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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul cllch«, 11 est fllm« A partir de I'angle sup«rieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant !e nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 n 22% 6 ^'^'^^f^^^-i^^^''^^^^^^^ y PERILOUS TrMES IN THS -♦•♦- 3od TIMOTHY 8 -1.—" This know alio, tbat In the last days perilous times sliail come." There never was a book written, that furnishes such n vast range of faoililiep for testing its truthfulness, us the Bible. It foretells the way-marks in the i-rogiTSs of t'lis world's history • so that from veneration tQ generation the proofs and memorials o/'its foreknowledge, shall never be wanting to the man, who, with in- telligent eye, looks abroad uiHjn the occurrences of his times. ^ Not to srenk of the internal and f^xrorimental manifestation of Itself as the Bo«ik of Ood, which the Bible makes to every believer, there is moru than sufficient evidence of ati external kind, to con- vince every candid mind, that the BiHIo is what it claims to be. The hand-book of explanations, describing some vast panoramfo jncture, mfty be t»roved to be correct or not. tiy a comparison of the scenes in the picture, as the canvas is unfolded, and the deS' criptions and statements contained in the book. If you found close and ujinute correspondence between the descriptions and the actual scenes pre.-ented.yoa would not hcfeitatc to conclude that the author oi that book had seen th« picture previously, and had written from personal knowledge. In the onward march of Prov- idence in the history of the human race, there is being unfolded a vapt panoramic picture. It never was unfolded before; and, therefore, no man could describe it from observation. It is made up of two grand divisions- -the first, exhibiting the scenes and oc- currences of the history of our race, up till the time of the termi- nation of the Jewish dispensation in the death of Christ ; and the second, those of that period commencing at the Cross of Calvary', and extending to the last limit of human history on this earth! For eighteen hundred years this second section of the picture, has been slowly but steadily passing on, before the gaze of the success- ive generations of mankind. All the great and prominent points of interest were foretold and described centuries previously to their coming into view. Many of these are now past, but many alHo, by the steady revolutions of time, are drawing near, and will 2 in due course make their appearance. And as the shifting scene ^ 8 DawinK on. it is interesting to j^lanoe, now at the anciently wri^ en dSptbns and predictions fn the Bible,and anon. at the act- Z ream es themselves, as they come into view and F>ass into his- torv The page of Scripture and the page of Providence illus- tmi and iStorpret each other: and to understand either, you must study both Our text this morning, points our attention to Tml of .L^hases and cl--ctemtics ^pf the las^^^^^^^^^ a,.d forewarns us of what may be looked for-" This know also, tnai in the last days perilous times shall conie- Eve y houghtful reader of the New Te.tament,.mu8t have ob- ^eXdihii fmnency with which this note of warning is sounded. InlT in iv?l. weread-''Now the Spirit «Pe«keth exnressly, thatinthelattertimes some shall depart from th« .f;»«b;. . &»^ Cain : in II Peter III, 3. God's people are forewarned that there fha cime in the last days scoffers, walking after heir own lusts, and sS' Where is tL promise of his coming ? tor since tha fathers fen asleeif* all things continue as they were from the be- SnS of the creation." These persons are represented us rca- Sgfft^™ the uniformity of nature, that such a doctrine as Tat of Christ's coming to judge the word and consign this ter^ restrial system to universal conflagration, » ""'•««^"«^*«;,''"f.5^i nf 111 keeoinK with the analogy of natural law. We see the tides onKeTuSm in theii- Ibbing and flow.ing-we see day and nicht »Ld time and harvest, summer