to come, the Almighty ; " 
 and that he has taken to himself his great power and established 
 his reign on the earth. And having seen the temple of God es- 
 tablished among men, in which is " the ark of the testimony*' — the 
 New Jerusalem come down from heaven, they revert again, that 
 the contrast may appear more marked and the mighty hand of 
 God more visible, to the tumultuous condition of the world at the 
 time of the introduction of this blessed period — to the "lightnings, 
 and voices, and thundering, and earthquakes, and great hail," which 
 were employed and overruled to the bringing in of this better con- 
 dition of the world : " And the nations were angry, and thy wrath 
 
264 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 is come, . . . that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the 
 prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, small 
 and great ; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." 
 
 The great and notable events which shall prove so disastrous 
 and overwhelming to the one party, shall be joy and righteous- 
 ness and final redemption to the other. 
 
 But we need not perhaps pursue our subject further in this di- 
 rection. Yet we may, partly by the way of recapitulation and 
 confirmation, and partly for the sate of additional thoughts on the 
 same general subject, ask attention to two other somewhat ex- 
 tended descriptions of the last great conflict. The one we meet 
 in the prophecy of Joel, and the other in that of Zephaniah. 
 The first is announced by the sound of a trumpet and the marsh- 
 aling of warlike hosts, such as " hath not been ever the like, 
 neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many 
 generations." The description is contained in the second and 
 third chapters. We need not quote the whole, yet our quotations 
 may exceed our usual limit. 
 
 The first quotations which I shall make (from chapter second), 
 seem to describe the shaking and commotions, the wars and rumors 
 of wars, which precede and prepare for, the great and decisive bat- 
 tle — ^in connection with which, and commotions going on at the same 
 time and often favored by them, is the diffusion of the gospel, the 
 extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit, and the revival and ex- 
 tension of a pure religion — the conversion of all nations to God. 
 That is, the taking out of all nations a people to serve God — the 
 bringing in of the " fulness of the Gentiles." The prophet an- 
 nounces the approach of the stirring events of the latter days, 
 thus: 
 
 " Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound the alarm in my holy 
 mountain ; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble : for the 
 day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand : a day of dark- 
 
MARTIAL FORCES TERRIFIC AGENCIES. 265 
 
 ness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as 
 the morning spread upon the mountains ; a great people and a 
 strong ; there hath not been ever the like, npither shall be any 
 more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire 
 devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth : the 
 land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a 
 desolate wilderness ; yea, and nothing shall escape them." " The 
 earth shall quake before them ; the heavens shall tremble ; the 
 sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their 
 shining." 
 
 Such is a description of the formidable martial forces that shall 
 be rallied at the period under review ; and of the unprecedented 
 commotions and slaughter which shall follow. " Nation shall rise 
 against nation, and kingdom against kingdom : and there shall be 
 famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places." And 
 " all these are" but the " beginning of sorrows." They are not 
 the Great Battle, but preliminary and preparatory to it. They 
 are the rallying and the adjusting of forces, and the natural col- 
 lisions into which the warring elements or strife are, in the nature 
 of the case, brought. And of the same general character are the 
 moral convulsions of that period — the persecutions, treacheries, 
 betrayals one of another, apostasies, and the singular abounding 
 of iniquity. These do but correspond with the civil commotions 
 that shall then agitate the world. And both these series of ter- 
 rific agencies that shall shake terribly the earth, are controlled by 
 the Omnipotent Hand. They are the dread agents of Heaven 
 which shall bring a sure and gradual yet a complete and final 
 destruction on the wicked ; and the happy emancipation and the 
 final beatification of the righteous. Hence it is announced of the 
 King the Lord of Hosts : " The Lord shall utter his voice before 
 his army ; for his camp is very great : for he is strong that ex- 
 
266 THE COMING CRISES OP THE WORLD. 
 
 ecuteth his word : for the day of the Lord is great and very ter- 
 rible ; and who can abide it ? " 
 
 And in connection with this, and in strange contrast, the gospel 
 is preached and great multitudes out of all nations are converted. 
 And as things wax warm — as the two series of antagonistic 
 agencies gather strength and wax valiant, and become more 
 and more aggressive, uncompromising and determined on con- 
 quest, the great and final conflict is hastened on apace. Yet be- 
 fore this, and while the opposing powers of the aliens are rallying 
 yet more strongly and becoming more bold and vaunting, the rival 
 powers of truth and righteousness are rising and entrenching 
 themselves more and more firmly in the strongholds of the sancti- 
 fied hearts of God's people. The Spirit is now poured out upon 
 all flesh. Religion is now signally revived. Great numbers are 
 now gathered into the fold. The graces of God's people are 
 quickened — their energies for useful activity are roused. Who- 
 soever now " heareth," says to his brother, " come." New agen- 
 cies for usefulness are created, and old ones are quickened. " Your 
 sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream 
 dreamS; and your young men shall see visions : and also upon 
 the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour 
 out my Spirit." All classes, old and young — men in all positions 
 of life, shall, each in his own sphere and according to the meas- 
 ure of his grace and gifts, become witness for his Lord, and a 
 living teacher of righteousness and the way of peace. 
 
 And wonderful in that day shall be the power of prayer. All 
 may then prove the Lord that there is " deliverance in Zion." 
 For now " whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be 
 delivered." 
 
 Very appropriately is there interposed here an exhortation to 
 the Church that she be fortified to meet the trials that await her, 
 and be prepared to receive the unwonted blessings in store for her, 
 
REPENTANCE ENCOURAGEMENTS. 267 
 
 and to do the duties which the times and the privileges of the 
 times devolve upon her. First of all thej must turn — repent — 
 return to dutj. But how shall they turn ? — with what temper of 
 mind ? Their repentance must be sincere and hearty. " Tuj-n 
 ye to me with your whole heart, and with fasting an«l weeping and 
 mourning. And rend your heart and not your garments." And 
 this is with the assurance that if they repent and turn and do their 
 first works, they shall be accepted : " for he is gracious and mer- 
 ciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of 
 the evil." Hence the Church is directed to humble herself be- 
 fore her God — " to sanctify a fast, to call a solemn assembly, to 
 assemble priests and people- — to weep between the porch and the 
 altar — to pray, " Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine 
 heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: 
 wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their 
 God?" 
 
 And what encouragements have the children of God, that if, in 
 these troublous times, in these times of apathy and rebuke, they 
 hold fast their integrity, and turn with full purpose of heart to the 
 Lord, and challenge the fulfilment of the great and precious prom- 
 ises of a living interest at the throne of grace — the full reaUzation 
 of the actual power of prayer — ^followed up and clothed with 
 power by a holy activity and an acting faith which makes religion 
 a mighty, living reality — what encouragements, I say, are here 
 held out that the children of God shall find these very untoward 
 circumstances to be preparing them to realize a security and pros- 
 perity, a spiritual plenty and unfailing stability never before en- 
 joyed ? These are (vs. 18, 27) shadowed forth in temporal bless- 
 ings, but not the less on this account real in their possession. " Ye 
 shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the 
 Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you, and my 
 people shall never be ashamed." 
 
268 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 And then shall follow the glorious period predicted, an earnest 
 of which was experienced under Peter's preaching at Pentecost, 
 the grand consummation of the earthy state of the Church. 
 Through the dark cloud of that eventful day — " the wonders in 
 heaven and in earth, the blood, fire and pillars of smoke," the 
 darkening of the sun and the moon turned into blood, as pre- 
 liminary to the coming of the " great and terrible day of the 
 Lord " — the glorious sun of righteousness shall arise and shine. 
 " And then shall follow the wonderful outpouring of the Spirit 
 upon all flesh ; '* of which I have spoken. 
 
 Two features of our present times seem to be furnishing a 
 fulfilment of the above quoted prophecies. The first is the ex- 
 traordinary military preparations of the present day, together 
 with the occasional terrible outbreaks of war ; and the other is 
 the no less extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit, and the ex- 
 tensive and powerful Revivals of Religion of the present time. 
 
 Never were the states of Europe so much on the alert in pre- 
 paring all the defenses and munitions of war. France, England, 
 Austria and Russia, they scarcely know why, are creating a ma- 
 terial for offensive and defensive warfare never before known. 
 Skill, ingenuity, science in its present advanced state, Is now sin- 
 gularly made to contribute to the perfection of the art of war. 
 Other European states are following on in the same course ; and 
 America is not a stranger to that " distress of nations, with per- 
 plexity, the sea and the waves roaring," which has led the nations 
 of Europe to arm and fortify themselves against some apprehended 
 danger. Men's hearts fail them for fear of the things that are com- 
 ing. And what these things may be we seem to have some fearful 
 foreboding in the late outbreak of violence and insurrection in India; 
 in the carnage and slaughter about the walls of Sebastapool ; and 
 the unparalleled bloodshed at Montebello, Magenta, and Solferino. 
 
 And in happy contrast to this the Spirit is poured out from on 
 
UNWONTED EFFUSION OF THE BLESSED SPIRIT. 269 
 
 high, and Revivals of Religion, unsurpassed for power, extent 
 and frequency, have blessed Zion in all lands. In America, in 
 Ireland, Scotland, and portions of England ; in Sweden, France, 
 and in various localities where Rome bears rule, and where the 
 Crescent wanes ; and where Idolatry still has its shrines, the ever 
 blessed Spirit has come down in unwonted effusion, and great 
 numbers of all callings and conditions, have turned unto the Lord. 
 The ranks of business have been happily invaded ; the walks of 
 learning and the halls of science, and the whole arena of common 
 life, have been pei-vaded by those blessed influences. The abun- 
 dance of the sea has been converted to God, and the forces of 
 the Gentiles, as never before, have been brought in. 
 
 I shall refer to but one other of these characteristic bketches 
 from the Prophets. It is from the first chapter of Zephaniah. 
 And there is perhaps nowhere else a more graphic, vivid and 
 terrible description of the great and terrible day of the Lord for 
 which we look. One will scarcely fail to notice a great similarity 
 of the terms used by this Prophet, and those used by the other 
 writers who have described the same scenes. He says, " The 
 great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, 
 even the voice of the day of the Lord ; the mighty man shall 
 cry out bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and 
 distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and 
 gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trum- 
 pet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 
 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like 
 blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord ; and their 
 blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. 
 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them 
 in the day of the Lord's wrath ; but the whole land shall be de- 
 voured by the fire of his jealousy : for he shall make even a 
 speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land." 
 
270 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Then follows an exhortation, not unlike what is common with 
 the prophets — an exhortation to repentance and a sincere return 
 unto the Lord ; if, peradventure, they may escape in that great 
 and terrible day. " Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, 
 which have wrought his judgment ; seek righteousness, seek meek- 
 ness : it may he ye shall he hid in the day of the LordJs anger ^ 
 
 The prophecy last quoted and the exhortation which follows 
 doubtless has its primary and partial fulfilment in the general 
 destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. But the 
 similarity of the language and the thoughts, to those used to de- 
 scribe the destruction of Jerusalem at a much latter date — ^which 
 latter description, it is generally conceded, is applied to describe 
 the last conflict and destruction at the end of the world or the 
 dispensation — seems to warrant the application we have made of 
 it here. 
 
 We need only add, that already have we more than sustained 
 our general position, that the final and glorious establishment of 
 the reign of truth and righteousness in our world shall be pre- 
 ceded by a great " falling away " — that the prevalence of univer- 
 sal Peace shall come through grievous wars, and a great and final 
 conflict — that Immanuel's reign on the earth shall be established 
 in troublous times. The Sun of righteousness shall arise through 
 clouds and darkness. Thunderings and lightnings, earthquakes 
 and storms, shall attend the advent of that kingdom of Peace 
 and righteousness which shall ere long bless the earth. 
 
 The conflict is ended ; Christ has conquered. Great Babylon 
 has fallen ; her ruin is complete. " A mighty angel took up a 
 stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus 
 with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and 
 shall be found no more at all." " And after these things I heard 
 a great voice of much people in heaven, saying. Alleluia ; salva- 
 tion, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God ; for 
 
THE RUIN AND FALL OF BABYLON. 271 
 
 true and righteous are his judgments : for he hath judged the 
 great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, 
 and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And 
 again they said, Alleluia, and the smoke rose up for ever and ever. 
 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all 
 ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And 
 I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, as the voice 
 of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, 
 Alleluia ; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad 
 and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, 
 and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted 
 that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white : for the 
 fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto 
 me. Write, Blessed are they which are called to the marriage- 
 supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the 
 
 TRUE SAYINGS OP GOD." 
 
 •lof!^ gi ml 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Zechariah, 14th chapter, and its utterances. 
 
 I HAVE selected this chapter for the sake of considering, in 
 the connection we find them, certain great events which we look 
 for as future, and probably not distantly future, and which are the 
 great events of prophecy. The chapter is a very extraordinary 
 one. It clusters together, in the space of a few short paragraphs, 
 a series of events of the most thrilling interest ; events which 
 seem hastening on apace. The wise will discern the signs of the 
 times and prepare for the great and final consummation. 
 
 It is good to stir up our minds to greater diligence in the work 
 of our Divine Master. If he is shortening the time and hasten- 
 ing his work, it behooves his people, as co-workers with him, to 
 set their hearts to the work with a renewed diligence ; to pray 
 more earnestly, to give more liberally, and work more circum- 
 spectly, provoking one another to love and good works ; and so 
 much the more as ye see the day approaching. 
 
 I shall speak of these events in the order in which they here 
 occur. And I shall speak of them 2& future. Whatever partial 
 fulfilments they may have had, we feel shut up to the conclusion 
 that the whole, at least in their principal and final fulfilment, are 
 future. 
 
 ( 272 ) 
 
LOCALITY OF THE COMING CONFLICT. 273 
 
 I. The great Battle which shall precede and usher in the em- 
 pire of peace and righteousness which shall follow. " Behold, 
 the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in 
 the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusa- 
 lem to battle ; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, 
 and the women ravished ; and half of the city shall go forth into 
 captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from 
 the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those 
 nations, as when he fought in the day of battle." 
 
 We shall not add here to what has already been said of the 
 great and coming conflict. The Prophet would here seem to 
 determine its locality, in the Holy Land, in the neighborhood of 
 Jerusalem. It shall be a dreadful conflict, and a decisive one. 
 The Lord shall appear, in his great power and by mighty judg- 
 ments, to discomfit the foe and to give the victory to his people. 
 By what providential arrangements the two great contending 
 armies shall meet in that loc^ity, and there decide the great 
 question which has so long kept the world at strife, we do not 
 know. The oracle is silent — or at least speaks not in language 
 sufficiently distinct. It may be that the present movements of 
 Russian agents in Palestine,are laying a trail which ere long shall 
 set on fire the warring elements of the nations and hasten on the 
 final conflict. Gog, and the people of Gog, are said to be there 
 industriously negotiating for lands, and forming settlements which 
 may become matters of jealousy with the nations of western 
 Europe, and lead to the concentration of hostile armies, and a 
 final conflict in a land which has hitherto often been the " valley 
 of Decision " to the nations of the earth. We wait the utter- 
 ances of future events ; when all shall be made plain and easy.* 
 
 * I have already quoted Dr. Macgowan, a resident at Jerusalem, as touching tlie ex- 
 traordinary change which has already come over the Holy City, it having become the 
 
 18 
 
274 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 Whether there are, as we believe, good reasons for assigning 
 such a locality to the Great Battle, there seems no lack of allu- 
 sions and declarations in the divine predictions, which imply that 
 Jerusalem and the Holy Land are destined to occupy a position 
 and to enjoy a prominence in the coming golden age of the world, 
 the glory of which shall surpass any thing the world has yet 
 seen. Hence the next event alluded to in the chapter, viz. ; 
 
 II. The coming of the King to vindicate his friends, to decide 
 the combat, and take vengeance on his foes. " Then shall the 
 Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought 
 in the day of battle." The King does not come to the rescue till 
 Jerusalem is environed with the armies of the aliens, and the 
 " city is taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished ; 
 and half the city gone into captivity " — not till the encounter be- 
 comes desperate — not till their strength is clear gone, and from the 
 depths of their helplessness they cry for succor. 
 
 What shall be the mode of this dreadful manifestation we do 
 not profess to define. Judgments, pestilence and disease are at 
 his command, and he wields them as he will. He may, as he did 
 before the vaunting army of Sennacherib, pass before them as the 
 angel of death ; then an hundred and four score thousand were 
 in a moment prostrated in death. He has only to " breathe in 
 the face of the foe as they pass," and they are no more. 
 
 Awful, indeed, are the visions the prophets had of this great 
 and final conflict. We will cite but a single one. It is the vision 
 of the son of Amoz. He summons the world to come and see 
 
 resort of the wealthy and the great ones of the earth, and magnificent buildings being 
 erected. A correspondent from Syria, too, says: 
 
 " Jerusalem has been making rapid strides of late towards a new-bom civilization, and 
 its progress has been watched with interest the most intense, on the part of those who 
 associate with the name of the Holy City ideas of the Millennium and the speedy return 
 of the Jews. Large buildings, convents, hospitals, and churches are rising in every di- 
 rection, and thousands of Russian employees and Jews are becoming residents of the 
 place." 
 
