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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 A REPLY TO THE TWO SERMONS TERMED THE "VOICE OF PROPHECY." BV A L-AVMAN- LONDON, C. W.: PUBLISHED BY TAYLOR fe WILSON, Nos. 3 & 4, CRYKTAL BLOCK, RICHMOND-STREET. 1861. ^ . 4, REPLY TO THE ii VOICE OF PROPHECY/' In the following pages I have addressed my- self to the principles, not to the details, of nterpretation, I have not thought it necessary to reply to every statement contained in the Voice of Prophecy," for if the principles on which Its assumptions are founded are insuf- ficient, the details fall to the ground of them- selves. Neither have I touched upon the misuse of logic, of which many instances could toe named. Let one suffice. In the 33rd page the Mahommedan and Papal Empires are cited as instances of fulfilled prophecy. Now to write an essay or a sermon to prove that these Em- pires are the Beasts of Prophecy, and then to cite them as facts in support of the argument, IS to beg the very point which has to be proved and IS a breach of all fair reasoning, and is thor- oughly Illogical. So long as sermons are only known as delivered from the pulpit, I think it would be wrong and unfair to publish criticisms ot them ; but when they are published, and announced as an exposition of Scripture for our guidance, they become public property, and are open to any fair comments. I trust that none that are unfair, or open to the accusation of irrcligion, will be found in the remarks that follow. Many readers of the " Voice of Prophecy attach great importance to the translation Mr. McLean has given of Philippians iii. 11,—" To the resurrection from amongst the dead." Now there is not in the Greek anything to authorise this translation. The words arc '' Eis tern exanastasin ton nekron,'^ which mean exactly the same as they mean in the many other passages where the same phrase is found, that is, " Unto the resurrection of the dead." There is nothing in the Greek construction authorising the intro- duction of the word "amongst," and there is nothing in the passage, or in the verses preced- ing and following, which authorise the idea attached to the phrase in this pamphlet. St. Paul's meaning is clear enough, and will be readily discovered by any person who will carefully read the whole passage.* But this * I have a few remarks to make on the Greek construction of this passage. I have no doubt that Mr. McLean has been misled by the preposition "ea;" prefixed to the word '' anas- tasin." Gi'eok prepositions, when they stand by themselves, unconnected with the succeeding word, retain their peculiar meaning, and are always translated as, in Corinthians xv. 12: " ek nekron egegertai," " has risen from the dead." But when prepositions are attached, prefixed to a word, whether this word be noun or verb, they lose their special meaning, and only givo force, signification, emphasis to that word to which they are prefixed. (Any copious grammar or lexicon will confirm this statement.) Now, the English language has no form of k statement is a mere nothinjr to that marvellous one contained in the 30th paL^e, where it is asserted that in the 16th Corinthians the Apo ! tie IS throughout alluding to the resurrection of believers only. The argument in this chapter IS addressed to Corinthians who doubt(^^^ the resurrection of the dead body, an idea at all times most repugnant to the Greeks and Eom- ans^and nothing can show this repugnance expression capable of convoying tlie exact form r>f ♦;,„ n. i words thus pUxed, and cL.^equ'nt ; v£ eve/ tW ^^^^^ «.ey are translated exactly as if tLo vvo^rds had no a 7 pX ♦« ♦ • *i • ^•.„ ^''■""g'^ly (inoufrh, in the very next vers^ to th.^ there ,8 an illustration of a shnilar proceeL-^ n the case of another preposition, " l-ato." " a-^ainst." ifi'erl is ! verb m that verse thrice used, and in two Tns^n e« Wi^h' i" prefixed but in neither instance is the prepoSn anshted imply l)ecauso emphasis is «ntranslat,tble^ L'^t S leave the argument here, as it is conclusive against M McLea X .:ead,ng of tje passage. But it happens to^be n my powoT o eos nekron " H-.,.^ fi. ^^^]- _^^ • ei protos ex anastas- had ho wished to give a similar meaning to the passage ^n Phihppmns he would have used similar phraseology!^ ^ more plainly than the reception St. Paul met with when ho broached it at his interview with I'tstus, Acts xxvi. It was received with shouts of derision, and ho was instantly called mad, and dismissed from the presence. The same difficulty evidently was felt by some of tho Corinthian converts, and St. Paul in this chap- ter addresses himself to their case. He clearly shows that as Christ rose from tho dead all the dead must rise likewise ; for if the one did, the others must, and if the one did not, neithefwdl the others. That he was not alluding to parts only of the dead, and certainly not to the be- lievers, as tho pamphlet argues, is clear from the inferential style of argument he uses in this verse : " That if the dead rise not, then they which are fallen asleep in Christ (that is, the believers,) have perished." How could he have used this expression if the whole argu- ment related to bclicvern only ? St. Paul is the most logical of writers, and could not have