and winter, following each othewlfh changeless and it would be a violation o £ changeless Uniformity, for the world to come to an end, o, be bSrn? up-feay these profound reasoners. And if this unif orm- itv troves thlt no such end of the world is to be looked for as that which tVe Bib c rrediot8:pray how did the world come by its begin Th^^^? f\)r that must have been a violation of a uniformity of a pre SsYbVaCandof vastly longer duratbnt^^^^^^^^ nhiloBonhic scoffers now point. But the Bible lorewarns u>^ inui SaXlosophy was to make its apr.earance in the last days and it has come-a philosophy that sets Nature above Nature's God who made Si her aws, and can at his pleasure, ho d any one of them S suspensfon tbr the more striking and conclusive. manifestation o"h?S to his rational creatures, as in the miracles of our ^"^it'ain • Jude in his General Epistle and at the 18th versc,unites wiof the other inspired writers in testifying that there woald be " Fur'irer' w^^^^^^^ H Timothy iv, 3. that the tinje would tm^when, rome jK,rtions at least of the Christian Church. would "not endure 8ound doctrine," but would •' hean to th.>m Helve, teachers having itching ears," that thev would^'^^urn aC" their ears from the truth," and be " turned unto fables '" Those who give up the truth generally do accept fables and fancies the mo«t absurd, and without any evidence whatever. Again in II rivily, shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them," &c. This language evidently p .ints o the er ronsts who deny the ntoning nature of Ol.ri.t'. deoth ; who ronre jnt Him as dying a martyr to the doctrines he taught ; and who "Te I o d whl'h''^ was subHtitationaiy. It is in hLluructeT^ the Lord who bought them," that they deny Him. Also Paul describes the^e false teachers as '' having the f„rm of godiine'" but denying the power thereof "-language which is s rilinai; Wiptiveoftheso, who deny that thert islTueh a thi g s x^^^^ mental religion, and insist thnt Christianity is a refir*ng svS of mere moral culture, Wh exquisitely excellent as such V and who, therefore, praise and applaud it and its Great Founder and ^henu^ ' "^'""'^"^ ♦'^ess, as having all the virJue in Now, while in some of the passages quoted, we are warned to expect open Infidel Scoffers outside of the Church in the hS days, m most of them, and in many other pa.ssigo8 to which we might refer, we are warned to exj^-ct a Christianized hfiddUul n confer."; •''" '««* *!™««-»° "fidelity not facing her honest > n conflict, but m sneaking concealment within her pale we>irinJ ^^^^h'^ "" outlineof the descriptions given in Scripture, of the corruptions which were to display their hideous forms within he Church, m the perilous times of the last days. And now it may be important to inquire," more particularly in Z n;w r ki *" ^® Chriftianity as a .system of doctrine? Is i^umSil'' *\'"°^ o^,oXxor^^ and difficulties that these migh? accumulate to such an extent, as to overwhelm its claims to be what It professes ? Certainly not The Bible never hints a sir! gle fear anywhere, as to whether it shall maintain its crminH no H ^'stem of infallibb truth. The - perilous times " oHelas in Christianitr "' '^ ""^ ^"^ '^'^^"^'" '" *^^ ^'^'^' ^' inTllL'}^r4^f^'w-"-" -— '' I^/i'^^^^P^h^t^lass of persons •• ^»»reii, Wmi arc uuc inorougniveHJablished in the faUU persons of superficial religious knowledge- weak-minded Sns" easily unsettled and led astray. The tu se teachers ol the per ilouB times," and their victims too, «re described by the Apostle lu the 6th verse, where he says-" For of this sort are they which creep iiao houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, —persons *• ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." These errorists "creep into hounes --invHde the sanctities and secrecies of the family circle and '♦ lead captive sillv women." And are not the Ai>08tlc'8 words finding most striking tul- filment in the weak minded, silly, sentimental young ladies ot the Episcopalian Church in Englund.who,if we