COMING OF THE PRINCE. 275 
 
 what desolations the Lord hath made in the earth : " Come near, 
 ye nations, to hear ; and hearken, ye people ; let the earth hear, 
 and all that is therein ; the world, and all that come forth of it. 
 For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury 
 upon all their armies ; he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath 
 delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast 
 out — and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. My 
 sword shall be bathed in blood ; behold, it shall come down upon 
 Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The 
 sword of the Lord is filled with blood ; it is made fat with fatness ; 
 for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in 
 Idumea. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of 
 recompense for Zion." " For behold, the Lord cometh out of his 
 place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity ; the 
 earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her 
 slain." 
 
 in. There is something yet more remarkable in regard to the 
 manner of the coming of the Prince, the Lord of hosts ; and not 
 only in the deliverance already wrought, but in the singular pro- 
 vision here made for the immediate protection of his beleaguered 
 people. " His feet shall stand on the mount of Olives." Whether 
 this be literal or highly figurative I am not sure. In either case 
 it indicates an extraordinary if not a personal manifestation of 
 Clirist, for the discomfiture of his enemies, and the reassurance 
 and triumph of his friends. The jilace — overlooking Jerusalem, 
 the arena of the great and dreadful contest, and the spot where 
 his feet last trod as he left the scene of his former conflict and 
 ascended on high — and the extraordinary physical change which 
 now takes place in leveling this mountain and producing a great 
 plain, cannot fail to invest the whole scene with a singular signifi- 
 cance and sublimity. " The mount of Olives shall cleave in the 
 midst thereof towards the east and towai-ds the west, there shall 
 
276 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 be a very great valley ; and half of the mountain shall remove 
 towards the north, and half towards the south." 
 
 By some extraordinary means or supernatural agency, this 
 mountain was cleaved asunder and removed out of its place, and 
 turned into a great plain ; and this for the more immediate pur- 
 pose, it would seem, of affording an asylum and protection to the 
 people of God. For it is added, '' ye shall flee to the valley of 
 the mountains." They shall flee to this retreat as men flee from 
 the desolations of an earthquake. Possibly this is to be under- 
 stood as representing a refuge to which the women, children and 
 the mass of the people shall seek, as an asylum in that day of 
 dreadful carnage. 
 
 IV. We have the introduction of the new order of things 
 which shall follow the triumph of the Church — what it shall be 
 — and what relation Jerusalem, and the Holy Land, and the nat- 
 ural descendants of Abraham, shall hold to this new kingdom. 
 
 1. The " latter-day glory " shall not be " ushered in," as many 
 seem to suppose, as if the fully risen sun should in an instant break 
 in upon the midnight darkness. It shall come as the morning — 
 shall have its dawn and twilight. In its incipient stages it shall 
 exhibit no doubtful marks of the moral splendor which shall char- 
 acterize that blessed period ; yet that brightness shall be parti- 
 ally obscured. Clouds, generated from the putrid waters of by- 
 gone ages, and still partially surcharged with the miasma of the 
 old corruption, shall, for a little time, mar the beauty of the new 
 heavens. Yet by and by these lingering mists shall pass away, 
 and the unobstructed, free-orbed Sun of Righteousness shall arise 
 with unrestricted healing in his beams. 
 
 The description we have here, of this intermediate or twilight 
 period, is worthy remark. As the " fire and hail and vapor of 
 smoke," produced by the great battle, clears away, the eventful 
 morning is thus described : " And it shall come to pass in that 
 
BLESSINGS REPRESENTED BY LIVING WATERS. 277 
 
 day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark, but it shall be one 
 day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night : but it 
 shall come to pass, that at evening-time it shall he lightr This 
 mixed, transition period shall not be long ; and the close — the even- 
 ing of this short intermediate day, shall be an unobscured bright- 
 ness. Its sun shall not set, but shall seem to be lost in the greater 
 effulgence of the fully risen Millennial day. 
 
 2. We notice what is here said of some of the characteristics 
 of this glorious period when it shall be fully revealed. The figure 
 is now changed. The symbol is no longer light^ but water, or the 
 fertilizing streams: The great moral transformation we have 
 seen effected — the regime established — the kingdom of Grod, the 
 reign of righteousness, begun. And now we are told what are 
 some of its characteristics. But two are specified. These, how- 
 ever, are very comprehensive. The one relates to the blessings 
 of that heaven-favored era; and the other, to the universality 
 and unity of this coming kingdom, as under the supreme kingship 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ — Jerusalem, the centre of all authority, 
 and the grand fountain of divine influences for the rest, peace, and 
 purification of all nations. 
 
 The blessings are represented by " Living waters going out 
 from Jerusalem ; half of them towards the former sea, and half 
 of them towards the hinder sea : in summer and in winter shall it 
 he." These are the waters which Ezekiel saw " issue out from 
 under the threshold of the house eastward" — deepening and 
 widening as they go, carrying health and fertility in all their 
 course. Trees of life grow on either side, yielding their fruit 
 every month, and their leaves are for the healing of the nations. 
 " Whithersoever the river cometh every thing shall live." These 
 are, wherever they flow, the waters of life — the life-giving 
 waters. John the Revelator, in describing the same thing, says : 
 " And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, 
 
278 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the 
 midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there 
 the tree of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits." 
 
 The same waters which John saw proceed out of the throne of 
 God and the Lamb, Ezekiel saw issue out from under the thresh- 
 old of the eastern gate of the Temple. Zechariah saw the same 
 " go out from Jerusalem." Joel saw the same living fountain 
 " come forth of the house of the Lord, and water the whole val- 
 ley of Shittim." * These are " the rivers of Judah, " which flow 
 down from the hills of salvation. " The mountains shall drop 
 down new wine, and the hills flow with milk ; " all beautifully 
 descriptive of the living waters which flow out from the great 
 Fountain of the Divine Beneficence. 
 
 The three grand periods in the history of Redemption are 
 here described : viz., the Tabernacle or Wilderness state of the 
 Church, the Temple or Millennial state, and the New Jerusalem 
 or Heavenly state. 
 
 In the first of these periods, the living waters issue out from 
 under the threshold of the house, and go down through the desert, 
 and make all to live wherever they flow. And they pour their 
 healing streams into the Dead Sea, and its stagnant, putrid waters 
 are healed. It is the fountain that was open to the " house of 
 David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for unclean- 
 
 * Shittim was a valley in the land of Moab (whose king was Balak), where the children 
 of Israel a lon^ time dwelt before they entered the Promised Land — where they fell into 
 gross sin by committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab — where Baalam came to 
 corse Israel, and went away blessing them— where Moses, having rehearsed the history of 
 God's dealings with his people, and repeated, and re-enjoined upon them the law, went up 
 into Mount Nebo and died — where Joshua received the command of the Lord's host, and 
 thence led them into Gaanan. It was to Israel an epitome of the world — where they had 
 rejoiced, where they had suffered, where they had been humbled, where honored, where 
 oppressed, where delivered. In relation to Israel, Shittim was an eminent spiritual des- 
 olation. Well, then, is it used here to represent the desert world over which should 
 course the waters of life as they flow out from the Fountain open in Judah and Jcru- 
 Balem. 
 
EMANCIPATION OF THE CHURCH. 279 
 
 ness." Wherever this river flows, trees of righteousness abound 
 on its banks, green and ever laden with fruit. It is everywhere 
 the signal of life, social, civil and religious. Industry, enterprise, 
 thrift, give signs of coming prosperity. Mind is emancipated — 
 thought set free, and urged on to the fulfilment of its mission in 
 the work of human progress. Increase of knowledge, the pur- 
 suits of science, inventions, discoveries, commerce, a high type 
 of civilization, all follow in their train. And more than all and 
 better than all, civil freedom, a sterner morality, and a purer 
 religion, are the statelier trees which flourisli on the banks of these 
 streams. 
 
 And this process of spiritual irrigation shall go on till this whole 
 desert world shall become as the garden of the Lord — ti-ees of 
 righteousness shall everywhere flourisli ; " the wilderness and 
 the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall 
 rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, 
 and rejoice even with joy and singing." The River which P^zek- 
 iel saw^ issue out from beneath the threshold of the house, has 
 widened, and deepened, and spread itself over the whole desert 
 world, and now the kingdoms of this world have become the king- 
 doms of our Lord and of his Christ. 
 
 Here commences the second grand period. The Church is 
 now emancipated — the usurper of the dominion of this world is 
 vanquished — the rightful proprietor has " come to his own," and 
 taken possession. The wilderness state is passed — the Jordan 
 is crossed, and the Promised Land is entered — deliverance from 
 the enemy and enlargement to the rightful heirs. Or, to resume 
 our figure, living waters now go out from Jerusalem. " Out of 
 Zion now goes forth the law and the word of the Lord from Je- 
 rusalem." And now it has come to pass that the Lord is King 
 over all the earth : there is " one Lord, and his name one." 
 
 Already, in a subordinate sense and as prefiguring what at 
 
280 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 the period in question is fully realized, "' repentance and remission 
 of sins had been preached among all nations, heginning at Je- 
 rusalem.^* From that appointed centre '' the sound had gone out 
 to the ends of the earth." And' here too the Holy Spirit had 
 come down, and entered on his Mission for the renovation of the 
 world. Yet all this was but an earnest or pledge of what should 
 be in the " last days." It was then SiloanCs brook that ran fast 
 by the oracles of God ; but it is now the River that flows out 
 from Jerusalem and bears on its current, to earth's remotest bounds, 
 Heaven's richest boon to man. 
 
 From Jerusalem, the grand Repository of divine influences, 
 the living waters go out toward the former, and to the hinder sea 
 — -from sea to sea — in one rich, unfailing current. " In winter 
 and in summer they shall be." No summer's drought, no winter's 
 cold can arrest or retard their generous flow. As the waters cover 
 the sea, so shall the knowledge of God cover the whole earth. 
 
 But there remains another period in the dispensation of grace 
 — or rather a period when grace shall be finished and glory be be- 
 gun. It is the heavenly state ; when " the pure river of water of 
 life, clear as crystal, proceeds out of the throne of God and of the 
 Lamb ;" when from the grand metropolis of Heaven, the Mount 
 Zion above, the throne of the Majesty on high, shall go forth the 
 law, and all the thrones and dominions, the principalities and 
 powers of the heavenly estate shall fall down and worship before 
 him that sitteth on the throne and the Lamb for ever and ever. 
 And a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, 
 and kindreds, and people, and tongues, shall stand before the 
 throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in 
 their hands ; and they ascribe all honor and power, thanksgiving 
 and praise unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins, in 
 his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and 
 
MAGNIFICENCE OF THE COMING JERUSALEM. 281 
 
 his Father; to him be glory and dominion, forever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 But there arises under this general head yet another inquiry : 
 it is — 
 
 3. What relation shall Jerusalem, and the Holy Land, and 
 the natural descendants of Abraham hold to the new kingdom ? 
 We have more than intimated that Jerusalem shall be the great 
 religious metropolis of the world, the radiating point of divine 
 influences — ^morally at least, the throne of the " King, the Lord 
 of hosts," whom the nations shall " go up from year to year to 
 worship." As Jerusalem shall be the great battle-field, on which 
 the last great decisive victory shall be won, so shall she become 
 the great religious centre of the Millennial kingdom. And, as 
 might be expected, we have, in prophetic vision, certain intima- 
 tions as to the dimensions and magnificence of the coming Jerusa- 
 lem which demand attention. Singular changes are intimated, 
 both in relation to the present site of Jerusalem, and for several 
 miles around. We have seen one marvellous change effected in 
 the cleaving asunder, and the removing to the north and the south 
 of the Mount of Olives, and so forming a plain. In like manner 
 the Prophet says, " all the land shall be turned as a plain, from 
 Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem ; and it shall be lifted up, 
 and inhabited. . . . And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no 
 more utter destruction ; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited." 
 
 Precisely what these changes shall be we may not conjecture. 
 Most obviously the dimensions of the ancient city shall be extend- 
 ed beyond any former boundaries. The whole of the Holy Land 
 known as Judea, from Gibeah on the north to Rimmon on the 
 south, a distance of several miles, shall be leveled and prepared 
 for the purposes of building and a high order of cultivation, that 
 it shall be, as it were, but one great, extended city, with its 
 suburbs, over this large extent of country. Whether these 
 
282 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 changes shall be eiFected by extraordinary or miraculous means, 
 or simply by the skill and power of man, we cannot affirm. The 
 way mountains are now made low and valleys exalted — the way 
 man is already overcoming the most formidable natural obstacles, 
 and harnessing to the chariot-wheels of human progress, some of, 
 the mightiest powers of nature, do but too plainly indicate the 
 extent of any future changes we may anticipate. 
 
 The description before us indicates an extent and magnificence 
 of the city, and a degree of security, comfort, elevation and gen- 
 eral prosperity which the Millennial state at once presupposes. 
 But the extent of the city, great as it is, does not seem improb- 
 able, when we take into the account the circumstances of the case. 
 It shall be the great Metropolis — exceeding populous — and the 
 spot above all others on the earth where the great and the good 
 will choose the place of their habitation. Kings, princes, and 
 the great ones of the earth will bring here their riches arid their 
 honors. In the vision of the Jerusalem of that day, the prophet 
 saw the sons of strangers coming to build up her walls ; and theii* 
 kings to minister to her." " The Isles wait for her, and the ships 
 of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their 
 gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the 
 Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified iheeP It shall be 
 the favorite resort of travelers, and a choice place of habitation, 
 because God hath put such honor on Jerusalem and made it a de- 
 lightsome place. A single, brief description indicates its extraor- 
 dinary beauty and grandeur ; " the glory of Lebanon shall be 
 given to it, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to 
 beautify the place of my sanctuary ; and I will make the place 
 of my feet glorious." 
 
 When we consider the exceeding populousness of the city, in 
 connection with the wealth and taste, high civilization and the in- 
 creased wants of the citizens, we shall not be surprised at the 
 
THE NEW KINGDOM. 283 
 
 extent of ground covered by the city. The gardens, orchards, 
 and ornamental grounds of a few, now occupy more space than 
 thousands once did in their haunts of poverty and vice ; in their 
 dirt and degradation. 
 
 But the natural descendants of Abraham, what relation shall 
 they hold to the new kingdom ? Here we may not safely indulge 
 in details. Restored again to the favor of their covenant God, 
 and to the land given them for an everlasting possession, and to 
 their position as the first-bom of the Father, and to all the pecu- 
 liar promises and privileges implied ; and occupying, as they do, 
 so advantageous a position as a central, metropolitan province 
 of Immanuel's Empire on earth, the conjecture would seem safe 
 that they will hold an honored, and a very prominent place in 
 the new kingdom. This would seem but to correspond with the 
 prominence assigned to them as agents in the work of bringing 
 in this kingdom. "If," says Paul, "the casting away of them 
 be the reconciling of the world " — if this were used as a leading, 
 efficient agency in the early propagation of Christianity — " what 
 shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead f And 
 we seem to have mere than a hint of the future prominence of 
 the ancient Seed in the visions of the Prophets. Isaiah speaks, 
 but in clearer terms, the language of them all. When he sees 
 the ancient Zion " rise " in her renewed splendor, and shine," be- 
 cause " her light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon 
 her," he saw the " Gentiles come to her light, and kings to the 
 brightness of her rising." " Lift up thine eyes round about, and 
 see; all they gather themselves together, they come to thee. . . Then 
 thou shalt see, and flow together, and thy heart shall fear, and be 
 enlarged ; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted 
 unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." And 
 they shall come from Midian and Ephah, from Kedar and Leba 
 (from different parts of Asia and Africa), and from the " Isles 
 
284 THE COMING CRISIS OF TKE WORLD. 
 
 of the sea " (the present Europe and America) ; and they shall 
 bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of 
 the Lordr The latter expression would seem to indicate the 
 ol^ect of their gathering together, viz., the service of God, the 
 worship of the King, the Lord of hosts : referring either to the 
 occasional worship of the multitudes who, as representative wor- 
 shippers, shall come up ^rom year to year to worship the King and 
 to keep the feasts of Tabernacles ; or to the more permanent 
 religious services, and privileges which they shall enjoy who shall 
 choose their habitations in or about the Holy City. 
 
 But I anticipate my next particular : 
 
 V. That the Gentiles shall largely participate with restored 
 Israel in serving God at Jerusalem, as they shall, by their repre- 
 sentatives, at least, come up year by year, to worship and to keep 
 the feast of Tabernacles. " It shall come to pass that every one 
 that is left of all the nations that come against Jerusalem, shall 
 even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of 
 hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. And whoso will not 
 come up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, 
 even upon them shall be no rain." A remnant of all those na- 
 tions and great confederacies which fought at Jerusalem against 
 the true Israel, shall be converted to Christ, and become the loyal 
 subjects of the King. And the two great antichristian powers 
 (the Roman and the Greek) being overcome and their regime 
 destroyed, the remnant that survive the slaughter, together with 
 the Gentiles who shall be converted, shall go up from year to 
 year to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and 
 to keep the feast of Tabernacles. 
 