been guilty of a mistake like this, if the chapter referred to one class of dead only. In fact, he never once alludes to the state of the belief of the dead, for his object was to prove that all arose alike, however different their destination ; and he does not mention their spiritual state. He describes the different bodies they will as- sume after their resurrection, but not their condition in the world of spirits. This is his argument, and there never could be an assump- tion more gratuitous and unfounded than the one made in this pamphlet. I now address myself to the general sut)ject. In every century since the commencement of the Cliristian em there has been a strong ex- pectation of the second coming of Christ and tlie destruction of the existing order of tilings. This expectation has fluctuated in strength and weakness at dilFerent periods of history. In the lirst century it was the prevailing belief of ' Christians, especially up to the time of the des- truction of Jerusalem, for our Lord's words, that the then existing generation should see the ter- rible things he had predicted c(mie to pass were referred to the end of all things, and the fact, that a prophecy may have two fulfilments had not then been recognized. The Apostles them- selves taught and believed that the second advent might be at hand in their own days — Although some expressions of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Thessalonians seem to show that certain events must previously occur, it is not clear that he thought those events would ex- ceed the duration of that generation. In subsequent centuries, such as the eleventh and the sixteenth, these expectations were par- ticularly strong, and affected the convictions and the lives of many earnest Christians. — Never, however, have these opinions taken such hold of men as in this day. A system of inter- pretation has been arbitrarily and ingeniously but inconsistently built up, founded, as it is thought, on history, on the presumption of the past fulfilment of many prophecies, and on tho assumption of the approaching fullihncnt of others. G reat ingenuity has been displayed in 8 dovetailing the Old and New Testament pre- dictions into each other, in searching for, and connecting historical events with the predic- tions, and in combining the whole into one systematic and connected scheme. Writers in favor of schemes of +his kind have sprung up by scores. Clergymen have committed them- selves to their advocacy, and have not hesitat- ed to charge with irreverence those who pre- sume to doubt. It avails not that dates have been repeatedly fixed for the advent and passed without fruition ; another date is immediately seized and believed in, just as fervently as if no disappointment had been experienced. If it does not come at one time, it will at another, and, at the ver\ farthest, 200 years cannot elapse before the final end of all things. Now, how far is this expectation rational ? First, shall there be an end of this world ? and next, is it near at hand ? To the first question, un- doabtedlr, both revelation and analogy give the same affirmative answer. To the second, revelation is siient, however busy interpreters' fancies may be, and analogy speaks loudly against the prevalent view. For the present we Anil leave revelation alone, and see what histciry tells us of the past, regarding the races of this world. There can be no doubt that many creations of animated beings, and many varieties of sur- face, have existed on this globe, and passed away. The great Silurian epoch, with its pe- culiar forms of life and its own characteristics ■f 9 of land and sea, endured for countless ages, until strata in perpendicular depth of 30,000 feet, or deeper than the highest mountain on the earth, had accumulated. This system was followed by the old Red Sa-^d Stone deposits, of more than 10,000 feet in thickness, in one of its divisions only, containing its own peculiar forms of life. It was succeeded by the Carbo- niferous system, of greater thickness, and re- quiring endless years to accumulate its forests of vegetation, forming our coal measures. All these passed away, but who shall tell how lono- they endured ? At the end of the Carbonife*^ rous age, there came a new earth,for the former had passed altogether away; and the earth which succeeded contained no form of life simi- lar to, or rather identical with, that of the former period. A new creation arose of ani- mals, birds and fishes, altogether distinct from those of the Palaeozoic period. The Liassic, the Oolitic and Cretaceous ages followed, and again a sediment equal to the old red in thickness was deposited, and myriads of creatures lived and died ; until at last, this system, like the former, wholly disappeared. Every living thing perished. The external surface of the world was again changed, and once again a new crea- tion appeared on a renewed earth. This, the third creation, also disappeared wholly, or partially, before the present came into being j and six thousand years since (granting the cw'- rectness of our chronology) man was formed. According to the views of the Millenienists 10 fv; 3 creation is about to be destroyed. De- stroyed, according to the analogy of the past It most certainly will be. But, is