are to believe the most reliable journals and newspapers in Britain, have actually allowed ihemHelves to be made pliant tools in the hands ot Pusryite mm- isters, who are Romanizing the English Church as rapidly as they can ; and have recently taken the further step oil introducing, m a coVert and plausible manner, the worst ol all Rome s abomina- tionh— I mean the confessional ? , „ , r ** Silly women " have led the way and set the example ot con- fessing to Puseyite ministers, who to all intents and purposes are Romish Priests ; and who show that they understand just as well, how to " creep into houses, and lead captive silly women. Not only are such times described as being nenlous to the weak minded and silly, it is also asserted that the teachers ol such error, shall bring upon themselves " swilt destruotion And further, such times are perilous to the Church as an or- ganization. The visible Church is liable at any time to become Infected with heresy. Her light may become obscured, and the most essential doctrines of salvation may be so darkened, explain- ed away, or mingled up with certain counteracting errors, that the best means of restoring light to the world, and at the same time, of punifhing a faithless Church, is lor tJod m his Providence to rend her to pieces, take the best material m her, out ot hcr,and form it into a new organization. Such hu.: been Wis <»tt«e ?n times past. Disruptions and reformations mark the Church s his- tory. When the witnesses for truth within her, have argued, and agitated, and done their utmost, they can but leave her, like men taking to the boats trom a sinking ship. God'b voice to them is, *• Come out of her, my people." . i ji jj j And is not this call of mercv and warning very loudly addrewed at the present time to the evangelical party m the Church ot bng land? Melancholy it would be. no doubt to see Romish Puseyiim left as the established representative ol Kngland s Frotestantism, and iho trnlv Protestant Party cast over board. But do the iSvan geUcaissuppose that they can drive out ihe FuseyiteB r i ney can Srive out neither Puseyite nor Infidel. For a long dmii a large 5 "per- Apodtle y which h Mine, D« ledge ide the ;ive silly (ing f ul- m of the ;he Dlost allowed ite min- f as they doing, in ibomiDa- of con- poses are t as well, 8 to the lohers of on 18 an or- > become and the explain - ■ors, that, the same rovidenoe A' hor,and course in arch's his- gued, and . like men them is, addressed oh of Eng- Poseyisni estantisu), the Evan They can me a largi cluHS, tiven of those belonging to other Christim denominations, in Britain, were satisfied thit tne E|iiscopnlian Church flhouldcnjov in (teuoe her vast endowuients, because they believed her sound in the cause of ProteHtantism, n luighty breuHtworIc against the en- crouchuientR of Popory, and the invasionn of Iiifid<;lity. She liae now uio^t emithatically otiased to bo a brtantwork against cither the one or the otnor. From many of her pulpits most of the distinc- tive tenets of Ilonie, are fireachcd from Sabbath to Sabbath. And, as regards the forms of her wor8hip, hIio U making rapiil progress in the use of lighted candles at her fxsrvicos in broad day light, altar clotho and priestly vestmentH with inHcriptiooH and emblems in curious needle-work, that not only ape, but ulmo<it oqual the religious millinery of Her who figuros in the book of Revclatiooi in " fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, docked with f[old and precious stones and pearls." And now, with iier con- es8ional, pray where is her protestantism ? And as regards Infidelity, its most |)oli!<hed and (.