 Yet I do not understand that the whole body of believers in 
 all parts of the world shall appear before the Lord to worship at 
 Jerusalem at the time of this feast. But Jerusalem being the 
 place where God has put his name, " the city of the Great King" 
 
FEAST OF THE TABERNACLES. 285 
 
 — " the city of Truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy 
 mountain " — " the joy of the whole earth," devout men of every 
 nation will love to resort thither. And when, as in the days of 
 Millennial prosperity, opulence and leisure, men shall be abun- 
 dantly able to travel, and when from the yet vastly increased 
 facilities for locomotion and communication, and from the central 
 position of Jerusalem, an excursion to the Holy City shall be both 
 quick and easy, it is not difficult to believe that great multitudes 
 will annually resort thither, drawn by the great natural, social, 
 intellectual, and especially the religious attractions of the Holy 
 City. And ships of Tarshish, the Great Eastern, possibly, the 
 first of the class, may convey them thither. 
 
 The idea here presented of a great religious centre in the days 
 of earth's great blessedness, seems but a common dictate of natu- 
 ral religion — I would rather say a dictate of Divine Wisdom. 
 Every great form of religion has had its centre. As far back as 
 history reaches, Jerusalem was such a centre. Before Abraham 
 was, Melchisedec brought his offerings, and worshipped at Salem. 
 And yet earlier, Mount Moriah had been holy ground ; and in all 
 succeeding generations, Jerusalem has been the Holy City. The 
 Mohammedans have their Mecca, and theHPapists their Rome. 
 And in no one thing, perhaps, has the religious instinct of man 
 more distinctly harmonized than in the idea of a religious cen- 
 tralization in some particular spot. 
 
 But here we need to say a word in relation to the Feast of 
 Tabernacles. Shall it be perpetuated ? and why ? and how ? 
 
 This was the feast of ingathering, the annual thanksgiving occa- 
 sion among the Jews, observed in commemoration of the sojourn of 
 the Israelites in the wilderness. It was typical of Christ dwelling 
 in our nature — tabernacling in the flesh — and as such it was one 
 of the most interesting and solemn feasts of the Jews. It was 
 at this feast that they expected the Messiah would appear Hence 
 
286 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 the expression in the Psalm (11 8th) which was sung on this occa- * 
 sion : " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." 
 And Christ did in a special sense make his first public manifesta- 
 tion at the time of this feast. He now entered Jerusalem in tri- 
 umph, the multitude strewing branches of palm-trees in the way 
 before him, and singing the triumphal song of that occasion, and 
 applying to Him the words of the Psalmist : " Blessed is He that 
 cometh in the name of the Lord ; Hosanna in the highest." 
 
 What then can be more befitting the Church of Christ when 
 she shall have received her King, and she shall appear in her 
 glory, than the observance in all coming time of a festival which 
 shall commemorate the incarnation of her Lord and his triumph 
 and glorification in the redeeming work ? This shall be the great 
 THANKSGIVING occasiou of the Church Universal for the gift 
 of that LIVING BREAD which came down from heaven. And we 
 can conceive of no possible occasion that might so properly and 
 naturally draw out the universal feeling of the whole Church, 
 and be such a bond of union to all, and to present motives strong 
 enough to induce all men everywhere to assemble (representatively 
 at least) in one place to observe such a festival ; and we can see 
 no place so suitable,or so probable as Jerusalem, the " city of the 
 Great King," " the joy of the whole earth." 
 
 VI. But the Prophet has not here overlooked the complete and 
 dreadful overthrow, and the utter destruction of the finally incor- 
 rigible, especially of the army of the aliens, who fought against 
 Jerusalem — i. e., all who in the last great Battle fought against 
 the true Church — who acknowledge not the Messiah, and come 
 not up to the Feast of Tabernacles : " And it shall be that whoso 
 will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem 
 to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no 
 rain." " And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall 
 smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh 
 
EARTHLY CONDITION OF THE CHURCH. 287 
 
 shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their 
 eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall 
 consume away in their mouth." 
 
 So complete and dreadful shall be the desti-uction of the wicked. 
 When the time of visitation shall come, the Lord shall arise in 
 his wrath and take vengeance on all that have lifted up the hand 
 against him ; and he shall destroy them with an utter destruction. 
 But this, as has been shown, shall be the day of vindication, and 
 recompense to the righteous. 
 
 , VII. Then follows the consummation of the earthly condition 
 of the Church. The earth, as by right, so now by allegiance, is 
 the Lord's. He has come to his own, and his own has received 
 him. All is now holiness to the Lord. Holiness is written on 
 men's employments — it follows them through all the intercourse 
 and all the avocations of life ; chastens their pleasures ; graces their 
 conversation ; and pervades all their dealings and associations of 
 life. " Holiness unto the Lord shall be written upon the bells of 
 the horses ; " and on the " pots and the bowls of the Lord's house." 
 Holiness unto the Lord shall be the order of every-day life in all 
 its occurrences and avocations. The Temple is now finished — 
 the earthly Zion is complete. Beautiful for situation, the joy of 
 the earth, is Mount Zion, the city of the great King. God is 
 known in her palaces for a refuge. Come, then, aU ye nations 
 from afar, come ye who are near, come all who would worship 
 the King, the Lord of hosts, come, walk about Zion, and go round 
 about her : tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks ; 
 consider her palaces. 
 
 But glorious as is the Tabernacle of God wlien thus pitched 
 among men, this is not the final state of the Church. Jerusa- 
 lem, the glory of the whole earth, shall have no glory by reason 
 of the glory that excelleth. We look for another, and a better, 
 whose Maker and Builder is God : the Mount Zion above, the 
 
288 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the innumerable 
 company of angels, the general assembly, and Church of the 
 first-born that are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of 
 all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the 
 mediator of the new covenant. And then shall our eyes behold 
 the King in his beauty. 
 
CHAPTER XVni. 
 
 The argument from analogy — ^How is God wont to deal with his People ; 
 and how with the Wicked ? 
 
 There remains one other source of proof that a great conflict, 
 such as has never been known, shall precede the triumph of the 
 Church. It is an argument derived from the analogy of the di- 
 vine economy, or the ordinary mode of the divine working. 
 
 But before proceeding to the consideration of this argument, 
 we may just allude, at least, to some miscellaneous items which 
 have been slightly if at all discussed ; and which we may in like 
 manner take as precursors of the coming of the promised era, 
 and as contributing no inconsiderable share to hasten on such a 
 period. Among these we may enumerate, progress in science 
 and all sorts of learning ; progress in the arts ; discoveries ; in- 
 ventions ; the introduction and use of new substances, and, more 
 than all, the subsidizing in the service of human progress, new 
 forces and powers of nature ; improvements in modes of locomo- 
 tion and the means of communication and conveyance ; progress 
 of liberty, both civil and religious, and in the science of gov- 
 ernment : and the recent remarkable increase of wealth, and the 
 conversion of seamen and men of business, as furnishing the sub- 
 stantial resources and agencies of commerce, and the means for 
 19 (289) 
 
290 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 carrying out all those benevolent and philanthropic schemes bejfit- 
 ting the age, and especially contributing to the speedy advent of 
 
 " The promised age of gold." 
 
 I had thought to make each of these topics a subject of sepa- 
 rate consideration, and the whole the subject of a short chapter. 
 But we must leave to the reflections of the intelligent reader the 
 bearing of these things upon the coming of our Lord's kingdom. 
 He will not fail to see that these things have a very important and 
 direct bearing on our main question. They are agencies, facilities, 
 conditions of the coming of that kingdom; and then they are 
 the tilings which are preparing the people of God for the enjoy- 
 ment of their Millennial age. That high order of civilization and 
 elevated social and moral condition which shall then prevail — 
 that populous and prosperous condition of the earth will require 
 just that kind of advancement in the particulars above referred 
 to, which we see now in so successful progress. But we need not 
 go into details here, though such details would richly repay our 
 researches. 
 
 In the prosecution of the subject of this chapter we may orig- 
 inate and answer two inquiries : the one. How, in the carrying 
 out of his purposes in the great scheme of redemption, is God in 
 the habit of dealing with his people ? And the other, How is he 
 wont to deal with the wicked ? 
 
 In the adoption of any particular course of procedure towards 
 his Church, God chiefly regards his own glory. This however is, 
 in the result, but a regard for man's greatest good. As God is the 
 source of all excellence, his exaltation on the throne of the uni- 
 verse, is the direct and effectual way of securing the good of his 
 creatures. God, then, in his extreme jealousy for his honor (for 
 the Lord our God is a jealous God), and in the undisputed supre- 
 macy which he claims over all his creatures, is chargeable with 
 
god's dealing with his church on earth. 291 
 
 nothing which, in our dialect, is called ambition. He assumes 
 nothing. He simply takes his own. And in doing this he pur- 
 sues the most direct — the only direct course which can secure the 
 happiness of his creatures. Peace and good -loill among men can 
 only exist where glory in the highest is ascribed to God. God's 
 undisputed sovereignty and man's entire dependence and obedience 
 are indispensable requisites to make a happy world or a happy 
 universe. 
 
 These remarks, if just, give U5 some clew to the course of 
 dealing which we may expect God will pursue towards his Churcli 
 on earth. It shall be such as to leave unimpaired his own glory. 
 He will not treat with man on any other conditions. He will in 
 no case compromise his honor. Of this we have overwhelming 
 and repeated proof in the brief history we have of God's dealings 
 towards our world in respect to its redemption. An entire race 
 had fallen and were now rebels in the divine government, and as 
 such consigned over by the law to remediless woe. Not one of 
 these could be redeemed — not one could be raised to heaven, till 
 a full satisfaction had been made to the injured honor of God. 
 There was the first breach to be repaired. Violence had been 
 done to his government — ^his law had been trampled on, and not 
 a step could be taken towards a reconciliation till a full satisfac- 
 tion should be rendered to his violated honor. Hence the whole 
 scheme of Redemption by Jesus Christ is such, from its foun- 
 dation to its top-stone, as to exalt God and humble man. There 
 is nothing about the gospel mode of salvation, either in its pro- 
 vision or its application, which does not give the whole glory to 
 God. It is exclusively a plan of divine wisdom. It is carried 
 on at every step by the divine hand ; and its end is altogether a 
 gratuity of the inexhaustible stores of the divine goodness. It 
 is " grace for grace " — altogether of grace. Its song is " unto him 
 that loved us and gave himself for us." 
 
292 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WOULD. 
 
 Consequently we find that, in accordance with such sentiments, 
 is God's mode of converting and sanctifying the sinner, as well as 
 his mode of dealing with his Church as a body. 
 
 The sinner is living in the galling bondage of spiritual death. 
 He is bound fast in the adamantine chains of sin, and nothing 
 this side of Omnipotence can break these chains and give the 
 captive deliverance. But how is redemption brought to this 
 captive soul ? It might be done immediately — without any in- 
 strumentality — without the lapse of any time, or without any pro- 
 cess of conviction, or any preliminary work whatever. The 
 sinner might be converted in his sleep. The abstract power of 
 God is sufficient to accomplish this. But this is not God's plan 
 of working. Men have raised the standard of insurrection in 
 God's empire, and first of all they must learn their folly and their 
 guUt. Then they must be made to feel the wretchedness and 
 ruin of their present condition. They must clearly see and deeply 
 and distressingly feel that there is no help in themselves — none 
 in man — none in any other but in God. And not till, like Peter, 
 they feel themselves to be sinking and cry, " Lord, help or I 
 perish ; '* or like the returning prodigal they can say, from the 
 most painful and heart-felt conviction, " I have sinned agamst heav- 
 en and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son ; 
 make me as one of thy hired servants ; " not till the soul has 
 been brought to the very verge of despair, and their strength is 
 clean gone and the last glimmering ray of hope seems about to 
 go out forever, will they flee to Him who is the resurrection and 
 the life. Now if favor be shown., it will be received as favor — 
 as grace and not debt. 
 
 There is wisdom worthy of God in such an arrangement. The 
 sinner is brought to see his own weakness ; his own guilt ; his 
 own ruin, and withal, his own dependence. He never can — if 
 he have really been brought into the deep and dark valley of 
 
DARKEST TIME BEFORE THE DAWN. 293 
 
 genuine conviction of sin — he never can glory in any thing but 
 in the cross of Christ. He will remember the wormwood and 
 the gall, and confess, " it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not 
 consumed." The one reason (if we were to give but one) why 
 God raises the sinner from so low a depth, and sheds light into 
 his soul in the midst of such thick darkness, is that his own arm 
 may be made bare — that the Christian may begin his spiritual 
 life with the conviction indelibly impressed — and never to be ob- 
 literated, that God, in the whole matter of his salvation, is a Sove- 
 reign — that God is the sole author of all his graces and of all 
 his hopes, and that he is wholly and unreservedly dependent on 
 God for the continuance of his graces and the consummation of 
 all his hopes. Such a conviction, inwrought into the soul, wUl 
 do more for the Christian's spiritual growth, and for his usefulness 
 in his present bodily sphere of action, and for the perfection of 
 his character for another state of being, than all other means of 
 grace that can be used. 
 
 I have dwelt on this longer, because it is but analogous with God's 
 whole course of dealing with his people. Whether in the natural 
 world the proverb will hold I know not, but in the spiritual world 
 it will, that " the darkest time is just before the dawn." Never 
 was the Church of God more persecuted and afflicted, and cast 
 down and trampled under foot, than when on the very eve of 
 deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Every struggle they made 
 only seemed to sink them lower in the deep waters of oppression. 
 Every effort that was made for their emancipation seemed only 
 to forge new manacles for the victims of thraldom, and to rivet 
 their chains more closely than before. It was a dark day for the 
 Church, and never did she seem so far from enlargement. But 
 the day of her extremity was the day of her visitation from on 
 high. Behind that dark cloud, which shut out from view the 
 already risen light of the early dawn, the full-orbed light of day 
 
294 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 was about to rise. Deliverance came in the darkest hour — and 
 deliverance too in a manner to show both friends and foes that 
 it was the finger of God. All would now say, his arm had gotten 
 them the victory. It was for this that they were brought low and 
 diminished and oppressed. God would show his people where 
 their strength lay — and this they would learn only when brought 
 to see their own weakness. 
 
 And so it has generally been with the Church of God. Her 
 greatest triumphs have been immediately preceded by her darkest 
 periods. The waning of an old and decaying order of things, 
 and the revolutions and convulsions incident to the introduction 
 and establishment of a new dispensation, give to the general aspect 
 of affairs the appearance of a mighty dissolution. It is fearful 
 to see the fountains of the great deep breaking up, and the mighty 
 floods rolling over the earth, and the solid ground giving way, 
 and no new earth on which you may place the sole of your foot. 
 It was a dark period to Noah, when he looked abroad upon the 
 wide expanse of waters, and saw the last summit of the sinking 
 earth, sinking deeper and deeper into a watery grave. But soon 
 a new world arose, regenerated — washed from the sins of the old 
 and made once more a fit abode for holiness. 
 
 And that was the darkest night of all when the body of Him, 
 who was to be the bright and morning star, was entombed in the 
 solid marble of the "new sepulchre." No wonder that the 
 heavens gathered blackness — that the sun was darkened. In 
 yonder sepulchre was entombed the hojpe of the world. The 
 rising star of Bethlehem, which had already begun to cast its 
 light over the thick darkness of the nations, now seemed to sink 
 again below its horizon, and no bow of promise gave signs that 
 ere long it should rise again in redoubled splendor. The rising 
 hopes of saints were now in a moment prostrated. Many had 
 trusted that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel, but 
 
THE RESURRECTION. 295 
 
 as the morning of the third day approached and all was still silent 
 about the sepulchre — except as the stern sentinel of the Roman 
 cohort, half determined by martial pride, half trembling for a 
 fearful looking after those things that may come to pass, keeps 
 his nightly watch and proudly walks his rounds about the spot 
 where lay, bound in the icy chains of death, the hope of a hope- 
 less world — how must the last ray of hope seem to be settling 
 down into the dark abyss to emerge no more forever ! How, to 
 the faultering hopes of saints and disciples, must the flickering 
 light of eternal life seem to be sinking into its socket, and the 
 world seem bound over to the unbroken and universal dominion 
 of spiritual darkness and hopeless death ! How did this over- 
 powering despondency which had seized on every anxious heart, 
 find a response in the bursting grief of those female disciples who 
 came early to the sepulchre : " They have taken away our Lord, 
 and we know not where they have laid him! " 
 
 Never was there a darker hour. Hope lay dead and incased 
 in the solid granite. Death had gotten the victory — the grave had 
 the spoil, sin triumphed, and hell kept jubilee. But hark ! I 
 seem to hear a rumbling sound. The earth quakes — the rocks 
 rend — the priests come rushing from the temple, and proclaim 
 that the veil is rent asunder — the graves open, and their pallid 
 inhabitants again walk forth among the abodes of men. And 
 what does all this mean ? 
 