it time ? ' It we look at the remains of the animals in any of the formations of bygone periods, we are struck with astonishment at the countless myriads of skeletons we find entombed. In the Silurian strata, the Trilobitic remains are quite inexhaustible. In the old Red, the fish beds and scales of fishes form strata of great thickness, extending over hundreds of square miles. In the Cretaceous system the skeletons ot an infusorial animalcule, visible onlv under the microscope, form hills hundreds of feet in thickness, and so minute individually, that Pro- fessor J^hrenberg calculates there are upwards of 41 milh JUS of individuals in one cubic inch. Ihe very ordure, now called coprolites, of the great reptiles, forms a bed many feet in thick- ness ana miles in length, in one of the English counties and is now worked for manure for the land of the modern farmer., The bones of the Mammoth are equally numerous in Behring's btraits, and prove the existence of vast muUi- tucles of such animals in the third period of creation we have spoken of, as well as ihe enormous duration of time that must have elapsed while these animals lived. Now let us see what is the thickness of the accumulations of earth in this last, or human epoch and compare it with past ages. Look at that thin dark line of soil above the quarry at I ortland, Dorsetshire, about one foot in 7^ f M 11 thickness. It represents the accumulation of s^x thousand years. But is this little line of years.''^r^' results of only six thousand fw . '^ ^""^ ^^^*^ "^^^o^s for believing that a far longer period must be assigned for he DpTn ?;/^'.l- '' '^^^'^^^^^^ ^y i^y^ii that if nJi" ""^i^" Mississippi, at its present rate of pi^gress. has taken 30,000 years in forming, fn J h ! '^ i^^^ ^^"^^^ «f time must be al- lowed to the Niagara Riv.er to have scooped Its present channel from the border of the Highlands to the Falls. If so, then this line of mould IS 30,000 years old, and yet it is a mere line compared with the formations of former periods. How many 30,000 years have fhn.P nr.T ^^IT- ^"'" accumulations equal those of the Silurian or Cretaceous ages ? Ihere is another dirt.line about half-way dSwn he Portland quarry. It is a little thicker, and 11 IS probably the representative of 10 000 years If the first is that of 6,000, yet it is a mere line m thickness, compared with the ac- cumulations of the Oolitic system, of which it IS a fractional part. All the human remains wn li *^f people who ever lived and died would not form the hundredth part of that hill of infusorial skeletons I have alluded to. Nay the human remains would not equal the copro- lites of the reptiles in number or in bulk : yet It is most unreasonable to suppose that every copro ite was preserved, or that the bed in buttolk IS the only one of the kind. 'I 12 If that little line of dark mould represents the vegetable accumulations of six thousand years, the alluvium cut through by that rapid stream is only 20 feet thick, and it represents the sedimentary deposit of this age, and is the equivalent, as far as time allows, of the 30,000 feet of the Silurian epoch— of the thousands of feet of analogous deposit of the wealden. It seems, then, that neither the animal life of this age, nor the stratific accumulations, are more than begun, if we are to look at them by the light of the analogy of the past ; for if it has re- quired six thousand years, or thirty thousand, to form the modern deposits of so diminutive a character, how many thousands of thousands of years were required for the enormous deposits of preceding ages ? If, by analogy, we are fairly entitled to assume that this formation shall bear some proportion to the preceding formations, then we are also fairly entitled to assume, that we stand now at the commence- ment, not at the termination, of this geolo- gical epoch. Arguing, then, from the past physical history of the globe, there are no grounds for thinking that this dispensation is about to close, but, on the contrary, every reason to suppose that it will continue for countless centuries, increasing and improv- ing, until it arrives at as much perfection as its nature and structure can admit of. Then, in- deed, according to all analogy, it shall disap- pear, as all former conditions of the world have 13 disappeared, and give place to some new form of superior order. Many of the Clergy meet the geological ar- gument by denymg the facts of geology alto- gether No matter how well known or acknowledged by scientific and learned men IZ ^"m ' ^?^^?^ ""'^y ^^' ^^^y iniagine that the Bible speaks imperatively against them, and consequently they assume that the inter- P'e ations they put upon the language of the Bible are the only correct interpretations, and that geology must be false. Now, one ^ould part of the Clergy, m matters of science con- nected with revelation, would have taught diffidence and hesitation, if not in holding, at least in expressing, opinions so strong. For nf fl.!'nf ^'^""^ f ^ unhesitating was the course oj the Clergy when they denounced Galileo for his discovery of the satellites of Jupiter, which flf.f!! .i."