•nvenomed shafts, in modern times, come from behind her ramparts I Thif is the Church that unchurches nil other Churches — that refuse* to recognize them as anything but religious societies, whose bap- tisms and sacramental tables are without authority or validity ; because the ministers who offioiute, are outside of that Popish ti/j-- ment of an " apostolic succession," and, therefore, not scripturui- ly ordained. If" a^tostolic succession," in the sense of the Church of Eng- land, were worth contending about, we can prove wo have it as well as they ; for John Knox was admitted to Priest's ')rder8 in the Church of Rome. In like mannc: "an the Methodists claim it through John Wesley ; and othe? i rotestant denomination? eun make good their claims too. But we take far higher ground, and hold, that the true succession is, that which is Apostolic in doctrine. Apostolic in discipline, and Apostolic in practice. Let those then wheeling totl.is figment more ardentiv than they do to the Cross of Christ, un church us u they will. The same thing was done by their great predecessor!-, to our Lord Jesuf Christ. The Evangelist, Luke, tells us in the begmning of the 20th chapter, how as Jesu^* '" taught the people and preached thf Gospel," haughty Phariseeism. strutting in its robesof officc.camc to him in the peri?oo of the chief priests and scribes, and called in question the authority and vulidlty of his official acts, asking — " By what authority doest thou these things ? or who is he t^ai gave thee this authority ?" Whether souls were perishmg bv thousanug and millions or not. was not the question ; but '' author Uy," true scccession in office, was the question with these self com- 6 filaccnt ecolcsi iHtiort. To be unohurohcd nsjwe are, only idontifiesi us all the iiioro closely with the Ohurch'H S;iviour and Head; whom the Ph iri^ees of foniier times refused to recognize as in the true Hucco'sion. Thov nn churched themselves by such proced- ure; and clinging to the Hymbols and shadows of spiritual au- thority, thijy lost the re.ilify itself, and were left without a church or an altar. And the Kouie ward infatu:ttion of a l-irgn portion of the English Olmrch ut the present time, soeins to point to a similar doom, so fur as all that constitutes a Church is concerned. All the more mysteriou« does it seem, when wo consider that the Piiftacy is boginning to totter to its fall. But if their theory of the '• :i|»ostolic succession " is corn-ct, it is obvious that it is !n Homo the\ <iught to bo, for, confessedly, by her they have it. And there is nothing more certain than that the tendency of the doctriijo is, to draw biclf to Rome all who hold it Sad it is to sec a leprosy so incurabltt seizing on England's Protestant estab- lishment, — the church wliose official representative administers the coronation oath to Britain's Kings and Queens; and who swears them to hold and defend the Protestant faith I But this alarming degeneracy is only another confirmation of the Bible, which foretells that in the last days " perilous times " should come; and that some of the church's teachers should depart from the faith, and '• privily bring in damnable here.sie8 " Were they honest men, as the evangelical party tell them, they would leave the church ; but they stay in, in order to *' bring in " the 8i)ecic8 of teachmg which Paul describes. This movement, however, will, no doubt, result in bringing about ttie fulfilment of purposes and designs in the providence of Him who can bring ffooa out of evil ; and deplorable as such degeneracy i8,yet it may fulfil and confirm those Scripture predict! ons,which warn the peo pie of God that such departures from the faith, were to take place in the last times. And it appears to me that there is a pre- diction, in the Book of Revelation, of this 8j)eoial movement, and a strikingly graphic description of it. In the 13th chapter we are informeathat when the Popish Ecclesiastical System begins to experience its death woundH,and to totter in weakness, another and milder form of the Old Apostacy is to spring up, and impart new life to the dying image of the old. In the first part of the chapter we have a description of the " Beast,'' of such monster notake— part Bear, part Leopard, and part Lion — having seven heads and ten horns. By almost universal consent Protestant ex- positors regard this " beast " as representing that apostate church, thit has uclaKcd the cnrth with thc blood of the saints- But we are told that this '* beast " is to be saoceeded by another* veky dif- fiBrent in appearance, mild nn.i l.imblike in ronn. hut in ronlifv b;r;rrn'i t'nr ''^^"'^ ''-' ^'"•" ^•'•^'' " '^' '^ --^' Read frounhu 11 H, vcrHc;.