 One company and then another company of women — and then 
 one of the disciples, whose ecstasy in the tidings he brings, bears 
 him apace before his brethren, come running back to the Holy 
 City early on the morning of the first day of the week, and what 
 strange tidings do they bring ! They say — ^and who at this junc- 
 ture of fell despondency can credit it — they say that the Lord has 
 risen indeed! The gloomy night is passed. The morning of the 
 Resurrection has come. The entombed hopes of his followers 
 
296 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 now burst forth into a glorious reality. Incased in that hopeless 
 tomb was the germ of hope for a ruined world. On Calvary, in 
 the very ignominy and agony of the cross, was done away one 
 order of things and introduced another, which should bring 
 life and immortality to light. It was the darkness, the dread, , 
 the death of that dismal period, which introduced the most illus- 
 trious period the Church ever witnessed. They not only pre- 
 ceded it, but were the very authors of it. The scene on Calvary 
 was the great conflict. It was the hour and power of darkness. 
 When the great Head of the Church was about to introduce a new 
 and more glorious era of his grace, all the powers of the Pit were 
 roused to smother the rising glory. 
 
 Hence the conflict of that period — and hence the conflict that 
 precedes every principal step of advancement in God's dispen- 
 sations of grace towards our world. It is not merely a thing, which, 
 as a matter of fact, does precede a triumph, but which, as a mat- 
 ter of reason, should precede it. 
 
 It was so again only a few years after the ascension of our 
 blessed Lord. All things were prepared for the diffusion of the gos- 
 pel among the nations. The disciples had received the command 
 — their number was sufficiently multiplied — the Holy Ghost had 
 come upon them, and all things seemed ready for their mission. 
 But they lingered, and at this very juncture the heavens over 
 them gathered blackness — a deadly spirit of persecution broke 
 out about Stephen, and the disciples were scattered abroad 
 among distant provinces and nations; and wherever they were 
 driven, they went preaching the word. It was to all human ap- 
 pearance a dark day. But it was a darkness that presaged a 
 more glorious light than ever before had risen on this benighted 
 world. And so it has been in God's ordinary dealings with his 
 Church. He gives them enlargement by bringing them through 
 a very narrow way. He gives them light by bringing them through 
 
INDICATIONS AND SIGNS. 297 
 
 a very dark valley. He gives them joy and rest and peace and 
 glory, by first bringing them through the dust of humiliation, and 
 oftentimes out of the furnace of affliction. 
 
 It has been well said that " the hour of preparation for a better 
 order of things is not a time of favorable appearances, but the 
 reverse ; and that, nevertheless, at such a time, human affairs are 
 actually tending towards the approaching change." While clouds 
 and darkness settle down thick on the surface of events, and pre- 
 sage any thing but a favorable change, the undeveloped operations 
 of an under-current are bearing away all obstacles before them, 
 and preparing the way for some radical and momentous change. 
 
 We no doubt mistake in supposing we must look for the signs 
 of the times in the quarter from which the light comes. We 
 must look towards the dark quarter, where the clouds are lower- 
 ing and the storm is brewing — ^look beyond the circle within which 
 religion has reared her standard and morality shed her benign in- 
 fluence. We must look abroad upon the wide surface of spiritual 
 desolation, if we would discern indications that some mighty con- 
 vulsion is at hand, which shall break up the deep foundations of 
 error and sin, and establish all things on a new and a better basis. 
 We look towards the illumined quarter of the moral heavens, and 
 we see the light gleaming up higher and brighter. The sun of 
 righteousness is manifestly arising on the dark face of the waters. 
 The Bible is making its way into the ranks of unbelief and idola- 
 try — the gospel is preached — the messengers of truth go to and 
 fro, and knowledge is increased ; but these are not surer harbingers 
 of a brighter day, than the swelling, heaving, boiling of the great 
 ocean of moral darkness. " When the wicked are like the troub- 
 led sea which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt — 
 when there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the 
 stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the 
 sea and the waves roaring (great political convulsions), then 
 
298 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 may you know that some mighty conflict is at hand — some signal 
 victory awaits the saints of the most high God. For the empire 
 of sin will never yield without a conflict, and a conflict between sin 
 and holiness will always enventuate in the overthrow of sin. 
 
 This, under the direction of a wise and gracious Providence, 
 is the natural order of things. As the kingdom of light advances, 
 the prince of the power of the air is alarmed for the safety of 
 his empire. His anger becomes the more fierce and his efforts 
 the more impetuous, as he sees the onward and irresistible advance- 
 ment of that kingdom which shall fill the whole earth. While 
 he supposes himself an equal combatant, he is comparatively 
 at ease. But the moment he sees the victory going finally and 
 forever against him, he will contend with all the desperation of 
 an arch fiend. We are, therefore, to expect — indeed it is but 
 analogous to the ordinary operations of the divine economy in 
 conducting the affairs of his kingdom, that a mighty conflict will 
 precede any very signal triumph of the Church. 
 
 There is on the part of God a wise and benevolent design that 
 it should be so. He thus vindicates his own honor and makes 
 manifest his own power. He shows to the Church and to the 
 world that the strength of his people lies in the omnipotent arm. 
 He teaches his people their dependence, and by this says to the 
 wicked, " stand in awe and sin not," for He with whom you con- 
 tend is God. 
 
 There are, then, the best of reasons for believing that God will 
 not change his mode of conducting the august affairs of his gov- 
 ernment. What has been, shall be. If he has seen it wise to 
 prepare his people for the successive onward developments of his 
 grace and his glory in his earthly Zion, by bringing them into that 
 state of humiliation and dependence — where they are prepared to 
 understand the loving-kindness of their God, and to appreciate 
 his power, and to be in a state to ascribe all the majesty and the 
 
SORENESS OF THE CONFLICT. 299 
 
 glory, all the power and dominion unto God and to the Lamb 
 forever, he will continue to do so. 
 
 And if such a day of darkness and despondency ; if such a 
 period of trial and self-abasement, and of emptying of all human 
 dependence ; such a day of overthrow and despair was necessary 
 to prepare the Church for those lesser manifestations of grace and 
 glory in former periods of Zion's triumphs, how much more may 
 we suppose the Church will be prepared for her Millennial tri- 
 umph by a most gaUing encounter with her inveterate foe ! How 
 much more niay we expect that the sun of the Millennial Morn 
 will arise on the darkest, deadliest, the most tempestuous night 
 that ever lowered on this lower world ! None shall see that mom 
 but such as come out of great tribulation. It shall be a most 
 striking emblem of heaven. A prominent characteristic shall be, 
 that " here the wicked shall cease from troubling and the weary 
 shall be at rest." So sore will be the conflict — so raging the 
 fury of the enemy — so near did they seem to gain the victory — 
 and finally so providential and miraculous the victory in behalf 
 of the saints, that not a suspicion can lurk in a single breast that 
 it was any other than the hand of Jehovah which gave them the 
 victory. As in the case of the convicted sinner, when overcome 
 beneath the weight of his burden and ready to perish, deliverance 
 is the more precious, and the arm that plucked him from the hor- 
 rible pit and the miry clay is more readily acknowledged ; so in 
 the deliverance of the Church from her low and oppressed state, 
 when the foot of the enemy is raised high to crush her, she can 
 sing of triumph, and ascribe all the honor to Him who hath done 
 it. 
 
 I have answered, and somewhat in detail too, the first inquiry 
 proposed, viz. : What is GocTs ordinarg course of dealing with 
 his Church in reference to those periods when he is about to make 
 some new and more glorious display of his grace towards her ? 
 
300 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 And from this I have drawn a fair inference, I believe, that it is 
 but analogous with what in a great variety of instances has al- 
 ready taken place, to expect a mighty conflict before the final 
 triumph of the Church in the days of the Millennium. I must 
 now return a brief answer to the second inquiry, viz. : Whai 
 is God's ordinary course of dealing, under similar circumstances, 
 with the incorrigibly wicked ? And we may here be able to de- 
 duce the same inference as before. 
 
 Two objects are here to be gained : the one, to demonstrate to 
 the wicked how perfectly unavailing is the w^arfare they are carry- 
 ing on against God ; and the other, to confirm the faith of his 
 people in the power and determination of God to support his 
 cause, and vindicate his chosen against any assault which may 
 be made upon them. 
 
 Hence we find that God exercises a singular forbearance to- 
 wards sinners. He allows them time to exemplify their wicked 
 principles, and to act out their characters — that the world — that 
 the universe may have a fair opportunity to see what they are, 
 and to what they tend. He does not hinder them from exhibit- 
 ing the extreme pride, and ambition, and malice, and madness 
 of sin. He does not keep the sinner caged in such a lattice-work 
 of restraints that he cannot act out, freely, his own nature. He 
 gives him length of chain, that he may sport and rage — that he 
 may show what he is, and what he would do if permitted to have 
 a still greater range. Hence it is that when sinners get madly 
 set on their idols, and are determined at all hazards to pursue the 
 vanities of their own choice, God allows them to do so. As the 
 light increases and trenches on the confines of darkness, they 
 madden more and more. God permits this. They are at length 
 wrought up into a frenzy of madness against the people of God, 
 and venture to raise the hand of violence against God's anointed 
 ones. They may beat them low, but they cannot crush them. 
 
MERCIES — ^JUDGMENTS. 301 
 
 They may trample on them, but they cannot grind them to powder. 
 No weapon formed against them can prevail. It may seem about 
 to prevail, but it can never strike the final blow. The strong 
 arm of God interposes at the very moment when the ponderous 
 foot of the enemy is about to crush his prey. So it was when 
 Pharaoh and his host, mad on revenge, pursued the people of 
 God to the very borders of the sea. The maddening tiger crouched 
 to pounce upon his prey ; and when it seemed in his very jaws, 
 a hand divine laid prostrate the prowling beast, rescued his lamb, 
 and gathered it into a larger fold. And here is reared one of the 
 most singular monuments in the history of man. On one side 
 you read a record of mercy ; on another side a record of judg- 
 ment ; and on all sides you read the inevitable fate of the sinner 
 and the security of the saint. And so it was as the great con- 
 flict approached, near the close of our Saviour's eventful life. 
 The clearness and pungency of his instructions, the pureness of 
 his life, had so irritated and galled the foes of truth, and so dis- 
 gorged the latent fires of malice against a holy Religion, that 
 they could no longer suppress the outbreakings of their corrupt 
 hearts. The object of their hatred was the progress of the 
 truth. They saw their ranks thinning and their territory narrow- 
 ing, their respectability waning and their influence depreciating, 
 and they made one deadly struggle to save their sinking cause. 
 The more desperate their cause the more deadly the onset. And 
 so we may expect it to be when the truth shall have taken so 
 deep root, and have extended its branches so widely as to create 
 the alarm that its empire shall become universal. The moment 
 that the stone cut out of the mountain without hands is increased 
 to such dimensions that it shall seem to be jostling from their 
 foundations and removing from their places, and casting into the 
 midst of the sea, all the dominions and principalities of error 
 and delusion and falsehood, till no place shall be found for them, 
 
302 THE COMING CRISIS OP THE WORLD. 
 
 that moment, you may depend upon it, a low grumbling sound 
 will be heard among the nations. The lowest elements of in- 
 iquity will begin to heave and give signs of a convulsion, and at 
 length the warring elements will burst forth, and the fires of the 
 pit will bum from the lowest depths of hell. 
 
 In a word, when the truth shall have made so much progress, 
 and yet before it can set up its undisputed empire among the 
 nations, there will, in accordance with the ordinary operations of 
 the divine economy, be a conflict of principle — of truth with 
 error — a bloody conflict in all probabihty, such as has never yet 
 been recorded in the history of man. 
 
 How inevitable then is the destruction of the sinner! He may 
 boast himself for a time. He may speak great swelling words. 
 He may lightly esteem the God of his salvation and affect to 
 despise his commandments. He may think to break the cords 
 of restraint and raise the standard of rebellion, yet how perfectly 
 futile are all his attempts. 
 
 Nothing can be so consummately foolish and futile as the sin- 
 ner's estrangement from his God. He voluntarily forsakes his 
 best, his only Friend : his best Friend in time, and the only one 
 that can befriend him when time shall be no more. 
 
 If the sinner be not reconciled to God, there is no power in 
 the universe that can save him from a never-ending ruin. He 
 must perish. Sooner might you think to roll back the wheels of 
 time, or to change the ordinances of heaven, than to save a sinner 
 who will not yield in obedience and love to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The duty of Chripfians in reference to the near approach of the Milleunium. 
 
 This is the last topic proposed for discussion. And it becomes 
 us to enter upon it with some befitting sense of our responsibilities 
 and duties at such a time as this. 
 
 However much they who talk and think and write on these 
 subjects may difier as to the signs of the approach of such a 
 period, or the time of its commencement, or its character or du- 
 ration, there seems a very general agreement among all evan- 
 gelical Christians that the " good time is coming ; " and that it is 
 not far in the future. To say nothing of all the absurd and ful- 
 some things, which, in our pride and self-gratulation, has been 
 said on this subject, we are no doubt living in a very interesting 
 period of the world. Events, big with interest to the Church, 
 as we have shown, are now transpiring in quick succession. 
 Thirty years now leave in their wake, as they pass, a consumma- 
 tion of more events which hasten on the glory of Zion, than three 
 hundred — I had almost said three thousand years — did at some 
 former period of the history of the Church. Who could have 
 conceived, thirty years ago, the progress which has been made in 
 science, in government, in civilization and religion ? Into how 
 many languages has the Bible, within that period, been translated, 
 and given, in their own vernacular, to more than half the popula- 
 
 (303) 
 
304 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 tion of the globe ! How have the messengers of the Churches 
 gone to and fro in the world, and knowledge increased, till the 
 good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, has been 
 proclaimed, in greater or less perfection, and more or less exten- 
 sively, among almost every people and nation ! The Press has 
 sent forth its healing leaves as widely as the tree of life has been 
 planted. Never before was the march of truth so rapid. The 
 science of government; liberal principles; the progress of the 
 arts, have within the same period, made rapid strides towards 
 perfection. Much remains to be done, yet what are these but 
 the sure harbingers of better days ? What is their language but 
 this, that the night is Jar spent, and the day is at hand'^ 
 
 And we may, if we will, discover in the untoward circum- 
 stances of the Church, and of the world, indications that the day 
 of Zion's deliverance and enlargement is not distant. The very 
 outbreakings of sin — the ravings and ranklings of Satan, are 
 no doubtful indications that his time is short ; his days numbered. 
 
 A voice on every side seems to say to Zion, " Arise, shine, for 
 thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. 
 Lift up your eyes around about and see, all gather themselves 
 together ; thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall 
 be nursed by thy side." 
 
 If such a period as has been indicated — ^if such events as have 
 been described, lie but a little way before us, and if the charac- 
 ter of that period and of those events be such as I have intima- 
 ted, it becomes a question of very serious import, Are we prepared 
 for such a state of things ? Are we doing what devolves on us 
 to hasten the wished for era ; and are we prepared to live in and 
 enjoy such a period ? The prophet just quoted adds — and this 
 includes the preparation needed — " then thou shall see and flow 
 together, and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the 
 abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, and the forces 
 
HOLIER STATE OF THE CHURCH. 305 
 
 of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." In other words, when the 
 heathen shall be converted, and they that do business on the 
 great waters, and see the wonders of the deep, shall yield a will- 
 ing obedience to the God of heaven, then shall be developed in 
 the Churchi, the character here described. They shcdl see, shall 
 know, shall understand; the films of ignorance shall be removed, 
 and they shall see clearly, and comprehend more of the ways of 
 the Lord. They shaU flow together — shall be of one heart and 
 one mind — shall be bound together by the golden chain of love, 
 and shall not only harmonize in feeling and affection and cardi- 
 nal principle, but shall, as far as the nature of the great work in 
 which they are engaged admit, think and act in harmony. Their 
 heart shall fear and be enlarged. Self-distrust, and reverence for 
 God shall pervade their innermost soul. While they walk care- 
 fully and humbly before their God, they shall have increased 
 confidence in him, and more liberal and enlarged views of his 
 character and kingdom. They shall be enlarged — shall be capable 
 of understanding more — of feeling more — of doing more — and 
 shall desire more. They will ask great things of God — and ex- 
 pect great things. They shall be capacitated to live in a higher 
 and holier and more advanced state of things. 
 