?!? '^°^^^"^ confidence, testified to Tt! f^ f the Copernican system of the world. ile stated that none could hesitate, after an observation of Jupiter's satellites, to believe that the earth revolved round the sun, and not the sun and all the planets round the earth, as the Ptolemaic system held, and all the Clero-v believed, and, moreover, as they affirmed that revelation taught. What has been the result after the lapse of 200 years ? Simply this, that that the Bible is no sufferer but rather the gamer ; tor who imagines now that the known 14 truths of astronomy tell in any way against the reeeived truths of revelation ? The Bible did not suffer from clerical condemnation of scien- tific knowledge, but the Clergy did. Just the same will be the end of the contest with geol- ogy, if they persist in it. The Bible will not suifer, but the Clergy will. Revelation in no way deals with scientific iTuths. It deals even with history, only just as much as is necessary to connect the religious truths it teaches. It was absolutely essential to show that the Saviour was historically con- nected with the origin of sin in man, as he came to cure it, and just so far revelation deals with history. It was at least advisable to ex- hibit individual and also national lessons, both of obedience and of disobedience to divine com- mands, and so far revelation deals with history. The warnings, the threatenings, and the prom- ises of revelation were necessarily delivered in terms suited to the comprehension of those to whom they were addressed, else, where would the justice of God have been ? If he had spo- ken in language they could not comprehend, how could he, with justice, have punished their disobedience ? If he had (when it was neces- sary to illustrate his meaning by allusions to the natural world,) spoken in terms of modern science, simply because modern science is true, whilst Jewish science was untrue, how could the Jews have understood? His language would have been as far beyond their comprehen- sions, and therefore as useless, as it would be to 15 address the inmates of a workhouse in lanffnage suited only to the lecture-room. The prophets addressed the Jewish understand ing, and Christ justly reproaches them because they paid no heed. His reproaches would have been most unjust had the prophets been incomprehensible Iherefore it is clear that when revelation speaks of, or alludes to, the scientific or natural world, It uses terms suited to, and conforms to the ideas current amongst the Jews themselves It addresses itself, in short, to the level of pop- ular knowledge in things non essential to religion, without concerning itself whether that knowledge was absolute truth or not. I think if one sought for confirmation of divine wisdom this fact would abundantly give it, for what could be more fitted to human comprehensions than the course revelation adopted ? When it spoke of the heavens and the firmament, it spoke as the Jews, and not the Jews only, but all oriental nations, believed. When it allud- ed to the stars studding the heavens, it alluded to them in popular terms, as if they were fixed m the solid firmament, as brass nails in a box lid, which was the common idea. In the same way, when it alluded to creation it spoke in most general terms, but still went not beyond popular knowledge. Most wise was revelation, and most wise would modern teachers be if they would adopt the example of revelation when they have occasion to speak on the same subjects. 16 Revelation, then, teaches us nothing of geol- ogy or of any other science. It neither affirms nor denies one single truth we are at liberty to find out for ourselves. It deals with relig- ion not with science. It has come out clear, hitherto, from all the assaults and accusations of its enemies, and, far more wonderful, it has come out clear from the ill-judged kindness ot its friends. It will do the same in future. Rev- elation will not be injured by beliel in the truths of geology, and geology will not be dis- turbed by clerical denials of its facts. Does the Bible really authorise men to as- sume, that its prophecies point to a speedy termination of the present state of things ? it it does, then it is at variance with history and analogy, and that would be strange, for, I be- lieve, when truly interpreted, the Bible is never at variance with past transactions, or with the natural world. It is ever in harmony with truth whether in the animate or the inanimate creation. And I believe in' this also, it will be found t-^ agree with the past, as history and analogy recount the past. I lately heard the author of the " Voice of Prophecy " assert that the same canon of criticism must be applied to all parts of the subject, and he illustrated his assertion by saying that it is impossible to af- firm that the passage relating to the resurrec- tion of the just for a thousand years shall mean only the prevalence or resurrection of just principles, and to put a different construction on the passage concerning the resurrection of 17 f geol- affirma liberty relig- t clear, sations , it has ness of , Rev- in the be dis- to as- speedy gs? If )ry and r, I be- is never vith the ay with animate i will be )ry and iard the ^ert that )plied to ated his e to af- ■esurrec- all mean of just struction action of the evil. If the just are to rise, the evil are to rise also ; and this rule of criticism is