- ' And I beheld »notl,«r be««t con.- ing up out oJ the eurth, and he had two hornH. like a lamb ai d he 8,.ak« aH u dragon. And he < xercis. th all ihe , ow ' r Tl first beu8t before him ; and causeth the earth, and them which healed. And he doeth great wonders «o that he maketh fire come down Irom heaven on the earth, in the Hi^ht of n en And ho deceiveth .h.m th.t dwel on .he e;.rfh. by thr me.' of (Xh muaclej wh.ch he had rn.wer to do in the sivhf of the bea- ; Z- ing to them that dwell on the earth, th.t thi-y should mMke\;n fZ\ ». 5 ^ ^i L'^r'" ^" ^C^*^ ''^^ ^^' ""= •"•"^'^ "«■ the beast, that the image of the beast shuuld both si^-ak," %c. lUohrstbe.Ht rose un out the '•.sea,^' which is the embien, of tumult, corruption, an J anarchy. Tho second, la.nb like b.^ s Kaid to rise out of the -earth." which is significant. orHheeon- ind'itl°wrn'?h'\^- ?r'''''^^ '^"^ «",'^'^'''^^^ ''"«-'• 'ocie'V. pin .miat . ^ ^'^ ^''^ .^^^f ' ^'' woun.led by a «m,W,-,,s the Papal System has recently becn.-that the second beast corner to preserve and perpetuate his image, and n.ako it vcn.Tahle h behove.s us to speak with great humility and caution, o- the ioter retation of pro!;hccy not actually, out ami out, fulfiled and a 1 he more would I speak with caution hero, because no cnmt • tator on tjie passage gives such an interf^rot.itioi, of it Some re Sue Pa..! ^^''1 "f, *^'^'"^' ^'••'^""' -'"^ *'^« second bV'st \^ Kome Papal : and other interpreters njake the first be ,st rcme. ual power"" ^''""" ' '^' ^'^'"' ' ""^ '^'' «^°'^"'^' ''•« •'P''^''- Theaptne.s8 of the application of the p.-.s-sago to tho present e^"vTe'"%rh''"'-^ '" the Chnrch of ^EngLd. must's evtr> one. feuch an interr-retation coud not have been thouifht h ^7^n?J'"•'/^•'V^'""''^^'"*«l:»^« ^^"-^ "'"»^en; and. therefore It 18 not wonderful that there should be, as Barnes suyg '• almost as many opinions as there have been interpreters." No theor- cultV-"n/r T%^ "" ^V^ ^r^«^' ^'' ^''^ ^«J^ »« be fi^o of' dfffi- V I. ?.^ <^*? I consider the interpretation now given, alto/jether tree of difficulty either. The objections to it may porsibly fi'an- pear, as the course of events move on. Up to the present w)in Putyism iuLrrn' facts very remarkab/v. Lamf like inZd! npnT K^,P \^ ***® «"'"? ""^ ''^^*y' «"'^ *h« appearance of inno. oence; but, when arrested on suspicion by publie Qn,„ion'" nd 8 of a system, whiof, „„'""'•"' '*?»"'ngiii(cotedwitl, .i.' .'''' *">' »H «od ooiulorf ,«'p ''""""y nation ever ,w^ '"d .vet, incon- •"8 in " the ienith nn'*'"''? Three IZdl^ t?"'*'*' "'"' «"« »»er glory, and him 1/;'* ''^» *>een l,er fate? Q?.- '^"?*^ «"<* broken and n^s .i?*:?«'>"^ ^.e b.clc Lnn.^^'.^^T.'-T^nd 'he r ) » I jng to the analoffv M'Ji » ,^^ " S'ant. AnH * ; "" T^ean na- drive out the ermSfl^ appljances by which /'^i^^'V ^e wisely to do it • but rj°"^*»' Old save the ehiiroh .u **^,<^»^c>l»line and church fu?ni^hLl r"?r ?"'^«'''«'^ The 'eo 'i;-?'''^^ ^'^^ '^^«"t feel the degradaLn of!"'? ^"'^ '^'» Purpose bu^/'^" f *'>«'> ■people of God .«u.f''J^"r '™es shnll coine "-, „^"''':°'-">« - .0 the X^^a^Z:"^ -™^.iy 'iT.L^roU'dli;'',* 9. 'li »joe that pmven it ^redeceswp. :)licated nn she has Wnj?an apostate er treasury, it niny n on her, by her •d with the Ippposy J' and yei, incon- "^aped, that gave LT i^^' Sr.ain ' ^ne friend and »trip;x?d of 9JI narrower hmit«, l'*J««--**and.he ;tjr»f Protestant Jiuropean na- r IS only accord- ^;»encneed. that "^^ot him who .nee, and thy '"^ the United **car)e. and that her Protestant ^;'iscopaoy,that \ and queens. Its worship in o.*id day lijeht ; Jo Rome for the Ei-angeli- [!»cv be wisely 'i«cipline and a^e the heart ""on of their 'ayes them to wither toJer many con- eclares, that s when the )nce deiiv'e^