 But is not this higher and liolier type of Christian character, 
 which fits for that higher and holier state of the Church in (ho 
 time of her ^Millennial glory, the very character which will bring 
 about such a state? Holy fear; profound reverence and love 
 of God ; increased holiness ; a more liberal and diffusive intelli- 
 gence ; union and harmony of action ; enlarged views of duty, 
 and feelings, affections, and desires Christ-like and heavenly, are 
 the characteristics and the sure harbingers of such a period. 
 
 Would we, then, be the instruments of introducing such a day, 
 and when it shall be introduced, be prepared to welcome and en- 
 joy it, we must have this character. And so we must, should 
 20 
 
306 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 we be first called to enter upon the more perfect fruition of a yet 
 higher state of glory. The spirit that would fit us to enjoy such 
 a state of things is the very spirit that will make us instrumental 
 in bringing about that state. 
 
 What then is the duty of all who love and honor our Divino 
 Master ? He is doing great things in our world. He is acceler- 
 ating his chariot-wheels with a glorious and fearful rapidity — 
 glorious to all who will acknowledge his right to reign and re- 
 joice in his dominion, and fearful to all such as will not have him 
 to reign over them. He would have his people coworkers with 
 him. He has preordained that he will carry on his work through 
 his people. If he is now hastening things on to the grand con- 
 summation, as I have supposed ; if, as a King he is riding forth con- 
 quering and to conquer, he expects, as never before, that his 
 people will put on the whole armor, and in this day of the great 
 conflict and victory stand, every man at his post. 
 
 What is a befitting preparation for such a period ? I name as 
 the first in order and importance, a higher, holier, a more 
 purifying and appropriating faith. 
 
 As, on the one hand, dangers thicken about the Church, and 
 days grow dark, and the enemy strengthens himself and seems 
 about to prevail, the people of God need a firmer hold on the 
 promises — a stronger faith — a more implicit reliance on their 
 covenant God. Like John when he had been cast into prison, 
 there is danger that their faith will, in the hour of their tribula- 
 tion, fail them. They will therefore need a faith which shall 
 appropriate the divine promises, and bring home to the soul a 
 clearer evidence of things unseen. In the day of rebuke and trial 
 that shall precede that latter-day glory, the soul of the good man 
 will need to be fortified against the spirit that shall work in the 
 children of disobedience. He will be able to stand only as he 
 has on the whole armor of God. 
 
NECESSITY OP HOLINESS. 807 
 
 But he must not only be prepared to meet, and to pass un- 
 scathed through, the coming conflict, when the " Lord shall come 
 out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their 
 iniquity," but when the " indignation shall be overpast," he must 
 be prepared to enter upon, and be able to live in and enjoy a 
 moral condition which shall require a much higher type of re- 
 ligious character, and a purer and more appropriating faith than 
 has been hitherto known in the Church. While this will still be 
 an earthly condition, it will be more heavenly than has yet been 
 seen on earth. The prevailing exercise of that faith which over- 
 cometh the world, worketh by love and purifieth the heart, will 
 make heaven and earth meet, and men will again seem to converse 
 with angels. 
 
 From what has already been said, it will be inferred that a deep- 
 toned piety is an indispensable preparation both for the speedy 
 bringing in of such a period, and for the enjoyment of it when 
 introduced. " To him that hath shall be given that he may have 
 abundantly." They that wait for the coming of their Lord will 
 live in near communion with their God. They will seek to be more 
 conformed to his image, and, as adopted sons, will have more of 
 the filial spirit. They will be more humble, more hopeful, more 
 Christ-like. 
 
 The kingdom that is to come shall be a kingdom of holiness, 
 of eminent consecration to God. Human energies and influence 
 shall then be, in a manner heretofore unknown, devoted to the 
 service of the Great King. They, then, who will hasten a con- 
 summation so devoutly to be wished, and who would, if per- 
 mitted, enjoy its blessings, must be eminently holy. Holiness 
 alone is the power that is to conquer the world, and to give the 
 kingdom to Christ. Men, money, learning, political power, facil- 
 ities for rapid communication with all parts of the world, will not 
 do it — though the Church may abound and feel herself strong in 
 
308 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 all such resources, nothing short of the resistless, the omnipotent 
 power of holiness, can demolish the strongholds of the adversary, 
 deliver man from the bondage of sin, and, by reinstating him in 
 the image of his God, make him a tit denizen in the New Jerusa- 
 lem come down from heaven. 
 
 I scarcely need name united, fervent and effectual prayer as 
 another duty of those who wait for the coming of tlieir Lord. 
 Prayer, the heart's desire for things needful, and not inconsistent 
 with the lionor of God and the rights and happiness of man, is 
 of divine appointment, and a necessary means by which to pro- 
 cure the thing sought. The Church may expect nothing — no 
 progress, no increase of numbers or of graces, except in answer 
 to prayer. Would she therefore have her Lord come speedily, 
 and take out of the way all that hindereth his working, and set 
 up his kingdom on earth, she must cry mightily to God that he 
 would do this great thing for her. Encouraged by such hopes, 
 and vitalized by such a faith, the people of God will pray always 
 and with all prayer. 
 
 Another duty, and also a characteristic of the age that shall 
 precede the Millennial period, is an unprecedented Christian en- 
 terprise, pervaded and vitalized by an enlarged, enlightened and 
 diffusive benevolence. Our age is not lacking in bold enterprise — 
 in adventurous schemes of discovery — in an active inventive 
 genius — in gigantic investments of capital — in plans of human 
 advancement. There is no lack of energy and enterprise in de- 
 vising and executing great schemes for all sorts of worldly aggran- 
 dizement. The expenditure of property for these things is enor- 
 mous. We are amazed at the millions, the hundreds of millions 
 that are so readily invested in railways, in telegraphs, in mining, 
 manufacturing and mechanical operations. And we see a pre- 
 sage in these very things that the " good time " is hastening on 
 apace. The Millennium shall undoubtedly be distinguished by 
 
ENLARGED AND DIFFUSIVE BENEVOLENCE. 309 
 
 physical features which are preparing in our own age. That 
 period will no doubt be characterized by great wealth ; but wealth 
 made tributary to the improvement and happiness of man — to the 
 real aoro-randizement of the race. Works to facilitate internal 
 and international communication shall then be perfect. Science 
 and the arts shall have made their richest contributions to the 
 well-being of man ; the earth be made to yield her supplies in 
 an abundance before unknown ; and prosperity shall smile on 
 every human enterprise. All capital so invested as to accomplish 
 such ends, is doubtless contributing to, and hastening the desired 
 era, though the actors in these scenes may have no such design. 
 They are all made to contribute to bring in the physical Millen- 
 nium. 
 
 But it is rather to the moral aspects of that period to which I 
 refer, when I speak of enlarged and diffusive benevolence as an 
 imperative duty of the present day. 
 
 An all-controlling Providence is wont to set one thing over 
 against another. A few years past have been years of unprece- 
 dented prosperity. Riches have increased in a manner unknown 
 in any former age : at least the professed people of God, have had 
 more of this world's wealth thrown into their possession than ever 
 before. Mines in the far West, and in the far East, have poured 
 forth their golden treasures without stint. Commerce, manufac- 
 tures and agriculture have filled the land with wealth. The 
 Christian Church has, in this respect, shared her full proportion. 
 To say nothing of the hoarded stores and the misapplied wealth 
 of the Romish communion, there is found in the Protestant Evan- 
 gelical Church immense riches. She can count her miUionaires 
 — and a great multitude who measure their wealth by the hun- 
 dreds of thousands. We are no doubt to regard this singular 
 worldly prosperity of the Christian Church as a significant prog- 
 nostic of our times ; as an interesting link in the chain of Di- 
 
310 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 vine Providence, indicating in no doubtful terms the present 
 duty of the Church. For, on the other hand, the same strong 
 arm has been at work in discovering the nations one to another ; 
 bringing into nearer proximity, and preparing the way for the 
 spread of the gospel. The door has been opened— obstacles re- 
 moved — ^facilities provided — the Bible translated, and only needs 
 the pecuniary means in order to give it an indefinite circulation — 
 systems of education inaugurated, and only it needs the momen- 
 tum of an actual Christian benevolence, to give them all the re- 
 quired efficiency. The field is the world; and that field has, 
 within the few past years, been remarkably thrown open to evan- 
 gelical efforts. The day has undoubtedly come when the gos- 
 pel shall be preached, as a witness, to all nations. The angel 
 is now expediting his flight ; and soon, as a needful preparation 
 for the great day of the Lord, shall the good tidings be proclaimed, 
 and the Man of Nazareth be offered as the Saviour of all men. 
 
 Hitherto every effort of the Church has been sadly crippled 
 for the want of funds. Compared with her present resources, 
 she has been poor — yet her greatest inability has been in her 
 spiritual penury. Her soul has not been enlarged to consecrate 
 her pecuniary resources to her Lord. When her members shall 
 make such a consecration, and at the same time lay at the foot of 
 the altar of their religion their time, talents and influence, the 
 world shall realize and acknowledge the Church to be the light and 
 the life of the world. Never was there a time when the Church 
 might so effectually make friends of the Mammon of unrighteous- 
 ness. Never before could consecrated wealth do so much to bless 
 a ruined world, and to bring in the day which prophets have sung 
 and kings desired to see. 
 
 We may not expect that day till the Church of the living God 
 shall arise in her strength, and let her light shine, and put forth 
 an energy and enterprise, and practice a self-denial, and exhibit 
 
DUTY OF THE CHURCH — KNOWLEDGE. 311 
 
 a benevolence nothing less than apostolic. She must devote to 
 the service of her Lord all the agencies she can command — 
 whether of money, or men, time or talents — she must make the 
 honor and the progress of Christ's kingdom the great business 
 and aim of life. She will then put forth the whole power of her 
 piety : men will then live, labor, get money and spend it, as in their 
 honest judgment, they shall believe, will the most effectually ad- 
 vance the kingdom of Immanuel. And then, when they pray, 
 " Thy kingdom come," there will be a heart in it, a power, which 
 shall move the powers of heaven, and soon unveil, in this lower 
 world, the glories of the New Jerusalem. Our hopes of the 
 speedy coming of that blessed day are in proportion to the conse- 
 cration of the Church. 
 
 But activity and enterprise, and even pious consecration, are 
 not all. A high standard of knowledge, intelligent views of duty, 
 and a profound acquaintance with the Bible, are duties of a 
 kindred importance. They who have themselves been enlight- 
 ened and tasted of the good word of God and "the powers 
 of the world to come " — the dispensation of grace of which we 
 speak — will be moved to search more and more into the myste- 
 ries of godliness, and the character of the expected kingdom. 
 They will be more intelligent — will seek to know more of Grod, 
 of duty, of man and his character, his history and his destiny ; 
 and more of Divine Providence — how he has carried on his work 
 in past ages — what he seems about to do — what devolves on man 
 to do, and how he is to do it ? As a sure precursor of that day, 
 " knowledge shall increase." The divine predictions shall now 
 especially possess new charms. Through them God has fore- 
 shadowed the things that shall come to pass. And as their fulfil- 
 ment draws near, they will appear to all who are waiting for the 
 consolation of Israel, clothed in a new interest. All who are 
 looking for the coming of the long-ago predicted era, will, like 
 
312 THE COMING CRISIS OF -THE WORLD. 
 
 the holy men who of old spake as they were moved by the spirit 
 of God and prophesied of the grace that should come, inquire 
 and search diligently, searching what, or what manner of time, 
 the spirit of Christ which is in them doth signify. 
 
 If there be signs in the political and moral firmament that the 
 great and glorious things foretold draw near their accomplish- 
 ment, then what manner of men ought we to be in all holiness 
 of life, in untiring activity, in singleness of purpose, in well- 
 directed and intelligent benevolence. 
 
 And another duty of the Church as well as another character- 
 istic of her coming glory, is hrotherly love. Union of heart — 
 harmony of action, will prevail to a degree never before known. 
 Denominational differences will be greatly lessened, and, as to all 
 practical purposes, annihilated. The harmony of feeling and 
 principle which will then prevail will not fail to produce a corres- 
 ponding harmony of action. 
 
 And here it seems but apposite and just, to express a conviction 
 which has for some few years been gaining strength, that a most 
 important movement is making in this direction by the " Christian 
 alliance," which is hopeful beyond any similar movement of our 
 time. Men of enlarged and liberal views, of different nationali- 
 ties, and ecclesiastical connections — men of tried piety, of expe- 
 rience, of influence and position, and of a catholic spirit, have 
 arisen in the strength of their religious principles and feelings, 
 and, soaring above the straitness and selfishness of sect, have 
 joined their noble energies in one grand, concentrated effort 
 against sin wherever found, and in whatever shape, and for the 
 upbuilding of the kingdom of righteousness, irrespective of nation- 
 ality or narrow bigotry. Is there oppression, or persecution, the 
 undaunted hand of this alliance is raised in stern remonstrance. 
 Does some earthly potentate, clothed in " a little brief authority," 
 attempt to desecrate God's day, or to arrest the mission of his 
 
CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE. 313 
 
 holy word in its circuit around the world, by excluding it from 
 his dominions ; or does some giant wrong prevail, or some cor- 
 roding evil prey on its human victims, these noble Philanthropists, 
 bound together and energized by principles and feelings which 
 exist only to bless and to bind together and make strong, step for- 
 ward in the majesty of a righteous benevolence, and rebuke kings 
 and teach nations. 
 
 Let this alliance be encouraged as it ought to be ; let the good 
 and great of all nations be joined in one great brotherhood, and 
 let them go on from strength to strength, carrying out their great 
 and good plans, and they shall soon, under God, bring the world 
 into a state that shall first stir up to rebellion and conflict all the 
 opposing powers of sin, and then introduce the reign of righteous- 
 ness on the whole earth. Yet our confidence here lies not in the 
 men who happen at present to be the leaders of this noble move- 
 ment, but in the principles of action by which they are bound 
 together and actuated. Should these men prove recreant to their 
 great trust, their principles, under other auspices and agents, will 
 not fail to work out their benevolent mission. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Our Age — Troublous times — Safe to trust in God — The end of the wicked — 
 The people of God urged to renewed activity. 
 
 In the foregoing pages I have essayed to set forth, in as prac- 
 tical a light as possible, the long and anxiously looked for and 
 the much prayed for event called the Millennium. It is the period 
 predicted by ancient prophets, and looked for by ancient saints. 
 While philosophers and Pagan priests were descanting on the 
 beauties of some " Golden Age " to be realized in the distant future, 
 when Mammon should reign and all sorts of physical and sensuous 
 prosperity shall smile on the earth ; holy men of old spake as 
 they were moved by a Divine monition, of a Golden Age which 
 should be yet more remarkably signalized by the beauties of 
 holiness. It shaH be the peaceful reign of Immanuel. Right- 
 eousness shall be in the ascendant, and sin, which is a reproach to 
 any people, shall hide in caves and dens of the earth. 
 
 And I have as distinctly shown that there come " a falling 
 away first " — the Man of sin shall be revealed — the last, great 
 and most fearful struggle of man's arch foe shall precede and 
 hasten on this day of Zion's glorious triumph. " These be the 
 days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be ful- 
 filled." But when these things begin to come to pass, then look 
 
 'v314) 
 
GREAT EVENTS. 315 
 
 up, ye saints, and lift up your heads ; for your redemption draweth 
 nigh. 
 
 In drawing our discussion to a close certain reflections very 
 naturally press themselves upon us. And one of the most obvious 
 if not the most important is — 
 
 1. We live in a solemn age of the world. Great events are 
 transpiring, and greater yet are but a step before us. The great 
 purposes of the divine plan are steadily and speedily accomplish- 
 ing. Nothing can frustrate them. He will accomplish all his 
 will, and none can stay his hand. 
 
 P^very day is big with interest— every year brings forth its 
 great events. Every wind wafts some intelligence which pres- 
 ages revolution. Soon we may expect to hear of the downfall 
 of the proud and oppressive empire of the Moslems. They 
 have scourged the Church, have vexed the nations, tormented 
 the earth near twelve hundred and sixty years, and slain a third 
 part of our race. And, as nearly simultaneous with this, we look 
 for the ingathering of the Jews^ the overthrow of Paganism, and 
 the downfall of spiritual Babylon. And in connection with these 
 things, partly growing out of them, and partly producing them, we 
 look for the great Battle, the conflict of the joint powers of sin 
 against piety, and the apparent victory, and the short triumph of 
 the enemy, called the " slaying of the Witnesses." And we look, 
 too, that, when the nations shall be exceeding angry — when sin shall 
 have had its triumph and Satan filled up the measure of his iniquity, 
 He that hath written on his vesture and on his thigh, the Lord of 
 lords and the King of kings, shall come to the conflict — shall set 
 up liis standard — and soon it shall be proclaimed. The kingdoms 
 of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his 
 Christ; and he shaU reign forever. 
 
 Thus shall end the great Drama. He shall overturn and over- 
 turn, till He whose right it is shall come and reign. 
 
