pestilences, and earthquakes," "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be," and "blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke." But it is only upon the wicked nations, the ungodly, and such as are not ready when the Savior comes, that these troubles and fearful visitations shall fall, though bringing upon many destruction as sudden and complete as that which overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isa. lxvi. 24.) The long-afflicted saints of God will have no occasion to regret them. It is just that discomfiture of the wicked, and bruising of Satan, and casting out of insolent injustice and blasphemous tyranny, for which Christ has taught us to pray, for which the spirits of martyrs under the altar cry, and over which all the hosts of heaven unite in shouting halleluia to the Lord. As Moses sung and Miriam danced when Pharaoh and his host were overwhelmed in the sea, so shall all the great company of the saints be glad and rejoice at these judgments of their oppressors, and say, “We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, . . . because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, . . . to destroy them which corrupt the earth.” (Rev. xi. 17, 18.)

Third. Along with these judgments, and as a still further intent of Christ's coming, will be the introduction of a new administration into all earthly affairs. I do not mean by this a new mode of redemption, a new order of salvation, or in any respect another gospel from that which we now have, but simply a new administration for a wider and more effective application of what already is. The gospel

is expressly said to be "the everlasting gospel." (Rev. xiv. 6.) As Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, through faith in whose blood alone forgiveness flows to sinful men, there shall never be any other Savior, nor any other mode of justification. He has been “made a priest, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life,"-" a priest forever." (Heb. vii. 16, 21.) And so the Spirit shall be the Great Sanctifier "forever." (John xiv. 16.) The economy of salvation is the same under all dispensations and in all ages. But the forms in which that economy is presented to men, and the administrations with which it connects, are not always the same. Rituals change. Instrumentalities change. Commissions change. The Levite steps into the place of the patriarch; John comes in as a modification of Moses; and the gospel ministry is a still further modification of both. The powers of magistracy in the world are now delegated to mortal men, who continually abuse them: they will hereafter be resumed by the Son of man, whose they are by gift of the Eternal Father, and be exercised only by himself and his glorified saints whom he is to make partakers of his throne. (Dan. vii. 9-27.) All present ministries, and ordinances, and jurisdictions date only to the time of the Savior's second coming. Have you ever noticed, in your reading of the Scriptures, that we are commissioned to preach and baptize only "unto the end of the age,' and to observe the holy solemnity of the Supper as the means of showing forth the Lord's death, only

"till he come," and that "the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven," are put in their present hands only " until the Ancient of days come" and "the judgment shall sit"? There all present configurations and administrations of things have their limit and reach their termination; and from the moment of Christ's arrival they shall be put upon their march to pass away, just as John's dispensation entered upon its wane and soon disappeared after the personal ministrations of Jesus began. The gospel shall not pass away; it is an "everlasting gospel;" the word shall not pass away, any more than the ancient Scriptures were superseded by the New Testament; but there will be new commissions and appointments concerning it, and further revelations as to its meaning and intent, and more impressive disclosures of its hidden. mysteries, and other regulations for its potent working in the hearts and lives of men. Young men are to see visions, and old men to dream dreams, and sons and daughters to prophesy, and all to know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. Other rule is to be set up in the place of present forms of empire, and other codes made to govern in earthly relations than those now written on the statute-books of nations, and other administrations substituted for those which have hitherto been so imperfect; for the God of heaven shall then set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, but which shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, (Dan. ii. 44,) whilst great voices in heaven sing, "The kingdoms of this world

are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." (Rev. xi. 15; also xx. 4–6.)

Fourth. As the result of these judgments and the setting up of this new order of things, the whole earth is then to be speedily converted to its rightful Lord. Satan being bound, antichrist destroyed, and the usurpations, tyrannies, and great wickednesses of the world broken up, and many new and overwhelming demonstrations of the truth of Scripture given, additional light thrown upon its pages, and more efficient agencies employed for the gospel's spread, there will be nothing to hinder a universal revival of righteousness, and such a turning of all nations to the Lord as shall seem like life from the dead from the one end of the world to the other. And so it is written, "When God's judgments are in the earth, then shall the inhabitants thereof learn righteousness." (Isa. xxvi. 9.) The case of these five foolish virgins shows that the arrival of the Bridegroom will beget a rushing and earnestness to procure the oil of grace, and a simultaneousness of movement in that direction, which never were known or witnessed before. A nation shall then be born in a day; and a shower of salvation shall come over the earth and fill it with the glory of God and the praise of his unsearchable grace. For so hath the Psalmist sung:"He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. . . . The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents, the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all

kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him. . . . Men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed." (Ps. lxxii. 6, 10, 11, 17.*)

Fifth. Christ's coming, and the administrations connected with it, are to finish the redemption of the whole earth, to drive out entirely and forever all wickedness, to establish all its inhabitants in a state of loyalty to God, and to lift off the curse from all terrestrial creation. His coming, with what is to attend and follow it, is called "the regeneration,”"the times of restitution of all things,"—the making of "all things new," the deliverance of "the whole creation" from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

There is a time foretold when "there shall be no more curse." (Rev. xxii. 3.) Whatever sin has brought into the world must, therefore, be again driven out of it. Things must come back to the state in which they were before the curse came. Redemption is to be coextensive with the inroads of sin. Earth must yet be brought into equation with heaven. Individual souls shall be lost forever. In the long conflict between good and evil, there will be many irrecoverable precipitations. But the world and the race shall be restored, and made to

* The following is a list of passages which bear upon this point: —Ps. ii., cx.; Isa. ii.; Micah iv.; Ps. xcvi., xcviii., xcix.; Zech viii., xiv., xii. 10-14; Rev. xi. 15-18, xv. 3, 4, xxi. 23–26. To these is to be added the 11th chapter of Romans, especially verses 12 and 26; Joel ii. 28-32; and Daniel vii. 27.