CHAPTER XIX.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE WORLD, IN CONNECTION WITH PROPHECY.

HAVING closed what I had to offer on the Apocalyptic prophecies, I shall add a few practical observations, to which I am led by the nature of the conclusions at which I have arrived in the preceding pages.

The extraordinary aspect of the present times cannot but arrest the attention and excite the awe of all thinking persons, whether they believe in the scriptures or not. But it is the Christian only that is enabled to see light in the midst of darkness, to behold undismayed the convulsions which agitate the nations of the earth; and, possessing his mind in perfect peace, to rejoice in the near prospect of a better and brighter day, when "the earth shall be "full of the knowledge of the Lord;"* and the Lord shall arise upon Sion, and his glory shall be seen upon her.

The events of the period in which we live, call upon us to sit loose to temporal things, and to remember that the fashion of this world passeth away. We have indeed no warrant in the scriptures to neglect the duties of our secular callings: on the contrary, we are commanded to be diligent in all lawful business, and God has in various instances marked with his peculiar approbation the industrious performance of worldly duties. When He first

* Isaiah xi. 2.

appeared to his servant Moses at Mount Horeb, Moses was occupied in tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. When the nativity of Christ was announced by an angel from heaven, he was sent to shepherds who kept watch over their flocks by night in the plains of Bethlehem. The true secret of Christianity is to attend diligently to all the duties of life, yet to do it not in the spirit of the world, but with the temper and feelings of those who are habitually impressed with the great realities of eternity-to do all to God, and not to man. Possessed of such views, the true servant of Christ, amidst the whirlwinds of divine wrath, which go forth to destroy the wicked, shall be enabled to lift his head above the storm, and to stand unmoved. He must indeed expect to partake of suffering, in common with the world in which he lives: but "his "heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”* He rejoices that there is a river, the streams whereof shall "make glad the city of God, the holy place of the "tabernacles of the Most High."+

We may infer from the present state and prospects of the world, connected with the declarations of prophecy, that there is no safety either for individuals or communities, but in repentance and faith in the Son of God, It is, however, in an especial manner to the great and the noble, the counsellors of princes, and princes themselves, that the calamities of the times, and the awful judgments of God, address themselves, as with a voice of thunder.

+ Psalm xlvi. 4.

Psalm cxii. 7. The late discussions respecting the lottery, afford striking evidence how little our public measures are yet guided by a supreme

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Nor does this voice sound with less loudness or importunity, in the ears of the bishops and ministers

regard to the revealed will of God. It was not denied that the principle of this measure was injurious to morality, and that it was far from being good even as a permanent financial measure; but it was said, that those who opposed it had not pointed out any thing to make up the deficiency, which was an evil in the present state of the country equal to any of the lottery itself. But will God admit the plea of state necessity for disobedience to his eternal laws? Or is any failure of revenue an evil to be compared with that of drawing down upon our country the divine displeasure? Or can we hope to prosper if God frown upon us? O when shall our senators and statesmen find out, that the favour of God is a surer defence than fleets and armies and an overflowing treasury! In these times the only safe motto, even for princes and their counsellors, is, Fiat justitia ruat cœlum.

It is well that our great men encourage Bible Societies by their presence, and support them by their eloquence. They thereby render that external homage to the majesty of Divine Truth, which it is their bounden duty to do. But if they would save themselves, or save their country, they must do far more than this. They must fearlessly bring the principles of the Bible into the senate, they must learn to glory in an entire and unreserved subjection to those principles, and make them the rule of their public conduct and the criterion of their measures. Then might we hope for the returning favour of the Almighty.

This is the reformation which is necessary to heal the wounds of the state; and not as the wicked and designing, or perhaps, in some cases deluded leaders of the populace would persuade them, a reform in the representation of the people in parliament: for with all its defects, the British House of Commons, is probably the purest representative assembly on earth. The plans of those who call themselves Reformers, mean every thing, or any thing, but personal reformation, and subjection to the revealed will of God. This indeed is the fatal disease of the age, that men, instead of turning to God who has smitten them, are occupied with the dangerous and desperate schemes of state-quackery, learned in the school of that revolution, which has already deluged Europe with blood. But in these awful times, the judgments of God are speaking not only to the great, but also to the lowest of the people, and calling upon them not to reform the state, but to repent of their sins and reform themselves; and if they obey not the warning voice of these judgments, they will be taught when too late, the deceitfulness and folly, as well as the guilt

of the protestant churches. No human establishments are now safe; we are surrounded with the ruins of thrones and kingdoms which have crumbled into dust. Where is the earthly throne under which we may now take shelter, and say, Here are peace and safety ?*

Let us however acknowledge, with the deepest humility and gratitude to God, that to us, of this highly favoured country, the voice of these judgments is still the voice of mercy calling to repentance. Hitherto we, and we alone of the nations of Europe, have been delivered from the devouring sword and the overwhelming tempest, and our God mercifully calls on us to take warning by the example of surrounding nations, and to turn to him with our whole hearts.†

The repentance which Christianity requires, is not merely an outward reformation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ calls upon us to feel and acknowledge that we are sinners. In this respect it tells us, that all men, from the prince upon the throne to the meanest of the people, are upon a level. None are exempt from the corruption of a fallen nature, or the

and wickedness of all those plans of state-reform, which are substituted for the reformation and repentance, required of every one of the children of men in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

* Much of this language may appear no longer applicable to the existing state of things. A few years will decide this point. If we be, as all later writers suppose, in the midst of the third woe, we shall before long be taught by experience, not to put our trust in present appearances. April, 1817.

+ Since this was written we have been visited, not indeed with the sword or pestilence, but with national distress of a very complicated and alarming nature. Thus God is speaking to us. 2d Edit. April,

1817.

pollution of many actual transgressions. The prince, therefore, and the peasant, the noble and the plebeian, are equally called upon to acknowledge that corruption, and to confess these transgressions, to amend their ways, and to believe in the Son of God, who came down from heaven to save us from our sins by the sacrifice of himself upon the cross.

It seems evident that the dashing to pieces of the nations, like the vessels of a potter, which is mentioned in the second Psalm, has commenced. That Psalm, though it is quoted in the Acts of the Apostles, in the way of accommodation, as relating to the opposition made to the kingdom of Christ, in the days of our Lord's personal ministry,* does yet properly refer to the events of the last times, which immediately precede the establishment of the kingdom of Christ. The solemn and affectionate counsel which is addressed in the above Psalm, to the kings and rulers of nations, belongs therefore, in an especial manner, to the present period. "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. Blessed are all they

"that put their trust in him."

*Acts iv. 25.