316 THE COMING CRISIS OF TKE WORLD. 
 
 These are things that may shortly come to pass. Events 
 thicken upon us. We hasten to the grand consummation. Ten 
 years may bring us into a period of intense interest. Are we 
 prepared — is the Church prepared to meet it ? Days of sorrow 
 and of joy, of darkness and of sunshine, of persecution and of 
 prosperity are before us — days of a short and galUng thraldom, and 
 of glorious liberty and enlargement as the sons of God. Never 
 has there been a time when Christians needed more knowledge 
 and grace, more firmness and courage, — the need of the whole 
 panoply. 
 
 Associated as we are with, and bound to take a part in the 
 vast affairs of a day like the present, what a responsibility is laid 
 on us to live worthy our times ? How misplaced and ill-timed to 
 trifle — to live for naught! How urgently are we pressed to 
 greater diligence. Never was a time when our prayers were so 
 likely to be answered, or our activities would be of so much ser- 
 vice in the world's emancipation. 
 
 2. Troublous times are times of strength. This the individual 
 Christian often has occasion to feel and acknowledge. He grows 
 and invigorates the most in the Christian life. Not when he 
 dwells in inglorious ease, and is fanned by the genial breezes of 
 prosperity, but when he is beaten upon by the merciless storms 
 of adversity — when every moral muscle of his soul is nerved to 
 action by the stem hand of necessity or affliction. The strong 
 men in Christ have been made in troublous times. They have 
 been made bold by the wicked resistance of the foe ; their faith 
 has waxed strong, and their hopes bright, and their love ardent, 
 and their prayers importunate and effective, when dangers have 
 beset them, and persecutions have assailed them, and deaths 
 manifold and appalling, have awaited them. The apostles were 
 strong men ; they lived in troublous times. And of those might- 
 iest, Paul was the mightiest. But the great apostle to the Gen- 
 
LANGUISHMENT OF THE CHURCH IN PROSPERITY. 317 
 
 tiles was hardened for his warfare, by a training severe in pro- 
 portion to the valor he was afterwards to display. " In strifes 
 above measure; in prisons more frequent; thrice shipwrecked 
 and left to buffet a day and a night in the deep ; thrice beaten 
 with rods and once stoned ; and in perils by land and by sea, in 
 the city and in the country, from friends and from foes ; from his 
 own brethren and from the heathen ; and in deaths oft — these 
 are the things which had much to do to make Paul the strong 
 man he was. 
 
 The early Reformers were strong men ; and under God, they 
 were made so by the troublous times in which they lived. 
 
 But we speak now rather of the Church collectively. In the 
 time of her quiet — ^in the absence of persecution, and when pros- 
 perity smiles, and the world favors, and religion is popular, the 
 life, the soul of the Church is then sure to languish. Worldly 
 prosperity has always been the bane of the Church. Whenever 
 she has been nurtured on the lap of wealth, or robed in the 
 purple and fine linen of courtly favor, and fared sumptuously in 
 the high places of worldly distinction, she has become weak and 
 sickly ; her energies relaxed, her spiritual strength extinct, her 
 power to resist the world, the flesh and the devil paralyzed, and 
 she helpless and impotent in the face of a wicked world, and 
 quite unfitted to make aggressions on them that are without. 
 When Zion is at her ease, she is quite at the mercy of the world. 
 
 But when in times of trouble she is compelled to act on the 
 defensive, and struggle for her life, and is forced to lay hold on 
 the Almighty arm for her strength, then she begins to be strong. 
 She is always and only strong in the omnipotence of her God. 
 It is only when in her troubles she is brought low, and made to 
 feel her weakness, and her dependence on her Almighty Friend, 
 that she is clothed with a power which the world cannot resist. 
 She will then so humble herself, and exercise such a faith, and 
 
.318 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 offer up such prayers, and illustrate in living examples such truths, 
 doctrines and precepts, as shall engage all the resources of Heaven 
 in her behalf. And when the great King shall make bare his 
 arm to avenge the cause of his elect, how shall his people be 
 made strong — how shall the enemy be discomfited and Zion arise 
 in the strength of her omnipotent Leader ! 
 
 As the great conflict of which I have spoken shall draw near, 
 as the Beast, the False Prophet and the Dragon, shall arouse 
 their hosts once in deadly combat with the saints of the Most 
 High, Zion will again see troublous times. The days of perse- 
 cution shall return — a martyr's crown may again be as dearly 
 purchased as in the darkest day Zion ever saw. The witnesses 
 shall be slain ; the triumph of their enemies shall be more com- 
 plete and universal than has ever yet been known. This shall 
 be the hour and the power of darkness ; and yet it shall be a 
 period which shall give birth to great and strong men in Zion. 
 Faith shall then plant her root deeper in the secret recesses of 
 the soul, and, taking root downwards, it shall more richly thac 
 ever bear fruit upwards. The sons of Zion, inured to the trials, 
 afflictions and persecutions of that day, will be strong in the Lord 
 and in the might of his power. 
 
 That was especially the "hour and the power of darkness," 
 when the disciples were scattered as sheep without a shepherd, 
 because their Lord and Master was seized and taken away to be 
 crucified and slain. Faith failed them and hope died within them. 
 All seemed lost. They trusted it had been He who should redeem 
 Israel. But the enemy had prevailed over him ; and no human 
 hope remained that he would overcome the foe and realize to them 
 what he had promised. Yet this was a day of strength. Though 
 it was the annihilation of all human hopes, the apparent frustra- 
 tion of all human agencies and the utter failure of all man's ex- 
 pedients, it was the very juncture of the most glorious and effect- 
 
THE SAFETY OF TRUSTING IN GOD. 319 
 
 ive interposition of the Divine Arm. This was the day on 
 which Zion was clothed with new power : the day when she put 
 on her strength and went forth in the might of Heaven to the 
 conquest of the world. 
 
 The dark cloud which we believe will yet overshadow the 
 Church, the day of dreadful conflict and apparent overthrow, 
 shall, in like manner, be a day of renewed, and of unprecedented 
 power to the Church of God. 
 
 3. We infer the safety of trusting in God. He that, in the day 
 of trouble, leans on the Almighty arm, though he stumble, he shall 
 not fall. Though he fall, he shall rise again. His feet are placed 
 on the Rock. God has ever had a people in the world whom he 
 keeps as the apple of his eye. If opposed, persecuted or slain, he 
 will vindicate their cause and avenge their wrongs. " When they 
 went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another 
 people, he suffered no man to do them wrong ; yea, he reproved 
 kings for their sake; saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do 
 my prophets no harm." If crushed and trodden down he will 
 raise them up. No weapon formed against his Church can pros- 
 per. He will complete the work he has begun and crown his name 
 with glory in spite of all the confederated hosts of sin and hell. 
 All that trust in Him are safe. 
 
 The Church shall live and prosper. She will be assailed as 
 she always has been. All sorts of devices will be formed against 
 her ; all sorts of weapons will be employed. Her hay. wood and 
 stubble must be burnt out ; yet she shall live and prosper and 
 finally triumph. Sin in every form and disguise will assail her ; 
 learning, wealth, fashion, civil power, will combine their strength 
 to undermine, if possible, and break down the walls of our Zion. 
 Ignorance and vice conjoined, will calumniate her; philosophy 
 will cavil ; infidelity will rage or decoy — will attack her as an 
 angel of light in the stolen robes of the sanctuary, or in the native 
 
320 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE AVOKLD. 
 
 Ugliness of its own deformity. Hypocrites within may play the 
 traitor, and zealots without, with a fire-brand in the one hand and 
 honeyed words of gospel love in the other, may promise the world 
 peace and purity and all good, if we will only follow hard in their 
 wake, and just help them first demolish the fair fabric of Zion, 
 that they may build on its ruins a more stately and resplendent 
 mansion ; yet the Church shall live and prosper. 
 
 The evangelical Church of Europe and America, corrupt as 
 she may be — human in foibles, defections and sins as she may 
 be, is still, in a moral point, head and shoulders above any other 
 organization on the face of the earth ; and simply as a reforming 
 society^ she is far, far in advance of any other reforming body ever 
 organized. She is, and always has been the sun, in comparison 
 of which all other reforming bodies are but stars — blazing stars 
 — comets, it may be, which, sometimes in transient effulgence, 
 threaten to put out the light of the sun. Yet the sun stands, 
 shines, enlightens and enlivens, clouds or no clouds, blazing stars 
 and meteors notwithstanding — and so she will till the end of time. 
 Though she may for a little time be overwhelmed by the floods 
 which the Dragon shall send out after her, yet shall she live and 
 prosper, and be received and honored at last of her Master, while 
 all who honor and love her not, shall be destroyed by the " bright- 
 ness of his coming." 
 
 •=' Though hand joined in hand," the wicked shall not prosper. 
 " Their covenant with death shall be disanulled and their agree- 
 ment with hell shall not stand ; when the overflowing scourge 
 shall pass through, then they shall be trodden down by it." 
 
 4. We would not here suppress a reflection of a very serious 
 character, which has so often pressed on our mind in the prepara- 
 tion of these pages. It is this :" What a final and total calamity^ 
 at such a time, not to he on the side of the Lord! 
 
 If God be about to rise and shake terribly the eai'th — if he is 
 
HAZARDOUS NOT TO BE ON THE SIDE OF GOD. 321 
 
 hastening all things with such a fearful rapidity as we have sup- 
 posed — if the crisis is rapidly approaching, and God has risen up 
 to avenge the cause of his elect ; and, after allowing his enemies 
 a temporary triumph, if he will crush them forever beneath his 
 dreadful power, and bind and cast into the Pit him that hath 
 power of sin and death, how dreadful, how fatally hazardous not 
 to be on the side of such a God ! God has allowed the wicked 
 for a little time to resist his law, to defy his power, to mouth the 
 heavens, to despise his mercy, to trample on his goodness, to do 
 despite to the spirit of his grace and reject the offer of his only 
 Son. But the day approaches 'when his forbearance will cease, 
 when his mercy will be clean gone forever. Who shall stand 
 when he shall appear ? He shall come in his judgments — in the 
 pestilence, by the sword and by famine. By all the dreadful 
 agencies of nature, and no less by the violence of man as armed 
 against his fellow-man, multitudes on multitudes of a wicked race 
 shall be destroyed, till the wicked shall cease to be. 
 
 But this dreadful destruction can harm none but the enemies 
 of God. They whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of 
 Life, though their bodies may perish in the great conflict, their 
 immortal spirits are joined to God by ties that can never be 
 severed. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, noth- 
 ing can harm them. 
 
 But another thought is here suggested. It is none other than 
 the Lord Jesus Christ who shall come thus dressed in vengeance 
 to avenge his people, and to punish and to destroy his enemies. 
 The Lamb once slain for sinners — ^the Good Samaritan who came 
 to pour the wine and the oil into the wounds which sin has made 
 — who came to pity our low estate and to blot out our trans- 
 gressions — who was touched with a feeling of our infirmities — 
 who enters into the secret chamber of our grief and is afflicted 
 
 in all our afflictions ; it is He that shall come with his mighty 
 21 
 
322 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 angels, revealed in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that 
 know not God and obey not the gospel of his Son. Now he is 
 the dispenser of pardon to the penitent no more. He is the Ex- 
 ecutor of the divine wrath on the ungodly. 
 
 " Kjss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way 
 when his wrath is kindled but a little." 
 
 Once his was the voice of love, inviting the sinner to turn and 
 live, in accents soft and sweet as the breath of heaven. Now his 
 words are as the thunder-tones of wrath, speaking eternal ban- 
 ishment from his presence to the guilty soul who would none of 
 his counsels. " Fear not him who can only kill the body ; but 
 I forewarn you whom ye shall fear ; fear him who, when he hath 
 killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear 
 him!" 
 
 Be at peace, then, with God. Make man your eneiny if you 
 will, engage against you all the resources of the mightiest earthly 
 monarch ; let the world arm against you. It is not much that 
 they can do. They can but kill the body. But make God your 
 Friend ; secure a saving interest in the atonement and interces- 
 ion of his dear Son, and you are safe. You are prepared for 
 those things which must shortly come upon the earth. Nation 
 may be dashed against nation — the earth be shaken — the great 
 and terrible day of the Lord may come, and the wicked be as 
 chaff before the wind, if God be on our side, we have nothing to 
 fear. 
 
 How unequal and unavailing then is the warfare of the wicked 
 against the Church of God / They may boast themselves for a 
 time and speak great swelling words. They may think to break 
 the bands of restraint and raise the standard of rebellion, but 
 their attempts are all futile. God will sorely judge all them that 
 raise a hand against his Church. Yet he will use them as his 
 scourge. He will chastise his people and bring them low, and 
 
CHRIST TOUR ROCK AND SALVATION. 323 
 
 bring them back to their allegiance, through the instrumentality 
 of those, who, through the pretext of healing their backshdings, 
 would overcome and destroy and kill them. But when these 
 modern Assyrians shall have accomplished the purpose designed, 
 God will put his hook in their nose and his bridle in their lips, 
 and turn them back by the way by which they came. 
 
 And how inevitable, I repeat, is the destruction of the wicked. 
 God may for a time give them the desires of their hearts. He 
 may allow them the length of their line — allow them to show ojf 
 their real character, and to exemphfy their own principles to their 
 disgrace and final ruin. He may make them fit subjects by which 
 for a time to exhibit his extreme forbearance towards the sinner — 
 or, in the swift destruction which comes upon them, to give to his 
 saints renewed assurance, that he will avenge the cause of his 
 elect. 
 
 If the sinner will not be reconciled to God, no power in the 
 universe can save him. He must perish. Sooner, I say again, 
 might you hope to roll back the wheels of time, or change the 
 ordinances of heaven, than save the sinner who will not have the 
 Lord Jesus Christ to reign over him. Flee, then, and take ref- 
 uge in him. He is your Rock and your salvation — ^your strong 
 tower in the day of trouble. 
 
 Trust in Him and you are safe — though the tempest howl and 
 the floods come — though the sea roar and the fountains of the 
 great deep be broken up — though the earth totter beneath you, 
 and the heavens gather blackness over you. 
 
 There was never a time when it was so fearful a thing to rest 
 in the uncovenanted mercies of God. God is now as never before 
 riding forth to victory. He is accelerating his plans for the com- 
 plete and final overthrow of sin ; and if the sinner do not escape, 
 he must inevitably perish in the general ruin. 
 
 5. At such a day as this Christians ought to stand abased 
 
324 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 and rebuked on account of their apathy in the service of their 
 Divine Master. How slow are they to believe, and how indiffer- 
 ently do they go about the business of their Lord. All things 
 they see hastening to a fearful crisis. The wheels of Providence 
 roll on with accelerated speed. The promises are fulfilling, the 
 great purposes of God are fast accomplishing — his threatenings 
 are executed — and all things are indicating that the present scene 
 of the great Drama is fast coming to a close ; and that, after the 
 commotions of a short and terrific interval, another scene, more 
 glorious, to the wicked more dreadful, shall follow. Never since 
 Christ had a Church on the earth, were his people so loudly called 
 upon to double their diligence — to stand forth as the humble, fear- 
 less champions of the cross — to throw their whole souls into the 
 work — to lay body, soul, time, talent, wealth, influence, all upon 
 the altar of their religion, and to serve the Lord Christ with an 
 unreserved devotion and singleness of heart. 
 
 No plainer or safe rule of duty can be prescribed than that the 
 people of God should work where and when God works. As, in 
 his Providence, God leads the way, his people are to follow. 
 Wherever he opens the door for the exercise of their benevolent 
 feelings and Christian activities, they must enter and cheerfully 
 employ their graces and activities. It devolves on the present 
 generation of Christians not only to diffuse a knowledge of their 
 religion, as Providence has opened a wide and effectual way, but 
 on them devolves the duty of defending the truth against the in- 
 sidious attacks of skepticism and irreligion. Never did the cause 
 of our blessed religion need more humble and fearless advocates. 
 The Church militant of the present day occupies a position not 
 unlike that of a besieging army which has for a long time been 
 beleaguering some stronghold of the enemy. At length, after in- 
 cessant toil, suffering and expense, the day has come for the last 
 grand attack. They are now to make a final, desperate onset, and 
 
EVERT MAN TO DO HIS DUTY. 325 
 
 the victory shall be theirs. Now more than ever it will be ex- 
 pected that every man shall do his duty. Delinquency, apathy, 
 desertion, cowardice now would be doubly criminal. Every arm 
 must now be made bare for the fight ; every muscle must be ex- 
 erted ; every needed sacrifice must now be made to strike the final 
 blow. Dangers have thickened — the crisis has come, and now as 
 never before every man must stand at his post. 
 
 The people of the living God are about to besiege the army of 
 the aliens in their last strongholds. The hardest battle remains 
 to be fought ; the greatest victory to be won. And never did the 
 great Captain of our salvation more imperatively demand that 
 every man, each in his own sphere and according to his ability, 
 stand faithfully and fearlessly at his post, and every man do 
 
 HIS OVTN DUTY. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Earth the future and final residence of the Saints — The Scripture proof — 
 Heaven a place — and what place more suitable or more probable ? — good 
 enough, pleasant enough, aud large enough. 
 