un- doubtedly right. One canon must be adopted for both })assages. But then it surprised me to find that this very advocate forgot his own canon, almost in the next breath, when it was convenient to his own theory to do so. If the horses and the vials and the trumpets of reve- lation are symbolical, why not its resurrections also ? If Babylon is symbolical, why not death and hell ? If the judgments of the vials, why not the fervent heat that is to consume the heavens and the earth ? It is quite impossible to give any reason why one class of statements are to be literal and the other symbolical ; the advocates give us no reasons but that it is their pleasure to assume as they please, or as their as- sumptions fit their th scries. It is still more arbitrary and illogical to interpret one verse symbollically and the next literally, in the same chapter of the same series of prophecies in the same boolj. Yet this is done over and over again by these interpreters. If the forty and two months are days of years, as the 1260, 1290, 1335 are interpreted to be, why not the 1000 years of the Millenium ? They ought, by the same canon, to be 360,000 years. In short, if they as rigidly apply their canon as they rigidly deny the right of inconsistency to their opponents, their scheme of prophetic interpre- tation will not stand one hour's investigation ; for it is a mixture of the metaphorical and the 18 literal, the one or the other, adopted and aban- doncd by no rule, and subject to no logic.- They assume to themselves rights >yhich they resolutely deny to their opponents, and the deeper the obscurity of the text the great r the play of their fancies. As they grope m darkness they revel in conjecture ' ^En orphne drapetesmegastheneir-'' In darkness the plun- derers' power consists."— i^t^n/?. By what right do they attribute the interpre- tation of the 18th chapter of the Revelations to Rome ? Let any man read it without preju- dice, and see if it is not much more applicable to London. When was \ome fu 1 of mer- chants ? When did her ships fill the seas, laden with produce ? and how could her mer- chants cry out as they are represented in this chapter ? The beast -speaking blasphemies, also, is just as likely to be found in the ration- alists of England or Germany as m the bigots of Rome. It is impossible to conceive by what method of symbolism the drying up of the Lii- phrates can be twisted to mean the fa I ot Con- stantinople and Turkey. One can well believe, iudffino- from political and national appearances, that a°day of judgment is at handin which, for every nation and for every institution the wheat (that is, that which is good) will be sifted- out and gathered into God s garner; and the chaff (that which is bad and useless) wi 1 be burned with fire unquenchable, which will try every nation's work; but by natural—not supernatural-means, as Italy is now bemg 19 tried. I say one can well believe this without be- ing of opinion that after a few years tlie human race will eml, and be couvsigned hopelessly to never-ending torments. The proi)hecies of the future can only be understood by the })ast. The future, as the i)ast, must declare the un- changeable laws by which God has governed, and will always govern, the human race. By understanding what has happened, we under- stand what will happen. By history we un- derstand prophecy, not by picking out arbitra- rily and conjecturally a few names and dates from the records of all ages, but by trying to discover organic laws, and the causes which, in all nations, produce creeds and systems, health and disease, growth, change, decay and death in the body politic. Interpretation must not, therefore, be " the plaything of a few devout fancies," at once illogical and arbitrary, and tending to add to that paralysis of superstitious fear which is already too common, and which hinders us from doing our duty manfully against the real foes which surround us, and to over- come which is at once our duty and our happi- ness. Do 1 then mean to assert that the pro- phecies have no reference to the events of this world ? By no means. I am contending not against the prophecies, but the interpreters, and it is widely different to believe that, and to believe that men, however ingenious, have made a correct application of those pro- phecies. It is still more different to suppose that they have discovered the key to the whole, and 20 have been able to apply with exact truth (this is what ea('h interpreter claims) each prophe- tic incident to its corresponding historical event. Judging by the reception these theories meet with among themselves, there is little una- nimity amongst tliem. Some, lor instance, have referred the seven kings, five of whom have fallen, and one is, and the other is not, to the Eoman Emperors of the days preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, and have ibunded on this prophecy a learned argument, that the book of Kevelation was written, not in the 90th year of our Lord, but in the reign of Gab- ba, who was the sixth Emperor, and the one that is, or the one then reigning. The one for a little space was Otho, and the one that was to come was Vespasian, in whose reign Jeru- salem was destroyed. Again, the disputes concerning the identity of