"Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." To the law and the testimony" refer all your sentimental faith in Christ; any spirit that operates in the mind, any person who teaches contrary to the literal fulfilment of the word of God, have no true light in them. A careless indifference, and neglect of the signs of the times, is a token of infidelity, and was severely reprehended by JESUS Christ in a short address to "an innumerable multitude of people,” after He had preached a long sermon to His disciples, whom He named "little flock;" see Luke 12, 1, and 54-59. This chapter should be read daily, by Christian Indians in their present very trying state, for their comfort and consolation, their profit and establishment in Christ, particularly in regard to "the present truth," His near approach to judge the quick, “and reign with His saints upon Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem before His ancients, gloriously." How desirable is rest to your troubled minds, your souls that are just ready to fail, (Isa. 57, 16,) and to your weary feet. How necessary for you is an assurance of faith that you shall attain to that sabbath "which remaineth to the people of God!” Although I stedfastly believe you belong to "Joseph's branches," that shall blossom and bud in the promised land, "when the Lord shall bring again Zion," yet I know there is a condition made in this Divine election of grace; and a character to be sustained in evidence of your inheritance therein. The condition is general; see Ezekiel 36, 37; the character is appropriated, "a godly seed;" for God, the Lord, the GOD of Israel hath spoken of judg

ment to His people, in the last time: Hear, O Israel! His words:

"As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you;"

"And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with fury poured out;"

"And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and THERE WILL I plead with you face to face."

"Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God."

"And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant."

"And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me; I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel."

Now, my brethren, I will give you my humble opinion of these solemn declarations of the Lord God, which are introduced by His oath, and are addressed to "the house of Israel," as the people to whom He lifted up His hand, to give them Canaan, the lot of their inheritance upon earth, in the reign of His Glory.

And first, I recognize the "time of universal trouble, of great affliction, such as never was before upon earth, nor shall ever be again," foretold by our

Blessed Saviour, as immediately to be followed by His sign in Heaven, when the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, shall repent of their sins, and mourn that they have rejected Christ.

Second, I discern the gathering of Israel into the wilderness of Sinai, near Paran, where the Lord will first judge them according to His Word; and afterward lead them as a shepherd doth his flock, unto the elect mountain of Blessings. By the mention of "mighty hand, and fury poured out," I conIclude that their enemies are dealt with after the manner of Egypt, in olden time, and that miracles are exhibited for the removal of Israel" from the country where they sojourn," and very probable is the event of their transportation from "the ends of the earth," "to the place of the Name of the Lord of Hosts, the Mount Zion." N. B. Please bear in mind the words "I will bring you into the wilderness," &c. &c.

Third, I perceive that "the Judge of Israel," exalts over them His righteous sceptre, and by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, He brings them into the bond of the covenant, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Fourth, by "the rebels, and them that have transgressed against the Lord." [N. B. The Word, made flesh, and Glorified by the Father,] I understand they have not profitted by the extraordinary mission of Elijah the prophet, during the forty-two months' literal reign of Anti-Christ, otherwise called the Man of Sin, and the Wild Beast; but have received the mark of the name, or the number of the name of the Beast (in Daniel, the vile person, the

wilful, fierce being) or have worshipped his image. Such persons are judged by the fiery law, which as a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of the mouth of the Lord, shall cut them asunder: these are rebels indeed, that have sinned against the Holy Ghost: they shall not enter into the land of Israel, nor have any part in the Sabbath of which JESUS, the Son of Man, is personally, the Lord.

Here I must observe, that unbelief seems to be the primal cause of this offence, and that drunkenness is the grand auxiliary thereof, for it is written that "they have also erred through wine, and through strong drink, are out of the way;" and this is the case at the coming of the Lord, for the Holy Ghost by the prophet declares, that, "In that day shall the Lord of Hosts be for a crown of Glory, and for a Diadem of beauty unto the residue of His people. And for a spirit of judgment to Him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate." At the same time," the crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet." It is plain to me, that the twenty eighth chapter of Isaiah, represents the effects of the apostacy from God in the last time, and the judgment of the quick at the Glorious epiphany of the Lord. He is the "tried Stone, the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel," that falls upon apostates and grinds them to powder.

The opinion I have given upon the 33-38 verses of the twentieth chapter of Ezekiel, may seem to contradict a sentiment expressed elsewhere in these Tidings, concerning the salvation of Israel, in the day of the Lord's second personal appearing on the earth. I therefore say, that I do firmly believe the

words of St. Paul, upon this grand subject, viz, that all Israel shall be saved," in the time of Zion's deliverance, for this is my covenant, saith the Lord unto them, when I shall take away their sins. But this is a very special election of grace, and regards only Joseph's original branches, Ephraim and Manasseh; therefore "drunkards of Ephraim," cannot mean the original descendants of the house of Joseph, but intend to represent members of some other tribe or tribes of the sons of Jacob, which were given to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, to humble David's house, because of their idolatry in the latter part of Solomon's reign over all Israel and Judah, in Jerusalem, the city elect of the Great King. It seems that the separate kingdom was notorious for profligacy, from its setting up, under Jeroboam the first, to its destruction in the time of Hoshea; but Elah, the son of Baasha, who was of the tribe of Issachar, who was a conspirator against the kingly tribe, and usurped the throne of Israel, is the first drunken monarch over that vast realm; and Ahab, the next royal sot, was certainly not a descendant of Jeroboam, but a separate house, doomed to the same destruction. See 2 Kings, ix. 9. I can see a great difference between the children of Rachel and the children of Bilhah. Dan, for instance, is not blessed by Jacob or Moses, but Joseph is honored by both. Jacob gives His own blessing to this beloved son, and likewise proclaims for him the benediction of Almighty God. Moses echoes to the dying voice of Israel, invoking the blessing of glory upon the head of Joseph. Israel mentions his branches, and Moses the ten thousands of Ephraim, and the thousands of Manasseh. Dan