 In the midst of these troublous times, when nation is dashed 
 against nation and the " world is turned upside down," it will not 
 seem out of place to contemplate the emergence of this distracted 
 world of ours out of such a chaos, and its happy restitution to its 
 primeval beauty and blessedness. We have said enough of tur- 
 moils, convulsions and overtumings. We come now to inquire 
 if our earth have not a different destiny. Shall her fair face be 
 forever deformed by wars and tumults, by violence and corrup- 
 tion ? and then, after a respite of a thousand years, shall she come 
 to a violent death, the victim of a fearful conflagration ? The 
 direction given to the reader's mind in the foregoing chapters may 
 have created some interest to inquire after the final destiny of the 
 earth, and of its teeming multitudes of immortal men. Its pre- 
 vious history has been sufficiently marvellous — the foregoing 
 drama wonderful enough, to justify the expectation, that, as the 
 plot thickens and the finale approaches, the end shall be grand 
 and enduring beyond human conception. 
 
 There are scattered through the Bible a class of texts which 
 C 326) 
 
EARTH TO BE CHANGED. 327 
 
 seem to contravene the more generally received idea that, after a 
 few generations, this globe of ours shall cease to be the habitation 
 of man. No doubt the earth shall undergo a change so radi- 
 cal and complete as to justify language being used to describe 
 it which seems to imply its destruction. So complete shall be 
 the renovation and remodeling of the earth that old things are 
 said to have passed away and all things to have become new. 
 Hence it is called a " new earth : " which, by way of implication, 
 justifies the use of the term " destruction," as applied to the ren- 
 ovating and new-modeling process which this globe shall undergo, 
 as a preparation for the future residence of the saints. 
 
 The texts referred to are such as these : *• Blessed are the meek, 
 for they shall inherit the earth." In the 37th Psalm a similar 
 declaration is made no less than five times : " They that wait on 
 the Lord shall inherit the earth." " The meek shall inherit the 
 earth and delight themselves in the abundance of peace." " Such 
 as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth." " The righteous shall 
 inherit the land and dwell therein foreverJ' The latter defines 
 the import of the phrase " inherit the earth." Again, Canaan, 
 the type of heaven, was given to xVbraham and his seed, as an 
 everlasting possession. And to Israel, restored and reinstated in 
 the land, the promise is that " they shall dwell therein, even they 
 and their children, and their children's children forever', and my 
 servant David shall be their prince forever." 
 
 While all will concede that these texts teach, at least, that the 
 righteous shall possess more of the life that now is — they shall 
 enjoy more — shall live longer — shall have more name and 
 memorial among men — have more of real life than the wicked ; 
 yet these texts teach more. They teach that this earth, when 
 it shall have been renovated — purified by fire and fitted up for 
 the purpose, shall be the final and eternal residence of the saints. 
 It shall be their heaven : the New Jerusalem come down from 
 
328 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 heaven. The plain import of the scriptures already quoted would 
 seem to teach this. Although true, in the sense explained, that 
 they who fear God and love and work righteousness, live to a 
 much greater purpose and realize more of this present life than 
 the wicked do, we believe it likewise true that this earth shall be 
 the everlasting possession of the children of God. The reason 
 for such a belief we find, 
 
 1. In the class of scriptures already quoted. 
 
 There is not the least intimation that the meaning of these pas- 
 sages should be limited to the present life. Their plain, literal 
 meaning is obviously what I have intimated. And the same idea 
 is included in the song of the redeemed about the throne. They 
 sing, " Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood 
 out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation ; and hast 
 made us unto God kings and priests ; and we shall reign on the 
 earth" Were it the design of the sacred writers to teach that 
 this earth shall be the future and the final residence of the re- 
 deemed, we do not see that they would have used stronger lan- 
 guage than we find already on record. And in corroboration of 
 such a construction I remark, 
 
 2. This earth is as likely to he the appointed habitation of the 
 redeemed of God as any other planet or world, which God has 
 made. As heaven is undoubtedly a place, a local residence for 
 material bodies, it must be some one, or more of the worlds which 
 compose God's universe. The spiritual body is, nevertheless, a 
 material body and must have a material habitation. Christ's res- 
 urrection body could be touched and handled, and consequently 
 supposed a local habitation for its residence. Elijah and Enoch 
 disappeared from earth in their human bodies (as also did those 
 saints who rose when Christ came from the grave) : changed no 
 doubt from corruptible to incorruptible, from mortal to immortal. 
 All the saints shall have such bodies as Christ and these trans- 
 
FUTURE RESIDENCE OF THE SAINTS. 329 
 
 lated saints possess, and as the angels possess ; and must conse- 
 quently hereafter occupy a material world for their eternal hab- 
 itation. And why should we search among the stars for a world 
 more likely to become their habitation ? Or why should we try 
 to persuade ourselves that any world that rolls around in its orbit, 
 in obedience to the sovereign will, should be a more suitable local- 
 ity for such a residence than their own native-born earth ? As 
 far, at least, as strong probabilities go for proof, we can feel little 
 difficulty in assuming, 
 
 3. That this earth of ours is the more probable, and, as far as 
 we can form a judgment in the matter, the most proper place for 
 the future residence and beatification of the saints. It is their 
 native home. They were born — twice bom, here. They are 
 bound here by every tie of consanguinity and relationship. All 
 their associations of childhood, youth and manhood are here. 
 Here they have rejoiced and here they have wept. Here sinned 
 and here repented, and here found forgiveness in the atoning blood. 
 And above all, as rendering earth the dearest spot in all the uni- 
 verse, this world of all others was honored as the birthplace of 
 our blessed Immanuel, God with us. Here he was cradled in the 
 manger. The dust of our earth was consecrated by his sacred 
 feet ; and it was over the hills and through the valleys of man's 
 earthly habitations that our blessed Lord went about doing good 
 — ministering to human wants and healing human infirmities. It 
 was here, as a man, among men, that he taught the way of life, 
 that he brought life and immortality to light. And above all, 
 it was here that he bore his cross up the hill of Calvary, and 
 there breathed out his life upon the accursed tree. Calvary has 
 a history in the records of every saint, which no other spot in all 
 the universe can by any possibility have. It is consecrated by 
 an act with which is associated all his hopes of eternal life. It 
 is consecrated by the blood which alone can wash away his sin. 
 
330 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 No Other world has a Calvary — no other world a spot so dear as 
 Calvary. The cross is the great centre of hope, and affection, 
 and adoration of the whole company of the redeemed. Why 
 then transfer it from its native place on Calvary ? Why think 
 to erect it on some other globe ? It belongs to this earth, and 
 we see not why it should ever be removed hence. 
 
 4. But we may establish the same strong probability from 
 another point. The entire history of our world indicates such a 
 destiny. Our world is a growth — rather a development. From 
 the moment of its earliest history, when it came from the hand of 
 creative power, without " form and void," to the present moment, it 
 has been a continual progress — a progress which has already occu- 
 pied an indefinite and unknown series of ages to accomplish, but 
 which yet seems to give no indications of soon reaching its con- 
 summation. 
 
 The first glimpse we have of our world, as an entity of history, 
 was that of an unsightly mass of matter ; without beauty, form or 
 utility, incapable of producing or sustaining either vegetable or 
 animal life, and containing neither soil, mineral or precious stone. 
 It was but a confused mass of raw material, out of which cre- 
 ative skill and wisdom and power should form all the endless 
 varieties of things, animate and inanimate, which now bless and 
 beautify the earth. Step by step the work proceeds. What the 
 Bible, in the first chapter of Genesis, includes in the simple term 
 creation, seems to comprehend the work of not less than six in- 
 definitely long periods, in which each successive step was a 
 decided advance on the preceding. 
 
 The first grand period saw the confused and unsightly mass sep- 
 arate into land and water. The sea and fountains of water were 
 formed, and the dry land appeared. Rocks, minerals, metals, and 
 a soil were made ; and an atmosphere was spread about the globe, 
 and the light made to appear. Then follows an age in which a 
 
MAN IN THE NEW JERUSALEM. 331 
 
 series of chemical changes, internal convulsions, and external 
 revolutions so far advance that the earth gives existence to vege- 
 table life, or life in its lowest type ; the conditions for the pro- 
 duction and support of animal life not yet existing. But ages 
 roll on. The needful changes take place, and animal life, first in 
 its lower grades, appears : fishes swim in the waters, and fowls 
 sport in the air. And as we make one more mighty stride on 
 the wings of time, we behold the fields rejoicing in their sporting 
 tenants — the cattle on a thousand hills — all the higher orders 
 of life have taken possession of the fields and the groves, and 
 they luxuriate in the bounty of their maker's hand. 
 
 All this had been but preparatory to the creation of, and the 
 establishing in his position as lord over this lower creation, the 
 creature man. This was indeed a new era in the history of our 
 world. The most marked that had jet traiispired. All before 
 had been preparatory to this. And even this, we shall see, was 
 little more than preparatory to what should follow. 
 
 From this point we descend the mighty stream of human affairs, 
 tracing the progress of man, and of the world which was built 
 for his theatre of action, widening and deepening in the advance- 
 ment of knowledge and science and civilization, and more especially 
 in the ever onward and upward developments of religion, in the 
 accomplishment of the purposes of mercy through the ever blessed 
 atonement, till we find ourselves at length in the broad sea of 
 the Millennial glory. And then, by another stride, more grand, 
 more glorious than all before, man becomes the inhabitant of 
 the New Jerusalem, renovated, exalted, glorified. 
 
 And shall we here be told that this humanity, which was born 
 here, developed, expanded, and, up to this point, by a sure and 
 glorious gradation, risen to a condition indicated by the Millennial 
 reign of peace and righteousness, shall seek some far-off" place of 
 final rest — shall we be told that the " meek " shall no longer " in- 
 
332 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 herit the earth " — that the " righteous " shall not " dwell therein 
 forever,^^ but shall be transplanted to some distant, unknown world 
 for their final glorification ? Why should we seek any other rest- 
 ing-place for the saints ? Is not the earth a fitting place ? — at 
 least, is it incurably unfitted to be man's final rest, and the place 
 of his future blessedness and glory ? This brings me to remark 
 again, 
 
 5. That, sin and its ravages excepted, this earth is a jit abode for 
 the saints in glory — good enough, pleasant enough, and withal, 
 probably large enough. Sin aside, and this earth would at once 
 become one perfect and perpetual Eden. And what does the 
 most refined taste, and cultivated mind, and exalted piety crave 
 more ? In Eden man's holy nature found its fulness. And can 
 heaven grant more? 
 
 Suppose for a moment that sin were no more — that time, talent, 
 wealth, influence, office, social position and habits, pleasures and 
 pastimes, were all engaged on the side of God and religion, and 
 what would the world at once become? What physically, what 
 intellectually, and what morally ? 
 
 The physical transformation which should follow the annihila- 
 tion of sin would alone do much to make our earth a heaven. 
 Suppose for a moment that all the wealth, skill and enterprise 
 which are now perverted in the service of sin, to be devoted to 
 physical improvements of the earth — to the construction of roads, 
 bridges, railways, aqueducts — to the erection of commodious 
 dwellings, churches, and public edifices for all the purposes of a 
 high state of civilization and Christianity — to the ornamenting 
 and high cultivation of fields, gardens and groves. If the wealth, 
 now worse than wasted in wars, in intemperance, in hurtful amuse- 
 ments, in vicious habits, were devoted to such purposes as I have 
 indicated, and to kindred objects, which contribute to the real aggran- 
 dizement and happiness of a people, what a perfect Paradise our 
 
WHAT EARTH MIGHT BECOME. 333 
 
 earth in a very little while would become ! And if we add to the 
 present stinted quota of industry and skill, which are now devoted 
 to the real aggrandizement and well-being of the race all the time, 
 industry, enterprise and skill which now go to demonize man, and 
 cover the earth with deformities and barrenness, the earth would 
 be but ODe beautiful and happy Eden.* All its deformities would 
 disappear ; its barren deserts would be made fruitful fields. Its 
 worse than useless, its offensive, disease-engendering swamps 
 and morasses would become productive grounds, or ornamental 
 and useful groves. Valleys would be exalted, rough places be 
 made smooth ; rocky cliffs, and deep ravines, and sterile heaths, 
 all by the hand of skillful industry, be converted into fields of 
 beauty and luxuriance. Rocks and barren sands, and many a sub- 
 stance at present useless, if not a positive nuisance, would become 
 the materials for the construction of useful and ornamental works. 
 
 As an illustration, I may refer to what I saw a few days since. 
 In passing along the streets of one of the beautiful and romantic 
 towns on the Hudson, I stopped before an inclosure of peculiar 
 elegance and beauty. In the centre rose a superb mansion, around 
 which taste and skill and labor had spread graceful slopes and 
 lovely greens, and flowers and fruits and trees of every foliage : 
 and all inclosed by a high and thick wall, which was itself among 
 the objects not the least to be admired. 
 
 On expressing admiration of the lovely spot, how much nature, 
 
 * Since writing the above, a visit to the Central Park in New York, has quite cherished 
 the idea here advanced. Ahready enough has there been done in overcoming the de- 
 formities of nature and converting them into beauties, to illustrate what money, labor, 
 skill and taste can do to *' subdue " the earth, and make it what I have supposed. But 
 the Park is but begun. When it shall he finished, what an illustration shall we then 
 have ; and, untainted by sin, what will it lack of being a Paradise ? 
 
 Is the supposition, then, extravagant, that if the time, and the hundreds of millions 
 of money, the skill and taste now squandered in idleness, vice, crime and hurtful amuse- 
 ments — in war. intemperance, or smoked away in tobacco fumes, were annually expended 
 to beautify the earth, and make all its waste places fruitful fields, the earth would, aft«r 
 a few years, become the Eden we have supposed ? 
 
334 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 as well as art, had done for it, my friend replied that nature had 
 lavished nothing on it. It was, he said, a few years ago, but a 
 barren, uncouth, rocky hill — good for nothing. The beautiful 
 stones that now formed the walls of the inclosure, the terraces 
 and the walks, were once huge piles of unsightly rocks which 
 deformed the spot. All told what money, taste, skill and per- 
 severing industry can do— how the wilderness is made glad for 
 them, and the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. 
 
 Nothing but the application of more wealth, skill and labor, 
 and on a broader scale, is requistite, to produce greater and yet 
 greater physical transformation?, till the whole earth shall be con- 
 verted into one great Eden, beautiful and luxuriant in all that can 
 please the eye or gratify the taste — a Paradise in which the voice 
 of God shall again hold sweet converse with men, and heaven 
 and earth shall meet. 
 
 Were mind, skill, mental power generally devoted to the real 
 advancement and happiness of man, what a change would it at 
 once work in all human affairs ! How sad the perversion of the 
 intellectual powers of man ! What adroitness, skill and shrewd- 
 ness have in all ages been employed in the perpetuation of mis- 
 chief! Now suppose only that the mighty intellect of the world, 
 in its most highly improved condition, were made wholly subser- 
 vient to the best interests of man, and to the honor of God, and 
 what in point of comeliness would earth lack to be a heaven ? 
 
 The great mind of the world once consecrated to the welfare 
 of man, and the great heart of the world sanctified, there would 
 everywhere be good-will to man and glory to God in the highest. 
 Sin would no longer alienate man from man — would not desolate 
 by wars, or curse by intemperance, or any hurtful vice — ^would 
 no longer monopolize wealth, industry and mind. Suppose all 
 the ravages of sin removed, and what more would we ask or wish 
 for as heaven ? 
 
HEAVEN IS WHERE GOD IS. 335 
 
 But, essentially, it matters little to us where heaven is. The 
 important points are, what is heaven ? and have we a passport 
 thither ? and more than all, have we a fitness for that high and 
 holy place ? Where God is, is heaven. Where holiness pervades 
 all hearts, and controls the whole inner man, there is heaven. 
 Where the Lord Jesus Christ is, our blessed Lnmanuel, our inter- 
 cessor and High Priest, our Prophet and King, there is heaven. 
 Be it earth, our birthplace and home ; or be it any other prov- 
 ince of God's great Empire, it matters little. All worlds are but 
 the many mansions in our Father's house. And where is our 
 Father's house, and our Father's heart, there will we be at home, 
 and be happy. 
 
 It may be pleasant, though not essential to hope and happiness, 
 to contemplate this earth as our future home, and the scene of 
 future blessedness. But let it be the great endeavor of life, our 
 unceasing prayer to God — ^the most earnest heart's desire, that 
 we may have part and lot in Christ, so that where he shall be, 
 there we may be also. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Objection : that this earth is not large enough for the future residence of all 
 earth's redeemed — Spiritual bodies ; their locomotive powers — The em- 
 ployments of Heaven— Sin the great evil. 
 
 Having, as we believe, made out the strong probability that this 
 earth, renovated and purified, shall decome the final resting-place 
 of the saints, where they shall rejoice in their God forever, it only 
 remains to meet the only plausible objection to such a supposition : 
 which is. 
 