the two witnesses are innumerable, so that it is quite impossible to say who or what they are. They are the Old and New Testament to one interpreter, the Waldenses and Albigenses to another, the faithful under the two covenants to a third — anything that fancy paints, like the clouds of Aristophanes: ''Ginontaiponth o, ti anloidontai nephelai, lukoi ean Simona eisidosi, elaphoi to Cleo- numo,''^ — "The clouds have fanciful shapes accor- ding to the imaginatiou of each observer, they seem like wolves to Siraon, ami liko stags to Cleonunus," free translation ' >u^ ' mid thuik that these, and many otner disagreements among themselves, would teach diffidence, but it hi 86 tic is frc re) W vie Ch YC',\ is ; ph( eve up this evil abs( fulj vm I pose geol dec! no s dise< iha I cleai dimi and ness. 21 it only sccmp to make each more positive in nia own views. "« m I believe that the whole subject when once t on and the eeliugs so warmly that the study fiom the real duties of lilb, and makes their W^^i.^ri'^ T'T''' ^"^ exeitementl vdual? Is ,t o any importance to the true Christian when his Master comes? If he is ready, he .s as ready to-day as to-morrow, he IS as ready when he dies as when the pro- phetic era ends. It is of no consequence what- ever to the triu. follower of Christ' for he i as glad die and be with Him as to be cauo-ht up into the air to meet Him. The benefits'^of this uncertain study are undiscoverable The evils are many. The gain is nothing ; but the absorbtion of the attention caused by so fand' M a pursuit is detrimental to a man's religious progress on other points. ° r.J VJM^'''''" .^^'^^ fe'^^^^g^ is altogether op- posed to these views. But the ar^ments of geo ogy would be of no value against a pos ive declaration of revelation. Thel-e is, however no such declaration. Hitherto every scientific discovery has rather confirmed than oTposed the truths of the Bible, and time, as it advances clearly shows that each new science, far S diminishing the glory and greatness of God and his works, adds to our notions of His great- ness, His goodness and His truth. ;'\ -4 22 T have sliown that the interpretations of the Millenienists are inconsistent, and at variance with other deep truths. I believv-^ that neither the strat'A of this epoch are complete, nor the inhabitants arrived at their full development, either of numbers or progress, and I believe that, judging from the past, it is contrary to experience to imagine that any epoch comes to its close until all are complete. Wheji that time arrives, and no one shall be the judge but He who has made us, the advent shall come, and this dispensation shall end, and there shall be a new earth, where we, risen and ren- ovated, shall perform oui" parts. Whether that shall be the last of the series of creations or not, v/ho can tell ? or what matters it to us ? All promises made to us shall be performed. I hope and believe that we shall fulfil part of our worship hereafter, not in screeching halle- lujahs, but in giving reverence to God for all His works, those he ha^ made and those he will make when our epoch has closed. While reverencing the prophecies and scorn- ing the interpretations, I believe they will all be fulfilled, not after the theories of Gumming, but as we cannot no'v conceive, but, as we then shall see, in true accordance with the vastness of the subject and the greatness of the Creator, not in the ridiculous absurdity of Turkish horse-tails, but in the mightiness of Him who made all things very good. I conclude, then, that all prophecy shall be fulfilled. Analogy and the Bible tell us the k >x 23 know'er UttT^ '"^""' """'"^r no man Knowem. l,et us oe content to know that nfeclipses, have given undoubted reasons why tho received chronology contains many errors; and any error alto- gether overthrows interpretations founded on dates. These and many other objections must be surmounted before those fancies can be raised to the dignity of arguments. We were told, that when the second Advent comes, Ave may be astounded at the position we shall find ourselves in. May be 80. But I beheve no class of peoi)le will be more astounded than those preachers of the Gospel who think they liave been teach- ing Christianity. The Romanist who looks to his pen- ances and the intercession of his saints, and the evan- gelical Pharisee, who believes himself the sole professor of the true faith, and looks with holy pity on the outside publican, will be equally surprised at their position, and at what they will see around them. They will learn that the paltry differences which have kept Christian sects apart m tb's world have very little to do with the loss or the attamment of heaven. They will see how much sectarian squabbles have hindered the true work of Christian ministers, that of reforming the wicked, helping the unfortunate, soothing the unhappy, and bringing all to the same fold. I have freely opposed the views and opinions of Mr. McLean, but I beg to assure him that my opposition to his opinions is thoroughly consistent with the sincerest respect and esteem both (or himself and his character London: Printed by T, Evans, Duiidad-st, East. tba the Ito- lese ose nay ,'be han icli- 3en- I'an- ssor side I at the t in nent lave ning and iean, m is both