 That this earth is not large enough for the future abode of all 
 earth's redeemed. 
 
 The objection may not be so formidable as it at first appears. 
 If it be directed against the dimensions of the earth, on the ground 
 that it is too insignificant a globe to be allowed the honor of being 
 the future abode of the saints, our answer is, that it was not es- 
 teemed too insignificant to be the theatre of the most august trans- 
 action that, probably, ever transpired in the whole universe : the 
 Advent and Licarnation, the sufferings and death of the only be- 
 gotten Son of God : not too insignificant for the grandest display 
 of the eternal Godhead. 
 
 But if the objection be that the superficial area of this globe is 
 too small for the habitation and enjoyment of that great multitude 
 
 ( 336 ) 
 
EARTH LARGE ENOUGH FOR HEAVEN. 337 
 
 which no man can number, we shall present a few considerations 
 which may obviate the objection. 
 
 And, first, we do not know how large an area will be needed. 
 The redeemed shall be a " great multitude ; " but does that de- 
 termine that they shall be more than may find habitation on this 
 globe ? Especially may we demur when we bring into the account 
 what shall then be the character of their residence, the character 
 of their employments and wants ; and more especially the nature 
 and character of the inhabitants themselves. Not only, as we 
 have supposed, shall the entire surface of the earth become hab- 
 itable, and shall, under the full benediction of heaven, bring forth, 
 almost spontaneously, like Eden, and in the greatest abundance, 
 but two other circumstances may quite modify our calculations 
 here. 
 
 The first is, that the inhabitants of heaven, wherever heaven 
 may be, are possessed of spiritual bodies. Such bodies will 
 doubtless require much less sustenance and space for habitation, 
 than our present gross bodies ; and consequently a much greater 
 population may then occupy the earth. Yet the earth in its 
 present condition, that is, subjected as at present to the curse, is 
 capable, if all improved and subjected to the skill and industry of 
 a careful cultivation, as even now it might be, is probably capable 
 of sustaining at least ten times its present population. What 
 then shall it be capable of sustaining in its renovated condition, 
 when there shall be no vast fruitless deserts, no barren rocks, or 
 inaccessible mountains, or sterile wastes ? and especially if, lit- 
 erally, " there shall he no seaV What countless millions the earth 
 might then sustain ! 
 
 But are we sure that we need, in our calculations, to make pro- 
 visions for more than the earth at present would sustain, if its 
 surface were fully occupied and its resources fully developed ; 
 
 or at most more than, in its renovated state, the earth would sus- 
 22 
 
338 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 tain ? Suppose, as is the very common belief, that the earth shall 
 exist nearly as it has and does still exist, for six thousand years 
 from its creation, and then that it shall have a Millennium, or a 
 Sabbatic period of a thousand years ; and then shall follow the 
 perfect, the heavenly and eternal state, when men shall cease to 
 marry and be given in marriage, and increase from natural gen- 
 eration shall cease ; and how multitudinous may we suppose the 
 heavenly state would be ? We are told it shall be a great multi- 
 tude which no man can number. That is only saying the number 
 shall be very great. May we not make, at least, a vague estimate 
 here ? No age ever numbered so many evangelical Christians as 
 the present. Yet probably there are not above twelve millions of 
 the true followers of the Lamb now living, and the sixty centuries, 
 or one hundred and eighty generations that are passed, have not 
 averaged one-third that number. Allow an average of four mil- 
 lions ; and the number of all the saints that have lived and that now 
 live, would amount to seven hundred and thirty two millions, or 
 a number not exceeding three-fourths the present population of the 
 globe ; or one fifteenth of what we have supposed the earth capa- 
 ble of sustaining in its present disabled condition. 
 
 Suppose, again, that the majority of the race shall be saved 
 during the thirty generations of the Millennium, say 500,000,000 
 each generation of thirty-three years ; or 1,500,000,000 each cen- 
 tury. We should then have, at the close of the one thousand years, 
 an aggregate of only 15,000,000,000 of Millennial-born Chris- 
 tians, or only once and a half the number we have supposed the 
 earth capable of supporting in its present condition. Surely then 
 — though we add to this number all the true saints that have ever 
 lived — it will not be deemed extravagant, that the renovated earth 
 should sustain twice or thrice that number; at least a number 
 greater than the most enlarged charity dare hope will people the 
 abodes of the blessed. 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMED. 339 
 
 We must not here overlook the fact that, not only shall the 
 renovated earth produce vastly more than at present, but not a 
 few substances not yet appropriated and still regarded as of little 
 or no use, shall be appropriated for food, apparel, and a thousand 
 purposes of comfort and convenience. We have already wit- 
 nessed enough in this direction to warrant the inference that there 
 is probably not a plant, shrub or tree, not a mineral, metal or sub- 
 stance of any sort, which human skill and ingenuity shall not 
 appropriate to the use of man. 
 
 The other circumstance which may further relieve a difficulty 
 any one may feel that this earth is too small to serve as the future 
 abode of the righteous, is the fact that the redeemed will not he 
 confined to a local habitation. They will be like the angels, capable 
 of soaring from world to world ; and at all times, no doubt, vast 
 multitudes will be abroad from their earthly home, on errands of 
 mercy, or excursions of duty in the service of the King, or for 
 the purpose of gaining a knowledge of God's works and ways, 
 and admiring, wondering, worshiping, and enjoying the wonderful 
 displays of the Divine wisdom, power and goodness. Such an 
 instance have we in the case of Moses and Elias on the Mount 
 of Transfiguration. And such missions are probably not infre- 
 quent to the habitations of men. Departed spirits, the spirits of 
 just men made perfect, may be the surest messages of mercy, 
 of peace and consolation to them who dwell afar off in other prov- 
 inces of God's great Empire. Multitudes may be abroad upon 
 these errands of love. As in a great city, after the citizens have 
 become numerous, and wealthy and intelligent and enterprising, 
 and more especially as they become overtly benevolent, and their 
 hearts enlarged, and their hands open in an expansive philan- 
 thropy, a great multitude would be dispersed abroad, either on 
 business, or in the pursuit of knowledge or pleasure, or in the 
 discharge of duties of love and charity. And many would reside 
 
340 THE COMING CRISIS OF THK WORLD. 
 
 abroad. In like manner it shall be, when this whole world shall 
 become the city of our God, the New Jerusalem come down 
 from heaven — heaven come down to earth : or rather earth made 
 a heaven Going out from this point as their birthplace and 
 homestead, the whole universe shall be the broad field of research 
 and investigation, of adoration and praise, of thanksgiving and 
 perpetual joy. 
 
 Though in accordance with our calculations in respect to the 
 populousness of the heavenly abode, we feel no need of such a 
 surmise, yet, in the nature of the case, we can see the strong prob- 
 ability that the redeemed will be endowed with locomotive powers 
 that shall measurably annihilate distances, so that a visit to other 
 and far distant worlds, shall be but a pleasure and pastime. The 
 universe will now become the boundless area for the study of 
 God's works, and for wonder and worship amidst his glories. The 
 earth once renovated, loyal to its King, and glorified, will no 
 longer be an alien and outcast in the great family of worlds, but 
 shall be restored to its moral orbit, and be brought near again to 
 the great moral centre of the universe, to God the Father and 
 Fountain of all. And, reinstated in the great fraternity, its bliss- 
 ful inhabitants shall mingle in sweet and living concord, passing 
 and repassing from world to world, as the inmates of loving house- 
 holds, happy to meet and mingle in all the harmonies of love 
 and friendship. 
 
 While, therefore, we may look for the home and the locality 
 of the redeemed on this earth, their native home and locality, 
 we may, at any given time, calculate that multitudes of the re- 
 deemed themselves will be wandering, loving, learning and ador- 
 ing in as many different worlds as there are stars that shine in 
 the firmament. 
 
 But our extended answer to the above objection may, with 
 many, give rise to another objection not the less offensive, if less 
 
SPIRITUAL BODIES REQUIRE FOOD. 341 
 
 formidable. It is that spiritual bodies should receive, if not re- 
 quire, food. It will be perceived that I have reasoned on the 
 supposition that the inhabitants of the spirit world (as some 
 are partial to designate heaven) will not be altogether reheved 
 from the pleasure, if from the necessity, of food. I do not know 
 that we need to be careful to avoid such an inference. If such shall 
 be the condition of the earth, under the full benediction of heaven, 
 as to make a due supply of food no more than a pleasure or pas- 
 time — at least, that its preparation shall be relieved of all drudg- 
 ery and grossness and be but a pleasant labor — the pleasure-en- 
 gendering exercise of the bodily powers and of the mind, we cannot 
 perceive the objection felt by many on this score. Angels eat ; 
 as we have evidence in their visits to Abraham and Lot. The 
 Lord Jesus Christ took food and ate, when he appeared to his 
 disciples in his risen and spiritual body. And I can see no ground 
 8nd feel no necessity for the supposition that the blessed, in this 
 respect, shall not, at least in a measure, be subjected to the same 
 condition of life as at present. We assert nothing, and only feel 
 it incumbent on us to show that, if the supposition be allowed, 
 how even this condition may be met, on the theory that this earth 
 shall be the residence of the finally blessed. 
 
 Again, I may remark that, as another argument to sustain our 
 supposition, we see nothing like exhaustion, in the resources and 
 capabilities of the earth, that would seem to imply its destiny is 
 nearly accomplished. While, on the other hand, we see it in all 
 respects fitted and furnished for purposes which seem no more 
 than to have begun to be answered in its present destiny, or any 
 destiny likely to be accomplished in the present probationary 
 state of man. Vast deserts, unreclaimed — wild.-^, rocks, moun- 
 tains, but useless deformities — exhaustless mineral resources kept 
 in reserve for untold ages : these are some of the things that con- 
 strain us to look to some vast future to explain the present. 
 
342 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Or I might derive another argument from the progressive his- 
 tory of our earth as analogous to the progressive character, con- 
 dition and destiny of man. We believe in the indefinite and, in 
 human parlance, the infinite progression of man. From his be- 
 ginning man is eternal ; and all the evidence on the subject goes 
 to show that there is no limit to his progress — at least, no limit 
 intellectually and morally, however it may be physically. The 
 only obstacle to an indefinite progress and improvement, is sin 
 and the multiplied mischiefs of sin. This once removed, and 
 we see no other hindrance to man's eternal development in 
 every thing godlike. 
 
 But the earth was made for man. It is his by divine right. 
 And we have seen how it has gone on from step to step in progress 
 and improvement, indicating no hindrance but sin and what belongs 
 to sin, to a return to its perfect, or Eden state. If then this earth 
 were made a fit abode for man and given him for his abode, who 
 shall tell us that, after a little, man shall outlive his home, out- 
 grow the paternal mansion — that the earth, made for man, given 
 to man, and exactly fitted to his best interests and highest happi- 
 ness, is unfitted to his future condition ? 
 
 This material ball we call earth, has not suffered the ruins of 
 sin so disastrously as man has. She suffers but physically. Sadly 
 as man has suffered physically, he has suffered indefinitely more 
 intellectually and morally. We may then have less concern that 
 the restored earth shall be a fit place for the future man, than that 
 the restored man shall be fitted to inhabit the renovated earth. 
 In either case we need have no concern. Sin once removed and 
 man becomes a fit inhabitant of Paradise, and earth becomes a 
 Paradise. 
 
 But I will not pursue the subject. It is a matter of pleasant, 
 though not of vital interest, as I have said, to know where heaven 
 is. The question of paramount and vital interest relates to our 
 
EARTH TO BE OUR HEAVEN. 343 
 
 own fitness for heaven. Sin, we see, has done the mischief, 
 whether in its effects on the earth, or on our own souls. The 
 only essential question then is, how shall we escape the curse, the 
 disgrace and the eternal ruin of sin ? Blessed be God, there is 
 a way of escape. A voice from heaven, clear, sweet, melodious 
 as angels sing, proclaims, ** Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh 
 away the sin of the world." 
 
 In conclusion, T remark, 
 
 1. The supposition presented is fitted to give a definiteness to 
 our views of heaven, seeming to connect it more intimately with 
 the present life. Who has not at times experienced a sense of 
 partially painful indefiniteness at the thought of dwelling, as a 
 disembodied spirit in some far-off planet, among scenes unknown 
 before, and in a mode of life perfectly untried ? Be it that Christ 
 shall be there — that holiness and happiness shall pervade the place 
 — ^that angels shall be our companions, and the spirits of just men 
 made perfect shall welcome us to joys unspeakable and full of 
 glory : yet are we not creatures of habit and association ? and 
 are not these constituent parts of our nature which shall go with 
 us into our future existence ? If so, we seem to see how the nat- 
 ural dread of dying, the idea of a final separation from all the 
 loved scenes of earth, meets a solace in the dark hour of death. 
 The disembodied spirit shall return ; be gathered again to the 
 bosom of its loved body, now made incorruptible and immortal ; 
 and there again and forever regale itself amidst the hills and 
 vales, along the rills and rivers, among the fields and gi'oves of 
 its once loved and its now doubly loved earth. 
 
 Many indeed are the pleasant associations connected with the 
 idea that this earth shall be our future, eternal home. It is the 
 scene of our joys, and no less of our sufferings. All our loved 
 relationships are here, and all the ties of sympathy and love. 
 Here we have sinned, here met a Saviour and found a pardon. 
 
344 THE COMING CRISIS OF THE WOULD. 
 
 Here is our home. And is not the thought delightful that the 
 emancipated soul, purified, exalted, glorified, shall return to its for- 
 mer home and find it renovated, beautified and all glorious for his 
 reception — his home from which he shall go no more out forever ! 
 
 2. Our subject gives us some idea what shall be the employ- 
 ments and pursuits of heaven. We might say, in a word, they 
 shall be what they were in Eden. Our innocent progenitors 
 were not idle admirers of the wonderful works of God. They 
 did more than sing and praise and adore. They cared for the 
 garden, and were lords of all the creatures God had made. And, 
 aside from the toils, the drudgeries, the burdens and perplexities 
 induced by sin, their employments did not differ essentially from 
 ours. The pursuits of knowledge in the study of God's works, the 
 admiration and enjoyment of God in all his ways as well as his 
 works ; toil as a pastime ; and the various services of praise and 
 worship, filled up the happy days and years (perchance) of the 
 blessed pair. So shall it be in heaven. 
 
 3. The view we have taken attaches a new and a higher inter- 
 est to this earth. This at present marred, soiled, polluted world 
 of ours was, as it came from the hand of its Creator, a perfect 
 model of perfection. As God surveyed the work of his hands, 
 the earth and all pertaining thereunto, he pronounced all to be 
 " good." It was beautiful in the eyes of infinite Perfection. And 
 so it shall be in the " restitution of all things." All shall be re- 
 stored to their pristine beauty and perfection. Now we see so 
 much of its waste and deformity that we deem the earth only fit 
 for burning. What a delightful interest, then, attaches to its glo- 
 rious regeneration, and restoration to the high and holy purposes 
 for which God originally made it ! 
 
 4. Nor does the view taken necessarily detract aught from the 
 sacredness of heaven, nor lessen the motives to reach after it. It 
 is the character of heaven with which we are the most deeply 
 
EVIL OP SIN PRECIOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 345 
 
 concerned, and the richness of the reward there to be realized. 
 Without these the place is nothing. Where God and holiness and 
 unfailing felicity are, there is heaven. We detract nothing from its 
 sanctity, then, when we locate it on the earth. Nor do we lessen 
 the motives to reach after heaven and seek it as a supreme and 
 lasting good. I have shown that, for earth-born souls, no other 
 world can possibly present so many attractions, or can have so 
 many pleasing associations to render it a desirable habitation for 
 the blessed, as this earth. Such a heaven will be doubly dear, 
 as it will be but going home. 
 
 5. Finally, we are again most vividly reminded of the exceed- 
 ing evil of sin, and of the extreme preciousness of the gracious 
 interposition of Christ. It is sin that has marred the beauty of 
 our world, that has covered it with deformities, deserts and deso- 
 lations, that has laid it waste by war, pestilence and disease, that 
 has cursed it with violence, superstition and crime. It is sin that 
 has made man vile, hateful and corrupt. All natural evil, as 
 well as all the moral evil which afflicts our world, is alike the 
 progeny of sin. It is sin that converted a once happy Paradise 
 into pandemonium ; and changed those once noble, happy beings 
 who inhabited Eden into a race " whose mouth is full of cursing 
 and bitterness," and " there is no fear of God before their eyes." 
 And no less vividly are we reminded of the exceeding precious- 
 ness of Christ. He comes to restore the ruins of the fall — to 
 reinstate man in the image of his God — to take away the curse 
 under which the " whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain 
 together until now " — to make earth again an Eden, where the 
 will of God shall be done as it is in heaven — when God shall 
 once more survey the workmanship of his hands in the lower 
 world, and pronounce all to be " good." 
 

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